Recipe Wednesday - Diaper Wipe Solution

Do you find yourself going through boxes and boxes of store-bought baby wipes? 

Have you found you need to use three, four or five wipes at a time to get the job done? 

7 years ago, when Ajay was tiny, I was lucky enough to find a way to make my own wipe solution.  You can either use some cheap store-bought baby wash cloths or do what I did - made my own cloth wipes.  I'm not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination but I was able to sew enough to make my own squares.  They may not look all that pretty but - who really cares??   You know what they're going to be doing and I can assure you, having straight lines or hidden hems is not important.  (More on the wipes later.)

Diaper Wipe Solution
*Water
*Extra Virgin Olive Oil
*Baby Body Wash (or some other liquid soap) - just find something you know baby isn't allergic to.  I would also suggest finding a soap you feel GOOD about putting on your baby.  I don't want to bash here but there are some things in that commercial, name brand baby wash that should not really be on Baby!
*A squirt or spray bottle - I use the peri bottle I got from the hospital (I've gotten one at each birth)

Fill your bottle almost to the top.  Add in a bit of the EVOO (maybe 1/2 Tbs.) and some of the body wash (1/2 - 1 Tbs)....these measurements are guesses because I never measure.  I just give a squirt of each into the bottle.  If I find I used too much oil last time, I'll tame it down some next time.  Shake it all up.  

Now you can grab a wash cloth/wipe and give it a good squirt of solution whenever you need.  These are wonderful because you just wash them with your laundry so you save money by not constantly buying (and throwing away) more wipes.  (If you don't have cloth diaper laundry to wash these wipes with, you could put them in with your whites and wash them on hot.)  These also do a MUCH better job at cleaning stuff up.  Most of the time I only need one wipe.  Only rarely do I need to grab a second wipe. 

As for wipes, I've read about a couple of different ways to make them.  You could cut receiving blankets into squares if you've got some of those hanging around needing something to do.   What I do is find a coupon (I like the 40% off kind) to a craft store and go buy myself some fabric.  I use cotton flannel for one side and terrycloth for the other side.  I sew them together, leaving a space big enough to flip it inside out, then finish sewing it closed.  I've also experimented with just doing a zig-zag stitch around the whole thing so I don't have to worry about flipping it inside out.  (I think my wipes are somewhere between 4 and 6 inches... just whatever you think is best for you and your needs.) 

We do a combination of cloth diapers and disposable diapers but 98% of the time, we use cloth wipes.

Happy Wiping!!