There are a lot of things that new parents aren’t warned about ahead of time, and still have to figure out the hard way. Of the many things that we could list, one is baby poop stains. Baby poop stains are a lot more common than you may realize, and they don’t just affect cloth diapers or your baby’s clothes. The reality is that if you’re changing a diaper several times a day, there’s a good chance that some of that is going to get transferred to your clothes and cause a stain. Fortunately, you can remove these stains with a little bit of elbow grease.
What Makes Baby Poop Stains So Tough to Remove Anyway?
What makes baby poop stains so tricky is twofold:
- The actual pigmentation is concentrated, and so it’s more likely to leave behind a mark.
- These types of stains set easily, meaning that they can be permanent if action isn’t taken quickly enough, or if you make a mistake during the stain removal process that makes the stain become permanent by baking it into the fibers of the clothing item.
What is the Process of Removing a Baby Poop Stain from Clothing?
Follow these simple steps to handle baby poop stains, whether you’re home or away from home, and you should be able to get rid of the stain completely so that it doesn’t become permanent.
Step #1: Rinse or Blot
If you can, run to the nearest faucet with the garment and rinse it thoroughly under cold water. Hot water can set the stain, making it permanent, while cold water can dilute the stain and flush it out of the fabric fibers. If you can’t get to a faucet, blot the stain with a baby wipe as much as possible.
Step #2: Soak in Solution
As soon as you possibly can, leave the garment to soak in a solution of cold water and either laundry detergent, dishwashing soap or a stain remover that’s enzyme-based to break down the stain itself. Just make sure that if you are washing baby clothes, that you use some type of cleaning agent that is safe for a baby. Let it soak for a good 15-20 minutes.
Step #3: Scrub, Scrub, Scrub
Next, you’ll want to scrub the stain once it’s done soaking. This is only necessary if the soaking didn’t work, as often, the step above is enough to remove the stain entirely. We recommend using some dish soap and a toothbrush (one that won’t be used again, of course) to work the detergent deep into the clothing fibers and scrub it away. From there, you can do another cold rinse before looking over the garment to make sure that the stain is fully gone.
Final Step: Launder
Now, you can run the garment through your washer and dryer as you normally would, making sure to follow the directions based on the material you’re washing. You can use Newborn Baby Laundry Detergent Pods or Baby Laundry Detergent Pods {5+ months) in order to really get baby poop staining off their clothing for good.
The Key Takeaway
If you’re the parent of a baby, then you know that poop stains are unavoidable. You can try to prevent them as much you want to, but sooner or later, you’ll need to follow the steps above. Luckily, these steps work, so that you won’t be throwing out clothes on a regular basis.
