It sounds like a silly question, “Can I use any detergent on my babies clothes?”, yet it’s a completely natural and valid one as most baby detergents feature a range of chemicals and soaps.
We all want to ensure our child is never exposed to anything that could be harmful. Finding a gentle detergent for babies is essential as a baby’s skin is very delicate and prone to rashes.
Yet you’ll also really need a baby detergent that gets rid of stains. Nothing increases your laundry basket like a small bundle of joy arriving in your home!
With this in mind, we’ve created a shortlist to help you find the best laundry detergent for babies.
The Best Baby Detergent Tips
Table of Contents
- Always choose a non-biological detergent if you can, they’re typically much gentler on your babies skin.
- Liquid is often better, as it doesn’t leave any residue behind that may irritate your babies skin.
- Don’t assume paying more is better! Some manufacturers package normal detergents as “baby safe” yet do nothing about the ingredients, whilst raising the price point.
- Try a number of detergents, what is soft and kind to one child may cause a skin rash on another.
- Don’t put up with stains! The best baby detergent should be gentle, yet deal with accidents, food, and anything else your baby might throw at it.
Here are our top picks for the best laundry detergent for babies.
The Best Baby Laundry Detergents
Baby Laundry Detergent Reviews
Here’s a list of the 5 best baby laundry detergents we recommend this year.
| Image | Product | Our Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Editors Choice  | Dreft Stage 1: Newborn Laundry Detergent | 9.7 | Check Price |
Best Value | Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent | 9.5 | Check Price |
| | Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent, Free & Clear | 9.1 | Check Price |
| | All Liquid Laundry Detergent, Free Clear | 8.8 | Check Price |
Low Price Favorite | Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free & Clear | 8.6 | Check Price |
Dreft Baby Detergent Review
- Scent: Yes, sort of like baby powder
- Item Form: Liquid
- HE Washing Machines: Yes
- Cost Per Load: $0.31
The Dreft Stage 1: Newborn Laundry Detergent is this years Editors Choice award winner. It’s the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Baby Detergent that is specially formulated for newborn babies. It works and parents have had great results with babies that have sensitive skin or skin conditions. The biggest downside is the scent. Some are OK with it, some really dislike it. It sort of smells like baby powder. But there is no doubt that it works as advertised.
Dreft laundry detergent has been around for many years, providing mothers with a safe, strong detergent that takes care of all baby stains.
It leaves a wonderful “baby fresh” scent after wash and really does appear to make baby clothes wonderful and soft.
Dreft is 2x concentrated, so please don’t use too much in each wash. Follow the instructions on the package and you make it last longer.
During use, we found Dreft performed admirably. It removed all our child stains and as we mentioned before, the scent left on your clothes is lovely!
Our main complaint? The price. Dreft is very expensive compared to the competition and whilst it is very, very good – the price will likely put some parents off.
Specs:
- Hypoallergenic
- Trusted by moms for over 80 years
- Recommended by Pampers
- Formulated for both high efficiency (HE) and standard washers
- #1 pediatrician-recommended baby detergent
Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent
- Scent: none. No dyes or perfumes.
- Item Form: Liquid
- HE Washing Machines: Yes
- Cost Per Load: $0.19
Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent is this years Best Value award winner. For babies, it’s not as popular as Dreft Stage 1, but it is still extremely popular.
Thirteen years ago our daughter suffered with really bad eczema at around 6 months old. After around 3 years of terrible eczema, she finally started to outgrow it, but it hasn’t ever left. I don’t remember exactly when we switched to Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent but it was sometime in her toddler years I believe. We wash her clothes seperately with it and every once in a while I cheap out and switch to regular Tide and she starts getting hot spots of eczema.
It works, its pure, and it has helped us manage our daughters eczema. And the price is more expensive than regular laundry detergent but it’s nearly half the price of Dreft, which makes it a Best Value.
I wholeheartedly recommend Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent based on many years of usage for our daughters delibating skin condition.
Seventh Generation Baby Laundry Detergent Review
- Scent: None. No fragrance or dyes
- Item Form: Liquid
- HE Washing Machines: Yes
- Cost Per Load: $0.25
Seventh Generation Free & Clear is a powerful triple-enzyme formula that fights tough stains, is hypoallergenic and made for sensitive skin. It’s not specifically made for newborns or babies like Dreft mentioned above, but it works very well for them. Other parents have had great results switching to this for their babies skin conditions.
A relatively new entry to the baby detergent market, Seventh Generation does exactly what you might expect from the title! It’s a completely natural and detergent-free product that claims to be pediatrician approved.
The plant-based “chemicals” within Seventh Generation offer a true hypoallergenic wash and could be a great purchase if your child suffers from skin complaints.
During our test, we found Seventh Generation to be pretty tough on stains and whilst there’s no fragrance left over during the wash, we suspect that’s half the point of how Seventh Generation cleanses your laundry.
This is one of the best laundry detergents for babies with sensitive skin. It’s also a good if you worry about the environment effects of using detergent or you simply don’t want to expose your child to any type of laundry powder.
Specs:
- Concentrated baby laundry detergent made to target tough baby stains.
- Quadruple-enzyme stain fighting formula for premium stain targeting performance.
- Fresh scented fragrance derived from 100% essential oils and botanical extracts.
- 0% synthetic fragrances, dyes or artificial brighteners.
- USDA certified biobased product 95%, Great for babys clothes, cloth diapers, towels and blankets.Use dispenser for HE washers
All Liquid Laundry Detergent, Free Clear
- Scent: None, it’s unscented and dye free
- Item Form: Liquid
- HE Washing Machines: Yes
- Cost Per Load: $0.14
All Liquid Laundry Detergent, Free Clear is the #1 recommended detergent brand by dermatologists, allergists and pediatricians for sensitive skin. It removes 99% of top everyday and seasonal allergens, dog and cat dander, dust mite matter, ragweed pollen, grass/tree pollen.
It’s extremely affordable at only $0.14 per load yet does a great job at cleaning clothes.
Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free & Clear
- Scent: None. Unscented and dye free
- Item Form: Liquid
- HE Washing Machines: Yes
- Cost Per Load: $0.09
Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free & Clear is this years Low Price Favorite award winner. It is free of perfumes and dyes, is dermatologist tested and hypoallergenic, specially formulated for sensitive skin. For laundry detergents, it doesn’t carry the brand power of Tide or Dreft, but it does work well.
It comes in at the lowest price on our list of only $0.09 per load. While working well to clean and help with sensitive skin. Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free & Clear has been rated 100% by SkinSAFE, meaning it excludes 100% of their topmost considered skin allergens and is made for sensitive skin. See SkinSAFEproducts.com for more details.
If you’re on a budget but are concerned about your babies skin issues, give Arm & Hammer Skin Free & Clear a try. I think you’ll find it the most affordable sensitive skin laundry detergent on the market and may be surprised how well it works.
Previously Recommended
GreenShield Organic Review
Another organic baby laundry detergent, yet this time with a twist. Some of you might recognize the name GreenShield from anti-toxin standards for other baby equipment, such as crib mattresses.
This time around, GreenShield have had their product certified by USDA, ensuring there are no harsh chemicals or products inside.
GreenShield are also quite proud of their environmental credentials. This product is not tested on animals and as it’s made from organic material, it shouldn’t cause any damage to waterways after use.
During our test, we found relatively good results when cleaning stains. It has to be noted we did have to wash an item of bedding twice to remove everything. Even so, it did a decent job and as an alternative to Organic Rain detergent. You can compare the price, here.
Clean Day Baby Blossom Review
Clean Day Baby Blossom is a hypoallergenic, lightly scented laundry detergent. It promises to remove stains without causing your babies skin any irritation.
It’s also very good value, being almost half the price of its competitors! Definitely the best baby detergent for the money.
We found Baby Blossom Detergent to leave our baby clothes wonderfully clean and lightly scented, quite a nice change after using Organic detergents that leave very little scent behind. We found stains being removed within one wash whilst the dosing amount should mean each bottle lasts for quite a number of washes.
One of the positive things we noticed, (And something backed up in other reviews too) is that this product appears to be truly hypoallergenic. It is gentle on sensitive skin, without losing its scent of stain removal qualities.
For anyone that’s suffered from sensitive skin for years, you’ll understand how impressive that is!
Ivory Snow Gentle Care Review
Quite an expensive brand, yet one that has quite a following amounts those who suffer from allergies and sensitive skin. It’s another true hypoallergenic laundry detergent. The advertising promises it won’t cause any irritation, on both babies or adults.
We found Ivory Snow to remove all stains thrown at it, whilst for some parents, this detergent might evoke some memories, as it’s been used by parents for generations!
We found the laundry smell left afterwards is nice, clean yet not overpowering of too flowery. (As can often happen with many detergents) It also left our baby laundry lovely and soft, almost as if we had used a fabric conditioner too.
We’d have to say this is probably the best baby detergent for sensitive skin.
The only negative we have for Ivory Snow, is it’s the most expensive on the list per wash. We also don’t like the fact it’s tough to obtain this one in-store. It’s really tough to find Ivory Snow in your local supermarket.
However, it is easily available online via Amazon though.
