How to wash children's clothes? | Layette

If you know me a little, you know that I care for my child's skin with special care, which you could find out by reading about the absolute minimum number of cosmetics in our bathroom and on the changing table of our child. However, the protection of babies' skin does not end there. We must not forget that our children's skin is in contact with clothes, sheets and diapers almost 24 hours a day, so what we wash them in is also very important. Why?

The skin of a small child is several times thinner than the skin of an adult

The skin of a child up to at least three years old does not have full protective functions. First of all, the skin of such a Baby is at least 5 thinner than that of an adult. Secondly, the epidermal cells are still loosely arranged and do not constitute a good barrier against the passage of the substance. Thirdly, the blood vessels of such a Baby are very shallow (the skin of children is often visibly pink), which means that absorption through such skin is much greater than in adults. A child's skin built in this way is permeable like a fishing net, through which many substances penetrate into the interior of a small organism. Also, therefore, we should consciously limit the child's skin access to substances that after penetration of the weak skin barrier can be harmful or cause allergies. Unfortunately, the ingredients contained in the powder remain in the washed fabric even after double rinsing.

What ingredients in baby powders should we avoid?

On the list of components that are good to avoid in washing powders of children's clothes we can find:

• enzymes - they dissolve stains from food that are difficult to remove, unfortunately the clothes are rinsed off hard and in contact with skin they can cause irritation not only of the skin but also of the respiratory tract and allergies
• Optical brighteners - these ingredients do not remove stains but they settle in the fabric, creating the illusion that the fabric is whiter
• phosphates - soften water and prevent deposits, but unfortunately they are very harmful to the environment

What should you wash your baby powder with?

In addition to what is obvious, i.e. baby clothes, diapers or bedding, it should wash all the things with which the baby's skin comes into direct contact. Preparing the house for the arrival of a new family member, we also changed our bedding to one washed with powder for children. I washed all my clothes that I took for childbirth, as well as - or most of all - nursing underwear in a special powder, not forgetting about the shirt for Dad so that he could safely "kangaroo" our Happiness. Since then, we have washed our bedding, pajamas and clothes intended for walking around the house in baby powder.

Do we wash children's clothes before the first putting on?

I don't know if you've noticed that clothes straight from the store get less dirty, keep their shape better and wrinkle less? Personally, I love this effect on my clothes, but I always wash baby clothes before wearing them for the first time. I made an exception once - we were packing for a family weekend, our son was already about 18 months old, and we just received an order from an online store and my heart was stolen by a body with drawings of suitcases, balloons, cars and the Eiffel Tower - the travel theme perfectly matched our leaving and I thought… he is so big, he will probably be fine. Unfortunately, after a few hours, I noticed that our child was scratching his back a lot, and what I saw under the aforementioned body was very irritated and even more scratched skin. Of course, not every child has to be so sensitive to external factors, to clothing chemicals, but this does not mean that their skin should absorb them. Fabrics for sewing clothes ordered at one end of the world, sewn on the other, shipped in containers, touched by dozens of people at every stage of production or dusty on store hangers, it is really worth washing.

Our choice

I will not say that advertising slogans do not work for me, but I know that I can only trust myself, so before I pack a product in the basket I simply read the composition of what I buy: cosmetics, food, clothes, and since I am a mother also washing powders . When I was asked to test Bobini powder, it turned out that the composition is almost identical to our previous powder, does not contain enzymes or optical brighteners, dyes or phosphates, and in the washing test it did just as well, but due to a half price lower and a more pleasant smell Bobini Baby KOLOR washing powder lives in our laundry for good.

I am curious if you have thought about the powder compositions before? How do you wash children's clothes and everything that has contact with your little ones?