Make Your Own Baby Wipes

To make your own baby wipes is a great idea if you want to save money, or just want to have complete control over the ingredients used in your baby products. The idea never came to me until I had my stay in the hospital after having my daughter. The nurses brought piles and piles of diapers, but never any wipes. They brought everything imaginable for me to use while taking care of my baby, just short of a Boppy pillow. But no wipes. My husband was the first to change her diaper and the nurses instructed him that all we really need to use is warm water and paper towels. Hmmm... That got my wheels turning. I knew that warm water wouldn't last forever as my baby got older, and really, I wouldn't recommend using warm water only after say, the first month or so.So, I started researching baby wipe recipes. I had compiled some of the best recipes to make your own baby wipes I could find, and well, I tried them all out over time. Now I'll share with you what worked, what didn't, and what I liked the best.

There are a few different ways you can go about making handmade baby wipes.

• You can make traditional baby wipes using paper towels in an empty wipes container.

• You can make a solution using one of the baby wipes recipes to simply squirt onto you wipes.

• You can make cloth wipes that can be used either of the ways listed above.

Make Your Own Baby Wipes - Disposable Wipes

I started out by trying to make baby wipes using an old baby wipes container and using paper towels as the actual wipes. The idea is to use a round wipes container that pulls from the top. You take your roll of paper towels and cut it in half. Place them into the container. Then you mix up the wipes solution and dump it into the container over the paper towels. You are supposed to it all soak into the towels and simply use them as you would a regular disposable baby wipe.

In theory this actually is a good idea. The key is to use a really good paper towel. One that can withstand sitting in a pool of liquid for as long as it takes you to use them all up.

I tried a few. The one that held up the best was bounty. I had absolutely no problem with them falling apart or anything. Many other paper towel brands failed the test.

You also want to make sure and use a good recipe. Too much soap makes the project kind of a mess and each wipe is just too soapy. Too much oil leaves a yucky residue and I never felt like the baby was getting really clean. Too much water and the wipes have to be wrung out before you use them.

The Cons - Yes this method does work but cutting the roll of paper towels in half is a serious pain in the but. Not to mention left my kitchen a mess. The wipes were not as big as I would like either. It would make more sense to tear them up individually and then fold them into the container, but then again, a whole lot of work. I gave up on this method pretty quickly, after experimenting with a few different recipes and towel brands. If you want my advice, make your own baby wipes using the following method.

Make Your Own Baby Wipes - Baby Wipe Solution

For me this works a lot better than the above method. No cutting paper towel rolls. Just plain and simple. Choose a brand of paper towel that works best for you. I really like Viva brand by Kleenex because they are very soft and durable. They have a much different texture to them than many paper towel brands. Perfect for wiping a baby's bottom!

The trick is to simply whip up a baby wipes recipe solution and keep it in a container to use only when you need it. You do not need to soak the towels for any period of time, just apply the solution to the wipe when you need it. By the way, Viva is great for this method, but did not work well at all for the method I described earlier. If you soak them in the solution for too long they break apart as you are using them.

You can find a spray or squirt bottle in mass merchandising stores like Wal-mart and Target. I prefer a squirt bottle to a spray bottle. You just seem to waste less liquid and it thoroughly wets the cloth quickly.

Make Your Own Baby Wipes - Cloth Baby Wipes

Cloth baby wipes are great for those of you who are environmentally aware. They save money too, since you will be able to use them over and over again. No more buying endless packages of baby wipes or paper towels.

You can choose to sew them yourself, but I also have a easy DIY way to do it too.

The DIY way? Easy! You can use either a a couple of receiving blankets or go buy some flannel on sale at a local fabric store. All you have to do is cut the fabric into large squares. These kind of fabrics are not going to unravel easily. You can use it over and over no problem, as is. I would suggest using the receiving blankets they give you in the hospital. I know I ended up with about 3-4 of these by the time I left the hospital, and I never used them again after. I had too many nice blankets at home to really need them.

To sew them yourself? Not too hard either. Pick a fabric you want to use. All you have to do is cut it into large squares, all of equal size. Pair two squares together and sew them together. There are two ways to do it. If you are using a flannel fabric I would suggest just zig-zag stitching all around the outside edges of the fabric.
Otherwise sew the squares shut with a standard sewing stitch leaving just a 1-2" opening. Turn the fabric inside out, and then hand stitch the opening shut, folding in the edges as you go.

Make Your Own Baby Wipes Solution Recipe

Easy baby wipes solution - (my favorite)

• 2 cups water

• 1 tbsp of your favorite baby wash
• 1 tbsp baby oil

This is the basic recipe. There are many variation but they all seem to be about the same make-up with different ingredients. For example, you can exchange the baby soap with aloe vera gel if you wish. You can use a natural organic soap. You can even use a baby soap with moisturizer to make a moisturizing baby wipe.

The baby oil can be substituted with essential oils. Try 1/2 tablespoon each of a couple different oils to experiment a bit. Be careful though. I would give a call to the doctor's office to just make sure the oils are not harmful in any way. I know that tea tree oil, or calendula oil are both safe bets. Some people use olive oil and sometimes substitute the water for fancy mineral water.

* Quick tip: If you want to make you own baby wipes lavender scented, use a lavender baby soap and lavender baby oil. Johnson's makes a great lavender baby wash and oil that smells wonderful!

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