a tutorial {cloth wipes}

So my little Owen has sensitive skin. When he was about 3 months old, he got a diaper rash. Three months and 2 medicated creams later, Owen still had a rash that was constantly red and sometimes bleeding (sorry...tmi?). With the doctor's help, we finally figured out that he was probably allergic to the wipes. Who knew?

I bet some of you are just baffled at the thought of using cloth wipes, and I was too. But to help out my Owen's sensitive little bum, I decided to give them a whirl. And you know what? I love them. So far, I have no complaints. If his diaper is just wet, I wipe him and just throw it into his dirty clothes hamper. If his diaper is dirty, I wipe him, rinse off the wipe, and throw it into the washer until laundry day. His bum looks, and hopefully feels, so much better and I kind of feel proud that I'm saving a little money.

The cloth wipes were free, and so easy to make too! I did a little research and found that the best fabric to use is flannel. I used about 1 1/2 yards of flannel that I had in my fabric stash waiting to be used for a blanket. I cut it into 8x8 inch squares (don't worry about making them perfect...you'll be using them to wipe your babies bottom!) and then serged around the edges. I also rounded the corners because I like the look.

I fold the wipes in half and just stack them up ready to be used.

For the cleaning solution use:
2 cups water
1/2 cup baby shampoo/soap
1/2 cup baby oil
I added them all together into an empty spray bottle. It seemed a little too soapy for me, so I topped off the bottle with some more water. I really don't think it matters too much.

While looking around for information on cloth wipes, a lot of people place their wipes into a plastic wipes container and then pour the solution over the wipes. I tried this first, and found that after a day or so, the wipes in the container were starting to smell. Yuck! That's why I decided to use the spray bottle method instead. I just spray as I go.

At first, I was worried about the wipes being covered in poop stains after a few days, but the soap in the cleaning solution really helps to rinse all the yucky stuff away, leaving no stains! The wipes are practically clean just from the initial rinse, so there is no stink in the washer while they wait for laundry day.

Do you dare to do cloth too?