What is so important about a blanket? A blanket for a baby, specifically? A blanket keeps a baby warm, a blanket gives a baby comfort – but not all babies have a blanket to feel this.

This is why Dettol and Rachel Stevens have launched the Dettol Baby Blanket Donation campaign.

Laboratory tests commissioned by Dettol (on washed blankets donated by volunteer mums) showed that baby blankets carry a variety of bacteria even after a 40C wash – with a third of the blankets harbouring coliforms, a group of bacteria linked to faeces. Around the world, 50 babies a minute are born into poverty and don’t even have this luxury and comfort of a washed blanket. The poor hygiene conditions they will experience can contribute to illnesses such as diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration.

Dettol and Rachel want you to keep the memories, not the bacteria, of your babies blanket.

Celebrity mum of two, Rachel Stevens

How can you do this? All you have to is send a blanket via Freepost and share your special recollections and photographs across social media with the hashtag #sharethememories. Once the blankets are collected they will be washed with Dettol Anti-bacterial Laundry Cleanser and then re-distributed to families in need. (Dettol Anti-bacterial Laundry Cleanser kills 99.9% of bacteria even below 30C). For every blanket collected, Dettol have also pledged to donate £1 to children’s medical research charity Sparks, to raise much needed funds for families in the UK with children affected by serious illness or disability.

Blankets will be collected until the end of December. You can share your memories on Twitter to @DettolBlanket with the #sharethememories hashtag, or Dettol’s Mission for Health Facebook page. For full details on how to donate visit www.dettol.co.uk/donate. The address to send your blankets to (via Freepost with no stamp required) is:
Dettol Baby Blanket Donation
FREEPOST RTKJ-YSGS-SSHR
The Hay Loft
Balcombe Place Stables.