A rumbling-tumbling-jumping belly, achy back, out of breath…all the time, decreased appetite, and hating 95% of clothing can only mean one thing: the third trimester!
It’s game time baby.
The nursery is starting to take shape and I’m starting to knock off some to-do’s before baby #3 arrives. Since we aren’t finding out the gender of this one, one of my big tasks was to dig out infant clothes for both genders. I’ve stored and hauled around bins and bins of these pre-washed, organized baby clothes for years knowing that this day would come.
So, I’m sure you can imagine the shock and horror I experienced when I opened up the first container to find a mysterious yellow staining on almost all of my baby clothes! I washed these, I tell you! The yellow staining was particularly bad on the girl clothes that had been stored for 4 years now. The boy clothes did not escape the yellow-plague by any means either.
Since hormones and emotions are a bit heightened presently, I came close to calling it all a loss and throwing away all of the totally ruined-hopeless-grossly yellowed clothes. Drama.
Well, luckily I still had a tad bit of sanity left that evening and decided to do a little research on the issue.
Turns out, I’m not alone.
The Culprit
It’s quite common for stored baby clothes to go into storage clean and come out a few years later with discoloration–even if you’ve washed them well. The culprit: the protein from milk. This can come from breastmilk or even spit-up. Even if they’ve been washed, the residue can remain and bond to the clothing. Over time it takes on a yellowish color.
The Remedy
After digging a bit more, I learned that many have had success in removing these stains using OxiClean. So, on my next store run, I snagged a tub of it and gave it a whirl. 
You guys.
IT WORKED!
I feel like only fellow mothers can appreciate the triumph of the situation. (When I told my husband about it all he was happy but, I guarantee you, hasn’t given it a thought since.) It not only got stains OUT but I feel like it brightened up the clothes and made them look almost new. 
Step by Step Guide on How to Remove Stains
Here is exactly how I got those yucky yellow stained clothes looking good as new.
I set my washer on a medium-load, hot water soak cycle. I then put 6, yes 6 scoops of OxiClean. The directions said to put a scoop for every gallon of water and my best guess what that my load would be about 6 gallons. It seemed like an insane amount of detergent to put in a load but I was trusting the directions. 
I let it soak about 10 hours (overnight) and then ran a wash cycle as normal.
The clothes came out STAIN FREE. Stain free, I tell you! Here are a few before and afters of some of the boys clothes:
It even worked just as well on the four year old stains on the girl clothes.
So mama friends, learn from this gal. Don’t be shocked when your precious, cleanly stored baby clothes come out with the yellow plague. While no vaccine may be available, rest assured that there is an easy cure.
great
Will oxi clean baby stain remover work too?? Or does only that oxi clean work?
Can you put that much oxiclean in a high efficiency washer?
Gosh, I don’t know!
Maybe do a little online research. I bet you can find some more info.
Sounds wonderful, but it also looks like pictures have been lighted.
I tried this on my grandchild’s really nice stores baby clothes this weekend so we could use the clothes for her new baby sister. I soaked them in a bathroom sink which held about 2 gallons of water and put in 2.5 scoops of Oxyclean and dissolved it in the hot water before adding the clothes. They soaked for about 16 hours. They are perfect! No yellow stains at all and they look new!! It did dry my hands greatly. I rinsed my hands well after dissolving the powder but they are dried and chapped. I used a plastic spoon to keep the clothes submerged but stirred the solution with my hands trying to dissolve the powder.
Great news, Diana. We’re so glad this worked for you (sorry about your hands, though)!
Have to tell you this worked incredibly 👍🏻👍🏻I soaked infant items from my two year old granddaughter as well as a sweater from my daughter ( which is 30+ years old and had several yellow stains) every item came out of the wash in pristine condition. Thanks a million 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Great news!!
This worked great on my kids clothes after being stored for 10 years. Some items took a couple times and it even helped to dry them on the clothes line in the sun.
This technique has worked great for me over the years…it even worked on the old baby clothes my mom had stored for me. Just one tip…you do NOT need to use so much! Unless you have a full load for the washer, I always just use a little bin to soak the handful of stained ones in the tub overnight. That way I only use a half a scoop of oxi-clean. A little bit does go a long way with this stuff, and you can stretch the oxi-clean out a lot farther! The oxi-clean in a squirt bottle works well when the baby spits up. I just squirt a little on and throw it in the laundry to wash when I do a load. Good luck and congrats on the little ones!
Loved that I found you, but I need some help or advice from others…
I had some baby clothes stored from my oldest for two years and just took them out for baby # 2 and sure enough there’s those yellow breast milk/spit up stains on white onesies. I soaked the clothes the first time for about 6 hours (following your directions bit maybe using more water so the solution was more diluted). And the clothes were better but still the stains were visible. So I decided to go for round two, this time soaking for 10 hours and using 6 scoops in a medium load and clothes came out A LOT better. But once I was folding them, I still noticed the yellow around the collar, mostly very faded yellow but I still would feel bad having to go out with baby wearing those onesies.
Should I go for round three and just stop there or should I just turn them into “at home” onesies?
Thank you,
Alina
Ah, I’m really not sure! I only did mine one time so I can’t speak to what three rounds would do. Anyone else out there have an answer to this?!
I followed these instructions with no success ☹️ the yellow was somewhat faded but definitely still visible. currently doing a second soak in hopes that helps!
The second soak took about 80% of the stains out!
That’s good news! Glad it worked better the second time.
Worked unbelievable. 15 year old baptismal dress which had stains up at the front of the neck and down the front. Very yellow also. It came out right white and perfect. This saved the day. Thanks so much.
Awesome! We love success stories. Thanks, Sharon.
I recently had another niece added to our extended family. I had some banal clothes from my daughter in the attic for the last 15 years I guess. I was so upset by the yellow stains on the clothes I packed away after washing them.
I found you blog through Google and tried you method. Thank you! It worked so well. I am happy now to pass the clothes along so they can be used again and my daigjter gets to see her cousin wearing the clothes she wore.
Wonderful! So glad to hear you had success, Wendy.
I am a soon to be grandmother for the first time! I saved some of my daughter’s baby clothes ( over 30 yrs!) and would love to give her. Some are sweaters crocheted by her great grandmother. Think it would work?? Hot water ok you think? Thanks!
Thank you SO much for this post!!! I too am expecting baby #3 We just found out it is a girl (I was out voted in finding out the gender so we ended up finding out). Anyways, I just pulled some boxes of baby girl clothes from my closet (upstairs, not even in the basement) And LOW and BEHOLD YELLOW STAINS! Thank Goodness I decided to do a google search and found this post!! The tears were seriously about to fall! So thank you for saving my baby clothes and my sanity -for today at least!
Just curious about when you ran a “normal wash cycle” – did you add an additional detergent at that point – oxyclean or otherwise? Thanks!
Nope! Just used oxyclean.
I have oxyclean liquid.
Would it work the same as powder?
Hi Martha. I’m not sure without testing, but it seems like it’s worth a shot.
I had several expensive baby clothes that I took out of storage after 12 years. There were yellow stains on them and I thought I would have to throw them out. This technique was a life and wallet saver. I filled the tub and put in about 8 scoops of oxyclean and soaked it overnight. The next morning the stains were all out. This saved me over $1000 in replacing the clothes!
Thanks so much!!!
So awesome!
Is hot water best for getting these type stains out?
That is what I used!
OxiClean stain remover in the spray bottle works like a charm.. no need for soaking and 6 scoops of soap. I always spray on all the necklines before washing baby’s clothes whether I can see yellow or not.. always come out sparkling clean!
Oooh I keep hearing great things about OxiClean and now I’m going to get my first tub this week! I just pulled out baby clothes, looking for gender neutral for our 3rd as well. I’m curious though, I’ve always been hesitant to use hot water on anything but pure white– do colored clothes, after many washes, not bleed? I’m mostly seeing the yellow staining on the whiter clothes, a few that have colored stripes or patterns too though…
No bleeding at all! I didn’t see any change in coloring.
Thank you. This worked great and now I’m a little obsessed with OxiClean!
How do you use this for a front load washer? I love Oxi Clean but I have been unable to figure this part out. I am struggling with my 11 month old who takes his bibs off while eating and I am trying to save all of his blueberry stained clothes.
To be honest, I’m really not sure. Maybe give the clothes a soak in a big container of some type and then run them through the cycle after that.
Hi! Just found your post as we have baby #3 due in July and our first two are 7 and 4–giving the oxyclean a try with all the clothes I just pulled out. Question–the gender of this baby is also a surprise and we have a boy and a girl–did you soak all the clothes together or do I need to the pink ones separately? Thanks!
You can put a mix of colors in. No need to separate! Good luck!
Wow! This would have been great to know 2 years ago before I relocated a ton of onesies to the rag bag. Sadly my boys are all out of the itty-bitty phase. I can’t believe how well that worked!! Great information!!
I know, right?! Wonder how many clothes are thrown away because of this fixable problem.
Is there any way of knowing whether they will re-appear AGAIN down the road? I’m considering washing some special baby clothes to keep down the road for my grandchildren…
I haven’t had the chance to test it out over the long haul yet so I can’t tell you anything for sure!