Baby laundry question

[daisysue62]

I've decided to go with All Free and Clear for all of our household laundry rather then segregate the baby's things and wash them in Dreft and everything else in Tide which is what we were using. I've made the switch for our things and I'm getting ready to wash a ton of baby stuff but realized that I had no idea if I could use dryer sheets! Does anyone know if using dryer sheets defeats the purpose of using a fragrance free detergent?

Thanks!

[usafwife]

I'm currently using Dreft and Baby All to wash DD's clothes/blankets in. I haven't used fabric softener when I wash or dryer sheets with any of the loads of her things. I know that using fabric softener isn't recommended for children's sleepwear because it does something to the flame retardent in the material.

[SaphirimalMei]

I usually use a dryer sheet with DDs clothes because a lot of her receiving blankets gather MASSIVE static cling. Luckily DD does not appear to have any allergies and her skin has never shown a reaction. The Ped said that unless baby shows signs of an allergy or skin reaction it should be fine. In our case it works great.

However, I've heard that on items that are specifically flame retardant that the presence of fabric softener can lessen its effectiveness. (ETA...cross posted with above :) )

[BTB]

We threw flame retardency to the four winds (if DD's close enough to fire that her clothes combust, I'm not counting on her jammies to save her) and use Bounce Free dryer sheets along with our All Free and Clear - however, just due to volume, we do segregate DD's laundry anyway! It works out well because basically everything DD owns is pastel, and she has so much more yellow and green than pink (by design) so the colors naturally sort themselves.

[kanga1622]

Just as a heads up - you can purchase ALL FREE & CLEAR dryer sheets and DOWNY FREE & SENSITIVE liquid fabric softener if you are worried about allergies. That's what we use due to my allergies (and our dog's also) and I've never had a reaction. We usually buy the cheaper PUREX FREE & CLEAR laundry detergent as well and have never had a problem. More and more companies are coming out with fragrance free laundry products.

[HGMorgann]

we did use "All Free and Clear" too in the beginning w/ just Walmart brand dryer sheets. Then I tried another brand of cleaner and its done fine too - its is a "Smelly Kind" ...its just really up to your kiddos skin.