Homemade Baby Wipes

 I finally got low enough on wipes to try out this "recipe" for homemade baby wipes. It was super easy and I had everything on hand but the paper towels. I am extremely happy with the end results, they clean really well. The only downfall from regular wipes is packaging. I started by keeping them in old wipe containers but they wouldn't dispense right since the roll was so big and it was still in a circle instead of layered like regular wipes. I am currently keeping them in a Ziploc which works well. I recommend unrolling some so they are easy to grab in situations where you are in a hurry. If you are wanting to pack them in a diaper bag, pull some off and put them in a sandwich size Ziploc bag or an old travel size wipe container.

Here is the recipe I followed:
*1 cup hot water
*1/4 cup baby oil
*1/8 cup baby lotion
*1/8 cup baby wash
*1 roll Bounty Paper Towels (Everything I read said you MUST use Bounty, they are the only ones that hold up to this. I didn't have baby wash so I used baby shampoo and that worked just fine)

-I actually doubled this putting it in two separate bowls and pouring it over each half. That seemed to saturate the towels just right for me, but you can just use the above mentioned on both halves and it would work well too.

Directions:
1. Cut paper towel roll in half, remove cardboard. *I did this using a serrated knife. My counter looked like the cats had got into the paper towel roll when I was done with it but it got the job done. Let me know if you find something that works better for you.
2. Mix the solution.

3. Insert paper towel in container.

4. Pour solution over entire roll. Seal and let sit overnight. *This will be very oily if you try to use it too soon. I checked it after about 10 hours and it was still very oily. Letting it sit for an entire 24-48 hours seemed to be the best. I then moved it into a Ziploc for easier access.

Those of you who would like to make reusable baby wipes check out this bloggers version.

Edited to add cost analysis as requested:
*Obviously you can use any number of products from dollar store brand to natural brands, which would change the cost ratio. For the purpose of this blog I based this on Johnson and Johnson products. The wipes can also be bought at various prices but I chose to compare to Huggies.

Homemade cost:
-Johnson and Johnson's Baby Oil (20 oz) = 3.74
-Johnson and Johnson's Baby Wash (28 oz) = 4.99
-Johnson and Johnson's Baby Lotion (27 oz) = 4.99
-Bounty Paper Towel (1 regular roll w/ 56 sheets) = 1.97

2 oz of baby oil = 0.37
1 oz of baby wash = 0.18
1 oz of baby lotion = 0.18
1 roll bounty = 1.97
               TOTAL = 2.70 , since you cut the roll in half you get a total of 112 wipes. That comes to a cost of   0.02411 per wipe


Store bought cost:
Huggies wipes (2 pack with 72 wipes per pack) = 6.50 , with 144 wipes in the two packs that comes to a cost of 0.04514 per wipe.


So in general it costs about half as much to make your own. Pretty good deal if you ask me!