If you’re looking for something more than paper towels to use after changing your baby’s diaper, then baby wipe is the product.
Baby wipes have become more popular over time due to their convenience and ease of use. It is an essential item for keeping your baby moisturized, clean, and fresh between diaper changing.
But what is a baby wipe? What materials is baby wipes made of?
Let’s find several important facts about baby wipes.
What Is a Baby Wipe?
Well, there is an easy answer: Baby wipe is a small piece of antiseptic, soft and disposal tissue often used for cleansing the skin, especially the private parts of babies or young children after a bowel movement.
What is Baby Wipes Made of?
These products are made from bamboo, cotton, polyester or a non-woven blend of several fibers.
The mixture is saturated with filtered, purified, or distilled water, and preservatives. Some types of wipes contain multiple oils, and mild cleansers.
Oils help removing soil from baby’s bottom and provide a thin moisturizing layer for the skin. They also keep the wipe from drying out too easily.
Preservatives are used to keep the wipes fresh and prevent mildew, mold or bacteria from forming in the package.
Importantly, baby wipes are treated with sensitive cleansing agent to avoid irritation your baby skin.
- Oils and Moisturizers: Common oils used in baby wipes are vegetable oil, castor oil, olive oil, glycerin or various seed oils such as sunflower, tomato, raspberry.
- Preservatives: Common preservatives used in baby wipes are grapefruit seed extract, citric acid.
What is Baby Wipes Used for?
Baby wipes are perfect for cleaning both urine and poop off your baby’s private parts. They are also great for cleaning up your baby’s face and hands after feeding.
You can also use baby wipe to clean other things such as the tray of a high chair, changing pad. You can also use them on yourself and around your home.
Pampers Sensitive Water Based Baby Diaper Wipe is one of the best and most popular options available right now.
Are there 100% Organic Baby Wipes?
Unfortunately, no baby wipe is fully organic.
Although, some baby wipes come labeled as organic, during our research we’ve found that they use chemical bonding agents during manufacturing.
We also have found some wipes made with only cotton wool, and we’ve not found these don’t contain any chemical adhesive. But the other elements aren’t organic.
Are Baby Wipe flushable?
Baby wipes come labeled as septic safe, flushable or biodegradable. But it is uncertain that they would degrade effectively or quickly for a septic system. As a result, flushing wipes will likely clog your septic system.
So, if your home uses septic system, you shouldn’t flush baby wipes even they are labeled as biodegradable or flushable. Otherwise, you have to spend a significant amount of your hard-earned cash to clean out your home’s septic system. So, it is safe to throw the wipe into garbage or diaper pail.
However, if you live in city area where you use local sewer line, you may flush any flushable wipes down the toilet. But I think you should avoid flushing baby wipes. Because, wipes may cause damage on waste treatment process and sewer lines. For this reason, most towns or cities strongly urge their residents not to flush wipes down their toilet.
Can I Compost Baby Wipes?
The answer is “NO”.
You should never try to compost wipes in your green bin or land.
Even it baby wipes are biodegradable or compostable, but human waste is not recommended for composting.
Moreover, a biodegradable wipe may take hundred of years to break down and reach to a level for processing. Soiled baby wipe may damage the entire bin of compostable waste.
How to Store Baby Wipes?
Most wipes come with an expiration date which is about one year from the date of manufacturer. If you buy in bulk and store, try to use them before they expire. For this use the older packs first. Make sure the wet baby wipes don’t dry out or form bacteria.
Store unopened wipe box is a dry and cool area such as nursery closet or pantry.
Once you’ve opened a box of wet wipes, make sure to tightly close the lid between uses. If you leave the box open, the wipes will stick out and will be dried out within few hours.
Most packs include resealable adhesive label that you have to peel up and stick back down. Conveniently, some wipe packs/ boxes include a plastic flip-top.
If you use DIY baby wipe solution, you should use the wipes within 2 to 3 days.
You can store the open pack of wipes in a wipe warmer. A baby wipe warmer keeps the wipe pack sealed and warm which is a convenient in the winter.
How Many Baby Wipes Do I Need Per Day?
It depends on your baby age and the frequency of changing diaper of your baby.
- Each time you change your baby’s wet diaper, you have to use at least one wipe and for soiled diaper you’ll need two or three wipes for cleaning up.
- Newborns may poop 5-10 times a day.
The following chart will help you understand how many wipes you may need per day:
| Baby Age | Diaper Changes | Baby Wipes | Wipe Packs (assume each pack contains 50 wipes) |
| 0-6 months | 8-12/ day | 25/ day | 3 packs/ week |
| 6-12 months | 5-7/ day | 15/ day | 2 packs / week |
| 12+ months | 4-6/day | 10/ day | 1.5 packs/ week |
From our estimations we’ve found that –
–half of the diaper are soiled during the first 6 months of your baby age.
-third of diaper being soiled during months 6-12
-two soiled diapers per day once your baby is over 12 months of age.
What do Baby Wipes Cost?
This baby item is available in box of wipes or package that usually contains about 50 pieces of wipes.
The prices range from 2 cents to 12 cents for per piece of wipes. However, the average price is about 4 to 5 cents per wipe.
So, for the first 6 months of your newborn, you may have to spend about $30 per month on baby wipes. Then, less when your baby grows.
What are the Alternatives of Baby Wipe?
Use soft cloth or paper towels, distilled water and organic ingredients. You can use organic cleanser or coconut oil.
Organic cotton dry baby wipes are also available. You can dip them in your preferred wet solution such as water and oil, warm water or a gentle cleanser before using them.
- The oil works as moisturizer and helps to clean soiled diaper.
- The distilled water slows down bacterial growth.
One of the disadvantages of these dry wipes is they are very thin. So, you may need to use about 5 wipes for effective clean up.
Here is an instructional video on how to make DIY baby wipes.