Help - are these baby clothes ruined? - updated

[Mama2Xander]

We've been storing our old baby clothes in the crawl space, which did have some water damage last year. The boxes with the baby clothes were not in the area that was affected by the water. I checked through the boxes about a month ago just to make sure, and they seemed fine - no visible mold, didn't smell bad at all, etc. Took them all out last night to wash them and again, they didn't smell at all, and I didn't see any mold on the clothes or the boxes. I washed & dried them today, and now they all STINK of mold. I've sorted very carefully through about half of the items and only found one (so far) that has actual mold spots on it. Is there anything I can do to save the rest?? They really smell bad... like it gives me a headache to smell them... yikes.

[Tilia]

Sounds terrible, but honesty, I would throw them away. Mold is not something I would deal with. I don't think you can fix it, but I could be wrong.

[becoming]

Mold can cause *serious* health problems. I would get rid of them. Sorry that happened, mama.

[kangaroomum25]

Try adding a full gallon of straight white vinegar to the washing machine and wash them (no soap, just vinegar) Then smell them again when they're done.

[Mama2Xander]

Yeah, I don't have a lot of confidence that it can be fixed. I'd like to try though. Vinegar is a good idea, I was also thinking tea tree oil and my mom suggested baking soda. I think we'll try a few washes and see if there's any improvement, but if not, out they go... just feels like such a waste. Ugh. It's literally *all* the newborn stuff - all clothes, socks, hats, nursing pads... yuck. At least our cloth diapers were not stored down there and were not affected

[Mama2Xander]

Just thought I'd update in case it helps anyone else

The clothes are fixed!!
This is what I did, after some more online research:
1. Soaked them in hot water in the bathtub with 2 cups of vinegar for one hour. (We don't have in-suite laundry, so I can't really pre-soak in the machine, hence using the bathtub)
2. Machine washed with one cup of vinegar, no soap.
3. Machine washed again with our regular (natural) detergent.
4. Dried them; at that point they were about 90% better.
5. Machine washed with one cup of baking soda.
6. Machine washed with regular detergent.
7. Dried them... no more smell!
:

[rabbithorns]

I'm so glad you got the smells out. I would check though as they are worn by the babies. I used to have towels get a bit moldy smelling and then I'd make sure they were good and cleaned and even left hanging in the Arizona sun 105F to be sure.

Sure enough no mold smell or anything - until I used it again and they got it wet from drying me off. I always end up having to get rid of them.

Anyway, it's just a FYI to check them again as they get wet to make sure no mold has been dormant and growing again.

Hope they stay good for you.

[kangaroomum25]

vinegar is a life saver, I love that stuff!

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by rabbithorns

I'm so glad you got the smells out. I would check though as they are worn by the babies. I used to have towels get a bit moldy smelling and then I'd make sure they were good and cleaned and even left hanging in the Arizona sun 105F to be sure.

Sure enough no mold smell or anything - until I used it again and they got it wet from drying me off. I always end up having to get rid of them.

Anyway, it's just a FYI to check them again as they get wet to make sure no mold has been dormant and growing again.

Hope they stay good for you.

Just an fyi, but my towels & anything that consistently gets wet (dishclothes, sponges, etc) get the moldy smell. It's actually a bacteria. The only way to deal with it is to kill it. So every so often I add a capful of bleach to the wash. This keeps the moldy smell away. I think it has something to do with the water. I never used to have that problem until a few years ago, so I think something in the water must have changed.

Ami

[rabbithorns]

That's an interesting idea. When we lived on the northern California coast where it rained all winter, it took years for our towels to get really moldy smelling so when we moved to Arizona we got new ones.

The water is much harder here and after summer monsoon, I have to replace all the towels by the end of summer because of the smell of mold that goes away when I wash and dry (either dryer or sun) but comes back when I shower.

I never thought about something in the water..thanks.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by rabbithorns

That's an interesting idea. When we lived on the northern California coast where it rained all winter, it took years for our towels to get really moldy smelling so when we moved to Arizona we got new ones.

The water is much harder here and after summer monsoon, I have to replace all the towels by the end of summer because of the smell of mold that goes away when I wash and dry (either dryer or sun) but comes back when I shower.

I never thought about something in the water..thanks.

Yeah, it was a sudden switch for me. I grew up in San Jose, and until I was 17 or so, I've never had any mold smelling issues. Then sometime around then all of our sponges started smelling bad. It's continued to today (9yrs later), and the only thing that's changed must have been the water. My sisters & I are all really sensitive to it, so we have to constantly nuke sponges, throw them out, switch to plastic scrubbies, etc etc. It's a pain!

We have really hard water too. Maybe that has something to do with it too? I know hard water makes it really difficult for soap to rinse out. Maybe that's what the bacteria are feeding off of?

Ami