With the arrival of your newborn baby, you will necessarily have several concerns about their safety and security. You will have scoured the house from top to bottom and made sure that each room is as childproof as possible. You will also be given several presents including lots of the cutest little baby clothes. Many parents have questions about how to wash these baby clothes.

First and foremost, it is important to understand that a baby’s skin is more delicate than older children and adults’. Their skin can easily become irritated by things in their surroundings. If the clothes next to their skin are harsh and rough then baby’s skin can quickly become red and sore. They can even develop rashes and other skin problems.

This is also true of any harsh chemicals. The normal detergents that we use to wash our clothes may not be suitable for baby’s clothes. Because these powders and liquids can contain strong enzymes to get our own clothes clean. This is especially true of the biological washing powders. Fabric softeners can also contain many different chemicals to coat the fabric with static resistant ions and make them appear softer and more fluffy.

We have no problem with these for our own clothes. As we age our skin becomes more resistant to these and we don’t even notice anything on our skin. But for a baby, exposure to this kind of product might possibly have harmful effects. It is a good idea to select a product which has been specially formulated to be used on baby clothes. A mild detergent which does not contain so many potentially harmful chemicals should always be used. Some people always also wash their baby clothes separately from the main wash for this very reason. Any residual chemicals left over in adult clothes will leach out into the wash and will ruin the effect of using the milder detergent.

But, with a mild detergent and a cooler wash, it can still be possible to get clothes just as clean. The important thing is that if there are any stains on the clothes, to deal with them straight away. This can be done by washing the wet stain immediately with water. Use cold water as some stains can be set in further by using hot water. Then if necessary, soak the garment with some stain remover and wash as normal, making sure that it is rinsed properly.

If reusable diapers are used then these must always be washed separately from the main wash and also from the other baby clothes. These can be soaked in an acidic solution to counteract the ammonia they contain and then washed and rinsed thoroughly in a normal wash. It would be much more hygienic to use a diaper washing service.

It is very important to give the matter of baby’s clothes a lot of thought. It is one way to make sure that your child is comfortable and not irritated by their clothes. This is far better for all concerned because if baby is suffering from irritating clothes, then they will cry and you will not be able to work out why. Looking after their clothes is a good way to sanity for all concerned.

When you first hold your little bundle of joy in your arms, probably the last thing on your mind is whether to use cloth nappies or disposables. Or, like a growing number of parents these days, have you already decided which one is best for you? The jury is still out on this one and both sides of the argument seem to be quite valid and legitimate.

So, which type of diaper is best both for you and for the environment, and the planet as a whole? As a new parent, you have to consider your own circumstances and whether you will find it easy to wash the cloth diapers yourself. Will you have time? If you are a first-time parent, you will undoubtedly underestimate just how much time is taken up just caring for a new baby. Do you want to spend a significant proportion of this time washing diapers? You will be washing lots of baby clothes, so maybe it will not make so much difference to you.

Then there is the consideration of how many cloth diapers you will need in comparison to disposables. The advantages of disposable diapers are that they are very easy to use. Just take one out when it is needed and throw it away at the end. Almost all of them now contain sodium polyacrylate – a polymer which is absorbent to one hundred times its own weight. This means that everything is absorbed into the diaper and away from your precious baby’s skin. This means that these diapers can be left on longer. They have recently advertised a 12-hour diaper for dry nights. This means that you use fewer of them over your day.

The reusable diaper must be lined and pinned. Then, when it needs changing you must dispose of the inner lining and then keep the soiled outer diaper in a container until you can wash all of them together. Since they are not as absorbent as disposables, you will use much more – maybe more than double the number of disposables. Then, once you have gathered enough for a full load in your machine, then you can wash them together. It would not do to wash less than a full load because this would not be environmentally friendly. Urine-soaked diapers can be washed at a lower temperature, but soiled diapers must be washed at 60 degrees. Then to save more of the environment, you can dry these out on the washing line. Rather than have bucket-fulls of diapers hanging around, at least one of these washes must be performed everyday – and where do you put your crawling baby while you hang everything on the line everyday?

Disposable diapers do not break down in land fills easily at all. Also, people often throw them away in scented sacks to save their house from filling up with bad odors, which increases the time needed for them to break down. But, it is thought that diapers make up less than 1% of the nation’s waste, so a true environmentally friendly policy should examine all types of waste sources and minimize all routes to landfill.

Until adequate reporting and perhaps legislation can determine policy on these, it must be left up to the individual conscience whether it is better to use cloth or disposable diapers. Realistically far fewer parents choose to opt for cloth reusable diapers for the reasons described: those of economy, hygiene and practicality. But, if there is a good diaper-washing company in the area who can service thousands a day and return yours to you at a reasonable rate, then reusable diapers may prove to be a viable option.