How do I know if clothes have fire retardants?

[amberskyfire]

I was given all of my baby clothes from a friend who had a girl two years ago. I'm worried about fire retardants, so I checked the labels on all of the little gowns and jammies to see which ones say "not intended for sleepwear" because I know that means they don't have any chemicals added. Well, only one of her little outfits says that on the label. Not even the regular daily wear clothes say it, so is there any other way to tell which of her clothes have been treated and which have not? Some of the outfits have a long number on the tag. Does that mean something?

[annettemarie]

If they've been washed and worn for two years, I don't think there are any more fire retardants on them.

I'm going to move this to mindful home management since it's more of a "managing chemicals and clothes" issue than a "parenting a baby" one.

[amberskyfire]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

If they've been washed and worn for two years, I don't think there are any more fire retardants on them.

I'm going to move this to mindful home management since it's more of a "managing chemicals and clothes" issue than a "parenting a baby" one.

Normally, I would say yes, but they haven't been washed and worn for 2 years. They were worn for maybe three months by a baby and she has SO MANY outfits (I'm not exaggerating when I say three full trashbags of clothes) there's no way she could have worn each outfit more than twice. Most of them look brand new or still have the tags.

[annettemarie]

Ooh.

OK, I found this in the archives.

[Spock]

If the sleepers are polyester, there's a good chance that they aren't treated with anything because polyester is naturally flame resistant.

I don't think that clothes that are intended to be worn during the day are required to be flame resistant so I'd be surprised if they were treated with anything.

[amberskyfire]

Thanks so much! Everything is cotton, thankfully. It's too humid here in Hawaii to wear any non-natural fibers. I'll just soak everything in vinegar and hope that does the trick.

[dogmom327]

I purposely avoid anything that could be considered sleepwear when shopping for DS due to this issue.

[ASusan]

It's my understanding that clothing under (up to?) a size 9 mos does not have flame retardant. This is why infant clothing changes so much from size 9 mos to 12 mos. For example, in most mass-market retail outlets (e.g., Target, JCPenney), you will see the outfil or sleeper/playsuit in sizes ranging from premie up to 9 mos. Then, the next line of clothing starts at 12 mos. At the 12 mos size, clothing starts to be discriminated into daywear and sleepwear. Under that size, there is nothing that is separately marketed as "sleepwear" because most little ones sleep in the same things that they play in. And because the regulations about having "flame retardant" sleepwear are for sizes above 9 mos. SO, I think you're OK if you're looking at clothing that is smaller than (or up to) 9 mos. After that, things get much more complicated.

I don't know where I came to that understanding, so I don't have links for you.

[amberskyfire]

Originally Posted by ASusan

It's my understanding that clothing under (up to?) a size 9 mos does not have flame retardant. This is why infant clothing changes so much from size 9 mos to 12 mos. For example, in most mass-market retail outlets (e.g., Target, JCPenney), you will see the outfil or sleeper/playsuit in sizes ranging from premie up to 9 mos. Then, the next line of clothing starts at 12 mos. At the 12 mos size, clothing starts to be discriminated into daywear and sleepwear. Under that size, there is nothing that is separately marketed as "sleepwear" because most little ones sleep in the same things that they play in. And because the regulations about having "flame retardant" sleepwear are for sizes above 9 mos. SO, I think you're OK if you're looking at clothing that is smaller than (or up to) 9 mos. After that, things get much more complicated.

I don't know where I came to that understanding, so I don't have links for you.

Hmm. Well, she's 6 months old, but extremely long, so she's already wearing 9-12 mo clothing.