how much washing do you do for a baby?

With a newborn in the house, I'm finding I need to do an additional load of washing daily to keep up with her needs. That's her clothes, about 2/3 cloth nappy use (the other 1/3 we are still using disposables, though the number of those we use is decreasing), and all of the many things she dirties in a day, like bunny rugs, sleeping bag, zillions of burp cloths, etc. I just don't like her to be wearing, sleeping in or on something that has been thrown up on, even if it's only a little bit, it's right by her face where she can smell it. And I certainly change her out of anything that gets pooey straight away.

I am slightly staggered by the sheer amount of washing and I feel bad for using that amount of water (I'm in Melbourne, so drought is ever-present). My loads are about 2/3 full, mostly, sometimes fuller. But if I don't wash that often I don't see how I'll get things to dry in time, without using the dryer almost daily too, and that would be even worse.

How much washing did or do you do for your baby? Does it get better or worse from here?

babies use a lot of stuff in one day that's for sure! we go through so much washing, with 2, and i find that once solids, crawling, activities like painting, playing in dirt etc start, there's a whole lot more.

i don't think you're doing any more than is normal.

flat out washing here also. When DS was first born he would pee through all the time until we realised we had to point the willy down. One night we changed him like 5 times....we were washing in the middle of the night LOL!!!!

Now we go through at least to sets of clothes a day!!!

My Mum always used to say "Erin why do you never finish your washing, it's easy put it on & hang it out" after 2weeks visit it was "wow, I can see how you never get to finish your washing pile":doh:

With no2. on the way I dread to think what it's going to be like!!

HEAPS!! With DS1 especially, I couldn't believve how much extra washing he created. In the beginning I was leaking heaps and so during feeds we'd both get covered in milk, so there would have been at least a load a day. Then DS2 was a chucker so it was much the same although I think I went through fewer of my clothes.

It does ease up for a while though once the spewing, leaking milk etc dies until - that is until they start toilet training LOL!

When Bella was new I would do at least 2 loads of her stuff a day, now that she has stopped spewing I am doing 1 every second day for her clothes.

Yes, that sounds about normal... babies generate HEAPS of washing on top of your usual loads... plus I find that if you BF your own clothes need a faster rotation as leaking can make you smell a bit like a sour old dairy!

The whole washing process for a baby seems easier in summer though... not just because it dries faster but because they need less clothing and rugs.

We do a load of nappies/cloth wipes daily and then a load of his clothes every 2nd day unless there have been a lot of accidents then we'll do one sooner. Then I will do a load on the weekend of all sheets/blankets. So, we're probably 10-12 extra loads of washing per week than before he was here. It all gets hung out on the clothes horse at the moment in front of the fire but sometimes it has to go in the dryer (especially nappy inserts) when we start to run low.
I feel guilty about the water usage as well, but I try and keep his clothes/sheets as a quick wash in our front loader and that uses very little water.

im thinking of buying 2 new clothes airers actually.. so that i can keep one in each bedroom under the heater vents! i remember running out of room to hang DD's clothes because of the rate i was washing them! at the moment we get by with one small airer (i dont bother to hang them outside unless its sunny) and we dont have a dryer. we have heaps of clothes ready for dd2's arrival.. its just the washing and getting them dry quickly that im worried about!

I've bought a second clothes airer already, thank goodness. We live in a small flat, the outside line is not covered, so at the moment that's useless. Every day I have both airers full and often stuff kinda draped around the living room too. I can see that it's just going to be like this all winter at least <sigh>.