Mold on Clothing

I can relate. I am VERY sensitive when it comes to any kind of odor on my clothes. What happens for me is my clothes get mildewy smelling because I am lazy and I leave them in the washing machine too long. You know, I throw a load in and then forget about it until the next day!!

Anyway, what I have found that works (although I like the tablespoon of bleach idea and am going to try it) is to put a 1/2 cup of table (white) vinegar and 1/2 cup of baking powder along with your normal detergent or whatever. This actually works very well. I had a load recently that I thought I had ruined because I just kept on forgetting it!! I think I re-washed that load 3 times!! One one time I put just the vinegar becauase I didn't have any baking powder in the laundry room (see how lazy I am, it was just upstairs in the pantry!!) and that didn't work, it's the combination of the 2 that works.

LIke others said though, if you want to avoid it, best is to rinse the item out and then hang or lay it out to dry before putting into the hamper.

Good luck

If something is wet, I have tried to get in the habit of hanging it over the side of the hamper to dry rather than tossing it in. You could use the side of the changing table, etc too. Obviously you don't want to have to run a load of clothes every single time the baby soaks an outfit.

I would try to address the reflux issue too. I have had 2 babies and with my first, I thought it was just "how she was" and she finally grew out of it when she was about 9 months old. With my 2nd baby (now 10 months old) I got some very good advice from my lactation consultant to try and stop eating dairy and it was like magic. She said it would take 2 weeks for me to "detox" from dairy, but it was literally just a couple of days before I saw a HUGE improvement. It's really tough to not eat dairy or things with dairy proteins, etc, but OMG- I am doing less cleanup and laundry and my baby is SO much happier and sleeps better. I don't know if you are doing formula or BF, but definitely try the non-dairy route if you have that gut-feeling that something is going on and there is just TOO much spit-up. We also tried Zantac before I did the diet alteration, but giving meds to little babies just doesn't sit comfortably with me, and it didn't work anyway.

Hugs and Congrats on your new addition!!
M.

PS- bleach is really toxic, try white vinegar- it's really safe to add to your laundry and if you put it in the rinse, it gets all the soap out and acts as a softener too.

Don't take this to be mean or an insult to you, but I would do his laundry more often. If the clothes are staying wet long enough to mold, it seems that they are in the hamper too long. If you already are doing it often, I would rinse out the spit-up, soak it in the Oxy Clean or detergent (as the other poster said) and then make sure it dries out before you throw it in the hamper. I read somewhere that the sun is a really good germ killer too, so set the clothing in the sun to dry if possible.

Oxy clean stain remover powder works wonders to help get all kinds of stains out . I have used it in every load. It is safe for colors and takes out new and very old stains. It has saved alot of my fiances clothes that got stained from working on cars and at work. my daughters clothes i have gotten out red punch out of a dress that was stained months ago. And it has saved a few items that were stained by that lovely time of the month we women sometimes cant predict. To keep the baby clothes from still smelling like throw up try the baby detergent dreft. It is great for kids who are sensitive to soap. My niece has very sensitive skin and breaks out from almost anything, and it helped to keep her clothes clean smelling and did not irritate her skin. Hope this helps good luck.

I had the problem when my first were born. My husband would just throw the wet bibs and clothes in the hamper and then by the end of the week, some had a little mold. I used Shout and Dreft. For really bad stuff, I soaked a little longer in the Dreft and then did an extra rinse. If this doesn;t work (the clothes are really bad) try adding a little Oxyclean powder to the wash and soak about 20 minutes. But defintely make sure you rinse again since some babies can have a raction to it. Rinsing the clothes after the baby spits up would be the best but as an alternative, hang the clothing to dry before throwing it in the hamper. That is what I did this time around and I have had no problems.

I agree with the other posters about the oxyclean. Make a little oxyclean paste and apply to item before laundering. If the mold spots don't come out do it again but make sure not to dry item in dryer, it will set the stain.

Also - I had more problems with this if the clothes went down the laundry shoot to the basement. I'd get mold in 2-3 days. I try to get at least one load in every day but if the environment is right, that mold happens fast. Didn't have any mold issue when I started keeping the babies clothes in an upstairs hamper.

to be honest I have never had that happen. Are you storing clothes in the basement where your laundry is? My first threw up every day all, she had reflux and her clothes never did that. I used to, on bad days, fill the machine half way and just toss puke things in there as they occurred and ran the machine at the end of the day.

The Shaklee laundry products are amazing. I used to buy stained clothes at garage sales, especially the infant clothes, soak the stains out and resell the clothes for
5 -10 X's what I paid for them. I'd buy a bag of stained clothes for $10 and then clean them and sell them for 50 cents to $4 a piece depending on what the item was.

It gave me some spending money of my own, but the amazing thing is that the products were organic, safe, effective and never molded. ( I had a friend that got evacuated out of her home because of toxic gases and then forgot she had a load of clothes in the washer.... she had them in the washer for 5 days and they never even molded)

JB,

Moldy and stincky clothing happens to all of us at some time. The only way I have found that really works is to put a tablespoon of liquid bleach in the washing machine. Most machines have a specific compartment for bleach, and if you put it there the machine distributes it evenely and gradually during the wash so that it won't ruin your clothes.

I had this problem recently. I couldn't figure out why my clean laundry stunk no matter how many times I washed it. Give this a try, it really does work!

J.

No need to run out and buy anything else...just spot treat the mold/mildew with regular liquid laundry detergent (I use Dreft for my baby's clothes, but I used Tide for the treatment) and let it sit for a bit before washing it in hot water. Works like a charm. I pulled my old Cabbage Patch Kid doll and all of her clothes out of the garage to clean up for my little girl to play with one day. This was after sitting in the garage for 5 years in a box. The above treatment worked the first time (after I had already tried other pre-treaters...to no avail). Good luck!

I would hang the "wet" clothing over the edge of the laundry basket/hamper or wherever til it has time to air dry. 2ndly,if you aren't able to do so,try to get to the laundry a little faster so there isn't time for the mold to set in. As far as getting the mold out,a little salt and lemon juice may help. Or Oxiclean is tooted to do the best of all products on the market for almost everything. Good luck..........J.

Hi There!

This has totally happened to me and it grossed me out and I felt like the worst mom ever....I am so happy to hear that it has happened to another mother! I found success in soaking the clothes in Baby Oxy overnight (you can find it at Target) before I put them in the washing machine....then
I sprayed them with Oxy clean and then washed them. I also got a laundry sorter with mesh bags, so that air would get to the clothes if they were at all damp! Good Luck and thanks for sharing!