Laundry Detergent Substitute
When a newborn infant comes to live at your house, many things change. For weeks before the birth, you are busy putting child locks on cabinets and getting rid of anything a baby might put in her mouth that could be harmful. As new parents, we tend to be pretty paranoid about such things considering that newborn won't even be crawling for quite some time. But you want to be sure.
But when it comes to things that will be used by the baby, your paranoia is entirely justified. From the foods she eats to the furniture she uses to the clothing she wears, every aspect of those things must be handled differently. For example, if there is a spill on the high chair, you would never use your dishwashing soap on a rag to clean it up. Your baby could put her tongue on that surface. So warm water and a thorough cleaning will do fine because you do not want any form of chemical cleaner to contact your infant at all.
The same principle applies to the laundry detergents you use to wash her clothes. While there are organic detergents and detergents designated as baby safe, for a newborn even that level of risk is too much to take. So the search for adequate substitutes becomes one of the many areas of concern for the mom and dad of a newborn. You can find some natural substances like soap nut or nut pine that works well as a natural cleanser that will cleanse the babies clothing and bedding without the introduction of any chemicals or harsh ingredients that could harm her skin.
In many cases, parents of newborns will wash their infant's things in hot or warm water and not use and detergents at all. If you are going to be that cautious, and there is nothing wrong with taking that much care of your baby, you should also wash those things in a completely dedicated washing setting and not put your baby's things through the family washer and dryer at all. Those machines often retain a residue of the detergent chemicals that are used for the family laundry and that can get into baby's things by mistake. So error to the side of being too careful by washing her things completely separately and by hand.
If this level of care is too much extra work for a busy mom, you can often find services that are specifically targeting taking care of washing your baby's things in total natural substances. But if you do some research, the internet and your local baby store can guide you to more substitutes for chemical detergents you can use on your baby's clothing until she is old enough that you can start to wash her things with the family laundry. If your extra care assures that she will not have undue irritation in her first months in your home, it will have been worth it.