The Switch to Cloth Wipes...

So, while the switch to cloth diapers seemed like an excellent and totally manageable idea to me, for some reason switching to cloth wipes seemed a little too far over the edge. How would I keep the wipes moist? Would they clean up as good as disposables? How would I transport them? Just how much poop-laden items did I really want to be handling and washing?

When you change a disposable diaper and use disposable wipes, the wipes go into the disposable diaper, you roll it all up into a neat little package, and throw the whole thing out. But when you change a cloth diaper and you're using disposable wipes, you suddenly realize that the wipe has nowhere to go. So when your baby poops you are left with this wet, poop-smeared towelette that transfers poop to anything it might touch and looks really gross sitting there in your garbage. This wasn't really so terrible when I was at home because we have a separate plastic bag for diaper garbage, however going over to someone's house and trying to discreetly dispose of the wipes was kind of awkward.

I very quickly realized that cloth wipes really wouldn't be that big of deal, and decided that it would actually be easier to have a piece of reusable fabric that I could just toss into the dirty diaper bin.

At first I was just going to use baby washcloths, or cut up receiving blankets. But then one night as I was pouring over one of my new go-to informational blogs, Cloth Diaper Addiction, I stumbled on a post that gave Sweet Bobbins cloth wipes a super great review. I love Etsy and I love supporting the people who have enough talent to create wonderful things by hand. So I went to check out their shop and fell in love with their adorable, two-sided cloth wipes. One side is a super cute flannel print, and the other is a super soft layer of organic bamboo velour. I did some quick math, figured I'd use about 10 wipes a day, and decided to order 30 so that I could always have 10 on the go if I did laundry every two days. The shipping was fast, the seller was super friendly, and I just have to say these wipes are GREAT! One of these wipes easily does the work of four disposables when cleaning up those messy poops. And of course, I'm a sucker for all things cute!

Just a few of the super adorable prints!

The next thing I had to figure out was how to store them and how to keep them moist. I wanted something with a bit more cleaning power than regular water, and I didn't want to be running to the sink to wet a wipe every time I changed a diaper. So I saved the reusable dispenser from my disposable wipes, and I ordered a sample of Monkey Doodlez Wipe Cubes. The cube dissolves in two cups of water, and there's your wipe solution.

For even more convenience, I folded the cloth wipes in such a way that when I pulled one out of the dispenser another would poke out, just like disposable wipes or kleenex! Then I poured about a cup of the solution over the wipes, which was enough to moisten all 10 of them.

Folded so that they pull each other through the dispenser

In the dispenser - as convenient as disposables!

I'm loving this new system, and all I need now is a portable wipes container so I can bring these babies with me and ditch the disposables altogether!