Do I need to wash my brand new baby's brand new clothes?

Yes. There is often a flame-retardant in infant clothing, which can irritate skin.

I would just to be safe, or actually for the baby to be safe.

I didn’t, nothing happened but that’s not necessarily for everyone.

Sure, why not? Turn all clothes inside out first too.

I would. Dirty hands have touched them and they could have dust on them.

I would…never know what is in or on those clothes and a newborns skin is sensitive so why risk the unknown to your precious little baby!

I wash clothes before wearing them, period. Who knows how clean they were before they came into your possession?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Inside out? Why?

The flame retardant clothes will be marked. But yeah, I’d wash it just so it’s all clean and ready to go.

So that the drying machine dusties don’t get into the insides of footies

@Cartman, is it your first? Gosh, my oldest is 26 now, but I can remember how excited I was to wash all her clothes before I had her. Folding everything and smelling all the little t shirts and onesies… Imagining what it was going to be like….
Boy was I deluded.~ ;-)
Congratulations! Yaaaay for babies! Even if there isn’t anything on the clothes, you should wash them and fold them just to get the feel for them. AND, in boot camp one of my shipmates had to go around to all of us one at a time and say “New gear is dirty gear. I need to wash all gear.” another two had to stand in a corner and do the twist and say “Swish swish swish I’m a maytag washer. I wash all night and I wash all day.”
Has nothing to do with this, I know, but every time I hear about laundry, to this day, I remember that. Just thought I’d share with my Fluther famiily.

I’m not a germaphobe, but this might influence your decision.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Ah, that makes sense.

I just washed everything for the new baby. Love the smell of baby detergent! lol

@Trillian ”...26…her…” hmmm do you have pictures? :)

Thank you all!

@Trillian a bit weird that post, but thank you!

@Axemusica I do actually. She’s way beautiful. Her name is Poohbear. I mean Jillian.
@Cartman Waaahhhh! You think my post is weird? Yeah, I get that a lot. Flow of consciousness. Plus I went to high school in the 70’s, smoked a lot of pot, dropped a lot of acid.
So is it your first?

Just imagine how many people touched it and think if you want: a factory worker, a stock person, store clerk, etc etc touching your baby all day. Funny, i don’t wash all my stuff before wearing it, but when I think about a baby I get all weird.

I did wash everything for my first child. She had sensitive skin and all sorts of things could give her a rash. OTOH, my second child seemed to be tough as a boot and rarely got sick, except for the time he got chicken pox.

Flame-retardants, sizing (chemicals to make the cloth feel nicer), dust, and possibly stuff sneezed over the clothing are all good reasons to wash the clothes first. In fact, Mental Floss reports that _Good Morning America looked into how clean new clothes were and discovered that there were gross things on “brand new” clothes, including feces, respiratory secretions, vaginal organisms, and yeast, sometimes in very high density.

So yes, wash those baby duds!

Well, eventually, you probably will…

im sure it wouldnt hurt. there could be some stuff that may cause an allergic reaction.

I would. You never know where the clothes have been. Things often fall on the floor people touch them with dirty hands. I was shopping the other day and a lady literally licked all four fingers on each hand and continued to shop. I was disgusted! So please wash them…especially for a newborn.

Congratulations! I had my first, also a boy, last March :) So much fun!

Definitely. Wash them all, two or three times. Not only are the flame retardant ones sprayed with some pretty nasty chemicals even the ones that are not flame retardant are sprayed to protect from bugs, stains, and so they smell fresh.

There are enough chemicals soaking into us already. Why not try to control them when possible?

@Trillian I like weird. Yes, it’s my first; excited, but a bit scared to tell the truth.

I didn’t wash everything, just the things I knew I’d use. I had this paranoid thought that if I washed all of the baby clothes, the baby would be born too big to wear the newborn ones (my boys both outgrew newborn sizes in about two weeks) or the baby would end up being the opposite sex of what the ultrasound technician thought. Then, I’d have all these clothes with no tags that I couldn’t return. Yes, I often choose strange things to worry about.

There are a lot of good (sane) reasons to wash the clothes first. Whether or not to spend a bit more money on “baby” detergent is up to you. I did at first, but after that just used regular detergent. My kids all have fairly sensitive skin, but the detergent never bothered them. My six year old will still get a rash from wearing new clothes that haven’t been washed. Not all the time, but enough that I try to wash his clothes before he wears them. He loves new clothes though and sometimes manages to put things on before I can get them into the laundry.

Congrats on the baby!

I have always washed new stuff for my kids before they wear them; one time I let my son wear a brand new T-shirt w/out washing it first & he got a rash from it. Clothes usually have sizing on them, if nothing else.

That nice new stiff feeling that new clothing has can be a result of the use of things like formaldehyde http://www.eco-usa.net/toxics/chemicals/formaldehyde.shtml.

This is one of the primary ways children are exposed to this chemical. I would wash them.