Babies are known for quite a few things. Among those things are the horrible blowout diapers that every mother will face at some point.
There’s nothing pleasant about them. Getting the poop stains out of baby clothing can be as difficult as the diaper change itself. However, these tips and tricks will help you remove poop stains so your baby’s clothing looks new again.
In this article
How To Remove Poop Stains From Baby Clothing
In order to effectively remove stains from clothing, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind. It’s important that you treat the stains properly.
You’ll also need to wash them a certain way, and avoid drying them until you’re sure that the stain is removed. If you don’t it can ruin your baby’s clothing.
Dump Solid Waste Into the Toilet To Flush It
Typically, when a baby has a blowout diaper, it’s a lot of diarrhea. However, there are going to be times when it is solid. You don’t want to throw that in the washer. Instead, dump the solid part out into the toilet before you begin removing the stain.
Rinse It Off
After you dump the solid part into the toilet, there will still be some poop on the piece of clothing.
Rinse it off with warm water to remove as much as you possibly can. This will help the stain remover penetrate into the fabric of the clothing. That’s what you need in order to remove the stain quicker.
Pre-Treat The Stain
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After you’re done rinsing the stain out, it’s important to pre-treat the stain. This is when you’ll use whatever pre-treating technique you typically do.
Personally, I spray clothing with Shout and let it sit for 20 minutes before throwing it in the washer. Other methods you can use are:
- Spraying the stain with other stain removers, such as Oxiclean
- Soaking the stain in white vinegar and warm water
- Lemon juice
- Hydrogen peroxide
Typically, this is all you need to do for the stain to come out in the wash. If it doesn’t come out in the first wash, then you can try scrubbing out the stain. Do not do that in the beginning. There’s no point in doing more work than you have to.
Wash The Clothing ASAP (And Properly)
After you pre-treat the stain, you want to throw it in the washer. Stains will come out easier if they are washed sooner instead of later. If you can’t immediately wash it, make sure that you wash it as soon as possible.
Use The Hottest Water You Can
Before putting the clothing in the washer, make sure to read the tag. If it says cold water only, do not wash it in warm or hot water. Instead, use cold water as instructed.
If the tag says that you can wash it in warm or hot water, use hot water. The instructions on the tag guarantee that you won’t damage or shrink the clothing by using hot water.
Stains come out easier with hot water than they do cold water, which is why you should use the hottest water that you can.
Wash Stained Clothing Separately
When you wash clothing that has stains on it, make sure that you wash it separately.
If you don’t, the poop can wind up on other pieces of clothing. This also guarantees that there is plenty of water and soap getting to the clothes, which might not happen in a washer full of laundry.
Follow The Directions On The Tag
While it can be tempting to wash the clothing on a heavy cycle in hot water to make sure the stain comes out, don’t do this. Instead, read the tag and follow the directions.
If they say to only wash the clothing on a delicate cycle, make sure that you do just that. If you don’t you can risk ruining your baby’s clothing.
Be Weary Of The Dryer
If the clothing still has a stain on it, and you put it in the dryer, it can set the stain into the fabric. Once this happens, it can be almost impossible to get it out. If you do manage to get it out, it’s going to take a lot more work.
Check The Clothing Before Putting It In The Dryer
We instantly throw clothing into the dryer out of habit but don’t do this with stained baby clothes. Instead, make sure that you check them first. If the clothing still has stains, you’ll need to try again.
For dark clothing, you can let it air dry to make sure. Sometimes, it can be hard to spot stains on dark fabric that is wet.
Other Stain Removal Techniques
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Sometimes, Shout or Oxyclean just don’t seem to have the power to remove stains. There are a few other methods that you can use for particularly stubborn stains. If the stain doesn’t come out in the first wash, don’t give up just yet.
Wash It A Few More Times
This is by far the easiest way to get a stain out. If it only partially came out, consider spraying it again and putting it through the wash again.
It might take once or twice, but this can get a stain out with minimal effort. That means you won’t spend hours scrubbing it out, which none of us have time for anyway.
Give It An Oxiclean Soak
Oxiclean is wonderful at removing stains. The only reason that I personally don’t use it as my go-to stain remover is that it left a lot of my daughter’s clothing ruined.
After one wash it left most of the clothing with a worn appearance although it was almost new.
However, you need to keep in mind that she wore mostly dresses, and there were very few cotton ones. It did not ruin cotton pajamas, so some baby clothes will still be safe with this method.
Get a bowl full of warm water. It should be room temperature. Dump in a few scoops of Oxiclean. Stir them together to create a nice mixture. Then, let the clothing soak for 2-3 hours before putting it into the washer.
Remove Poop From Fabric By Soaking In Soap
To use this method of stain removal, you’ll need to follow the same method above. Simply fill a bowl with room temperature water. Then, add the laundry soap that you normally use.
You can also use dish soap. (Dishsoap gets stains out easier, but both methods work well.) Mix well until you have a soapy solution in the bowl. Next, let the clothing sit for 2-3 hours. Then, wash as you normally would.
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Scrub It
Before you scrub the clothing, it’s important to note that this can damage clothing. You’ll want to scrub a small spot in a discreet location to make sure that you don’t ruin it. It’s common for this to damage fabrics like satin, but cotton tends to hold up relatively well.
Make a solution with one of the following:
- Dish soap and water
- Laundry soap and water
- Baking soda, dish soap, and water
You want to make sure that the solution has the same consistency as a paste if you use baking soda. Then, using an old toothbrush, work the solution into the fabric, gently scrubbing in small, circular motions.
This will gently remove the stain from the clothing. After you’re done scrubbing the stain, wash it as you normally would.
Bleach It
If you’re not opposed to using bleach, this is a great way to get stains out of clothing. You can let the clothing soak in bleach or wash it as you normally would. Bleach will also help disinfect the clothing, and remove any odor.
In Conclusion
Poop stains can be horrible to get out, but they are something that we all have to deal with. When a quick spray with stain remover doesn’t work, scrubbing or soaking the clothing will remove poop from baby clothes.
