Nina:
the free furniture advice guy here.

You're right in your suspicion that using pledges not the best idea. using products like that actually put gunk on the wood. and when that gunk builds up other stuff tends to stick to it. That's how people end up with build up.

Another gnarly problem that most people don't know comes from pledge is the silicone contamination. Pledges just loaded with the product silicone. It's a cheap way to make furniture shiny without a lot of work.

The silicone will penetrate the wood finish and seep deep into the wood itself causing future problems. The first thing you'll notice is after a period of time to finish will begin to have problems, and then you decide that it's time to refinish the crib you find out that the silicone contamination that is penetrated deep within the wood will cause it to be much more difficult to put another clear finish over the surface even after a thorough stripping and sanding.

So I agree you probably don't want to keep on using that product.

If you use a furniture polish preparation you're going to have to clean the wood first. In a situation like you're describing, I'm assuming that you got up fairly new piece of furniture, and it's in good condition with no degrading of the finish yet.

The only problem is that you don't like the way the pledge looks on the finish at this time, if that's correct, here's what you should do.

Get pail that will hold about 2 gallons of water and put about a gallon and a half of warm water in it. Put a couple of ounces of Dawn dishwashing liquid in the water and mix around little bit.

You want to get a washcloth in a couple of clean dry towels to work with. Get the washcloth on the soapy water then wring it out and wiped down the crib with the mild solution of warm water and detergent.

Be mindful not to allow water to stand on the wood for any longer than you have to. You can finish the whole process in less than 10 minutes. You can either wipe it down with your detergent water solution and dry it as you go, or you can do the whole shooting match at once and then come back and dry all down at one time.

This is an important thing that I'm about to you, after you have dried it off one time, go back over again with a dry towel and do it again.

You don't want let water stand on the wood. Once you've gone over the entire piece and cleaned it, you can switch over to your better furniture polish. I recommend a guardsman brand furniture polish. You can buy in several different forms the most convenient is an aerosol spray that's not what I use. It also comes in a cream that you can mix up with a little water and either and wipe it on with a cloth and dried off with it and dry cloth, or you can mix it up and put in a spray bottle and spritz and wipe which is what I do and it works great.

So there you go, if this pledge businesses only been going on for a while and stop the madness now get on the right track with the proper products to care for your furniture.

Good luck and God bless

Sincerely yours

The free furniture advice Guy.

http://babybedroomthemes.com

Congratulations ! I am in Edmonton and I find one of the best places is Toys r Us. Walmart also carries some baby furniture as well. You can also try E-Children, they can be a bit pricey though. Good Luck !