When it comes to wiping butts, we mothers tend to get a little opinionated. We choose our favorite brands and if anyone tells us there’s a better one we won’t believe you. I get many mixed reactions when I tell people that we use cloth wipes and how we actually love them.
*gasp* “You put poop in your washer?!”
Yes. Well, kinda.
You have too unless you just throw out an outfit every time your baby has a blowout.
See, I gotcha there!
My cloth wipe love comes from necessity and also, what I like to call “crunchy tendencies”. I say necessity because we quickly learned we were dealing with a sensitive baby who would immediately break out in a rash when we used offending wipes. Almost all wipes became offending wipes. Except, of course, for the really pricey ones. I was in luck though. My mother in law had previously made some cloth wipes and had extra fabric and offered to make some for us. She sent me home with a bagful of flannel squares and I was in business! The butt wiping business.
There are a few ways people do this. Some like the spray bottle and dry wipe method. They just have a clean stack of wipes and spray them as needed. I prefer to “pre-make” mine. I mix up a solution…
4 cups- water
4ish squirts – baby wash
2 capfuls – witch hazel
Dash of olive oil
That’s not an exact science, but it gets the job done! I put my wipes in the solution, wring them out, and place them in a sealed container. I typically make enough to last 4-5 days. If you don’t want to make your own solution there are many out there for purchase. I’m just all about simplicity.
I pull a clean wipe out of the container, wipe the butt, and toss the dirty wipe into a different container and/or wet bag. Once your container is full you just dump it into the washing machine. I don’t have a fancy wash routine either. I add our normal detergent with a cupful of laundry sanitizer. If you use cloth diapers you can just add them to your normal diaper laundry.
There you have it! Reusable baby wipes.
Do you use cloth wipes? Would you ever?
