Making your own wipes, and what do you do about poop while out and about?

[Luvmy2Joshs]

I've been using disposable wipes which seem stupid because I have to go throw them away and then rinse the diaper and put it in the pail, it seems like it would be easier to just use cloth wipes.  Any suggestions on how to make some? I have a 2 year old with gross, thick poops and am about to have a newborn.  And, can you use a wipes warmer with cloth wipes? I just thought it was nice to have for the newborn stage.

And.. what do you do about messy poop diapers when you're out? I have a wetbag and I've been trying to rinse the diapers off in the toilet before squeezing them out and putting them in, but it's really disgusting.  Is it necessary to try and rinse them in public toilets? We usually use pocket diapers for outings.

[Sharon, RN]

I don't know how to make wipes, I'm sure the crafty mommas here will have some advice for you!  I use old baby washcloths and reusable wipes I have purchased, from thirsties and fuzzi bunz and such.  

When we are out, I wrap the diaper up on itself (don't know how to describe that) so the poo is "tucked in."  LOL  Anyway, I don't think I would bother rinsing in a public toilet, that sounds like a lot of work.  I just dunk and rinse when I get home.  (Really, during the day, I don't even bother dunking until we go upstairs for the night and the little one is asleep.  He finds dunking SO INTERESTING!!    I just don't want to deal with that.)  I have tried disposable liners in the past, but I must be doing something wrong because I always end up with a big wad of disposable liner in the diaper surrounded by poo.    So, I just gave that up.  So, I tuck in the diaper to contain the poo, put in the wetbag, and dunk as soon as convenient.  

People do use warmers for cloth wipes.  I think Prince Lionheart makes a popular one.  I had a wipe warmer I tried to use (from Babies R Us I think) but it has a window on it, so you could see if you were getting low on wipes I guess.  Anyway, the window leaked solution everywhere.  So I would suggest a wipe warmer without a window- and there are lots of recipes for wipe solutions online.  I always see wipe warmers on Craigslist for next to nothing.  I've gone the lazy route and just wet the wipes in the sink with a little bit of soap.  That works for us.    

Good luck and congratulations on your new little one coming!

[Gypsyphoenix]

I haven't made wipes yet myself, but my friend always made her own. She just went down to the local textile place and bought fleece/ microfiber or whatever fabric seemed best suited and cut it into squares. No Hemingway, nothing. Pretty simple. They aren't too fancy looking, but then, how fancy are they going to look covered in poo?

[chel]

Dd is still mostly bf. I often use toilet paper to wipe off the majority of the poop, both on her and off the diaper, and toss in the toilet.

I've never dunked a diaper, would never in a public toilet.

I finish with a wet washcloth when at home or a disposie wipe when out. No need for wipe warmer as I just run hot water on the cloth

[SubliminalDarkness]

We used baby washcloths and some wipes I purchased online that were velour on one side(easier for wiping). I know one easy way to 'make' wipes is to cut up flannel receiving blankets. You won't need to serge the edges or anything. And it's cheap!

We also never used wipe solution or anything, just water. And no wipes warmer. We just got wipes wet at the sink at each change. 

As for poop when out, I just packed it all up into the wet bag and dealt with it at home. The only exception was if the poop was solid and would just plop out into the toilet, but with my son, that almost never happened. 

[KABB]

Have you looked at lining the diapers with either a disposable or reusable liner? That may help your out and about poop problem. I haven't really ever had an issue with poop out and about. I wouldn't dunk in a public toilet, heck I don't dunk in our toilet at home (we have a diaper sprayer). I'd shake off whatever I could and whatever I couldn't gets sprayed off when we get home. 

As far as making wipes, I've made some with flannel because it's cheap and easy to come by. 

[colorclash]

We use purchased cloth wipes, cheapie gerber wash clothes, and old wash clothes cut into quarters.  I didn't hem the cut up wash clothes, and they always fray and get tangled in the wash, so they became sort of a pain.  As far as solution goes, I just have a peri bottle filled with water and a drop or two of lavender oil and a drop or two of tea tree oil or sometimes plain water.  When I take off a poopie diaper, I use the front of the diaper to wipe off most of the poop, then squirt her down with the peri bottle and then wet the wipe with the peri bottle and wipe her down.  It works really well and since most of the mess has been wiped off with the diaper and then squirted off with the bottle, I usually only have to use one wipe per change.  We are still EBF so the poops aren't that bad yet.  When we are out, we tuck in the poop as mentioned above and put the diaper in the pail when we get home.  I don't rinse off my diapers.

[orange_mommy]

I have no idea yet about older child poo, but here is what I am using for my newborn and it works AWESOME!:

For the wipes, I cut up old t-shirts into small squares.  It's super cheap, plus they don't fray in the wash, and you just toss them in the wetbag/washer with the diaper laundry.  And for some reason, all but one of the t-shirts I have cut up roll themselves into scroll-shapes in the laundry which makes them look really nice and are easy to store that way. :)  For now, with breastmilk-only poo, I just wipe him and toss everything into the dry diaper pail, and I haven't had any laundry issues yet (he's 3 weeks old.)  The solution I'm using is to put a bit of aloe-vera juice in a Wilton plastic icing bottle (like a Peri bottle), then a few drops of grapefruit seed extract, then a few drops of essential oil of grapefruit, then fill to the top with distilled water (Brita filter) and keep in the bottle and just squirt a cloth wipe before using.  I hold my hand around it for a few seconds to make it warm up... easy enough.

When I'm going out, I put several scrolls of diaper wipes (or squares or whatever) into a ziploc bag and squeeze enough solution into the bag to saturate the wipes.  Easy to use for diaper changes, and can also be used to wash hands when out and about.

So far so good... I am so glad I am using disposable wipes... I agree than when using cloth diapers, it makes more sense, and is SO much easier to just have everything washable!

By the way, I agree with whoever said that I would never dunk a diaper in a public toilet... way too many yuckies in there... but that's just me! ;)

[Adaline'sMama]

I made cloth wipes by taking flannel fabric that I bought from the fabric store and cutting it into 5x5 squares. Then I took two pieces of flannel and put them together. Then I sent them to my crafty friend who has a surger and she surged them for me. I bought 4 yards of flannel, all different cool prints, and I have 50 wipes. Its a lot, but she is a year old and I still have NEVER had to try and find wipes. Its plenty for the diaper bag, home, in my purse, ect. (all at the same time). I know people who dont double the fabric, they just surge one piece instead of two. Mine havent unraveled or fallen apart, and my friend (not doubled wipes) have almost all fallen apart. I dont usually dry mine in the dryer though.

We just close up the poo dipe in the wetbag and deal with it when we get home :)