The Bottom Line on Homemade Wipes
I've been really curious about trying homemade baby wipes. I currently use the Kirkland brand from Costco, and although they're unscented with limited chemicals, it still bothers me that I don't really know what's in there. Not to mention the waste of throwing all those little pieces of paper away every day. I did a little research online, and all I was coming up with was slightly different versions of the same recipe. I considered just using water, but my son's bum is a wee bit red lately (probably from teething), and I felt he could use a little extra healing power. So, as I do with cooking recipes, I just altered it.
The original recipe calls for about 2 cups distilled water, 1/4 cup baby shampoo, and 1/4 cup baby oil. Most baby shampoos are also full of a lot of unnatural ingredients, and since my natural shampoo is in bar form, that ingredient was out the window. Most baby oils are mineral oils with a powder scent of some sort. Mineral oil, according to Wikipedia, is "a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline." No thanks there.
My improvisation was this: 2 cups distilled water, 1/4 cup Baby Bee Apricot Oil (from Burt's Bees), 1/4 cup liquid pure glycerin soap. I got the glycerin soap from my health food store. The way the recipes read, you're to cut a roll of good paper towel in half, take out the tube in the middle, and put the paper towel into one of your old baby wipes containers. (I found only about half the roll can fit in those at a time.) Then you pour the mixture over the paper towel, close the lid, and give it a shake. If you're into reducing waste and don't want to use the paper, you can invest in a few packs of plain cotton baby washcloths. I tried it with the paper towel this time, and if it works well for me, I'll invest in the cloths. It seems it will be worth it, as this one box of wipes cost me less than 30 cents!
My son's bum is already looking much better. I might cut down a little on the oil next time, but otherwise it seems fine. If anyone else has some homemade baby wipe tricks or recipes, let me know here, or email me at themommyspot@gmail.com. I'd love to hear more ideas!
2 comments:
After I started using cloth wipes, I preferred them to disposables. They have better "traction" on those really big messes.:-) I used hemp ones that were very soft. I simply wet them with warm water. I always made sure to dry baby's bottom very well after to avoid irritation. Also, you can wet a few and put them in one of those small baby wipe containers for days out. If you google "cloth baby wipes", you'll get a ton of websites that sell them - a lot of stay at home moms are in the cloth diaper/wipe business.
Thanks, Ms. Brood! I was shopping for cloths just this weekend. How many did you need to stock up with? After the last couple days of teething-induced diarrhea, I think I'll need a ton! Also, what do you wash them in? Thanks for your expertise, as usual - you're a wealth of info!
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