Last night I decided it was time to inventory the baby clothes. Before I say anything else, I want to express how grateful we are for all of the love and generosity we've received from friends & family. We have been given a ton of great baby clothes, and I expect we will use most of them in the course of the first 6 months. And once we're done, I expect we will pass many of them along to friends and family in turn.But baby stuff smells weird. There is some kind of industry standard baby smell that manufacturers and retailers have apparently agreed upon as "The Smell" for babies. It's the smell of baby powder, or baby shampoo, or baby laundry detergent, or baby clean-up wipes, or baby air fresheners -- OK, I made up that one. At least I hope I did.
For the longest time, I assumed that that was just the odor that babies have, like an infant B.O. that just smells kind of sweet and dusty. Now I'm coming to realize it is merely a perfume. I am guessing that the baby himself will smell considerably different on his own.
Although I have not decided conclusively, I don't think I care for the industry baby smell that much, and I think it might even aggravate my allergies a little bit. I've decided to wash the baby clothes using All Free & Clear detergent, and set the washing machine for a second rinse. Hopefully this won't get me in trouble with Child Protective Services, or any seasoned Moms.
The other thing I'm not sure about is etiquette for receiving gifts of baby clothes. We've received several boxes of really nice stuff from Robin & Anne, Meghan and Shannon, and my Mom too. Particularly with the used baby clothes, should we plan on keeping the clothes or passing them along to other new parents, or should we return them when done, or if we end up not needing all of them?
I have no first-hand experience with baby clothes, but I would guess that at least some percentage of them don't survive infancy, what with the spitting up and the crawling and the general baby-ness. Probably the thing to do is just ask the giftor.
4 comments:
kid -- baby smell is sweet, powdery, even poopy, IT'S A BABY! it's a kitten, a puppy . . . whatever! IT'S A BABY! you gotta love it.
Dan! You are too funny! Babies do smell wonderful, esp. their heads/hair. Mmmmmm. I don't think All Free & Clear was around when I had babies. I used Dreft. But, it probably puts some of the "industry baby smell" back in the clothes. I kept some of the clothes for baby #2 and the others I gave away/back to whomever could use them.
Mary
Dan,
If clothes are given to you as a gift (ie, with no strings attached) you can dispose of them however you wish.
It's okay to Return To Sender or forward on to the next new parent in my experience. We've done both.
oh, and if it wasn't obvious....
WOOT! Congrats
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