So I am finally making my way through the loads of laundry that comes with a newborn. Actually, I must admit that my mom has helped us this week catch up and more importantly find the washer and dryer again underneath massive piles of dirty laundry.
I forgot how much laundry a tiny person can produce. The tiniest person in the house almost makes the most laundry and most certainly doubles your wash input. I find though that one of my favorite chores is to fold all the cute little clothes and put them away.
At least I had all her clothes washed and ready beforehand as recommended on the new baby checklist. I must have done at least a half dozen loads of just newborn clothes (all the clothes everyone was so gracious to give us), sheets, burp cloths, towels, and so on.
And I must have washed each of these loads twice beforehand due to unseen silica gel packet exploding in the wash. At first I was confused over these little beads that seemed to fall out of the clothes when I took them out of the dryer. I had my husband come over and look and he identified them as the freshness beads that come with new clothes. Yes, these beads had secretly made their way through the wash only to swell up and explode out of the packet. Unfortunately I did not discover them until I finished my second load of baby clothes.
After doing some research, I discovered that these beads can be irritable to the skin. When I read this I got mad that some company even considered putting something semi dangerous with infant clothes, causing potential harm to a newborn.
To solve this problem, I took some vinegar and washed out the washing machine on a hot cycle. I also ran the dryer and cleaned the lent trap. Then I rewashed all my infant clothes again to remove any unwanted particles from the clothes to keep them delicate to baby's skin.
So I am here to warn you once again, look through all your new clothes. Remove tags, clean out pockets, and beware of silica packets. It may take you a few extra minutes to do this but it will save you some time and money washing more loads of laundry. And at the very most, it will save your family members from breaking out from a potential hazardous material.
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