My homemade burp cloth project was super easy, and we are still planning to cloth diaper, at least part time, if not more, so now I am thinking about making cloth wipes…and have spent a bunch of time this morning researching making wipes. I have the textiles to do it, but here’s where I am confused – all the websites also provide a recipe for making a solution to wet the wipes with. Is this really necessary? Can’t one just use the wipe, or wet it? Please, enlighten me.
Two Moms Are Better Than One
the long journey of two women who finally have a baby
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January 5, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Adrienne
Hi E! Congrats on getting so close to the big day! Those last few weeks are hard but sooooo worth the wait! I remember thinking at 36 weeks that H was never, ever, going to come and wishing that he would be born early. Then a friends mom who is a visiting nurse reminded me that 40 weeks really is 40 weeks for a reason! Babies born even 3-4 weeks early have a harder time learning to breastfeed and can have more breathing/digesting difficulties!
Regarding wipes – wet is DEFINITELY necessary. Not so much for pee-diapers but for poop-ones they are a must. Sometimes a little water is nice for pee anyway because if you’re anything like me, the baby won’t get bathed a ton and they do get a bit odiferous in the diaper area even with just pee.
Anyway, just my two cents! Looking forward to hearing some big news soon.
January 5, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Jude
You can use just water, but I like the Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion. I use about three drops in the water I wet my wipes in (and keep my cloth wipes in a wipe warmer made by Prince Lionheart so that there are nice wet cloth wipes ready for me at any given time) and it makes them smell nicer and I think it has some tea tree oil and stuff in it. I don’t think it’s necessary but I like it, and 6 months later, I still have more than half of a bottle left. (You can get it from cottonbabies.com and maybe some other places, and I think you can get it at A Child’s Garden, too.)
January 6, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Erin
I just used water with mine, but my changing table was in the bathroom (an arrangement I cannot recommend highly enough) so wetting flannel wipes with warm water was easy. Some people I know keep a thermos of warm water on the changing table, others a spray bottle that they fill a few times a day and then use to spray the baby’s tushie and the wipe itself.
January 6, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Lo
At the hospital they had us wet the wipes (theirs were disposable but this would work) and then squeeze a little bit of baby wash (from a squeeze bottle) onto it. It worked really well, though I think Jude’s idea is more convenient.
January 6, 2008 at 4:16 pm
e.
I must have been a little delirious when I posted because even I know that wipes should be wet…I was just so thrown off by all the recipes for wipe solution…
Adrienne – Hi – I’ve been thinking about you and hope you are doing well! I know you are right that the longer the baby “cooks” the better…but man I am ready!
Jude – thanks for that recommendation. We actually went to a Child’s Garden yesterday to look at prefolds and cloth diapers, etc and happened upon a Cloth Diapering 101 class of sorts. They do sell the Kissaluvs in the spray bottle – and you are now the second mom to tell me it lasts FOREVER so I guess it’s probably worth the $9 not to make it yourself. I think the spray bottle would be convenient for the diaper bag.
Erin- What a great idea to have the changing table in the bathroom, sadly neither of our bathrooms is any where big enough! All the wipes I just finished sewing are all flannel – and so soft!
Lo – I was thinking I could just use hot water and some baby wash. I may try that for at home and carry the spray bottle on the go.
Thanks for all your tips!!!
January 6, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Adrienne
I should have mentioned that with my younger brother I remember my parents mostly just using this little metal bowl with regular warm water and baby wash clothes for wipes.
I have to admit 99% of the time we use commercial wipes – working full time makes me really lazy! I totally admire women (and men) who can make cloth work – it takes dedication!
January 6, 2008 at 8:33 pm
e.
Adrienne – you’re not lazy! i am pretty sure that if i knew i was going back to work full time, i would not be able to do CDs. and i am sure we’ll be supplementing with disposables – dipes and wipes – as needed. we’ve been given tons and tons of newborn dipes and will be using those to get us through the first several weeks….
January 6, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Jude
Erin – The spray bottle is awesome for the diaper bag. We also have a bottle of concentrate (it is the same size as the spray bottle but it is just the oil-y stuff) that I ordered from online and I use the concentrate to make the wipes. I like the way they smell. And since sometimes if they sit in the wipe warmer too long they can smell a little off, the extra smell is nice esp because it’s not a perfume smell.
I recommend a wipe warmer not because I think my kid needs warm wipes (the disposable wipes we have (I’m not going to lie, I use them for her sticky soy formula poo which is NASTY) are not heated) but because I can make a whole big bunch of them and they can sit in there and stay wet and ready and you just have to pull one out. And when you have a squirmy baby, quick is good.
Hey, maybe I’ll get you one for a baby present!
January 7, 2008 at 12:24 am
brookejohnston
Hi! (I) don’t know if this will help, but…
I wanted to be ecofriendly, so I used the disposables diapers, but I purchased the cloth (diapers) to use as burpies (burp cloths). At first, since I’m a stay-at-home mommy for now, I was going to use cloth diapers, for actual diapering, and for burping, but I got to thinking about our beautiful earth, and what it would do to Mother Nature. I weighed the differences, so to speak, and as it turns, “paper diapers”, or the disposable, like most people call them, are “nicer” to “her”, you know, the earth…
Anyhow, I used, and still use disposable wipes, as well. Of course though, I use the least expensive wipes. They can get pretty expensive, but you learn to “clean up” well with fewest as possible. That trick somehow gets learned pretty quickly, I would have to say. I use them for everything, and I would guess that they would be better to use than a cloth wipe because cloth holds much bacteria, if that makes sense. Well, I hope I “said” something that helps. Good luck to all of you…
Wishing you all the best…
Brooke
January 16, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Sandra Mort
Congrats on the new baby!!! For most purposes, plain water is plenty for wipes. I personally will not put soap on genitals without rinsing after. However, there are times you may wish to use extra. Rashes, for example, may require extra tlc.