about to wash all my new stuff...q please

okay soooooo have a couple huge loads to do of baby clothes/towels etc.
i bought dreft and i am planning on using warm or cold water....first is that correct?

second..i live in a complex and the dryers are pretty much just hot....or something called permanent press. not sure what heat setting i should be drying baby clothes in?

and third...bc this is first time washing and want to keep things soft....do you think i should use a fabric softner/or dryer sheet from dreft or not so important?

tia....so exciting but i need a nap now! haha

Re: about to wash all my new stuff...q please

I wash everything in cold water, but use All Free and Clear. Dreft is too rich for my blood.

I dry clothes on the normal setting, perm press is fine, as long as they dry.

Never use fabric softener or sheets on baby clothing. They will still come out nice and soft. Something to do with taking the flame resistance out of the clothing.

Re: about to wash all my new stuff...q please

I am washing everything right now as we speak. I only washed the 0-3 month stuff and all of the towels/burpclothes/blankets anyway, since we don't have much neutral stuff in bigger sizes. We'll be buying a LOT once this baby is born!

Anyway...I washed in cold water, I don't want anything to shrink!

And I used All Free & Clear --- we used dreft in the beginning with my DD 6.5 years ago but switched to All Free & Clear when she was about 4 months old and it was always fine.

I am drying it on a cool setting, but I am sure perminant press would be fine.

I didn't use any fabric softener sheets --- because they are usually highly scented and that could irritate the baby's skin.

I think they do sell baby-safe fabric softener sheets but I think that's unecessary.

Re: about to wash all my new stuff...q please

I bought the bounce dryer sheets that are free of dyes and perfumes. Think that's ok?

Re: about to wash all my new stuff...q please

We use perm press to dry DS' clothes because it's not as hot (don't want anything to shrink).

We wash with cold or warm water only.

We use All Free & Clear or any other free and clear detergent for all of his stuff.

We did NOT wash every single piece of clothing in each size. We washed enough to have 1 week's worth of clothes (with extras for extra changing each day). If we needed more clothes, we would just throw new items in the wash as we needed them.

Also, don't use dryer sheets or fabric softener when washing baby's clothes. Not recommended.