DIY-land: Baby wipes again

The last time I blogged about baby wipes, I mentioned that I'd be making a new batch with different ingredients because 1) mineral oil (the base of baby oil) is not good for babies and kids and 2) while all in one baby washes are awesome, they too can be harmful for kids due to some of the chemicals commonly used in them.  Now, I'm not naive to think that I can completely rid my life, family, and home of chemicals.  But I learned a valuable lesson from my mom years ago: "you learn better, you do better."  I know a bit better now, so I'm trying to do better.

So, in trying to do a different mixture, I again, set out to find the best and easiest recipes.  I found two that I've sort of combined to make my own.  They come from the Kitchen Stewardship and DIYNatural websites.

From the ingredients on their websites, I developed this ingredient list:

1-1/4 C. of water (boiled then cooled a bit)

1 T of lavender liquid castile soap

1/2 t. of Vitamin E oil

2 -3 drops of tea tree oil

1-2 drops of lavender (optional)

1/3 of a thick paper towel roll, cardboard removed

old wipes container

Rather than measuring then boiling the water, I actually used my Keurig machine to get the boiled water this time.  The largest cup size on my machine is precisely 1-1/4 C of water.  Plus, we only use filtered water in that machine.

I waited for the water to cool a bit; it was still warm though.  Then I added the castile soap.  The mixture became a bit cloudy; this is natural.

I then added 1/2 t. of Vitamin E oil and 2-3 drops of tea tree oil and 1-2 drops of lavender.  I only added the extra drops of lavender because the tea tree oil gave the mixture a strong smell.  Although I'd smelled the tea tree oil before, I wasn't really expecting it to overpower the lavender from the soap so much.  I stirred the mixture, then poured it over the roll of paper towels sitting in the old wipes container, and let it sit.

Admittedly, I really liked the clean, baby product smell of the first batch I made.  This batch is healthier and has less unnatural chemicals, but I may be reconfiguring again to get a better smell.  I may cut the tea tree oil next time or find something to replace it since I'm mainly using it more for its antibacterial properties than for smell.

Although I wondered about the small amount of oil added (only 1/2 t. of vitamin E oil compared to 1 T of baby oil in the first batch), I realized the castile soap has some oils in it. Plus, one of the websites mentioned above doesn't add any oil at all.

I'm currently waiting on the water to soak into all the towels so I can use them later.  Since my little dude is 99% potty trained and doesn't use wipes as much, and the littlest dude hasn't arrived yet, I won't be running through these too quickly just yet.  But I certainly need to perfect which method I like for when the day comes that we will be going through wipes like water.

So far, both methods have been pretty easy.  The hardest part has been cutting the roll of towels and collecting the ingredients (which wasn't that difficult).  

The first batch smelled better, but I think that's just because we're so used to what baby oil and baby wash smell like.  My husband complained of the first batch being too soapy (it had 2 T of baby wash compared to 1 T of castile soap this time), but I'm sure he'll complain of the smell this time. ;-)

We shall soon see which is better overall.

Happy DIY-ing. :-)


UPDATE 03/15/13: 
So after a day of having the wipes bin next to my bed, the scent has grown on me.  It's so clean and nice.  I find myself wanting to wipe my hands with the wipes just to have the scent on my hands.  I don't even really smell the tea tree oil anymore, but of course, I know it's there.

And no irritations from the use of the essential oils.  

SUCCESS!  I may have found my baby wipes formula! :-)