Laundry detergent that is good with stains but doesn't shrink kid clothes?

[aristocatz]

Now that my DD is almost 20 months old, she is getting very rough and tumble and dirty outside and during meals.

I'm searching for a brand of laundry detergent that is good on food and dirt stains, but won't shrink her clothes.

She has no sensitivities to detergent that I've encountered so far.

Thanks!

 

[Hannathy]

the detergent doesn't shrink the clothes, the temperature of the water or the temperature of the dryer is what shrinks the clothing.

 

[msjprincess]

Shrinking has nothing to do with detergent.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I use Costco's powder detergent and powder oxy-clean for stains. I wet the stain area then apply oxy-clean and scrub that in. Let it sit overnight then put in wash.

 

[momto2girls]

I agree with the others. Detergent doesn't shrink clothing. The temperature of the water and the heat of the dryer are what shrink clothing.

 

[aristocatz]

the detergent doesn't shrink the clothes, the temperature of the water or the temperature of the dryer is what shrinks the clothing.

Thank you-I'm such an idiot sometimes! I always wash her clothes in cold water, but sometimes the stains won't come out. Maybe I need to pre-treat? I honestly never had to deal with so many stains until I had my DD!

 

[aristocatz]

I use Costco's powder detergent and powder oxy-clean for stains. I wet the stain area then apply oxy-clean and scrub that in. Let it sit overnight then put in wash.

Thank you-I will try this

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I have found that tide pods on cool have worked amazing for us.

Also strip her naked at meal times.

 

[Hannathy]

I found using shout solid stick pre-treat worked the best. I think they don't make that one any more but spray and wash still does make one. rubbing it on seems to get more out than the sprays.

always pretreat and always check before you put anything in the dryer the heat will set the stain. So if you need to try something else or just repeat it.

Here's a hint never give them jello except naked or in very old clothes! that stuff stains forever.

 

[laughinplace199]

Thank you-I'm such an idiot sometimes! I always wash her clothes in cold water, but sometimes the stains won't come out. Maybe I need to pre-treat? I honestly never had to deal with so many stains until I had my DD!

You're not an idiot - you have Mommy Brain! We just forget things sometimes. Ok, not just sometimes, we forget things a lot.

As for stains, I always use Clorox 2 or Shout to pretreat. My DS12 had a white baseball uniform last year, so you can imagine how dirty that got. shout and Clorox 2 always did the trick.

 

[NotUrsula]

Your best pre-treatment is going to be Zout -- it's MUCH better than Shout.

Also, never just take her stained clothes off her and put them in the laundry bin to wait until you get around to doing laundry -- stains need to be treated immediately if they are going to reliably come out. Personally I recommend not letting them go for any longer than an hour if you can avoid it, and preferably much sooner than that.

Some people have issues with putting fabric protectant on young children's clothes, but if you don't feel that it's a problem, then Scotchgard is going to be your best buddy. You would wash the clothes once (unworn), then treat them before she ever wears them.

 

[Nancy]

My favorite stain remover is just plain old Era. I was going through a ton of the speciality stuff with 3 kids under age 5 so I just started taking Era and diluting it in one of the empty spray bottles from the pre treater stuff. I would just spray, rub, let it sit and then wash. Got out formula, juice, food, grass...pretty much everything and was so much cheaper than buying the "official" products. I still use Era to this day and my kids are now all in their 20's.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Could it be the type and quality of the clothing you are buying?
Cheaper clothing, and all-cotton clothing WILL shrink. You have to take that into consideration when you are buying. When buying that tiny sized clothing, a little shrinkage can go a long way. And kids grow FAST!

You really need to wash a kids clothes in at least a very warm water to get out all the germs and grime. I would still use a detergent for sensitive skin. Sensitivities or not, who needs the extra chemicals?

I really swear by Tide products... Expensive.. Yes... Worth it to me... YES.

We use the TIDE sensitive HE for front loaders.
White jug with baby blue cap.

PS: Are you using a top loader?
When we changed to a good front loader (I have the LG now) I literally found I did not need to be using the spray stain removers. Only on real stains.... When used correctly, with a little extra effort... a front loader gets my laundry much cleaner than a top loader, which just kind of swishes the laundry around in gallons of water.

Another note, for anyone who uses front-loaders. I would never run a load of laundry in mine without running an extra rinse after the cycle is complete. That is when I use fabric softener. They way they work and are designed... They just do not use enough water to rinse well enough for me. And, then they add the fabric softener after just one initial rinse... leaves a LOT of detergent and softener residue.

I can run a quick wash w/extra rinse extra rinse on my LG, and then run a rinse cycle again with the fabric softener, and have a load of laundry washed in 40 min.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Or just put her in the same clothes for eating that already are stained. That way you won't worry about it.

 

[mamacatnv]

For stains I have found that the Original Dawn dishwashing liquid is hands down the best stain remover, even for dryer dried in grease stains.

For a color wash, I use:
Kirkland liquid (Costco)
a splash of Clorox II
A couple of drops of Dawn
1 C. white vinegar

I also pretreat stains with Dawn.

Fabric softener is added with a 50/50 ratio of fabric softener and white vinegar.

All colors are washed in cold

For whites, I add a 1/2 C. of powdered dishwasher soap to the detergent, Dawn and vinegar mix above - the powdered detergent works miracles along with bleach

If your whites are yellowed, it may take several washings to get them white again. We had some really nasty water in a short term rental when we first moved to TX and all our sheets yellowed. It took 6 rounds of hot water, bleach, detergent and the powdered dishwasher detergent to get them white again. Now I just use that combo and the whites stay white.
A friend of mine tried this on her DS's white dress shirts and it worked great as well.

I read somewhere that its all about breaking up the protein that created the stain. Sometimes it takes several attempts to get the grime off of the fabric fibers so that you can actually get the fiber itself clean and restored to its color or whiteness.

I also always add white vinegar to every single load. Its a deodorizer and a softener as well.

 

[North of Mouse]

Now that my DD is almost 20 months old, she is getting very rough and tumble and dirty outside and during meals.

I'm searching for a brand of laundry detergent that is good on food and dirt stains, but won't shrink her clothes.

She has no sensitivities to detergent that I've encountered so far.

Thanks!

After raising three children, I have never had a detergent to shrink clothes. It's the dryers that shrink them. I always air-dried our better clothes. I also pre treat stains with a spray 'remover'.

 

[North of Mouse]

Also strip her naked at meal times.

Are you for real?? What a solution! I never had any problems - that's what large bibs are for!

 

[crayon3448]

Are you for real?? What a solution! I never had any problems - that's what large bibs are for!

Are YOU for real?? At home if she's eating something I know will be messy (anything saucy) I take off her shirt. There's nothing confusing about that. My DD is the same age (19 months) as OP's DD and no way will she keep a bib on and hasn't for months.

 

[ellone]

Line dry the clothes. If you don't expose the clothes to the heat of the dryer it generally doesn't set. Then you get another chance to get it out.

 

[malibuconlee]

When my daughter was younger we kept a stack of "pasta shirts" around. AHA Daddy's old t-shirts that we could slip over her clothing to catch most of the stuff that would stain. Then I'd wash them like I would bibs, in with the towels.

Tide is what we use and I use Goo Gone for most stains in my house.