Photo by poopsiedoodles’
Since we’ve already covered the basics of cloth diapers, and using cloth diapers day-to-day, I wanted to write a post specifically about using cloth wipes.
Maybe you use cloth diapers, or would consider using cloth diapers, but have a hard time figuring out how cloth wipes would fit into your cloth diapering routine. Let me begin by encouraging you to just try. If you try it for a week or two, and decide you don’t like it, you can always go back to using disposable wipes. My guess though is that you’ll wonder how you could have gone so long without cloth wipes! They are infinitely better than their disposable counterparts!
Using Cloth Wipes
Wipes come in lots of different forms. You can buy pretty ones made out of flannel or cotton velor, or even bamboo. Some people like thick, double-sided wipes. Personally, I find those a little too bulky. You can also sew your own using leftover scraps of material.
Because I’m frugal, and don’t want to spend a lot of money on something that’s going to wipe poo off my baby’s bum, and because I’m not very good with a sewing machine (although it’s not hard, I have made a few of my own wipes just to try it), I have chosen to use the thin baby washcloths that you can you buy at store, and they have worked perfectly for me.
The reason I like the terrycloth washcloths is that they are the smooth cotton on one side, and the textured terry cloth on the other. This provides a really nice combo for cleaning up all kind of messes that you will encounter in a baby’s diaper on any given day!
You could also sew something similar if you have a thinner baby towel that you could cut into squares and zig-zag stitch along the edge so that it doesn’t fray. I have about 10 wipes like this that my mom made for me from a baby towel that lost it’s piping along the edge. Making your own wipes is a great way to make something useful out of scraps or otherwise un-useful material.
Whatever type of wipe you choose, I would recommend that you have lots, lots and lots, of them on hand. One thing that you definitely don’t want to run out of is wipes!
I keep my wipes in a leftover disposable wipes container. I used to fold them so they would lay nicely in the container, but now I’m a little more lazy and just throw a wad of them in there and pour my wipes solution over them, or use just plain water, again depending on how lazy I am at the moment.
My favorite thing about cloth wipes is that they work so much better than any disposable wipe ever could. Newborn breastfed, seedy baby poo, that disposable wipes just seem to smear around, cleans up easily with the terry cloth side of the cloth wipe. Newborn (or older baby!) blowouts that might take 5+ disposable wipes (that’s when you know it’s a bad one!), only need 2 or 3, at the most, cloth wipes to take care of the whole mess.
I think the most cloth wipes I’ve ever used in a single diaper change is 4, compared with the most disposables wipes I’ve ever used at one time is probably pushing 10 or more! Cloth wipes just do such a better job of actually wiping, containing, and cleaning up the mess then disposable wipes do! I would say that most dirty diaper changes I can easily use just one wipe.
If you’re already using cloth diapers, than really, adding cloth wipes to the mix is no more trouble at all. Just toss the cloth wipe in the diaper pail with the dirty diaps. I know some people wonder about what to do with a poopy wipe. If you have a chunk, shall we say, on the wipe you can just shake it onto the diaper with the rest of the poo to get dumped into the toilet, and then put the wipe in the diaper pail. I have never rinsed out a poopy wipe before washing, usually there’s really not that much poo on them anyway, and it’s never been an issue for me.
Then on wash day, you just wash all your diaps and wipes together and get a lovely clean basket of cloth diapers and wipes to reuse again on your baby’s bum!
Cloth Wipes Solution
You really can use just water on your wipes and that is sufficient to clean up most baby messes. But, if you want something that you know has a little more cleaning and disinfecting power, you can mix up a simple cloth wipe solution with three easy ingredients:
- Water
- Castile Soap
- Tea Tree Oil
I use about a cup, or a cup and a half, of water per tub of wipes and just add a squirt or two of Dr. Bronner’s Unscented Baby Mild Castile Soap
That’s it! You’ve just added cloth wipes to your cloth diapering routine! Easy, right? The great thing about cloth wipes is that they are versatile and multi-functional too! They’re great to use for wiping snotty noses, dirty, sticky hands and faces, or even surfaces like shopping cart handles or restaurant high chairs when out and about. Since tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant, you know that you are killing germs without using harmful chemicals around your baby!
I love items that have multiple uses and simplify my life and my diaper bag, and cloth wipes are definitely one of those things! Any cloth diaper mamas out there? I’d love to hear your experiences and tips and tricks for using cloth wipes!
Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
We love cloth wipes, too! We used them with cloth diapers, and now 3 years after toilet training they’re still going strong as washcloths, etc. I thoroughly agree that they’re better than disposable wipes and that the two-sided type are great because you can use the soft, smooth side normally and the terry side when you need scrubbing action!
I’m no microbiologist, but I was concerned that if we stored the wipes wet (esp. if we were adding clean ones on top without completely emptying and cleaning the container) they might grow germs of some type. So we stored them dry and kept some water on the changing table in a bottle with pop-up spout; it was easy to soak a wipe without spilling water. Away from home, I’d just change him in a bathroom and wet the wipe in the sink.
I understand the concern about storing wipes wet, that’s one of the reasons that I use the wipes solution, tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant, so I would hope that it would help to prevent germ growth, but maybe I’m completely off on that.
Also, we don’t add clean wipes to the top of the container, I use all the wet wipes up, rinse out the container and then add more. I go through so many wipes in a day that I don’t have to worry much about them sitting for too long. I usually make up a new tub of wipes every day!
Great post! We just use water on our wipes – wet one at a time. I till use them on my potty trained 2 year old instead of TP, and we actually plan to try out family cloth soon!!
Yes! I totally forgot to mention that we also use the wipes on my *almost* potty trained 2 year old. They work much better for cleaning up after using the potty than TP does! We keep another disposable wipes container on the back of the toilet to keep our wipes in.
P.S. I’m not supposed to post about this, b/c hubs says it’s too much information, but leaving it in a comment isn’t the same, right? When you’re already cloth diapering and using cloth wipes for a toddler, it’s really not that hard to transition to family cloth either. 🙂
The cloth wipes transitioned us into family cloth too. I don’t think I’ll be writing about that any time soon either.
Growing up in a large family I remember my mom hollering “get me a warm wet washcloth” when she changed one of my younger siblings diapers – I wish I had done that for my babies too!
Yes, I don’t know why we didn’t use cloth wipes sooner! I love them, seriously love them! Most of mine are flannel, and so soft. I make my own wipe solution too: a mixture of water, witch hazel, lavender essential oil and a few drops of olive oil.
This post was timely for me. I just decided to go 100% cloth wipe yesterday. We’ve used a combination of cloth and disposable for our littles. I discovered accidentally that disposable wipes can make it through a few washings unscathed, so we’ve been washing the wet ones and tossing the “chunky” ones. After seeing that wipes comprised about a third of our garbage (we have two in diapers), I decided to cut up some old t-shirts, ratty pajama pants, etc. to make more cloth wipes. I’m going to have to get over my squeamishness.
We keep a spray bottle of water by our dry wipes b/c of concern over bacteria growth. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll make a tea of lavender and calendula blossoms (antibacterial and soothing) to use instead. We keep that on the fridge (enough to keep it fresh, not enough to chill baby bums.)
Same as MamaBee, we use super soft old t-shirts that we weren’t wearing anyway. We wet them one at a time so that we can provide a warm wipe for baby’s bottom. So super simple and frugal and better for the environment! : )
Thanks for the tips, Emily. I’m working my way into cloth diapering and doing wipes at the same time totally makes sense. I was looking into buying some, but think I might just make my own now and save quite a bit of money.
Yay Joy! I’m so glad to hear you’re using cloth diapers. That is so great! Let me know if you have any questions or need any advice. What type of diapers are you using? Cloth wipes is definitely the way to go – they just work so much better.
Hope to see you sometime soon! 🙂
One other option is to fill a spray bottle (I get the travel size from the dollar section at the store) with the wipe solution. I use a few drops of baby soap, a few drops of Tea Tree Oil and then fill the rest with water. When I change a diaper, I wet a wipe and then use the solution to spray on baby before wiping. I also toss it in the diaper bag to wet the wipe with when I’m on the go. One spray bottle batch lasts weeks!
Hi all,
Silly question but this is new to me. What is the easiest way to “dispose” of used cloth wipes while they wait for laundry? I have 2 in diapers and another due in June..so more laundry seems daunting 🙂
thanks!!
Kristen
Hi Kristen,
Good question! Sorry it has taken me so long to respond! I keep my cloth wipes with my cloth diapers in a simple garbage can with a flip top lid, lined with a laundry bag. I keep the can in the bathroom so I can put the diapers right in there after spraying them off in the toilet. Do you cloth diaper? If not, you could just use a simple trash can, maybe one of those small ones with the swinging lids, and keep your wipes in there until your ready to take the can and dump it in the washer.
Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any more questions!
~Emily
I just got some castile soap the other day, but it’s not the “baby” soap. Can I still use it for this recipe without an issue? I’m new at this! Any help would be appreciated!
Hi Abigail,
You can use the scented castile soap, but just know that the scent could possibly irritate your baby. That’s why I recommend the unscented version. Your wipes will still work fine, but you’ll just have to watch for signs of irritation.
Thanks for your question!
Thanks for leading me over here from another post. The wheels are turning in my little brain…and if I decide to try this I gaurantee I’ll have a husband who thinks I’m officially off my rocker. But oh well, what’s new? LOL Bookmarking this and will sit and ponder and think again. My biggest concern since we don’t cloth diaper is washing…I can’t help but think that I would have to completely disinfect my washing machine after each load of poopy wipies…and since that would be the ONLY thing I wash at a time it seems such a waste to wash them alone. Thoughts on this? Overparanoid?
I wash my wipes seperate from my diapers most time. I have about 6 dozen and they are a small/medium load once a week or so. Just set your washer to the smallest water setting and use hot water. This way you don’t have to worry about washing your washer out – the hot water will kill any bacteria. You can also add a couple drops of tea tree oil to be doubly sure.
Do you seperate your wet wipes from cloth diapers when laundering because of the oil in the solution (that is if you are using oil in your homemade mixes)? I heard that the oil can coat your diapers over time, and then you have to strip them, so that is why you have very select types of detergents available only for cloth diapering. It seems that so many moms combine both their diapers and wipes inthe same loads, which I don’t understand (again if they are using oil-based wet wipe solutions).
Thanks for the post on cloth wipes. Far too often wipes are not thought about – but they are so easy to use! Just as easy as washing them your diapers (which you’re already doing) and they are far cleaner to use than disposable wipes in my opinion. No 5 wipes needed so you don’t get your hands dirty.
I cloth diaper my daughter and have been very interested in starting to use cloth wipes. My only concern is washing them. When we wash our diapers we first do a rinse cycle in cold water, then we do a wash cycle with detergent in hot water. If I use colored washcloths or homemade wipes do you think they will shrink or bleed the colors onto the diapers?
Hi Esther,
We use the same wash routine for our diapers as you do. I have never had a problem with wipes bleeding colors onto our diapers or anything else (sometimes some of them get washed with regular laundry). If you’re concerned, I’m sure you could wash them once separately in hot water to get any of the extra color out and set the fabric, and then after that they would be good.
I was wondering about reusing the same wipe that I use on my baby’s bum to wipe hands and faces? Thoughts? I know they are getting washed/sanitized, but I still hesitate to reuse dipe wipes on the face and hands. Wondering what others think about this or do.
Yep–I thought the same thing, Judi. I keep a separate stack, but that’s just me 🙂 But I do love my cloth wipes! I would not use cloth wipes if I were using disposable diapers. But if you’re already using cloth diapers, it’s not any more trouble to use cloth wipes too.
I would really like to do cloth wipes along with my cloth diapering routine, but as I was researching the proper way to clean cloth diapers, I am a bit nervous about messing with the absorbency if I wash my cloth wipes with them. I would really prefer to use a soap solution on my wipes with some of the castile soap mentioned in this post and maybe a little bit of mustela milky bath oil (I heard it was good for sensitive skin), but I am worried that the oils in the soap solution will create build-up on the diapers if I wash them together. Has anyone found this to be a problem? I really would hate to have to do a separate wash just for cloth wipes. Thanks in advance for your input.
Hi Emily,
thanks for all the tips. I used cloth diapers and wipes with our first and am planning to do the same with our second. I did have a problem with sticky poo (instead of the chunks as you put it), probably due to breastfeeding, on the wipes and would constantly be rinsing them. Any tips? It sounds so much nicer just to use a few wipes at a time if needed and throw them in the diaper bucket instead of having to rinse them separately.
Thanks!
Its like you learn my mind! You seem to know a
lot approximately this, like you wrote the e book in it
or something. I think that you can do with a few p.c.
to pressure the message home a bit, however other than that, that is great blog.
An excellent read. I’ll certainly be back.
This is so helpful-thanks! It sounds like using cloth wipes is way easier than I thought! I’ll have to start saving clothing scraps to make some! I’m excited!!!
I’m posting forever after the OP, but I was wondering if you think I could just buy the Doc Bronner’s tea tree soap and dilute it for a cloth wipe solution. Since the FDA doesn’t do any quality control on different supplements (like EOs) I feel a little overwhelmed trying to pick an oil brand that will be good quality without feeling like it’s costing me an arm and a leg! It seems easier to just trust a brand that puts their rep on the line with the ingredients they use like Dr. B seems to.
Instead of using unscented castile soap + tea tree oil, could I just use the tea tree oil castile soap? Any reason not to?
Hi Karen,
My only concern would be that the tea tree oil in the castile soap might not be as potent, since the tea tree oil adds the disinfecting and anti-bacterial qualities, I feel like it’s best to use actual tea tree oil and not the tea tree castile soap. But it’s definitely up to you. Thanks for your question!
~Emily
I tried making homemade baby wipes, and they just ended up molding before I could use them all. We also lived in a fairly arid area (if we left cereal open, it wouldn’t go stale). I tried adding more soap, less soap and more tea tree, adding supposedly anti-bacterial coconut oil, but no dice. I even disinfected my wipes containers every time before refilling them. It got to the point where it was not worth the trouble anymore, just to save a few dollars. I did some online searches as to why it wasn’t working like everyone said it should, and came across an *actual* scientist who posted on her blog about an experiment she did, as to the effectiveness of essential oils. Turns out, they are only really effective in killing germs if used full strength.