Update on Using Cloth Wipes

I mentioned about a week ago that we were about to (finally!) start using cloth wipes.  I can't say why we didn't just do that in the first place.  We were given a lot of disposable wipes as gifts at the baby shower.  I guess we just got used to how easy those were, and were intimidated about using cloth ones.  Turns out, it's really no big deal at all.  I still use disposable ones in the diaper bag.  But at home, we're cloth wipes only now (I had to hide the box of disposable ones, so we weren't tempted to use it.  Those are *marginally* easier, and we are lazy).

The wipes:
We already owned twelve flannel bumGenius wipes (purchased before Sly was born, and never used).  They are a good size, and seem pretty durable.  But at almost $1 per wipe, a little expensive [but really...when you think about how many times you'd use them, especially if you have multiple children, I guess they're actually pretty cheap].  It so happened that Tom was throwing out an old thermal waffle-weave shirt (you know, the long-john style).  So I cut it up into little squares and got about twenty-five more wipes for free!  I didn't even have to hem them.  They've gone through a couple washes already, and are still doing fine - no fraying. 

The wipe solution:
 I have seen various recipes for make-your-own wipe solution (usually a mixture of water, baby shampoo, and some sort of oil), but was always wary of using them.  The biggest thing drilled into your head when you're using cloth diapers is that you canNOT use regular detergents to wash them, or put any baby products (Desitin, oils, etc.) on their bums, because these things would get into the pores of the cloth diapers, clogging them up and lessening their absorbency!  So I figured that washing a bunch of wipes covered in soap and oil in the same load as the diapers would be terrible, right?  Well, I laid out my problem to Adam from the cloth diaper store (Happy Baby Company), and he insisted that the very low concentration of those things wouldn't make a difference. 

He even sent me home with some free samples of honey chunks. 

 They are little squares of concentrated - and supposedly cloth-diaper-safe - solution that you dissolve in water to make the solution.  I do like them, but to save money, I'll probably just do the a homemade water/baby shampoo solution once they run out.

And some people, of course, just use plain old water.

Use:
I bought a dollar store squirt bottle to hold the solution.  Before I wipe Sly, I just spray the wipe a few times to get it slightly moist.  A little goes a long way.  The cloth wipes are able to clean up much more than disposable ones.  Huge "messes" that might have needed five or six disposable wipes can be cleaned up with just one cloth.  When I'm done, I just throw the wipe in the bin, to be washed along with the rest of the diapers.  Pretty much no extra work at all!