This post is brought to you by Dreft. All opinions are our own.
As new moms staring down at our peaceful infants, it’s hard to imagine the messes they’ll make once they really start moving. We almost picture mini versions of our adult selves, eating with utensils by two, keeping those clothes nice and clean with their perfectly places bibs and never, ever getting into mischief. After all, our babies are highly advanced, don’t you know?
Then the toddler years strike and reality hits. Toddlers are amazing, wonderful, inquisitive, active and messy! Today I’m sharing a few real-life laundry situations that you probably aren’t expecting to encounter as a new mom, plus my favorite tips on how to deal with them!
Tips for Dealing with Your Toddler’s Crazy Laundry!
Laundry Every Day!: As a mom of 2, I could actually do laundry everyday if I really wanted to (but who really wants to?)! Between multiple dirty bibs and dribbles of food that land on my littlest one’s clothing, my laundry pile has increased. My son just started crawling and is now pulling himself up on everything, so the knees of his pants get super dirty when we are playing outside. Thankfully Dreft Stage 2: Active Baby Liquid Detergent comes to my laundry rescue and gets those stains out! I like to toss in Dreft Blissfuls In-Wash Scent Boosters as well for an extra boost of scent, and it is like he never made those mud pies outside (until the next time!)
Holiday food stains: With the holidays upon us, and my son eating everything in sight, there are bound to be more food stains on Christmas Day than any other day. Between cranberry sauce and smooshed in mashed potatoes, I am not worried about how to get the stains out of his nice holiday clothes. I just have to remember to get the pics before we eat!
The Incredible Growing Baby: I have seen this with both of my kids and it has nothing to do with clothes shrinking in the wash or dryer. One day my son wears a super cute outfit for the first time, gets it dirty (as active babies will do). Yet a week later when I put the same super cute outfit on him again, he has grown out of it! You hear it all the time but you just don’t quite understand what it means when people say ‘kids grow up so fast’ until you have your own, and he has only worn the outfit once. Thankfully, Dreft keeps it nice enough that I can pass it on to friends with younger babies!
The case of the missing sock(s): You may have experienced this phenomenon with your own socks, but with kids, it is like the sock fairy prefers little kid socks! Before kids I had a few socks go missing, but not like I have with little ones. I feel like I have to have backups on standby! I solved this problem primarily by washing the kid’s socks in a bag made for the washer. Good thing someone clued me in on this laundry must-have before I spent a small fortune on kid’s socks!
There will always be laundry to do. Make it a little less of a chore by using DreftStage 2: Active Baby on your baby’s clothes (or your entire family’s clothing!) When laundry isn’t taking up your time trying to get stains out, you have more time to spend watching your little ones grow!
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What real-life laundry situations did you encounter during the toddler years that you never thought you’d deal with? Tell us in the comments!
Tabatha Pariseau is a pregnancy and family life writer for OurFamilyWorld; a one-stop destination for all your family needs.
Image ©iStock.com/jandrielombard