Homemade Baby Wipes Tutorial
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Baby wipes can be an expensive part of taking care of your little one, but they don’t have to be. If you are trying to save money on your budget or trying to create more reusable products and less waste, you are going to love this tutorial on how to make homemade Baby Wipes!
Homemade Baby Wipes
When my babies were little, I wanted to make sure they would have the best start in life. They’d already been through so much and there were certain chemicals and toxins that I didn’t want to add to their already overloaded little bodies if I didn’t have to.
I started looking up ingredients in typical baby products and I wasn’t very happy with what I found. While I understand a need for convenience and for things to be shelf stable and preserved, if I could avoid some of those ingredients, I would be a little happier with my choices. If you have a baby that deals with a lot of skin irritation, you will understand!
Not to mention the cost…baby things are expensive!
A lot of “recipes” for homemade baby wipes that I’ve seen out there use baby shampoo, baby oil, or other questionable products to put on baby’s skin. To me, that isn’t much better than the toxic chemical-filled baby wipes listed above as most shampoos often contain similar, if not worse, ingredients. So if you are wanting to make your own baby wipes, here’s a great recipe!
Ingredients in Baby Wipes
When we started using wipes for our oldest son, I was curious about what the ingredients were in the product. So I did a little investigation and here’s what I found:
This is a list of ingredients from the Unscented Soft Care Pampers Wipes. If you want the info on what each of these ingredients are you can find them below:
Water, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, PEG 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Sodium Citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Benzyl Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate, Bis PEG/PPG 16/16 Dimethicone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Dipropylene Glycol
Um, no thank you. A few too many “extra” ingredients for me!
—Go here to read tips on Living Simple with Baby.
Ingredients in DIY Baby Wipe Solution
- Water.
- Witch Hazel. Witch Hazel can be bought at some drug stores like Walgreens. You can also get it online here. For a really nice Witch Hazel that already has added Lavender, you can try this one from Azure.
- Lavender and Tea Tree Essential Oil. Adding essential oils is optional but if you want something slightly scented or if you want to add the qualities of the oils, these are good ones to add. I recommend buying essential oils from Rocky Mountain Oils.
- Aloe Vera Gel. Check the ingredients on your aloe gel before adding. Sometimes companies add in extras. I’d recommend this brand. You can also use your own from homegrown plants but remember that the wipe solution will not last as long.
- Cloth Wipes or Good Paper Towels. You can make your own cloth wipes or if you want to stay with disposibles, I’d recommend a strong paper towel like the Viva brand.
Instructions for Making Homemade Baby Wipes
Place the water, witch hazel, aloe vera, and essential oil (if desired) into a spray bottle (these are my favorite spray bottles).
Wet wipes and place in a reusable container (you can use an old, clean baby wipes container) or keep the solution in a spray bottle and just spray on towels or cloths as needed. You can make your own cloth wipes or you can buy an inexpensive set of reusable Flannel Wipes on Amazon to get you started.
Homemade Disposable Wipes
You can always use paper towels instead of cloth for your wipes if you prefer a disposable solution or an on-the-go method.
When using a roll of paper towels, some people will recommend cutting the paper towel roll in half with a serrated knife so that you use smaller pieces but since most paper towels now come in the “half sheets” I don’t find this to be necessary.
And if you want to take your wipes on the go, just soak or spray ahead of time and take along with you in a plastic baggie! Don’t forget your wet bag to store the dirty ones so you can bring them home to wash. You could also make your own homemade wet bag to store dirty wipes until wash time by making an extra-large Homemade Sandwich Bag. The materials are the same! 🙂
Cloth to Use for Homemade Wipes
You can either use good paper towels or scrap fabric for the actual wipes. I recommend using fabric because you can reuse them as much as needed without having to buy more. The one benefit of using the paper towels is that you can toss them when you are done using them. However if your goal is to save the most money in the long run and to have less waste, go with the cloth.
My favorite type of cloth to use for homemade baby wipes is cotton flannel. It’s nice and soft and absorbs well. Plain cotton will get very wrinkly when washed and will not have nearly to same absorbing power. Microfiber may work ok as well, but cotton flannel is still your best bet.
You could also use baby washcloths that you can find in the baby section of most big box stores.
–Learn where to find Cheap Fabric here!
To really save money on the fabric needed to make these wipes, you can always cut up old flannel t-shirts or blankets. Of course, if you’d rather not worry about any of these things, you can always buy the Cloth Wipes here and use them with your wipe solution.
Grab the printable recipe for the Homemade Baby Wipes Solution below.
Homemade Baby Wipes
How to make your own sensitive skin baby wipes with only a few ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water
- 1 cup Witch Hazel
- 2 drops Lavender and Tea Tree Essential Oil optional
- 1 teaspoon Aloe Vera Gel
- Cloth Wipes or Good Paper Towels
Instructions
-
Place the water, witch hazel, aloe vera, and essential oil (if desired) into a spray bottle (these are my favorite spray bottles).
-
Wet wipes and place in a reusable container (you can use an old, clean baby wipes container) or keep the solution in a spray bottle and just spray on towels or cloths as needed. You can make your own cloth wipes or you can buy an inexpensive set of reusable Flannel Wipes on Amazon to get you started.
Tips for Making Homemade Natural Baby Wipes
This Homemade Wipe Solution should be made in smaller batches and remade as needed, about once a week or once every other week depending on how fast you go through it. Since we are using all natural ingredients and no preservatives, it’s good to try and keep it fresh.
Be sure and shake the mixture before spraying to make sure that all of the ingredients are getting onto your wipe. You may also want to use distilled water instead of tap water if your tap water is questionable or causes irritation.
If you choose to use essential oils in your solution recipe you really only need about 2 drops of tea tree oil or lavender essential oil to make a difference. Be gentle on that brand new skin!
If you want to make your baby wipes extra soothing for diaper rash, you could add a bit of liquid coconut oil or olive oil to your solution. Keep in mind that this may clog up your sprayer a little bit! If you need to add these oils, you might want to use some kind of a squirt bottle instead.
Questions About Homemade Baby Wipes
Is it safe to make your own baby wipes?
It’s completely safe to make your own wipes unless your baby has an allergy to any of the ingredients. Like I mentioned above, be sure and remake the solution often to reduce the risk of mold.
How long do homemade baby wipes last?
If you use the baby wipe solution as a spray instead of soaking all of your wipes at once, it should last at least 2 weeks (depending on if you used fresh aloe), maybe longer. I’ve only made enough to go for 2 weeks maximum before I’d need to make more.
What ingredient should not be in baby wipes?
You should never put anything in homemade baby wipes that might irritate your child’s skin. Also, do not use any artificial fragrances or essential oils that are considered phototoxic (like lemon).
How do I launder cloth wipes?
Just like a Cloth Pad, you will rinse the wipes first and keep them in a small bucket until laundry time. (I put a little BacOut in my bucket with water). You can toss them in with the regular laundry.
Love this recipe and want to find more projects just like this one? You would love my book, Little House Living: The Make Your own Guide to a Frugal, Simple, and Self-Sufficient Life! It has over 130 DIY recipes for household, beauty, kids, and so much more. You can get your own copy here.
More DIY Things for Baby
- The Best Diaper Rash Cream
- Homemade Cloth Diapers
- Toddler Busy Bags
- 10 Minute Baby Receiving Blanket
- Homemade Baby Toys
- Towel Bib Pattern
If you made these Homemade Baby Wipes and liked using them, be sure and share this post through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or by email to your friends!
This tutorial for making homemade baby wipes was originally posted on Little House Living in May 2012. It has been updated as of January 2023.
ugg. Whoever would have thought. I make my own body cream, diaper rash cream, etc to try to avoid silicones on my baby and me. Little did I know it is in his wipes. I don’t really want to go to reusable ones cuz I don’t want to wash them, but I’ll have to seriously consider it now. Thanks for the post!
Do I dare ask….What about sanitary napkins?
I’ll be writing a post about them next week:)
Use cloth sanitary napkins. You can make your own or there are quite a few companies that sell them. They are wonderful and if you try them you just might find you will never buy disposable ones again.
We make cloth sanitary napkins for young girls in poor countries. We used PUL fabric to make it waterproof in the inner layers. They aren’t that big of a deal to make.
Is there anything wrong with just using water?
Beth, I started out making a solution similar to the one above, but then I got lazy (and sleep deprived) and just used water. It worked fine for us.
How about Seventh Generation wipes?
They don’t look too bad. Here are the ingredients: Water, Cetyl Hydoxyethylcellulose (plant-derived cleaning agent), Glycerin (vegetable oil derived), Citric Acid (provides stability & pH balance), Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis) Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate (food-grade preservatives).
Thanks for this post. I do Thai Yoga Massage and like to clean peoples’ feet before I work on them. I’ve been looking for something natural to make myself – this will work perfectly!
Is there an ingredient that can be substituted for the Aloe Vera gel?
You could just leave it out and they would still work fine.
Another recipe I’ve used calls for baby oil and soap. I also used it with pre-soaked paper towels. The whole batch grew black mold, so I’m excited to see a different recipe, one without vinegar that is. Should I try the baby oil in this recipe?
I wouldn’t add the baby oil, this recipe will work just fine without it and it could clog up baby’s skin.
That’s what I was thinking. Thank you Merissa!
I just ordered the Honest Company diaper and home essentials bundles. We’ve fallen off the cloth wagon, and I needed something a bit healthier for baby. So far I’m impressed with their cleaning stuff and their wipes. Just an idea. Not exactly cheap, but it comes to the door! lol
I just switched to cloth wipes in homemade solution. The solution recipe I found calls for 1.5 c water(I boiled mine first), 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tbsp aloe gel, and 1 tbsp baby soap. I’ll have to try your recipe next, I like the idea of witch hazel and tea tree oil.
I use cloth diapers and love them. I also. Have been making my own wipes. The baby wash I use is all natural so I like that recipe but love the idea of cloth wipes as well. It would be easy to just throw them in the wash with the diapers!
For this recipe, about how many wipes do you get per batch? I bought the washcloths from amazon you recommended (I think it’s a set of 15) and am wondering if you soaked all of those.
It works best if you just spray it on the wipes, instead of soaking them, and you should be able to do that entire package with one batch no problems.
Hi, I like your post but I am wondering…how many days could I keep the wipes soaked in the bag safely? you know since we try to avoid strong and harmful preservatives.
If you use paper toweling I wouldn’t keep them for longer than a month. You could also mix up the solution as a spray and just spray on each wipe before you use it, it would last much longer that way.
Hey Merissa, I just bought some witch hazel from the store, and after I brought it home, I noticed that it says it’s 13% alcohol. I worry that that would burn if my littles have diaper rash? Or is this how all witch hazel comes, and is it so low that it won’t bother them?
I would just leave it out of the mixture if your little one suffers from diaper rash or replace with purified water.
I found one on Amazon that says it is Alcohol-free–>Alcohol-Free Unscented Witch Hazel w/Organic Aloe Vera Formula Toner-355 ml Brand: THAYERS
I have used a good witch hazel on my skin as a toner and have to dilute with water by over 1:1. So I would not do this full strength at all as very drying.
I make my own disposables. Cut paper towel roll in half, and pour over solution of 1c water 3 drops tea tree oil 5 drops lavender oil and 1 tsp almond oil. Works great.
Been using cloth wipes for six months and love them! I use water, liquid Lavender castile soap, a dash of calendula oil and lavender eo. Easy. Smells so herbal and good. I don’t measure, just throw in, stir with fingers and throw dry wipes in. No time for more with babies.
you could just use a washcloth and warm water and if these is a bowel movement use soap and water on one cloth and just water on another cloth…I used cloth diapers that I had to fold and I used baby washcloths for wiping (they aren’t big enough for anything else…..lol)
I just made these and they smell horrible. I added the essential oil and aloe vera…I was wondering if the type of witch hazel you buy would matter. I bought the off brand. Would it have made a difference if I bought name brand? I’ve used pre-made witch hazel face wipes before so I know the basic scent of witch hazel and it’s never bothered me before. I really want to use a homemade mixture that doesn’t include baby oil, wash or shampoo and this seems to be perfect…except for the smell (for me at least).
So far I’ve only used the Dickinson brand witch hazel. I’m not sure if that makes the difference but it definitely shouldn’t smell bad.
Thanks so much for more unique idea’s to share on my ‘This & That’ site.
Would distilled water be okay to use instead of filtered?
Yes.
I’m wondering about bacteria growth on the wet washcloths or paper towels. If they are in a closed container and water in it.
Thank you,
Suzi
Make sure to use filtered water and only make an amount of wipes that can be used up within a week or two. Personally my favorite method is to simply spray them as I’m using them.