This post and giveaway were made possible by iConnect and Dreft. I was compensated for my participation in this campaign, but all opinions are 100% mine.
Babies love getting messy and let’s be honest, it is a lot of fun watching the little ones get messy. There are tons of pictures from parents all over the world to prove it, but there is a lot more to it than just a fun experience for the little ones. As matter of fact, there are studies that show that babies smashing, throwing and playing with food, actually helps the little ones to calm down and relax.
Have you ever seen that delight and I am in heaven face little ones make when they get to be messy? I mean is there anything better than mud or a water puddle?
The truth is that parents first instinct is to keep the little ones from getting messy, but did you know that Dreft conducted a survey with Wakefield and found that 87 percent of moms frequently encourage their children to pick activities that are unlikely to get them messy over ones that are. Even though 81 percent agree that their child learns more when they make a mess and 89 percent agree that children are happier when they make a mess!
While going against our first instinct which in this case is to keep the little munchkins clean and tidy, parents ( yours truly included), should try to relax and enjoy the little moments. Even the messy ones and let detergent like dreft take care of the rest.
Dreft is my favorite baby detergent and I have used it for several years with my daughter and I am using it again for the baby and my daughter also which includes her soccer and school uniform which trust me can be a real mess at times!
Dreft, 1 baby laundry detergent choice of pediatricians and a trusted brand for more than 80 years, has a product line that meets the different needs of growing babies and their families.
Dreft’s portfolio of products is specially designed to meet your little one’s laundry needs at every stage of babyhood. Dreft Stage One Newborn’s hypoallergenic formula is gentle on newborn baby’s skin and Dreft Stage 2 Active Baby is specially formulated to tackle stains after your baby starts eating solid foods and crawling all over the place. Also don’t forget Dreft Blissfuls because they smell amazing… That’s the reason why I use these scent boosters on any load of my family’s laundry.
Ready to let the kids have some fun and maybe win prizes in the process?
Dreft is excited to launch the Dreft America’s Messiest Baby Contest. They are inviting families to submit photos of their favorite messy baby moments for the chance to win prizes, including the cover of the May issue of Parents Magazine! With Dreft, parents can stop worrying about the messes and enjoy all the beautiful and memorable moments they have to share with their little ones.
Parents can enter to win Dreft’s America’s Messiest Baby Contest for a chance to have their little one featured on the cover of Parent’s Magazine by submitting a photo of their favorite messy baby moment at www.parents.com/dreftmessiestbabycontest or posting their photo on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #messiestbabycontest. Winners will also receive a supply of Dreft laundry detergent of course!
For this super fun event, Dreft has teamed up with Dr. Dyan Hes, Medical Director of Gramercy Pediatrics, whom was recently named a 2013 top doctor by NEW YORK magazine. She is the Medical Director of Gramercy Pediatrics in New York City, and sits on the board of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Dr. Hes double boarded in both pediatrics and obesity medicine.
As a pediatrician AND as a mother, Dr. Dyan Hes knows that cleaning your little one’s clothes with a gentle, hypoallergenic detergent, like Dreft, is a great way to help keep baby comfortable and tackle the everyday messes.
Dr. Dyan Hes has the following tips to bring out your baby’s messy side and embrace that being messy has its developmental benefits:
Count the fun and use your fingers: Use your little one’s food as a fantastic way to learn how to begin counting. When snacking, start counting with your little one and encourage them to use their fingers. Also, this is a great time to use food to help them learn how to properly grasp things. It will take time and practice so let them get a little dirty with their food and practice, practice, practice!
Throwing practice: Throwing food can definitely be messy, but did you know it helps with their development? Little ones are also still developing object permanence, which means that they don’t know that when they throw things, they won’t come back to them. So throwing food or dropping it on the floor can actually help them learn this basic lesson in physics! Maybe just lay a mat on the floor to protect your carpet and to allow for easy clean up.
Load up on bibs: Bibs are a great way to capture those messy food moments. Once your little one is done with meal time, throw the bib in the washer with Dreft Active Baby to easily tackle the mess so you can do it all over again. The mess went way beyond the bib? No problem—throw that outfit in the washer too!
Dress your baby right and care for the fabrics: When you expect a mess, dress your baby with a fabric, such as cotton, that can easily be cleaned up effortlessly. When it comes to fabrics, it’s also extremely important to seek out a gentle and hypoallergenic detergent to care for the items that touch your baby’s sensitive skin. It is important to wash baby’s items with a specially-formulated product such as Dreft, the #1 baby laundry detergent choice of pediatricians to be gentle and hypoallergenic on baby’s skin that has been trusted by parents for over 80 years.
Splish, Splash in the Bath: Bring fun toys and activities into the bath and let your child splash around and have fun. Make sure to use warm water (vs. hot) and use a mild cleanser to keep your baby’s skin soft and itch-free. Gently pat dry their skin and end with an after-bath moisturizer to seal in moisture and protect your baby’s soft skin.
Get outside: It’s great to get your little one outside to learn and embrace nature and all it has to offer. Little ones tend to start creeping (pulling their bodies with their arms) before crawling and this can get their clothes quite dirty. This is all part of their learning process though, so feel free to let them explore and point out animals, plants, and the various sounds they may hear in nature so your child starts learning new concepts while having fun!
So what are you waiting for? Start snapping pictures of your baby’s messier moments for a chance win with Dreft!
Join the Twitter party!!!!
The Dreft #MessiestBabyContest Twitter Party will take place on Monday, November 14th .There are some really great prizes including an iRobot Roomba! the RSVP link: https://bit.ly/2f1Djbj
Win it:
In the meantime, Dreft wants to offer a Born 2 Impress reader the opportunity to win a $50.00 Amex Gift Card and Dreft product.
To enter this giveaway, please use the Giveaway Tools form below:
Please use the Giveaway Tools form for ALL entries. Except for the initial comment. Please leave comments containing 3 – 4 sentences in order to qualify- Comments like I like this or I want to win will not count! Contest open to the US residents with a valid street address. No PO Boxes please. This contest is void where prohibited. Winner(s) are selected randomly through the use Giveaway Tools unless otherwise noted and will be announce on the contest closing date. To claim your prize(s), you must contact Born 2 Impress within 48 hours of the contest closing Prize(s) not claimed by (48 hours) will be forfeited and a new winner will be selected.
Please provide a valid email address to be informed in case you do win a giveaway. Please note ALL entries are checked for accuracy and will be validated. Clicking on “enter” ensures that your task has been completed. If your task has not been completed, your entry will not be counted and will be considered invalid. If you are chosen as the winner of this contest and you have not completed the task(s) that you claim to complete, a new winner will be randomly chosen. So please be sure that you have completed a task before clicking “enter”thank you for your co-operation.
Disclosure:
The product(s) provided for the review were sent to me free of charge from the company or the PR agency. I did not received compensation for this review. The product(s) offered for the giveaway are free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and not by any means influenced by any other part. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
There were many messy moments. I do remember lots of red sauce all over the place and peas being tossed and rolled about. The usual messes children make.
My grandsons messiest moment was on his 1st birthday and had a smash cake.He had blue frosting and cake everywhere. Thanks for the giveaway.
My babies messiest moments are when she eats here veges and smears them all over her face. Or when I give her a piece of cake she also smears this all over her table and face! What a mess trying to clean all of the food off of her clothes and face and hands!
I have a 13 month old baby girl. She is very messy when she eats. She loves to dunk her fingers in her baby food.
My youngest nephew is 7 now, but I sometimes think he is messier now than he was as a baby, lol. Actually, we used Dreft when he & his brother & sister were little & the scent always makes me think of babies. (I think their messiest baby moment was an awful ‘sick day’—let’s just say projectile vomiting was involved. Hey, Dreft got everything clean!)
My baby’s messiest moment was when my son ate spaghetti and had pasta sauce all over his face
Messiest moments always came with food. He loves to mush it around and throw it too.
My little one is super messy. He always wants to play with his spoons when eating. Yesterday I fed him beef noodle soup, he ate couple bites and then put them all over the table and his face 🙂
When my son was little, we had many, many messy moments. One of my favorites was when we would finger paint, always was fun! 🙂
I have had two babies. I think all babies are messy. They are messy especially at meal time. Dreft has helped out families with messy babies for generations. We love Dreft products.
My son tried to “help” my husband paint his bedroom. He got hold of the paint roller and painted himself from head to toe. It was shocking, but really funny!
No, I do not have a baby at home. I do have nieces and a nephew though. The messiest baby moment I have ever experienced is my oldest nieces first birthday. She dove head first into her birthday cake and it was everywhere!
I have a toddler at home. She makes lots of messes especially with food. I hate it when she gets into the diaper cream too.
I have several grandkids who love to make messes. Spaghetti, birthday cake and ice cream are the biggest messes.
I have a toddler. She is the messiest when she plays with her sister outside! Those kids can dig for hours!
So far her messiest moment was when she insisted on feeding herself ravioli and she was a mess from head to toe!
I have a lot of messy moments with my toddler grandson. My favorite is when we made cupcakes and I let him stir the batter.
The best mess my baby ever had was by his first birthday and we gave him his cake to “smash”! At least it was a somewhat controlled mess!
I don’t have a baby at home. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
No babies at home anymore. Do have have grand babies though. My children’s messiest moments were the first birthday cake. So much fun.
Oh our little one can sure make a mess! Have to laugh! I think one of the messiest was when he is doing the pudding painting! Oh so fun…but oh so messy!
When she couldn’t keep formula down and kept projectile vomiting everywhere
My Granddaughter’s messiest moment was her first try at eating rice cereal. She couldn’t decide is she liked it. And spit it out multiple times, creating a huge mess.
My daughter is almost 5 now and she is a pretty clean girly girl. My husband is a bad influence. Recently he bought some silly string and they teamed up against me! Good memories.
I have the messiest niece on the planet! She is very artistic and likes to use paint and markers but ends up drawing on every surface in the house. She once created a mural on the wall of our home because she saw a mural once when we went to the park.
I have two kids and they can make major messes. The things they do sometimes can really make me scratch my head and wonder why.
My son’s messiest moments were eating spaghetti — he would be orange from head to toe when finished.
The messiest is when we have spaghetti and meatballs. We’ve been using Dreft for a number of years. It really works great. Thanks so much.
when my daughter paints she is definitely really messy. i know thats just part of the fun so I let her be a little creative with her technique. thankfully in the end there is great detergent like dreft to help get stains out!
Our Grandbaby’s messiest moment was when she was at our house and decided to grab a small chocolate milk container and proceeded to pour it all over her and the floor. By the time we could stop her she was covered in milk along with the floor. It was pretty messy.
My messiest moment was when my husband decided it was a good idea
to let our 2 year old son help him change his oil. I liked to never got him clean.
I have a baby at home and she is one week old. She goes number 1 all the time and I love it. I hope to win this amazing giveaway.
I do not have a baby at home but when I did her messiest moment was throwing oatmeal on the floor. My friend has a newborn.
No babies around currently, but the preschoolers in my life sure do get messy…..we love baking with them….so much fun, but lots of stickiness and stains!
I have a soon to be baby, so I don’t have a messiest moment yet! My sister has a little one and they have TONS of messes! Usually they seem to be related to food! I have seen some terrible ice cream and sucker messes!
My kids are grown now, but they got very messy when they were little. I remember lots of food stains on their clothing. The worst were spaghetti sauce and chocolate.
My son’s first Birthday was the messiest. He stuck his hands in the Birthday cake, it was messy, but adorable
I gave my daughter some beefaroni in her high chair. She had a ball eating it and playing with it. She had it all over her body and in her hair. It was fun just watching her playing. She did this for almost an hour. I them gave her a bath and she had so much on her that it left an orange ring in the bathtub from all the sauce.
I don’t have a baby at home right now. My daughter’s messiest moment was after eating a plate of spaghetti. What a clean up job that was. Those old high chairs used to drive me crazy, trying to keep them clean. Thanks for the giveaway!
I don’t have a baby at home-my kids don’t, either! However, when my boys were little, they got a hold of the Vaseline, and smeared themselves from head to toe, and then dumped baby powder on their heads. Why? I have no idea! They thought it was very funny at the time. Me?-not so much!
My baby’s messiest moment what when she had her first birthday cake all to herself! It was so much fun to watch. I had a huge mess and actually used Dreft to get the stains out!
I do not have a baby at home now. My daughter’s messiest moment was when she was about10 months old. I had taken her to King’s Island for the day. I was tired and not feeling well. I laid her in her crib and fell asleep on the couch. I awoke to hear her crying. I waited for a few minutes hoping she would go back to sleep. That was not to be so I went in to check on her. She was covered in crap from head to foot!
My daughter’s messiest moment was when she turned one and had chocolate cake for the first time. She’s no longer a baby now since she turned 4 over the summer, but I still love to use Dreft for her clothes. Thanks for the giveaway!
When I gave her some pea’s for the first time, she got it everywhere.
No babies in my home, but I do have three pets. And a husband. So plenty of messes and germs!
The messiest moment for my Great Nephew was when he got his own little chocolate cake for his Birthday, he wore most of it!
The messiest moment was the smash cake for the first birthday.
My daughter played in a mud puddle when she was 18 months old. She was covered head to toe in red mud. Thankfully she just had her underwear on so that’s the only thing we had to throw out.
i don’t have a child yet, though we will soon! My nephew’s messiest thing I ever witnessed was when he ate cake. It was super cute!
My son’s messiest moment happened on his 1st birthday. We had pizza and cake. Both ended up allllll over, including in his hair!! He needed a good bath after that!!
My granddaughters messiest moment was on her birthday eating cake. She had cake everywhere. Thanks.
No babies in my house. My messiest moment was when I was passing the spaghetti sauce and it fell in my lap. Not a pretty sight.
Thanks for the contest.
We have an 8 month old and she is VERY messy! I should know better than to give her a bath before dinner time lol. Whatever she is eating ends up in her hair, all over her clothes, somehow even in her diaper!
Yes we have a month old baby and 2 other grandkids here with us. They make all kinds of messes. When they eat I think they wear more food then they get ate. Spaghetti is the messiest food they eat.
My son is no longer a baby but he still has messy moments every time he eats pomegranates. I learned pretty quickly that stains EVERYTHING!
No big deal, just wear old clothes and have plenty of moist wipes at hand. 🙂
thanks!
My son is 7 and still a mess 🙂 However, when he turned one he was especially messy. Cake, whipped cream, and strawberries were everywhere. Even his cousins sitting nearby needed Dreft that day!
The messiest I have seen is my friends daughter. She loves to throw oatmeal on the walls and at people.
My kids are so so messy! They can’t sit still when they eat, ugh! Thanks for the great offer 🙂
My daughters first time eating spaghetti and meatballs!! It was super messy and food was everywhere, but she loved it!!
It was the first time with spaghetti. Home made sauce and made a little less garlicy as to not be too much. He had used his plastic fork before but this time decided to go in hands first and then didn’t like the feel of the sauce so rubbed it in his hair. Quote a mess
My baby is in college now. His messiest moment was on his 2nd birthday party. I gave him a piece of his chocolate cake and he dug in. By the time he was done his face and hands were covered in chocolate!
My baby girl stays messy but anytime she gets spaghetti, it looks like we just stuck her in the pot and let her go at it. Its so cute.
I can remember a spaghetti and meatball mess everywhere in the hair on the dog on the walls she was really in love with the spaghetti and for sure got more on herself than in her mouth
That time when they were in their saucer playing, and had an explosion. Poop was in between their toes because they were stomping in it. YUCK!
Anything with sauce or that can be mashed is messy. They seem to really enjoy smashing things and smearing them all around. Sauce just ends up everywhere. Good thing for Dreft.
I think birthday parties can be the messiest..that and anything with sauce. Your photos are so cute!
I don;t know if I can say there was 1. There was the time my sons got sick, when they are strawberry for the first time, 1st birthday party, and first time they ate blueberry.
One morning after feeding my son breakfast, I took a shower. When I got out I found he must have still been hungry because he made himself some cereal. He took the whole plastic cereal holder with cheerios in it, poured a whole gallon of milk in it and had a giant spoon to get ready to eat for the second time. It was so funny.
I have a three year old girl. Her messiest moment is EVERY TIME SHE EATS. I feel like we’d save time if we just threw the spaghetti directly on the ground. 🙂 Love that girl.
spaghetti and pasta sauce all over on his face.
When my daughter was little, she found the baby powder. Before I knew what was happening, she had dumped it all over the living room. It was on everything! There was a cloud of powder floating through the house. It’s funny now, but at the time it was a huge mess!
Our messiest moment was when they first had pasta. All babies that I have ever been around have always been super messy. They just can’t help it. I would love to win this! Dreft is a great brand. Thanks for the chance!
Let’s see our first baby messiest moment was baby’s first birthday cake the frosting was everywhere. Another messy mommy was first finger painting what a mess that was.
The first messy moment was when she ate spaghetti for the first time. What a mess. I always took her clothes off and let her eat in her diaper after that.
When my kids were growing up it was Gerber’s Cherry Vanilla Pudding, with my granddaughter it was spaghetti and chocolate frosting on her 1st Birthday.
No baby at home here. My sister is pregnant with her first baby so I’m hoping to win this for her. I’m sure she will have a use for it.
I don’t have any babies at home right now, but my kids use to get the messiest eating spaghetti and cheese curls. We made spaghetti with meatballs and meat sauce, so the combination of tomato sauce and grease made it a force to reckon with. I don’t know what it is in cheese curls, but I swear that stuff actually seems to sink into their pores!
Messy moments? Every time they eat.
Our messiest moments are anything involving marina sauce. Its amazing how gross that can get with our kids.
We have had many messes!! I think the best one was when he had spaghetti for the first time. I think more was on him and the floor than what he actually ate.
Here in NC we refer to the dirt as Carolina Clay because it is thick and red. It is crazy hard to get out of clothes and shoes, so any day my kids play outside in the dirt is a very messy day for us.
We have a baby at home. Our messiest moments are dinner time. It’s always a messy face and high chair and floor beneath it. I love the messy moments they are fun.
Grape juice was only one of our worst.
My baby is now 18 but I still remember her messiest moment. She was about a year old and sitting in the car seat, in the back seat. She and I had just finished grocery shopping and I had put the groceries next to her car seat since the trunk was full. She was singing “Winnie the Pooh” the whole time we were driving so I knew she was fine and never really looked back. When we got to where we were going, I went to take her out of her car seat and she was covered in honey! She had somehow gotten the new bottle of honey out of the grocery bag AND opened it, without me knowing, and poured the entire jar all over her body.
I don’t have a baby, but I do have a nephew. He gets a bit messy with food sometimes just like any other kid. Juice is usually the worse mess.
I have a 4 year old and a 3 year old. My 4 year old lil girl was never messy at all, she’s a total clean freak diva. My 3 year old on the other hand loves to make a mess. Every night he would wake up and play with his poop all over his crib. So gross. Finally stopped about a year ago. but he’s still a messy little boy.!
My baby is due in March, so i don’t have a story about my own child…however, my friends toddler a few years ago drank/sucked on a childs “safe” black marker…needless to say- it was a HUGE mess! All over her, her clothes, her bedding…and her mouth and face were completely black!!!
no baby at home right now. .but I have a niece who has spit up her cereal on me while I have been holding her… ugh, it got all over my shoulder and in my hair
This was when my daughter and I were driving down to Florida with my grandson to visit my oldest daughter. Well, we had about 8 more hours to drive from NJ and well, it was the wee hours of the night. Carter was asleep in his car seat and Roxi, the dog, was resting her head on his lap. Well, I guess he had a very upset tummy and we didn’t notice. We heard it coming out – all over himself, the car seat and the dog. First, the blanket that was covering them both – that ended up in the trash. At 2 in the morning, in the middle of no where, we were cleaning them both up head to toe with water bottles and wipes. By the time we got to Florida, none of us were looking (or smelling) too great.
I have 3 girls, and they are all messy and different ages haha. I have a 7 yr old, 2 yr old, and a 7 month old. The messiest food for us is spaghetti. It seems to get all over, even in their hair! Such a mess, but it does make for cute pics.
zour baby’s messiest moment was when she had a viruse. She couldm’t keep anything down. She threw up everywhere. Luckily we had Dreft detergent.
This is so awesome. We love to have messy moments with paint play dates outside and also just about everything we eat is messy.. especially lasagna! 🙂
Nope, no babies at home, my youngest is now10!!! Do I have to pick just one messy moment? LOL – they are still messy as heck! My son’s room looks like the Gatorade and water bottle graveyard. But probably I would say the time when he was a baby and accidentally dumped a whole bag of flour all over the kitchen floor. OMG LOL – what a day that was!
I no longer have babies at home, but being the oldest of 7 kids and then having 4 of my own I have dealt with messy kids.
I remember my little sister was all dressed up in your best little frilly dress, white tights, black patient leather shoes
We had went to get family business taken care of
So was no where close to home
When my sister passed gas and out comes liquid by the bucket load, all over her as the undies couldn’t hold back all the liquid waste also since my mom was carrying her it rain down my moms good outfit, needless to say it was a laughing disaster
My mom had used dreft for years even up to the year she passed away, she swore that it kept her cloths clean and fresh
My daughter is no longer a baby. I was fortunate in the fact that she was not entirely messy as a baby. But she did throw up a lot. After being fed, she just threw up. I had to burp her and knew…. i’d have to change clothes… again.
There are so many, I don’t know where to start! The funniest one involved chocolate. Sneaking a chocolate bunny from her Easter basket that was on a table (she was a crafty one!), going behind a chair and coming out covered in melted chocolate from head to toe. Getting messy is a big part of her life.
I dont have a baby at home
I babysit for my niece and nephew frequently and the messiest moment Ive had was when I was baking with my niece who was 5 at the time and my nephew was playing on the floor he was 1 and I was pulling the cake out of the oven when my niece who was stealing spoons of frosting dropped the entire bowl of frosting on the floor and before I could get it all cleaned up my nephew had crawled over and was playing in it and he was covered head to toe in chocolate frosting it was the messiest bath time ive encountered
I do have a baby and his messiest moment was when he got into my makeup and had my foundation and blush all over his clothes!
my daughters messiest moment was when she took off her dirty diaper and was playing in it, all over herself and the wall, yuck
Our daughter loves greek yogurt (vanilla) topped with a homemade fruit compote, usually strawberry, raspberry, blueberries, etc. One time she was eating this, seated securely in a high chair, when I went to answer the doorbell. Upon my return I discovered she had throw hand-fulls of the mixture at our dog who whose face & back was now covered in this mess…at one point the dog tried to shake off some of the food & it was now splattered all over a wall & my daughter’s entire body.
She did an amazing job of stuffing leftover bananas, gum, and other foods inside a jewelry drawer. We had no idea until one day the dog was sniffing around. It was quite the nice moldy mess we were not excited to see.
When it comes time for them to eat it is always a challenge. Food everywhere and on their clothes too.
I do not have a baby at home but I do have a cat that barfs on everything.
I don’t have a baby at home anymore but when I did, spaghetti used to be his messiest meal. One time it ended up all over him.. even in his hair.. think he was 4. His dad was cleaning him up and asked how on earth he managed to get it everywhere, even in his hair. He threw his arms up in the air and said “It’s Magic!!” =)
I don’t currently have a baby at home. One of her favorite things to do was chocolate pudding play time. We used to let her go nuts “painting” with chocolate pudding during the time of everything went into her mouth anyways. She’d paint and eat a bit and then we’d get her all cleaned up!