Baby Wipe Solution

So remember how a few months ago I posted about how I freaked out about all the chemicals in baby wipes and cut up a bunch of tshirts and decided to make my own? No, well Read this then.

I ran into a few problems with the wipes in the container. Turns out when the baby wipe companies put wipes into containers, they use a billion chemicals to make sure that they don't turn to mold or start to stink.

My wipes, however, do not have chemicals to prevent this, so we got some stinky wipes in the container.  I started making a wipe solution and putting it in a spray bottle.  I now spray my wipes (or my kid) with the solution. Problem solved.

Just wanted to give an update.

To remind you, my recipe:


Baby Wipe Solution

• 2 Table Spoons Burt's Bees Baby Shampoo and Body Wash
• 2 Tablespoons Liquid Coconut oil
• 3 cups Distilled Water

Cloth Diaper Detergent

We have super hard water.  Cloth diapers are high maintenance.  These two things do not mix well.  However, after doing a lot of research, I found a good cloth diaper DIY recipe.

Previously, I spent about $18 on Rockin' Green.  I really liked the detergent, but hated how much it cost. I will keep some in the house for times when I need to strip (aka, super duper clean) the cloth diapers.  When you use Rockin' Green for stripping diapers, it's called "Rock A Soak".  I did it, I liked it. I'll write about it later.  Anyways, $18 for 45 loads of diapers was not a good deal. Especially since I throw a load of diapers in the wash each night before bed!

My recipe that I settled on includes Borax, Washing Soda, and Oxy Clean.  These three things mixed together is a magic combination that should work wonders!  The Borax breaks down into hydrogen peroxide when it hits the water, this makes an awesome cleaner.  Washing Soda is great for making hard water soft and is a good degreaser.  Oxy Clean becomes  Sodium Carbonate and Hydrogen Peroxide.  This helps remove stains, soften water, degrease, and cleans amazingly!

The Recipe
1 cup Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Oxy Clean

I made a huge batch (filled up a 7.7 quart plastic container with a locking lid) but made it by the exact recipe a few times.  This let me mix the ingredients together very well.  I also opened a window, turned on the ceiling fan, and protected myself with gloves and a mask since the borax and washing soda aren't the greatest thing to have on skin or in lungs.  (however, both are totally safe to have on your clothes!)

I use 2 Tablespoons of the detergent for each load of laundry. Holy cow, this will last for-eeev-veer!

My washing routine goes like this:
1. hot rinse, no soap.
2. hot cycle, 2Tbsp of detergent. I also add 15 drops of both Grapefruit Seed Extract and Tea Tree Oil to help disinfect.
3. hot rinse to make sure all of the detergent is out of the diapers.

I hang the diapers up to dry.

I used so many different resources, I don't remember them all.  However, Fractured Fairy Tales is who really made this make sense to me!

Cloth Diapers

Remember how I freaked out about all of the chemicals that I realized were in baby wipes?  My freakish-ness took it a step farther and switched the kid out of disposable diapers (sposises, as many "crunchy" mom's call them) and put him in cloth diapers.

I am in love.  The husband? Well, I can say that love is not what he feels for the cloth diapers, but he tolerates them.  The kid seems to like them!

A good friend of mine was ready to sell her cloth diapers (this is not a gross thing in the CD world, totally normal since the diapers can be cleaned and sanitized very well) and I took them off her hands.  It's been a learning experience, that's for sure!

We have a mix of BumGenius 3.0, BumGenius4.0, FuzziBunz One Size, FuzziBunz One Size Elite, Smart Bottoms Too Smart, and Smart Bottoms All-In-One (AIO).  I love having a variety of diapers! The Smart Bottoms are by far my favorite! They are super slim and perfect for a busy little guy. They have amazing inserts that are so super absorbent - perfect! Also, a second cousin (or something close to that) is the creator of this organic 100% made in America diaper brand! 

All of the diapers I have right now will fit babies from 8lbs to 35lbs.  B is 33lbs right now and has room to grow, but he has gotten tall and slim.  They may fit him a bit longer.

I make my own detergent. I have learned to strip diapers. I have asked a million annoying questions.  I had my dad install a poop sprayer in my bathroom and I have enjoyed almost every second--even with the messes--of cloth diapering so far!

This is my new awesome drying rack! I am in love! It works well for indoors, and will be great for outdoors once the rain stops an the sun decides to grace us with its rays!  Sunning diapers is a good way to get stains (yes, poop stains) out that do not completely come out with cloth diaper detergent.  The sun also is another way to kill any germs left over from the wash.