we never used special baby detergent but we did switch to .all free and clear right before finn was born and we've been using it ever since on all our clothes. i don't use fabric softener in his loads because the few times i've accidentally added it he's gotten a little rash on his cheeks.

i guess i'm not much help.

i been using dreft and will keep using it until they are 1 . but i dont know what age you really dont have to use it until.

obviously I've not tried it but...
I was informed that you need to use a gentle non-biological washing powder and no softner.

But that if you do use a biological powder then make sure to double rinse.

Dreft is ridiculously expensive. We can't afford it.

We wash her clothes with the same detergent we use for ours (usually whatever's on sale at the time) with no softener. She's never had a reaction. We do use those static sheets in our dryer though.

that's what i meant when i said fabric softener. we bought a *huge* thing of them at bj's but accidentaly got the scented kind, those bother finn's skin. if we had the unscented dryer sheets i'd use them with finn's laundry.

and i agree, dreft is outrageously expensive. all free and clear is unscented and dye free and much much cheaper.

Oh, I thought you meant the liquid softener that you use in the wash. my bad!

Thanks for your replies.
I am currently using Dreft and have a box and a half and I also have a huge 200oz bottle of Baby .All. I love the smell of it, but wasn't sure if it was necessary. I boo boo'ed and put in a little bit of liquid softener and feared .Jaylon would get a rash and I was pleased that he didn't. phew
The .Dreft is insanely expensive for as much laundry as little one's go through. The baby .All isn't that bad.

Again thanks girls!

i used dreft and baby all on joseph when he was first born , i washed all h is clothes etc before he came from the hospital i think he was a few mths old when we stopped, here i use the same detergent we use for our stuff and neither kid has any problems , we have the tide with febreeze we got like 2 huge things of it when it was on sale and still got one whole one unopened and i dont even remember when we bought it, i use the downy ball too. so far no problems wich is good. i just hate using powder detergents since sometimes the powder doesnt seem to dissolve all the way and i wind up with powder stuck to clothes so i only like to use the liquid.