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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to start a campaign to ban wipes?

339 replies

annandale · 26/09/2017 18:56

Wipes are an environmental disaster, a key component of fatbergs and sold as a flushable essential when they should be treated like morphine - controlled except for specific medical needs. Anyone with me?

OP posts:
mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 20:20

All you people telling mums to just 'take a flannel' to change a nappy have obviously forgotten what baby poo explosions can be like. For a wee, fine. For a grade ten, nuclear shit bomb one damp flannel in a ziploc is just not going to cut it! I'd have needed a separate nappy bag just for flannels! Shame we can't predict what they are going to do when we leave the house.

Or you've never had a reflux baby, who could cover itself, you and a five metre radius around you in vomit.

But maybe us mums with babies should just stay home, like mums did in the good old days?

FiveBoys · 27/09/2017 20:24

But maybe us mums with babies should just stay home, like mums did in the good old days?

Ive loads of children, as well as 6 grandchildren. Ive never had to stay at home in case any of them filled a nappy.

mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 20:33

So @FiveBoys what did you do if you were out in the supermarket and one of yours did a turbo poo exploding out of their nappy all up their back? Did you manage with just a flannel?

My child pooed so massively in Sainsbury's when she was tiny it was right up her back and in her hair! No flannel was sorting that! It took me a good ten wipes to get her clean enough to get changed and redressed before I probably used another ten cleaning her car seat before we could head home for a bath.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 27/09/2017 20:35

Two words for you. Water Wipes. They are amazing, contain no chemicals and do not sting at all. Only thing I'll use on my DD.

  1. Water is a chemical
  2. ‎Whatever your wipes are made from is also a chemical
  3. "WaterWipes are made from 99.9% water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract (contains 0.002% benzalkonium chloride)". That's not just water...
mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 20:51

You've made an error, @ItsAllGoingToBeFine, Pedants Corner is a different area of the site!

Water is the same chemical that comes out of a tap, which posters are advocating as the preferred method for cleaning a baby's bum. It's also the same chemical that we all need to consume frequently in order to not, you know, die.

I can live with 0.002% of 0.1%. It's all good.

FiveBoys · 27/09/2017 20:58

So @FiveBoys what did you do if you were out in the supermarket and one of yours did a turbo poo exploding out of their nappy all up their back? Did you manage with just a flannel?

I was never out with just one flannel but there is such a thing as being able to rinse a flannel out at the sink and reuse it.

mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 21:07

@FiveBoys but it's impractical. Trying to hold a wriggling poo covered newborn on a changer, trying not to make a mess in he public baby change place or bathroom, leaning over trying to get a flannel clean with one hand. Not to mention unhygienic to be rinsing a shitty flannel in a public sink that other people are going to be using for hand washing straight after you.

I don't doubt that their use could be cut and they definitely should be flushed but there's a reason this is such a money making industry. For me (and literally millions of other parents) they are a household essential - just like a car, a washing machine, a tumble dryer none of which are very good for the planet either.

mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 21:09

Shouldn't be flushed, that should say. I am not advocating flushing of the wipes Confused

PurplePillowCase · 27/09/2017 21:13

what did you do if you were out in the supermarket and one of yours did a turbo poo exploding out of their nappy all up their back? Did you manage with just a flannel?

been there, done that.
just a flannel & a sink with running water in the changing room. rinse-wipe-repeat.
as for the vomity baby - towels, ordinary hand towel were the tool of my choice. large absorbant and easy to wash.

existentialmoment · 27/09/2017 21:22

I was never out with just one flannel but there is such a thing as being able to rinse a flannel out at the sink and reuse it

Not when you don't have a sink there isn't.

mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 21:28

Ha ha @existentialmoment - the stop at the side of the road, boot of the car changing moments? Been there, got that messy t-shirt! Grin

FiveBoys · 27/09/2017 21:30

There are some very desperate posts going on here and I think people need to start believing in themselves more as mothers and less in the power of the wipe.

hazeyjane · 27/09/2017 22:00

Well FiveBoys, obviously you have 'been there, got the tshirt' many times over, and I doff my hat to you.

'Desperate'...yes, sometimes I do rather feel that way. However, on the whole I think I do a pretty fucking amazing job of being a mum - using a few wipes after having trialled using reusable wipes (and spending half a day reeking of stale shit) doesn't impact on that (IMHO)

Spikeyball · 27/09/2017 22:16

Ds is not going to wait patiently whilst I mess about rinsing shitty flannels out in sinks.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 27/09/2017 22:20

Why, where is he going to go?

Spikeyball · 27/09/2017 22:29

Away from where I'm changing him or if he can't do that biting and kicking me.

SoPassRemarkable · 27/09/2017 22:34

They don't "flush the pipes", they have to go down there with shovels and pickaxes to chip out something the size of a double-decker bus that has set like concrete.

I used to do this for a living and can assure you we do "flush" the pipes. Well jet them with a high pressure jetter actually but same thing. I've never once gone into a sewer with a shovel or pickaxe.

You can break most blockages up with a jetter in your standard size sewers. The rarer massive sewers in London may well be different, dunno, we only have one that size round here and it's never blocked.

SoPassRemarkable · 27/09/2017 22:35

Oh and I've had to attend no end of pumping stations where the pump has stopped working. Pulled the pump out the wet well and it's clogged full of wipes, tampons, sanitary towels, etc which I have to pull out by hand.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 27/09/2017 22:38

if he can't walk then he won't be going anywhere.

And if you are rinsing the flannel then how can he bite and kick you?

You can do it, you just don't want to.

mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 22:43

Er, babies who can walk still need their nappies changing. DD is 18 months, has been walking for 6 months and is still in nappies. That's not late by any stretch of the imagination.

Or are we supposed to have babies potty trained by the first birthdays, like everyone else clearly did 'back in the good old days'?

mamatobabes · 27/09/2017 22:45

@ChardonnaysPrettySister Have you used baby change facilities recently? The changing units are usually suspended 4 feet off the floor, and not close to the sink. How do you suggest you hold a child (be it a vulnerable newborn or wriggling, able to jump/fall off and run 18 month old) whilst rinsing a shitty flannel in the sink? Seriously I'd love to hear it.

Unhappyyear1 · 27/09/2017 22:49

People just don't care do they? The I'm alright mentality is depressing.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 27/09/2017 22:51

My nappy wearer is nearly six. I'm not putting him through the further indignity of us having to carry around shitty flannels as well as all the supplies he needs to deal with his double incontinence.

We buy wipes, we dispose of them correctly. There is no further discussion to be had.

Spikeyball · 27/09/2017 22:51

Chardonnay he is not a baby. It's a long time since he has been one but he is still in nappies.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 27/09/2017 23:00

I don't remember when mine were out of nappies, but it would have been by 2 or 2 and a half, three at the latest.