“It sometimes happens, even in the best of families, that a baby is born. This is not necessarily cause for alarm. The important thing is to keep your wits about you and borrow some money.” Elinor Goulding Smith
Personally, I thought this little project was too insignificant for my blog. But my daughter declared the topic both timely and appropriate and insisted that I write it up.
While I profess to be an old fashioned Nana, my daughter is most certainly an old fashioned Mama .  She breastfeeds, makes all of Alastair’s  baby food and uses cloth diapers, though, trust me, these high-tech nappies have little or no resemblance to the ones I used for my babies.
She is also thrifty. Very thrifty. If she had read this quote, she would have scoffed and reiterated the importance of  a realistic budget.Six weeks after Alastair was born, she bought her second jumbo box of disposable baby wipes from Costco. When she started calculating just how much these would cost over the next 2+ years, she clutched her heart (I’m certain!), gasped and called me. “Mama, will you please make me some cloth baby wipes?”  She pointed out that since she is washing diapers every two days, the wipes would generate no significant additional laundry.
Well, it’s not rocket science.  So I plucked up a few remnants of soft baby knits from my stash and rotary cut them into 9″ x 7” rectangles,  sized to fit the electric wipe warmer (another Oh my!).
By rounding the corners, it took very little time to serge the edges on my fabulous Babylock Evolve. Rather than use FrayChek or another seam sealant, I took an extra moment to slip the tails into a blunt tapestry needle and thread them through the serged edge.
I had a good sized piece of the pastel knit shown in the wipe warmer. Ironically, it is an old fashioned, vintage sort of print, suitable for this old fashioned use.  I was able to get about 4 dozen wipes from that one print.  Rebecca uses those exclusively for diaper wipes. 
The other print wipes are used for his bath and for general clean up after he eats.
Apparently, cloth diapers are making a comeback, at least among a small segment of young parents. Out of concern for the environment and/or concern for their babies comfort, those mothers  who choose to use cloth have a steep learning curve to climb.
http://www.diaperjunction.com/bumgenius-one-size-pocket-diaper.html
This link is just the first of many found with a google search and the styles are like most of Alastair’s diapers. Many small, home based businesses sell them as well.
Mothers who use disposable diapers would still find these useful. My daughter-in-law still has a few of the baby washcloths  I made 4-5 years ago strategically placed in the kitchen and the family van.
If you have any knit scraps lying around, make up a few of these washable wipes.  Any baby’s mother will find a good use for them.
