Homemade Baby Wipes

Make your own safe, natural baby with this easy recipe. The smell nice and fresh, are free of scary, skin-drying chemicals, are inexpensive to make, glide easily over baby's heiny, and clean far better than plasticky disposable wipes. 

First, you are going to need some wipes. You can buy nice cloth wipes from Etsy or your favorite cloth diaper company, but cheapie baby wash cloths, or even a torn up old bath towel will work just as well. If you use cloth diapers, it only makes sense to use cloth wipes as well. If you don't, wash the wipes with regular baby clothes or bath towels on hot. They will come clean. I promise. 

For disposable wipes, use soft, thick paper towels. Saw a roll in half and pop into a Ziploc container, or just unroll a few and fan fold them into a travel wipes box. I keep a roll of paper towels or shop rags in the car for emergency wipers. 

Now, let's make the wipes solution. 

Start with 2/3 mild liquid soap. Any soap that you feel comfortable putting on your baby's private parts will do- baby wash, baby shampoo, liquid castille soap, melted, diluted Ivory soap, whatever. I wouldn't use harsh, antibacterial hand soap, dish washing detergent, or anything like that. It will be diluted, but remember how sensitive baby bits are. 

Add 1/3 oil. Again, any liquid oil will work. I like apricot seed oil best, but typically use olive oil because I have it on hand. Baby oil will work, but it can be drying. I recommend a nice, skin nourishing oil here instead. Choose something from the kitchen. Coconut oil may solidify if the room temp drops below 70, so I might not choose that one unless it's quite warm. 

Add to this solution a few drops each calendula (optional), tea tree, and lavender oils. Calendula heals minor skin irritations, like diaper rash. Tea tree oil (melaleuca) is an anti fungal. It inhibits growth of mildew, yeast and fungus in the liquid, wipes and skin folds. Lavender is calming and antimicrobial, lends a pleasing scent and prevents funky germs. 

Now, let's put it all together. I like to use a squeezy bottle for solution concentrate. I got mine from a restaurant supply shop for under a dollar, but you can also get them from the dollar store. Think ketchup and mustard. 

I use a wipes warmer for my pampered princes, but any water tight box large enough to hold your wipes is fine. This solution is liquid and will not solidify. 

Mix a squirt of concentrate in enough clean water to cover your wipes. Pour over wipes and flip once to saturate. 

Done! Wasn't that easy?

Update: I have found that for my little princess, I prefer a squeezy bottle to apply dilute solution directly onto the wipes. Add a little squirt-about 1% by volume-to a bottle of water. A spray bottle works here too. Give a little shake before each application if you like, as the oil will separate if it sits a while.