cloth wipes

[*noni*e*]

hey everyone
im starting cloth here soon and im wondering about cloth wipes.. would love to be saving money on wipes they cost soo much!! at least to use while we are home..
what does everyone do with poo tho? does it have to be rinsed off? this might prove too hard for DH to handle.. if i put them straight in the wash tho with nappies etc would that wreck my nappies?
so much to consider!!
does anyone just use normal flannels from the shop or are made wipes better?
TIA

[elliskirsty]

Hi *noni*e*
We don't rinse the wipes here, they go straight into the nappy bucket and we do a nappy wash every 2 days.
As for types of wipes we use, velour wipes are used for poo (we got ours from Itti Bitti, but there are heaps of other brands out there), and the Big Softies el-cheapo wipes for wee (they are very thin, with the towling feel on one side only). These cleaned up the poo OK, but I found that I needed to use a lot of them to clean DD up properly. Quite often I could get away with 1 of the velour wipes.
I also have some flannelette wipes (double thickness flanelette) that I made with scrap material I had lying around.
In the early days, we used normal face washers as well

[Bloom]

No, we don't rinse the poo off them. Just put them in the wash with nappy and put the machine on a prewash cycle before the proper wash. We use cheap softies face washers from Big W and find they work fine.

[maz]

we dont rinse pooh of here either, straight into the bucket for a couple of days until wash time.

I prefer a sherpa/flannel combo..sherpa grips and takes away the pooh very easily and the flannel is the final wipe IFYKWIM.

Id get a collection of approx 20 to start with. you may or may not need anymore but be warned..their addictable, especially if their made from gorgeous prints

[~Kim~]

Nope I don't rinse either, they go straight into the bucket and get washed with the nappies. WOn't harm the nappies at all.
I started out with some thin cheapo washers from target (came in a 5 pack), and TBH they do just as good a job as my newer fandangled 'proper' wipes.
I agree with Maz though, I reckon i have about 20ish...

[Cherished]

hi noni I have been thinking about wipes too. I bought 18 face washers from best and less which are a reasonable thickness and in all different colours. I was also considering getting some no name chux wipes from the supermarket for the really bad pooh ones that I just don't want to deal with again so that I could throw those ones away. Does anyone else do that??? I'm also wondering about wetting the wipes, what do you all use? A water spray bottle, wet them under a tap, or in a bowl of water near the change mat? Sorry I have no idea oh and do you put anything in the water like lavender oil?

[Ryatha]

I've got a mix of flannels and proper wipes that all do the job nicely. I have a spray bottle next to the change table with a little bit of her soap in it and water and spray the wipes just before washing. Works well.

that idea about chux wipes is a good idea... will have to think about that

[Cherished]

thanks ryatha, on the chux wipes thingo, if you do get some make sure they don't have detergent in them. You can get with and without detergent ones luckily the cheap ones probably wont have detergent anyway lol

[maz]

I dont know if I could use chux wipes..sorry but its a blah thing for me..putting your finger through one straight into the pooh

I wet my wipes as I need them with warm water from the tap. I also have foamy wash for out and about that doesnt require you to have a wet wipe

[meow]

I made a bunch of wipes and bought some. The ones I made are flannel on one side and terry on the other, which work really well. I bought some velour wipes and they are really good.

I must be the only person who rinses them! My son does sloppy poop so I clean the messiest first wipe used with the little squirt while I'm cleaning the nappy liner off before putting them in the bucket to wash.

I used to wet the wipes with a container of water I would refill with fresh water everyday but since he turned about 4 months I switched to foamy wipes wash.

I wouldn't like chux either personally- too thin and not too eco-friendly to toss. Wouldn't baby wipes be cheaper than tossing chux away anyway?

[CrystalBoo]

I like to use toilet paper to do the first wipe, then cloth to clean up - if I didn't, I think I would have to rinse before washing.

[*noni*e*]

wow thanx everyone!
to start out with ive just bought two packs of softies washers from big w since we r a bit tight on cash will see how they go and then look into others maybe.. i feel silly that i used normal wipes when i had dd in cloth i mean they are so expensive and when ur washing nappies anyway?? ahh well its all a bit daunting but fingers crossed it goes smoothly.. expecting my fluffy mail early next week!

[water_lily80]

I make my own wipes solution for my cloth wipes (I use the velour ones as well as old flannels) that I keep in a pump bottle on the change table...it comes in these little cubes you disolve it in water...it has lavender oil in it...wish i could remember what it was called...Monkey something. Anyway about $13 for around 55 cubes = a years worth of solution for the price of two packs of disposable wipes!!! yay i love my cloth!!

ps i will put any big bits of poo in the toilet if able, if not it all goes in the nappy bucket & rinsed & washed with the nappies.