Homemade Baby Wipes: Round Two

It's time for another batch of baby wipes. Since every roll of paper towels makes two batches of wipes, I'm stuck with using the other half of my Brawny roll. I'm not one to throw out perfectly good items--that's wasteful--and really, what's the use of a half roll of paper towels for cleaning purposes?! So alas, Brawny it is. Next time, I'm trying Bounty though.

Using the same baby wipe container I prepared last time--thinking green--I'm going to try a different variation of the recipe. Last time, I thought the wipes might have had too much standing water weakening my paper towels. This time I tried a recipe requiring less water. Using the same process in making them as I did in Round One, I simply switched up the solution recipe.


Baby Wipe Solution Recipe #2:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 tbsp baby wash
• 1 tbsp baby oil
• 1 tbsp rubbing alcohol

I figured while I was at it, I'd make some extra solution for my washable wipes to go along with my cloth diapers. I've heard of women using baby wash cloths as wipes, making their own flannel wipes, or you can purchase washable wipes from a cloth diaper store. I have some old cheap Gerber flat cloth diapers. They're really not good for much. I've used them as burp rags when my younger ones were babies, but I no longer need them for that purpose. They are now my new washable baby wipes! I also had an old peri bottle left over from my last hospital delivery. I filled that up with the same baby wipe solution I made for the paper towels. When I need to clean a dirty diaper, I just wet one of my "baby wipes" with the solution from the bottle. I'm already washing soiled diapers so it is really almost easier for me to just throw in the dirty washable wipes with them at the same time. Otherwise, while I'm changing a diaper, I have to keep the disposable wipes separate from my cloth diapers (while trying not to let the "mess" get all over) and then throw them way in the trash can. It's less of a pain to keep it all washable!

Round One: Homemade Baby Wipes

This is my first attempt at homemade baby wipes. In the future when I’m making them, I think I might try a couple different recipes to see which I like best. So we'll call this 'Round One'.

Also, I’ve recently made the crossover to cloth diapers, so I’ll try some recipes for washable baby wipes as well. I’m already washing dirty diapers, it’s just as easy to throw in some washable wipes while I’m at it.

However, the pact I made with my husband when I was making the cloth switch was that I would not make him use them. They are not for everybody--I get that. And at this time in his life he’s not one of them. But he knew it was something I wanted to do and was willing to let me have a go--with the agreement I would keep a stash of disposable diapers on hand for when he was on baby duty. With that said I’ll have to keep a supply of both disposable and washable wipes on hand. But as I’m the one in charge 95% of the time, switching to cloth, for me, is still worth it--economically and environmentally. In a few months when we start diapering to tushies as once it will really pay off.



For this recipe we used water, baby wash, and baby oil.

SUPPLIES:

• Container of some sort: large coffee bucket, gallon ice cream bucket, etc.
• Roll of STRONG paper towels: I used Brawny, Bounty is supposed to be good too--they have to be a durable brand or else they’ll fall apart in the solution.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Baby Wash
• 2 Tablespoons Baby Oil

1. Cut the paper towel roll in half with a sharp knife. I found this a little tricky and messy. I’ll have to perfect my technique in the future. I’ve heard some ladies say an electric knife works well, only I don’t currently own one L So, each roll of paper towels will yield two containers of baby wipes. Remove the cardboard center.
2. Make your solution in a separate bowl.
3. Place half of the paper towel roll in your baby wipe container.
4. Pour the solution over your towels.

Note: For my container lid, I carefully used a sharp knife to cut an X shape. This allows me to pull the baby wipes through one at a time--it makes for easy wipe grabbing!
　

Thoughts on Round One:
Overall, I like them. The solution works well at getting the mess clean. I  am very pleased with the lid dispenser. It makes it simple to yank out a baby wipe at a time when in action cleaning a dirty diaper and working one handed. Next time I buy paper towels, I’ll try the Bounty brand though. The Brawny paper towels aren’t holding up quite as well as I would like. Maybe I have them in sitting in too much water, I don’t know.
Notes to self for future rounds, either use less water or a different brand of towels.