Hello mommas. I am finally getting around to making my cloth wipes tonight. I have never used them before, but I am very excited about this new journey. Anyway, I have no idea how many I need. I am really bad about starting a project (I have had the materials to make these for almost a month now! >.<) so I want to make as many as I need right now. If I don't make enough, I don't know when I will get back around to making more.
If it helps your answer, I only plan to use cloth wipes at home. I have struggled with cloth diapers when we go out (my daughter is a heavy wetter and needs changed about every 45 minutes so packing that many clean diapers and hauling all the dirty ones around became very taxing. So, I use cloth diapers at home and disposables out and I plan to do the same with wipes.
Thanks in advance!! ^_^
Edit- I wash every other day, so I would need to know about how many you would use in two days. I plan to make two or three times as many as I need so they can circulate and not wear out as quickly as if I only had one set.
I know a woman who took about 1 to 1 1/2 yard of fleece, cut them in about 7 inch squares or rectangles and that was plenty. No need for sewing or anything.
Not sure how many that turned out to be, but there it is. I've heard people say anything from 40 to 80, just think, that about half will always be in rotation and several will be in emergency places, like a stash in your car, purse...
We have a wipes warmer that holds around 9-10 wipes at a time. We bought about 3 dozen when we first started. When I was home with my daughter, we refilled them at least once a day, if not twice. However, now that she is at daycare (I still do cloth diapers there, but have them use disposable wipes for convenience sake), we only refill it about every other day. I don't tend to use them when she only wets her diaper as I read somewhere that too much wiping could hurt babies' sensitive skin.
A friend of mine who cloth diapers bought one of those coffee carafes that keep coffee hot. She fills it with hot distilled water and then wets her wipes as needed. I thought that was a pretty cool idea (and very economical) because she just about never runs out of wipes! She only has to do the water once in the morning and she's good for the rest of the day.
It depends on how often you wash your diapers, I do a load every night. So I made enough to get me through a days worth of diapers plus a few extra for wiping a face, or as a bath cloth.
I did not use cloth but I used about 2 wipes per change and in the beginning you change the baby at least 10 times a day. It tapers off to about 5 times a day. When it is pee you might be able to wipe, fold the cloth over and use the other side. When it is poop, you can still fold it over and use but you will need another for the last clean wipe and especially if there is messy, runny poop. I would say 20....25...??
I used washcloths cut in half for my wipes, and mostly used them when I had dirty diapers, and would just wet one as needed for cleaning messes. As such, I only used a couple a day.
I agree that you should estimate what you think you'll need between washes, then increase that amount to account for the fact that they are very handy for wiping/washing aside from diaper time. I think I initially made something like 60 for my son and made some more when my daughter was born, and tossed some of the more worn original ones. They are so easy to make, and so useful, that I ended up making them for gifts and each time would make a few of that fabric (I used flannel prints and solids) for myself as well. We're transitioning my daughter out of diapers, but I think these cloths will still be useful for a while!
I used a simple wash solution of distilled water, lavender oil and castile soap with the wipes, which has worked really well for us.
I have about 50. It seems to work well.
