Proof that the best-laid plans sometimes fail miserably and result in you feeling like a big dummy.
At about a week old, baby E started having a prickly-looking red rash all over her torso. It didn’t seem to bother her, but it refused to go away. The pediatrician didn’t seem particularly concerned, but recommended a few topical solutions to help encourage it to clear up. I dutifully lotioned and massaged, no change. I tried a new lotion, no change. Of course, I turned to the internet. I was perplexed – I wasn’t putting anything irritating on her skin. I had washed all of her clothes before she wore them with the special newborn-friendly detergent. I was even doing separate loads of laundry with just her tiny items! Then, in the middle of the night, I realized: I was still using dryer sheets. Uh oh.
If you’re a parent, you can probably imagine what happened next. If not, I’ll paint the picture for you – me, frantically throwing all of the clothes that I might POSSIBLY have let come in contact with a dryer sheet (so, all of them) as well as any blankets and a fair number of my own shirts into the washing machine, while also trying not to spiral into deep anxiety about how my quest for fresh-smelling laundry had clearly caused me to fail as a mother. Poor Rick tried to stay out of the way while I Tasmanian-deviled my way around the house ranting about laundry. I was simultaneously praying that eliminating the dryer sheets would solve the problem (because I wanted it solved) and weirdly kind of hoping it wouldn’t (because I didn’t want this to be my fault). Let me remind you, E did not seem to be bothered in the least by this rash, but I saw this as a deep failure of my new parenting skills.
Eliminating the dryer sheets solved the problem. Almost immediately. Like, comically fast. So, that was that – no more dryer sheets for the Hickmans. As it turns out, I really should have been on this train a long time ago – dryer sheets are not great for your skin, your clothes, your dryer, or the environment. It just took me giving my baby a rash for me to figure it out. Oops.
The funny thing is that you’d think that I would be a laundry expert, given how much I love doing it. I distinctly remember getting excited as a kid when I got to do my own laundry (I felt so grown up!) and even now, there’s something very satisfying to me about dumping a load of laundry into the wash. Folding has taken me a bit longer to come around to, but I’ve determined that the secret is to do daily small loads of laundry, so that I don’t end up with a veritable mountain of clothes that feels like an impossible task.
With all of this practice doing laundry, I have formed some strong opinions about the products that I use. I don’t separate loads by color most days (they would be too small if I did), and I was going through Dreft like nobody’s business – probably because I have always been more of a “just slosh some detergent in there” kind of person. Enter, Charlie’s Soap. I love this stuff so much that I am willing to go to the extra effort of measuring it out, one ounce at a time. It makes our clothes soft, smell clean (but not perfumey), and it didn’t destroy our washer when Rick misheard me and put two cups instead of two ounces in the other day. I’m a big fan. As for the dryer sheet replacement – wool dryer balls are the winner. You can scent them with essential oils and whatnot if you want to – I don’t bother. I spray them with water (to reduce static) and chuck a couple in the dryer with the wet clothes and they work just fine. If anyone wants to try them, let me know, because I decided I needed to buy multiple sets (as I often do when I find something I like). Pro tip: save your money, you don’t need nine dryer balls. Three or four will do.
One of the things that I have found most valuable about being on maternity leave (aside from, you know, spending time with my baby) is that it has given me the opportunity to re-train myself to have some better habits. I do the dishes every day. I eat breakfast. I do a load of laundry. I still don’t cook dinner (there are limits, OK?). I joke that my house has never been cleaner, but it’s honestly true. Forcing myself to keep up on my chores daily has meant that I don’t fall into the trap of leaving everything for the weekend. Weekends, I’ve decided, are for napping. We’ll see how this all turns out when I go back to work – it very well may go straight down the drain. For the time being, I’m going to enjoy doing my laundry every day and take solace in the fact that, even though I gave my newborn a rash, at least I sleuthed my way into solving it and I only cried a little.
Hickmans at Home 