Easy Cloth Wipe Solution
When beginning to cloth wipe, there is a good chance that you won't know which way to go when it comes to a cloth wipe solution. There are solutions that you can purchase and there are solutions that you can make. You can get super fancy or super simple with your solution.
Today I am sharing the solution that we have been using which is a combination of the many other ideas my readers presented me with for a cloth wipe solution. In my opinion, you can easily just spray water on your little one's bum and likely get away with that or you can use one, two or all of the ingredients listed below.
What is our homemade cloth solution?
Spray bottle of water (we carry cute spray bottles in the store)
Two drops of Tea Tree Oil
Two drops of Lavender Oil
About 1/2 tsp of coconut oil
Tea Tree oil is one of the most amazing essential oils out there because of the many uses that it provides. In this case, tea tree oil is great to add to your solution because it is considered to be an antiseptic and it is antifungal. Since it is antifungal this will help prevent the growth of yeasts, which is a common culprit in the diaper rash world. Tea tree oil is used frequently to treat skin conditions and infections, so it's presence in a cloth wipe solution just seems too fit to leave it out.
Lavender is an essential oil that most of us simply love because of the smell, however it has many healing and aromatherapy uses as well. The combination of tea tree oil and lavender can be great for treating and preventing diaper rashes as well as providing an antifungal solution.
I choose to add just a bit of coconut oil to our solution because along with the other two oils, oil helps the wipes glide on baby's bottom easily. Some people worry about coconut oil clogging their spray nozzle, but we've yet to have that problem. While it does somewhat separate from the water, a quick shake of the bottle gets things good again.
How to store your homemade cloth wipes and solution?
We spray our dry wipes (that stay in the wipe warmer) with the solution and then wipe baby. You can also do the reverse and spray baby's bottom first and then wipe with your cloth wipe. Other common ways to use cloth wipes is to fill a mason jar, commercial wipe container or even just a bowl with your solution and leave your wipes to stay saturated whether in there or in a wipe warmer (edit to add that this is what we do now). However if you store your wipes wet, make sure to store only about a day's worth so you can prevent any chance of mildew. I've yet to try it this way because I am scared of having musky wipes, so we just spray them as needed. You always have the option to leave your dry wipes in the wipe warmer so that way they are a little toasty for baby's sweet bum!
There are a million and one recipes out there for cloth wipes, mine is just one of the simpler ones and is also pretty common in the cloth diaper world. Unless your baby is suffering from constant rashes, I don't see the need for getting too fancy. Water can simply clean your baby's bottom; the oils are just added for extra healing and ease. It really is all about how fancy you want to make it.
Speaking of fancy, check out our store for some adorable cloth wipes available with free shipping!
