How to remove stubborn stains from your baby’s clothing

Every parent has at some point or another been in one of these situations; you buy your newborn a beautiful new outfit and within an hour of wearing it its stained.

You have a mountain of baby clothes that at one time cost you a fortune and you’re looking to sell them to make some money back but a pesky milk stain has made them unsellable, or, you try to save some money and be economical by buying second-hand baby clothes only to find you’ve purchased stained clothes that you now don’t want to use. 

Let’s face it, babies are expensive and messy. Once something is stained it often feels like a futile battle to try and get the stain out, you simply do not have time to sit and scrub at a stubborn milk stain or put it through the washing machine 3 times only to discover it is still there once the cycle is finished – so you end up throwing the garment to the back of the cupboard only to throw it away once baby becomes too old to wear it anyway. 

But what if it didn’t need to be that hard? What if there was a product on the market that didn’t lessen the appearance of stains but made them vanish completely?

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Yes, we are of course talking about Oxiclean, in particular Oxiclean Baby

If you are from the states you will most likely have heard of the household cleaning product Oxiclean, as a parent you probably have a bottle sitting in your cleaning cupboard. 

Oxiclean was introduced to the cleaning market in 1997 and has since then become a popular household name. The product has the tagline “Oxiclean Gets the Tough Stains out” and claims to have over 101 uses, from removing stains on clothes and upholstery to cleaning your kitchen tiles. 

And the reviews hold up that tagline, in addition to the 4000+ reviews on Amazon giving the product a 4.5-star rating it has been named a favorite amongst consumer product testers. 

In April this year, a popular product testing blog tested Oxiclean against six other household cleaners over thirty hours and named it their best pick stating the product was, “unparalleled in its pre-treatment instructions and process, versatility, and cost per unit. The powder outperformed six other stain removers and will save you time, money, and shelf space.”

So what is the difference between Oxiclean and Oxiclean baby?

Whilst Oxiclean boasts of unparalleled cleaning potential, lifting stains such as coffee and even red wine off fabrics, a parent might feel cautious about using it on their baby clothes. Why? Because babies have very sensitive skin and surely a cleaning agent that good has to be harmful to the skin right? 

Like any cleaning product, it is advised that you wear gloves when using it because prolonged contact could cause irritation to the skin or at the very least dry your hands out.

But you will be reassured to hear that Oxiclean Baby has been specifically designed to be safe on the skin. It is not only chlorine-free but contains no perfumes or dyes. The product uses the ‘power of oxygen’ mixed with water to create a bubbling reaction that breaks down and lifts stains.

So, how do you use it?

There are two ways in which you can use Oxiclean Baby Powder to effectively remove all those stubborn stains from your baby’s clothing. 

Firstly, ‘the soaking’ method. 

This method is perfect if you have large items to soak such as children’s bedding. It is not an over-exaggeration to say that you will be faced with having to tackle pee stains on bed covers multiple times during parenthood and that’s just during the potty training months.

But the potty training period does not have to result in you buying two to three sets of bedding or turning to drastic measures such as wrapping your child’s bed up in plastic wrap. 

Simply measure out the formula between lines 2 – 4 on the provided scoop and dissolve this in one gallon of water. (Approx four and a half liters). For a lighter stain, it is recommended you fill the scoop to line 2, and for a tougher stain, line 4.

Once fully dissolved, submerge the bedding in the solution and leave it to soak. How long it soaks for is dependant on the severity of the stain. Consumers reviewing this product have stated that they have noticed that stains had gone after as little as one hour being left to soak. 

But for a stubborn stain, you should leave the item to soak for up to 6 hours. Rest assured that even though the bedding will be soaking for such a long period of time this will not have a lessening effect on the sheets’ coloring nor will it leave any unpleasant smell on the fabric.

Once the soaking period is up you will need to wash the bedding. You are now free to run this through a normal wash cycle with the rest of your laundry using your standard household detergent.

Secondly, “the washer” method.

You may be surprised to discover that in order to remove a serious stain you do not have to spend your efforts ‘scrubbing’, ‘dabbing’ or ‘soaking’ individual garments. You can simply put the problem garment in with the rest of your washing and tackle it during a normal wash cycle.   

How you use Oxiclean Baby in your laundry depends on what type of washing machine you have. 

If you have a top loader then you will need to fill your washing machine with water, measure out the powder to line one for a regular load (you can use more scoops if you are washing larger loads), and add this to the water. 

It is important that you add the powder in before you add in your laundry allowing it to mix, creating that bubbling power needed to lift the stains off the clothes. 

If you have a ‘High Efficiency (HE) washer then measure out one scoop of powder, again, where you measure the line to depends on the size of your laundry, for a regular load it is recommended you measure to the first line only. A larger load of washing calls for a larger scoop of powder.  

This scoop of powder must be added directly to your washing machine drum. DO NOT put Oxiclean into your detergent draw or mix it with your usual detergent. It should be placed in the empty drum with the laundry then added on top. 

You then continue to run your normal wash cycle. Oxiclean baby is designed to work on any machine setting and temperature without risking the quality of your colors and whites. 

For a quick on-the-go solution in between the endless cycles of laundry, you should make sure you have gotten yourself a bottle of ‘Oxiclean Baby Stain Remover Spray.

This spray has earned a 4.5-star rating on a popular women’s product review forum. The spray allows you to tackle a stain before it has a chance to set into your baby’s clothing.

As soon as that accident has happened simply reach for the bottle, spray the affected area a couple of times and rub the fabric together to lift the stain. You can then throw the item into the wash as normal and be rest assured that the stain will be gone by the end of the cycle because it simply did not have time to stick in the first place!

Dubbed “the best stain remover out there” Oxiclean Baby spray works within a minute removing stains caused by everything from poop explosions to messy eaters.

In summary, Oxiclean Baby has been designed to contain no perfumes, dyes, or harsh chemicals that would cause irritation or rashes to the baby’s skin making it safe for the whole family to use on your clothing.

It uses the power of oxygen mixed with water to create a bubbling method that lifts stubborn stains without the need for overwashing and without risking the quality of the fabric or its colors.

Oxiclean Baby can be purchased as either a powder, which can be used to soak large areas of stained clothing such as bed sheets or added to your normal wash cycle.

It can also be purchased in the form of a spray used to tackle a stain before it sets in. It is a popular household stain remover with a 4.5star rating praised by mums to be “the best” as it takes away the stress and added time from the day trying to scrub and rewash tricky stains out of clothing.

A tricky milk stain on a favorite item of your baby’s clothing no longer has to become an extra chore added to your already stressful day. You now simply run the clothing through the wash along with your usual load of laundry and a scoop of Oxiclean Baby and that once stained garment will finish the wash cycle looking as good as new.