Why we love using washable baby wipes
As we were fortunate enough to be given LOADS of second hand washable nappies I am really enjoying not having to use disposable nappies which I’m glad about as disposables cost a fortune (about £10 for a week’s worth of botty changes) and they also are super stinky in the household refuse bin (even when bagged in a nappy sack). The washable nappies are collected throughout the day in a lidded pail with a mesh drawstring bag as a liner and few drops of tea tree oil to keep fresh and they are washed with a load of laundry at 40 degrees each evening or every other evening if I’m feeling slack (we have so many I don’t ever run out of nappies).
Before our baby arrived three months ago I wasn’t aware that people who use washable nappies also tend to use washable wipes and I had stocked up on a box of ‘environmentally friendly’ disposable wipes. These went fairly quickly and it was just by chance that I came across a woman on eBay selling brand new washable wipes made from fleece in a huge range of cheery patterns. I bought one pack of 10 from her (£1.50) then another and now we just use lovely pure warm water to clean the baby. The fleecey squares are kept in a little basket near to the babe’s changing station.
They are so soft and really big that the task of cleaning a really nasty nappy is far less trouble with these cloths than with any thin shop-bought tissuey wet wipe which must be full of chemicals. They get popped into the nappy pail along with the nappy and being fleece they don’t colour run in the wash.
I always have a few in my baby’s changing bag and get lovely comments about how pretty, soft, thick and useful they are. When the bub starts to eat solid food I’m sure I will get through plenty as little face cloths. I shudder to think how much I spent on disposable nappies + wipes with the twins before they were toilet trained it must have been close to £2,000 during the two years of their lives.
May 19th, 2008 at 6:54 am
I didn’t know they had those either! Makes perfect sense, though. Thanks for the heads-up.
May 19th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
We got some when we bought our first lot of washable nappies about 3 months ago. We’ve never used disposable wipes at home, only when out and about and that’s perhaps one reason why we’ve never had nappy rash. David still insists on using cotton wool but I wonder what he’ll do now I’ve bought some more wipes and won’t replenish the cotton wool!
I now hate the smell of the chemicals in disposables, something I was reminded of when we went camping at the weekend - washables would have been too much trouble there. We recently dropped the disposables I was using when we went out, and the night time ones went when I got some excellent “stuffable” nappies which last all night without getting soaked through. Its working really well and we manage on 10 (now 12 as I treated us to 2 posh all-in-ones for a slimmer look) plus the night time ones (which are very bulky!)
I’m pleased that I managed to finish my nappy shopping last week too - going around trying to get enough of the nappies we like in the next size for a decent price. The baby show helped a lot with this and I was pleased to see so many washable nappy sellers. Its a good thing we have them now, as Rowan only has 2lbs before he officially needs them! If I hadn’t found them for under 6 quid each I would have been looking for second hand.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Great aren’t they? :0) I tend to just use bog standard flannels (bought in a multipack), although I have 4 children (the oldest is almost 14) and some of the terry nappies I had were a bit past it by no.3 so I cut them up as wipes as well.
You can also get washable liners and silk liners are great for sore bums (I was sceptical until my friend gave me a couple to try when my now 4 year old had terrible nappy rash).
When you’re out and about you can keep a small flask of warm water, or alternatively a tub of wipes soaked in camomile tea for an alternative to ‘wet wipes’).
I like Tots Bots Fluffles as they’re very quick to dry, come with a detachable liner and you can either leave them as is in the day or stuff them for night-time use (so a good multi-purpose nappy).
There are a few good places online to get nappies secondhand :0)
June 13th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Ooh! I wish I’d known about these sooner! We have just been using cotton wool, but these make much more sense.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
How about if you go nappyless altogether?:)
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/