24 answers

Natural Diaper Wipes and Daycare

My three month-old is about to start day care and we are asked to supply the wipes. Curently I use soft pieces of fabric and wet them down with just water, but what shall I do for daycare?? Is it too much to ask a daycare provider to use the cloths, or can I "present" it in a user-friendly way somehow? Any ideas or thoughts?? I just hate how those disposable baby wipes smell and it alarms me to read all the chemicals that are on them... also my pediatrician says many infants are allergic to those wipes, so I'd really like to not go that route. OR are there brands you can purchase of disposable wipes that are not so chemical-ly, or that are dry with no chemicals on them?? We are using the Seventh Generation brand plastic diapers for daycare and cloth diapers for home.

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! In the end I switched to a different daycare and their policy was commercial wipes only, so there was no chance to use cloth wipes. HOWEVER, from you mamas, I did learn about seventh generation wipes which I do really like. I order them on diapers.com, or get them at the co-op. As far as I'm concerned, they are the next best thing to cloth and water. There were a lot of suggestions for making your own wipes using paper towels which I considered, but in the end I decided agaist that because I was concerned about dioxins (like in bleached paper diapers that can be toxic for babies) that might be in the paper towels. Thanks everyone!

Featured Answers

We cloth diaper and wipe as well. We make wipes a batch at a time with a little bit of Jason's Homebest baby soap, a few drops of tea tree oil, and water (we keep them in a wipe-warmer). This mix seems to keep bacteria out. It might work to have a wipe container for the wipes and some sort of easy disposal bin for them at daycare (a little garbage can or something?). That way, the wipes are easy for daycare folks to access, and you can take the containers home, wash, and replenish as needed. I totally agree--keep those chemicals off my baby!
If they won't do cloth, it might work to use paper towels that you make this way. That way you know only mild soap and tea tree oil are in them, and daycare folks can just throw them away!

I have a 4 1/2 month old son who is also starting in Daycare soon. I too use cloth diapers at home, but they won't do cloth so I am also going to use the seventh generation diapers for daycare. I use the seventh generation diaper wipes as well. They are much better for babies than the leading brands.

Good luck!

I babysat for a little boy whose mother would take a roll of toilet paper and soak it in a solution of water and, if I remember correctly, baby lotion, and she kept them in a big Ziplock bag. Something like that might address the problem of the hassle, if that's what you're worried about.

More Answers

make your own wipes. my daughter had allergies to the store bought wipes so an associate at target gave us the recipe and we used them for years! now that she's 7 and my son is 6 we make them for on the boat when they need to wipe their hands. here's the recipe:

1 roll bounty papertowels--cut it in half with a straight edge knife so it looks like you have two rolls of toilet paper. take your fingers and remove the brown cardboard from the middle of one roll and put the other roll away for later use. put the roll of papertowels in a rubbermade bowl (we use an ice cream pale with a lid. in the center of the lid cut an X (we found that by cutting one of the pointy pieces of the x off just a little bit, the wipes came out better)

mix:
1 3/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons head to toe baby wash
2 tablespoons baby oil.

dump mixture over papertowels. pull from the MIDDLE of the wipes and pull it through the X in the lid and close the lid. give it an hour or two to soak in. VERY inexpensive and very delicate for babies. Keep one on your kitchen table for easy hand, face, and high chair clean up after eating.

1 mom found this helpful

Walmart and target have diaper wipes that are for newborns. They only have water on them. That is what I buy for our daycare kids in my daycare.
If I can help anymore let me know.

I understand that you want to provide healthy and wholesome choices for your child, and I commend you for doing that over your own convenience.

I do daycare, and I myself pride myself on helping the parents out however I can. You are paying for a service, and if a small request about wipes can't be accommodated I might find somewhere else to go. Honestly the daycare situation is about finding the right comprimise of what the provider can do and what you need.

I agree however, if you make and provide your own it's the best of both worlds. You're being conscientious of the providers need to take care of all the children, but still providing the wholesome care for your child.

I know seventh generation has baby wipes you can use, look at babies r us - they just expanded their 7th generation line. Also Target just got some new natural stuff - I would look at the label and find out what it is but it might be okay.

Good luck in your transition to daycare and back to work! I hope it goes well!

As a daycare provider myself, there should be no problem with you using the kind of wipes you want as long as you can provide the adiquate amount for your provider. Are these wipes that you use disposable? or are you washing and resuing? Don't expect the provider to have to wash out the cloth id you do reuse them. have you ever looked at the unscented dye free wipes I have used them on my children and have had no problems, but everyone and every child is different.

T.

If your daycare provider always you to use cloths, that is great and very environmentally friendly. However, if you need to use commercial wipes Kirkland brand wipes sold at Costco are great. They are very big and durable and have no scent at all. They are also alcohol free. They are cheaper than most and I've found them to be far superior to other wipes. Not as environmentally friendly as cloths of course but at least they're not full of horrid smelling perfumes.

Hi O.,

You can always ask, the worst she can do is to say no. It could pose an issue for your provider. The best way a parent could have presented that to me was to offer to bring fresh ones every day and take the used ones home every night. Check into making your own disposable wipes. This recipe is for cloth wipes, but what you could do is get Viva towels or a brand that really stays together, and cut it in half with a large knife, soak each half with this solution, and put it in a container.

I have a 4 1/2 month old son who is also starting in Daycare soon. I too use cloth diapers at home, but they won't do cloth so I am also going to use the seventh generation diapers for daycare. I use the seventh generation diaper wipes as well. They are much better for babies than the leading brands.

Good luck!

I cloth diaper my kids and use wet flannel cloths to wipe them with. I do use the Sam's Club brand of wipes when we are out and about, mostly for faces and hands though :o)
Anywho, have you tried making your own wipes with paper towels and water? Maybe add a dab of baby shampoo to your solution. I used to do that and have friends that do that. Just tear them off and fold them and put in a little wipes pack and then mix a little water and shampoo and dump it on and close it.
Best Wishes,
J.

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