I can hear it from across the house. Sweet little Sirenita is playing quietly. Then comes the explosion. She acts unconcerned, as if nothing had happened. For a moment, I hesitate. Should I scoop her up and run to the changer? Maybe I should become one of those potty training moms, and run to the toilet? She looks so calm, chewing on her entire fist as if her life depended on it. Maybe it was just what we politely term "Fireworks." After all, poor little Sirenita has suffered from man farts since she was born.
Another explosion. Sirenita's life (or rather that of her clothing) flashes before my eyes. The time a friend changed her diaper, and was afraid to pull the tabs on her disposable diaper too tight. Good thing hair washing was already on the schedule. All the times when she was still within the weight specifications of her size 1 disposable diapers, but she could have moved up to size 2 for better coverage. The time when her cloth diapers didn't quite fit around her lets right yet, and it shot out the side. And over all, The White Onsie.
Before Sirenita was born my coworkers threw me a baby shower. They gave us tons of adorable baby clothes. Among the items was a white Onsie. It was darling. It had a little pink rosette, pastel lettering. Very stylish, very cute. And apparently cursed among onsies. Every time Sirenita wore The White Onsie it suffered horrible accidents. It was almost like she didn't like it. If there were a clothing item with such bad luck now that she has obvious likes and dislikes, I would be convinced it was on purpose. She was a newborn at the time, however, and only knew eat, sleep, poop, repeat.
I've always heard that breastfed baby poop stains.The first time we had a blow out I thought The White Onsie was done for.
It's just a fact a life, they say. Dogs bark, cats meow, babies have blow-outs and their poop ruins all their clothes. I quickly resigned myself to thinking that The White Onsie was doomed. I put it on her anyway. And of course, crap happened.
I'll spare you the image, unless you want it. Excuse the expression, but The proof is in the pudding.
The first time one of our "green" diapers had a meconium explosion, I threw The White Onsie in the sink, ran water over it and scrubbed out as much as I could. X-files style, the black oil had already sunk into the fibers. I figured that was one outfit down, another 5 to go. (We didn't have much in newborn sizes.) Considering The White Onsie already doomed I grabbed my tub cleaner, sprayed it down and left it sitting on the sink till I did laundry.
Before we go further, let me state this I don't use scrubbing bubbles! Please, please do not use a regular tub or bathroom cleaner on your children's clothing! What I use is a combination of 1 part Dawn dish soap to 2 parts white vinegar. I keep it in a spray bottle in my bathroom closet, and reach for it whenever there is a disaster. I didn't really think it would remove baby poop from her clothes. In fact, I didn't even check to see if it had or not when I threw it in the wash. Boy was I surprised when I was folding the laundry and couldn't find poop stains!
The White Onsie was white again! No X-Files stains, no sign of explosion! It was like Dawn and Vinegar had teamed up, gone back in time, and saved The White Onsie from doom!
I was so amazed that I decided to treat and rewash all the rest of Sirenita's exploded on clothing. As a first time mom with a two week old baby, I had already given up on "green, natural" diapers as well as clothing without poop stains. Numerous items of her scant tiny wardrobe had already been washed and come through with poop stains. I was too tired to care. Besides, all my life I had been lead to believe that poop stains were just par for the course when you have a baby.
Since it couldn't hurt, I brought my tub spray into the laundry room, sprayed down about half her little onsies and PJs. An hour later I threw them in the wash, and two hours later my tiny daughter had a stain free wardrobe again.
In 3 months Sirenita has not had a single item ruined by poo stains. Not even her cloth diapers. Thats a whole separate post in itself. All I can say is... Thank you, Dawn dish soap. You and Vinegar are a magical pair. I don't know if you have a time machine, or how you do it, but my Sirenita's tiny little clothes always look like new.
This is an after pic, taken today. My daughter has outgrown these, but they had their battles.
Summary:
1 Part Dawn Dish Soap (the blue kind)
2 Parts White Vinegar
Mix the two ingredients together. Spray on and leave it sit for an hour or so. Wash. If the stain remains, spray again and leave sit longer and wait for the time machine to work.
I sometimes leave my sprayed clothing for several days prior to washing, and the stains still come out. I've never had anything fade because of use of Dawn, but vinegar can fade clothing. Also, if you choose to use this miracle poo remover, keep in mind that too much dish soap can cause damaging suds in HE washers. I use it sparingly, you don't need a lot anyway.