anyone who doesnt use baby wipes- what do you use?

[booyhoo]

my 2 week old seems to have red bum whenever i use wipes, when i use cotton wool with water it clears up. OH and ds1 have psoriasis and i think baby might have sensitive skin too. im just wondering what others use as opposed to wipes for sensitive skin. there isnt always water available if im out and about and need to change him.

My HV is convinced that it is baby wipes that cause nappy rash. I always use washable wipes. If out'n'about you have a couple of options. You can either make a pile of wipes damp in the morning and store in a plastic box or plastic bag and use just like baby wipes. Or take them out with you dry and take a spray bottle of water with you. then you can either spray your baby's bottom, or spray the wipe to make it damp. Yo can amke up fancy soloutions with chamomile tea and oil, but I always just used water. My husband worked out that we saved £250 just by not using babywipes on our second child. I always have loads of washable wipes in stock - let me know if you'd like some. I can get them in the post.

do you make your own washable wipes or do you buy them?

I use a squirty bottle of water and kitchen towel torn in half. I found washable wipes far too much effort - millions of the little bleeders to wash and then peg up on the line. And they were always getting stuck in the door of my washing machine.

I tried with loo roll but it falls to bits. Kitchen towel is ideal, but unless you're wiping up a nasty poo, you only need half a sheet.

I use flannels. And water - warm at home, cold (out of the bottle I carry to drink from) when out.

I would never use wipes on a baby that young. They're far too harsh. Just use cotton wool and water.

As they got older I did sometimes use very sensitive wipes but mostly I used small soft cloths I got for the purpose. I just dampened them with water. I took poo off with paper first.

I used flannels with dd2 who had/has veyr sensitive skin. Ikea do like 10 for £1 and i juat kept them in a box in the bathroom, wet them under the tap and then chucked them in the nappy bucket (we also used reusable nappies - with all of them but esp with dd2 as she was reacting to all disposables).

I didn't find it fiddly - it was dead easy.

Cotton wool until they can confidently stand. Wipe with bog roll if needed & hose down in the shower after that. Still use wipes for dirty naps when out of house.

I also use the cheapo ikea flannels with water. Am a bit sad though as have color coded mine so half go in with the nappies and the other half are for faces and go in with the whites. Very easy and has saved a fortune.

Me too, i used wet (water) cotton wool.
If the little peachy looked a bit red, then i used baby lotion instead. Used to carry a little bottle of it in my nappy bag.

then bought those cheepy Ikea face cloths, 5 in a pack and used them.
They wash great for quite a while when they look grubby, sling them.

i used j-cloths cut down and soaked in camomile tea and lavender oil. much better. i was using washable nappies so theyjust got chucked in with them. but at 2 weeks cotton wool and water is enough.

good luck, hope your baby's wee bum clears up.

LOL at the though of pegging washable wipes up on the line - I just stick them in my wipe box and dampen them with my bum wipe solution - what's the point of drying them if you're going to wet them again?

I like wipes with fleece one side and cotton velour or terry the other. I like Weenotions wipes best but they are a bit small so I tend to use one Nappies by Minki wipe followed by a weenotions wipe...

Could just use flannels or whatever but the bright colours make me smile.

Thought, even!

Swampster - gawd, why did that never occur to me!!

I always used to think I was quite bright!

I'm sticking to kitchen towel though (recycled, of course).

you dry cos that is more hygenic.

DD never had a wipe near her bottom. I used the wipes to clean the grease off my bike..seeing what they did to my bike put me off using them on DD.

I just hung DD under the mixer taps (even at 23mths old) and sluiced her down, dried her with a towel and then put the nappy on. When out and about I would either use the taps or take some fleece sections cut up into wipe size pieces- I could then put these in the washing machine with the nappies.

thanks all, like the idea of fleece cut up into wipe sized pieces. sounds very comfy on the bottom.

Don't see any hygiene issues, DeepGoat, they are back in the machine by the end of the day.

i use cotton wipes and water solution. old bits of cotton tee shirts cut up and some soft cloths from £ land- soak in baby wash and hot waher and drop of tea tree- then put in wipes box for the day!

booyhoo I had exactly this problem, seemingly constant rash, switched to washable wipes and haven't had any since.

I bought a fleece blanket from Ikea for a couple of ££ and cut it up into about 30 wipes. I wash them in with the nappies and store them damp in a tupperware on the change table ready to use.

I'd recommend fleece rather than flannels. The fleece is a lot softer and flannels can go a little crunchy after a lot of washing (I've tried both!) unless you use fabric softener - but I found the softener irritated her bum.

I use washable wipes. I have some that are like little flannels and others that are fleece (just made from a cut up fleece blanket). The flannel ones are better for sticky poo as it has texture to get it off and the fleece ones are better for wee or sore bums as they are lovely and soft.

Do you use washable nappies? If so, I actually find it easier to use washable wipes as they then go into the same bucket, instead of having to put the wipes in the bin and the nappies in the bucket iyswim?

Do you have an old fleece blanket lying about? If so, you can just cut it up into the size you want (mine are done so they fit nicly in a pampers plastic container) and see how you go? You don't need to sew/Hem them as fleece doesn't fray.

I also agree not to hang them up. It is certainly not unhygenic to just use the straight from the washing machine! Lol, not sure where that comment came from! Obviously if you were putting them away wet and not using them for a week then yes it wouldn't be hyginic but if you just put them in the box to use again then it is not a problem. If you were worried about germs you could add a drop of lavender oil which is antibactirial but we don't bother.

We found it great with the newborn as we had no cotton wool and water to deal with which I know most people hate!

You need these, they are fantastic!

Cheeky wipes

large - I have those ones and they are OK. Thinking about selling them though as I have too many!

Tried and tested baby wipes here

Bits of soft cloth and plain water. I cut up some of MrNC's ancient underpants after using them for maternity pants, and various old flannels and some lovely but ripped flannelette pyjamas have joined the cause.

I chuck them in the nappy bucket and wash with the nappies.

Tend to use wipes when out or for exceptionally grim changes though!

i used washable nappies with ds1 and found it difficult to keep up with all the washing so switched to dispsables. i toyed with the idea again with d2 but decided not to as i have even more washing now than i did then and it would be another waste of money to buy the nappies and then not use them. anyway, can you wash the wipes with your normal wash? or does it need to be a separate wash?