Baby Powder & Wipes (DIY style)

There is one smell I've hated for years. The smell of babies. Well, baby products to be exact. I'm sure a plain old baby smells delightful (especially if it's your own) but the smell of traditional baby powder & wipes makes me gag.

After 2 weeks or so of disposables, we're switching over to cloth diapers. I'll spare you from a long-winded rant... just know that I think they're awesome and I'm super psyched to use them! So since we're going to cloth diaper, we're also going to use cloth wipes. Everything goes into the laundry and gets re-used. It just makes sense to use both together.

Since the wipes don't come pre-moistened, I'll need a liquid solution to soak them with before cleaning baby's bum. Luckily, there's a DIY for that! (What isn't there a DIY for?)

Here is the recipe I'm going to use:

1 tablespoon almond, apricot, or other oil

1 tablespoon Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap

2 drops tea tree oil (a natural anti-bacterial)

1 drop lavender oil

1 cup water

Mix everything together and store in either a spray or squirt bottle. I like the idea of repurposing a dish detergent bottle because it's *free* and the spout on the top would be easier to use than squeezing a spray bottle trigger 20 times.

They do make cloth wipe warmers, but we're going to forego that for the sake of keeping things simple.

Another little known fact is that you can't use diaper rash ointment with cloth diapers because it interferes with the absorption. However, it's not a big deal because cloth diapered babies get less diaper rash to begin with because of the breathable, natural cloth fibers. The people at FuzziBunz recommend airing out your baby's tush for a minute or so between diaper changes and using baby powder to protect skin from moisture.

According to my Mom (the DIY queen), the best baby powder comes from the grocery store and you may have heard of it. It's called cornstarch! Yep, plain old cornstarch. I picked up a box in the baking aisle for a whopping $1.18. Johnson & Johnson try to sell their "special" cornstarch baby powder for $5. I'm not falling for it.

I bought these cute shakers from Amazon.com to store my cornstarch in (2 for $9). They're really for parmesan cheese, but I hear they dispense the perfect amount of baby powder during diaper changes. I'll be sure to label them so I don't douse my pasta with the wrong stuff.

Of course, we'll be using regular wipes & disposable diapers occasionally, during outtings and for the first few weeks when I'm not up for doing a load of laundry every day. I'm not totally hardcore... yet.