Making your own chemical free baby wipes is a great way to control what goes on your baby’s skin each day. Homemade wipes are also a great deal cheaper so you can save lots of money, and customize the solution for your baby’s sensitive skin.
There are lots of commercially available products on the market but their ingredients list sound like a science experiment. A sample ingredient list from a popular Australian baby wipes pack reads like this:
Water, Disodium EDTA, Xanthan Gum, Caprylic Triglyceride, PEG 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Benzyl Alcohol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Sodium Hydroxymethlyglycinate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Fragrance.
Plus they’re expensive. It is however really easy to make your own, either as a spray or solution to use with washable wipes or using paper towel for a more disposable option. All the ingredients are readily available in supermarkets or chemists and once you have your bathroom stocked you should have enough ingredients to make a few batches.
- 1 tablespoon almond, grapeseed, or olive oil
- 1 tablespoon liquid castile soap
- 1 cup distilled or filtered water
- 2 drops chamomile essential oil for moisturising baby’s bum
- 3 drops lavender essential oil for scent
- 1/4 teaspoon Vitamin E oil as a natural preservative
Combine all ingredients, adding water first to avoid creating lots of bubbles. There are many different ways to use and store homemade baby wipes and solution. Choose the method that works best for you:
You can place your reusable cloth wipes in a repurposed baby wipe container or tupperware type storer and pour solution over wipes until moist, but not drenched. (You may have solution left over.)
You can also add the solution you’ve made up to a spray bottle and use as required. Shake well before each use to blend the ingredients each time and then spray your solution straight onto the wipe each time.
You can also spray directly onto your baby but this could be a bit of a surprise for them! Then dry with a dry wipe.
PLEASE NOTE: homemade solutions can go off much quicker than the commercial preparations. Make the wipes or solution in small batches, enough to last a week or two weeks at most.