As most parents will tell you, feeding a baby is messy business. So, it’s not surprising then, that baby food is one of the most common culprits behind stained clothes – that is, both our clothes and our baby’s. How tough the stain is, is entirely dependent on the type of baby food, and it would be a waste of time to list every type of baby food and where it stands on the spectrum of tough stains. Instead, we broke it down into the following categories:
- Fruit and Vegetables Stains: Most difficult to remove, since their natural pigments embed themselves into the fibers of clothes and bibs rather quickly.
- Protein-Based Stains: Don’t pose much of a challenge when it comes time to tackle them.
- Oil-Based Stains: Can damage clothes and bibs when left untreated so it’s crucial that you act fast
Basically, most baby food clothing stains can be removed using these wonderful and simple methods below.
For Fresh Stains
If you have just spilled baby food on your clothes or your baby’s, simply follow these steps.
Step #1: Instantly remove the stained clothing item.
Step #2: Bring it into a nearby sink and apply dish soap directly to the stain.
Step #3: Use your hands to gently work the soap into the stain before running it under cold water, while continuing to massage the soap in there.
Step #4: Keep running it under cold water until the stain fades away.
If that didn’t work, then do the following:
Step #1: Grab some seltzer/club soda, as the effervescence of club soda helps break up tougher stains, especially if they’re fresh.
Step #2: Drench the stain in the club soda.
Step #3: Allow it to sit for about a minute.
Step #4: Run it under cold water some more.
Note: If you don’t have club soda on hand, then consider some distilled white vinegar, baking soda, or a paste made from both – all of these cleaning products are gentle, natural and safe for both you and your baby to breathe in.
For Older Stains
Now, let’s say that the stain is older, and you’re only noticing it now. That doesn’t mean that all is lost. You can follow the same steps as above, but instead, skip straight to using one of the above natural stain-removing agents, whether that be club soda, vinegar, baking soda or some kind of combination. If that’s not effective, then you should run it through your laundry like you normally would, using Grab Green Baby Laundry Detergent Pods that may help break up tougher, more absorbed stains.
Like we said, the nature of the stain has a lot to do with the type of baby food it is. For example, tomato is more likely to stain than, say, watermelon. And, while most times you can get out a tomato stain, there’s really only so much you can do if it won’t budge.
Ultimately, we DO NOT recommend using chemical-based stain removers. These products contain harsh ingredients, which we already don’t believe in because of their negative impacts on both our health and the environment. But, because you may be dealing with baby’s clothes, you really don’t want to use products that contain harsh chemical additives, which can seriously irritate a baby’s skin, and even their lungs.
