The Best Homemade Stain Remover for Baby Clothes

This homemade stain remover for baby clothes has been used more times than I could ever count in our house, and it’s saved dozens and dozens of pieces of clothing! It’s made with just three ingredients, so it’s super easy to whip up and costs just pennies to make.

I joke that during the first few months of having a baby, we nearly always have a onesie or another baby outfit soaking in the bathroom sink. It might be an exaggeration, but honestly, those babies can go through a LOT of clothes! Fortunately, when we had our first baby, I quickly realized as a new mom that I needed a simple, cheap solution that would actually work to get all those baby stains out. I’m so glad found this mix, because I’ve now been using it for 4 years, and it’s gotten out a lot more than just infant diaper blow outs.

This stain remover works on poop stains (of course), but it’s also great for removing food stains, dirt and mud, and even getting pen stains out.

I call this a baby stain remover mainly because I mostly use it on the baby and toddler clothes, but you can really use it on any clothing. It’s not limited to babies! 

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Why Make Homemade Stain Remover for Baby Clothes?

Here are the three main reasons I love to make homemade stain remover.

1. It’s cheaper than store-bought stain removers.
2. It works better than commercial stain removers.
3. It’s made with simple ingredients I always have on hand!

As soon as you have a baby, you’ll realize just how many stains you have to take care of! It’s usually daily, and sometimes multiple times a day, especially in certain seasons of babyhood. Commercial stain removers can be pricey when you’re using them this much! This homemade laundry stain remover costs just cents to make, so you don’t have to feel bad using it over and over!

Also, it works. We definitely use other commercial stain removers in our house, and they work – much of the time. But for poopy clothing and other tough stains, I needed something stronger. 

Lastly, there is nothing worse than going to take care of a stain on a favorite outfit and running out of stain remover. This recipe is just equal parts hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. We always have these ingredients on hand, so I never have to worry about running out in a pinch.

If you want to get tough laundry stains out for cheap, this is the best stain remover I’ve found! 

Here’s just one example of a beet-stained onesie that was saved with this DIY laundry stain remover.

Ingredients You Need to Make Easy Homemade Stain Remover for Baby Clothes

• Dish soap. Usually you’ll hear about Dawn dish soap, because it’s especially well known for cutting grease. I have no problem with using Dawn, but I rarely ever have it, and I haven’t had a problem with any other kind of dish soap. I usually use the Aldi brand. Use whatever dish soap you have on hand! 
• Baking soda. Baking soda is a natural stain remover that works on many different surfaces. When used as a paste (like in this recipe), it works especially well to lift stubborn stains out of clothing. Baking soda is an alkaline substance and also has a whitening affect. 
• 3% hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is a strong and safe cleaner that also has disinfecting properties. Used alone, it’s incredibly effective on blood stains, and mixed with dish soap and baking soda, it’s the last ingredient you need to effectively get all sorts of spots out of stained clothes. 

How to Make Homemade Stain Remover for Baby Clothes

This stain remover is so easy to make and super forgiving, too. You don’t have to worry about exact measurements. I literally squirt each ingredient in a bowl, mix it up, and apply it to the stained area – (oily stains, grass stains, chocolate stains, poop stains, baby food stains – whatever!). 

But for those of you who like measuring, grab a bowl and add:

• 1 part dish soap
• 1 part baking soda
• 1 part hydrogen peroxide

1. I usually like to start with the baking soda. If I’m just doing one spot, I’ll get about a tablespoon of baking soda and put it in a bowl. 
2. Then, I’ll squirt in about the same amount of soap. 
3. Then, I take the bowl with the spoon to the laundry room – where I keep the hydrogen peroxide – and squirt that in until it forms a nice paste. 
4. Mix it all up and spread it on the affected area. You do want to make sure you have a nice, thick paste. If you can see the stain through the paste, it may be too thin to really work hard enough on your stain.

You want to let it sit for at least an hour. However, I usually end up having it sit for anywhere from a half a day to two days until it’s time to do the next load of laundry. Hydrogen peroxide has sometimes been known to lighten fabric colors, but in this mixture, I’ve never had that problem, regardless of how long I’ve had it sit. 

When it’s time, just throw the stained item in the washing machine, and you’re good to go!

(It will harden as it sits, so be prepared to have some crusty baking soda pieces on your laundry. This is not a problem and you can just throw it in the wash!)

Sometimes, the stain will lift before you wash the item, and sometimes after. 

Tips for Using Homemade Stain Remover

Let stains soak in the sink first

For anything that has any sort of substance to it (think baby poop, large globs of food, etc.), I usually rinse it in the sink first and sometimes let it soak in cold water there for awhile. I also do this anytime I can’t make or apply the stain remover right away. (When you have a soiled baby, a needy toddler, and dinner cooking, sometimes you just can’t get to it in the moment!) Plug up your bathroom or kitchen sink, let the water work its magic on keeping the stain from setting in, and ring it out and apply your cleaner when you get to it. 

(You could also use a bucket of water or bathtub for this if you want to keep your sink free.)

How to conveniently add to your mixture

If I make up a bowl of this DIY stain remover and don’t use it all, I usually just let it sit in the laundry room. Chances are, I’ll need it again soon! 

I don’t store a lot of this mixture, because as you’ll find out, it tends to harden up and be very difficult to spread after it’s been sitting for awhile. 

However, if I do leave it sitting and it hardens up, I often just add a bit more hydrogen peroxide to the bowl, mix it up again, and apply. The hydrogen peroxide adds enough liquid to turn it back into a nice paste with a little mixing, and it still works well. (Remember, the proportions don’t have to be exact. This recipe calls for equal parts, but don’t get too caught up on exact ratios.)

Add essential oils for fragrance

If you want your clothing to smell good, feel free to add a few drops of essential oil to your stain remover recipe! A few drops of lemon essential oil are a great choice to get that fresh, clean scent. Other popular essential oil choices for laundry are lavender, peppermint, and grapefruit. 

Other ways to make baby clothes last longer

It’s a fact of life that babies tend to get things dirty quickly. Removing stains is a great way to make your clothing last as long as possible. Here are some more ways you can take great care of clothing to help it last (baby clothing or not!).

• Use sunshine as a natural bleach. Sunshine is excellent for getting stains out of clothing and is one of the very best laundry whiteners! Any sort of yellowing or poop stains often come out after some time in the sunshine. This also works well for cloth diapers! Simply get your fabric wet and lay it in the sun to dry.
• Wash your clothing in cold water. Using cold water in your washing machine helps clothes to last longer and stay brighter. Avoid hot water, which is more expensive when it comes to electricity or propane anyway!
• Consider hanging your clothes to dry. Dryers also tend to wear out clothing faster than if you hang it to dry. Consider installing a clothesline or hanging clothing inside to help it last longer.
• Don’t wash it if it’s not dirty. Although babies can be notoriously messy, little babies can also be very not messy sometimes, too! Babies who aren’t crawling yet and don’t spit up or drool excessively don’t really get their clothes that dirty (unless they have a massive blowout, of course!). If the clothing isn’t dirty, don’t feel like you have to wash it every single day. It’s totally fine to let your baby wear their onesie for two days in a row if it’s still clean!

Other Helpful DIY Recipes for Laundry

If you’re looking for some more inexpensive and useful household products for your laundry routines, here are some that you may want to try! 

• Homemade Laundry Detergent. Homemade laundry detergents are a HUGE way that we save money on laundry! This recipe is really similar to the one we make and costs just cents per load. I’ve been making this for decades now! 
• Homemade Bleach Alternative. You don’t have to use bleach in your home. Here’s an easy way to switch out one of your commercial products for a safer alternative.  

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