Of the many things I didn’t know I would need to know as a new mother, how to get a stain out of baby clothes was at the top of the list. It begins with those lovely newborn blowouts and somehow gets worse as your baby starts eating solids, then keeps going into toddlerhood with grass stains and mud galore. These are all some pretty tricky stains, but they have nothing on this tried and true stain remover that every mom should know.
I’ve tried this method on spit-up stains, poop stains, berry stains, dirt stains, grass stains, oil stains, it works wonders on whatever your baby can throw at you.
To begin you will need:
Combine ingredients. That peri bottle you received from the hospital is about to meet its next match. Before you begin, make sure it has been thoroughly cleaned. Fill the bottle ⅔ full with hydrogen peroxide. Then fill the remaining with blue dawn dish soap. You will get some bubbles as it fills, but as you let it sit you will be able to fill it up more.
Allow the solution to rest. When you first add together the ingredients, they will be a deep shade of blue. The trick is to let it sit for about 24 hours until it turns a light shade of pink. This means that your stain remover is ready to go!
Apply to stain. Apply the solution directly to the stain and gently rub it with your fingers. Many times I will find the stain comes out in this step, but sometimes it needs to soak a little bit before coming out.
Let clothing soak. Let the baby stain magic go to work. Usually letting it soak for about 30 minutes before putting it in the wash should do the trick.
Run in a regular wash cycle. Something about the soak before the wash really works. Run through a regular wash cycle and always double-check major stains before adding to the dryer to ensure the stain has come out.
For extra tough stains, repeat. Sometimes your stain will need some extra work. If your stain didn’t come out after the wash, you can repeat this process adding the solution to the stain and letting it soak. If you don’t catch the stain before it's dried, don’t worry. I have had many times where I have added the stain remover to a dried clothing item and still gotten it out. Sometimes it just takes a few extra tries.
That’s it, the secret recipe for the best stain remover for babies and toddlers is two parts hydrogen peroxide to one part blue dawn dish soap! This solution has saved my life so many times and really works better than any spray you can find at the store.