How to care for the things of a newborn and do they need to be ironed?

If you ask the older generation whether it is necessary to iron the things of the baby, then you are provided with a perplexing and condemning look and an hour lecture. They can be understood: in those days there was no advanced equipment, modern detergents and other little things that made life easier for mothers of the 21st century. But is it necessary to maintain a sterile environment for the newborn and iron vests and sliders in our time?

Why iron children's things?

Following family traditions or falling under the influence of grandmothers, many mothers do not even try to figure out why it was so important to iron clothes of children before and whether this rule is true to this day. Moreover, deciding to challenge the foundations and abandoning fanatical ironing, you run the risk of getting a bad mother’s brand among giving birth to friends. Would that be true? Of course not, and that’s why.

• Sterility in the presence of wounds.

The main reason why baby diapers and underwear needed to be ironed is the unhealed umbilical cord. It is she who seems to be a child’s vulnerability for up to a month, and an unsterile vest or diaper after a dubious hand wash, and even not ironed, could provoke an infection in contact with the wound. Now, when washing in 90˚ water, more harmful microorganisms are killed, but ironing things up to a month doesn’t really hurt, especially if you wash clothes in a gentle mode at a temperature of about 40˚.

The same can be said about any damage to the baby's body. So, if a child has scratches, wounds on the skin or inflammation, ironing is strongly recommended to avoid infection. Ironing should be resumed, even when the child is already more than a month old, if, for example, a trace of BCG vaccination becomes inflamed or painful diaper rash appears.

• Ironing to soften fabric.

Why iron when the umbilical cord has healed? Many mothers find that after ironing, the cloth of the diaper, and especially the seams, becomes much softer, which is quite important for the comfort of the newborn with its delicate skin. If you think that the child is uncomfortable in clothes, and you consider emollients undesirable chemistry, then you can continue to iron as much as you see fit.

• The aesthetic side of the choice.

If the child is healthy, and the mother continues to stroke diapers and things, then this is already completely her initiative, not proceeding from medical recommendations and prescriptions. In this case, you can consider ironing as a personal choice for everyone: someone strokes bedding and underwear in adulthood, simply because they like it so much, but it’s more convenient for someone not to. There is no crime in this, if you do not ignore other ways to maintain the proper sanitary conditions necessary to maintain the health of the newborn. In the end, many mothers just like to take care of the baby this way, and they really enjoy it.

It turns out that there’s nothing wrong or wrong in ironing for aesthetics and neatness, or in refusing it after the belly button is healed, so you should not inflate a conflict when you encounter a mother on the forum whose approach is different from yours.

Tip

If you use a dryer, you can forget about iron as a disinfectant: the drying temperature in modern machines is high enough to save you from a headache about germs and bacteria.

How to iron things for newborns?

Ask if your mother remembers the exhausting ironing of each diaper and vest on both sides. At that time, thorough tissue disinfection was very important for the newborn.Now the process requirements have become much less stringent, and the required minimum no longer looks so intimidating.

• It is necessary to iron precisely those things that come in contact with an unhealed umbilical cord. So, it is very desirable to iron children's diapers, but, for example, a bonnet or socks - it is not necessary at all.
• It is enough to stroke the things of the newborn from the inside, because it is she who is adjacent to the body. Moreover, it is possible to iron only the area of ​​contact with the wound, without paying much attention to the back, sleeves and legs.
• Continue ironing until the wound has healed. Further continuation is entirely at your discretion.

It will also be useful to change the clothes of the baby as it gets dirty at least once a day, to exclude the reaction of the newborn to microbes from a sweaty vest or wet diaper. Too much effort was put on ironing to let this happen!

Tip

Too frequent ironing does not have the most gentle effect on the fibers of the fabric, contributing to rapid wear and yellowing. Even in such a legal matter as compliance with sanitation and hygiene standards, it is worth knowing the measure.

Experience shows that the first child makes the mother feel more fears than the second or third, and usually by the second pregnancy, the woman realizes that ironing the diapers may not be so necessary. Nevertheless, if you like the neat look of your children, and the process itself is fun, then there is nothing wrong with a long continuous ironing.