Reusing Stored Baby Clothes: Concerns and Washing Tips

Question

Our first child is now four and our second is due in a month or so. We stored the first baby's clothes so we could reuse them but due to damp in the UK and the clothes having been stored for so long (4 years), I am afraid of reusing them. Are there any concerns or special washing that we should do or should we be buying new clothes for at least 1-month-old baby?

Answer 1

There is absolutely no reason not to reuse the clothes if they are not stained or otherwise unusable. Check the smell. Wash them carefully with the soap you find best for babies as you would new clothes and check them again to be sure.

My babies have been wearing clothes I used to wear as a baby - my mother kept everything in the attic for nearly 30 years! We went through them carefully and put them in the wash. Most turned out okay. Some had obvious stains and we threw those out.

For example, sometimes yellow spots appear in stored clothes that don't go away in the wash. Those I preferred not to use. But mainly they were okay!

Answer 2

Echoing @Nimloth, there's tons of reasons to reuse the clothes. You just need to take the proper steps to clean them.

My aunt had six children and not as much income. She would take the baby clothes out, repair by hand any damage, and throughly clean and disinfect them using bleach (I remember the distinctive sodium hipochlorite smell) and laying them inside a plastic bag under the sun for a whole day. The next day she'd put the clothes in a regular wash, soften, and iron cycle. I am not advocating the use of the same materials she did though. There are friendlier ways to disinfect nowadays. Hipochlorite is rather aggressive.

If the clothes are clean and without mold or any contaminant, there's no reason to not use them.

Reusing the clothes is environmental friendly, economical, and character-building, I guess. She had a collection of pictures of all six cousins with the same clothes at the same relative age.