BEST GREEN BABY WIPES

After a round with baby rash, I did a little research on the best green baby wipes. I've had concerns about the cheap store-bought brands for a long time. With my baby's sensitive skin, allergies and eczema I'm very particular about all products she comes in contact with and wipes appeared on my radar when I read that some brands have materials that have been bleached with chlorine and contain alcohol or other irritants that might cause diaper rash.

A few common brands are Huggies, Pampers and Luvs so I decided to see if I could find a list of ingredients for each and here's what I found:

PAMPERS BABY WIPES INGREDIENTS LIST


Pampers "One Ups" Ingredients List
Water
Propylene Glycol
Aloe Vera Gel
Sodium Coco PG Dimonium
Chloride Phosphate
Cetyl Hydroxyethylcellulose
Methylparaben
Propylparaben
2-Brono-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol
Fragrance

HUGGIES BABY WIPES INGREDIENTS


I couldn't find a list of Huggies Baby Wipes Ingredients but I found a statement on their FAQ that stated that they contain Vitamin E and natural Aloe Vera. No information on what else they had in them which I found kind of fishy...but I didn't actually go to the store and check out the container to see if their was more info on the label.

The reasons that I put Huggies and Pampers first on my list to review were price and the fact that Huggies Natural Care Wipes and Pampers Baby Fresh Wipes were mentioned in an article discussing the best baby wipes of the year. But after reading some of the baby wipes reviews, I am somewhat less than impressed.

So, moving on to the more expensive but highly rated brand, Bum Boosa Bamboo baby wipes. And when I tell you they are not cheap...believe me.
The cost averaged out to .07 cents per wipe (on the bumboosa website) even if you spring for the 960 count package! Who can afford that kind of money for each and every wiped face, hand or butt? I can't imagine paying that for the best green baby wipes on the planet!

I'm all for utilizing bamboo as a replacement for traditional fibers. From what I know, the theory behind its use is spot on. But when an eco-friendly product is so expensive that only the very wealthy could ever afford to use products made with it that's not so helpful.

Another thing that caught my attention with this brand (rated the best green baby wipe by many) is that some of the reviews reported an orange essential oil smell that was strong. The idea of a fragrant smell of oranges that might do a little to overpower the smell of baby poop is appealing to me but guess what? My youngest is allergic to oranges.

Here's a list of ingredients in Bumboosa Baby Wipes from their website:

• Purified Water (98%)
• Organic Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera leaf)
• Lavender Essential Oil from France)
• Sweet Orange Essential Oil (Brazilian no less but my babies are just as allergic)
• Tocopherol (Vitamin E) – Natural Preservative, Skin Softener
• Vegetable Glycerin – Soothes and cleanses skin (so does water)
• Potassium Sorbate Preservative – Preservative (Sorbate is the metabolized form of the sugar Sorbitol)
• Polysorbate 20 used as an Emulsifier
• Citric Acid pH a Stabilizer that provides stability (what the heck does that mean)

I admit a certain amount of frustration after gathering these facts and
I'm about to come to the conclusion that the best green baby wipes that will work with my budget are homemade from scraps of cotton flannel. I challenge the visitors to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to tell me how much more trouble can it be to pack moist flannel wipes in a ziploc or to store them dry and moisten them for use! As for myself, I feel kind of silly for obsessing over this issue when the best green baby wipes are right under our noses and even my five year old can sew a straight seam!

GREEN PARENTING TIPS

When I started this blog I wanted to focus on sharing green parenting tips. My goal was to turn the lot of you into eco-friendly parents in 10 Easy Steps or less. As so many of you know, it’s easy to run to the end of the thread of your subject and be jerked backwards only to fall on your butt. Why I thought I could give advice to others at a time when I was completely overwhelmed with parenting a very sick child is beyond me. In between emergencies, I did manage to offer some advice but I feel I must apologize for those days when I ventured off the course or didn't post at all.

The reason I feel so very guilty for neglecting my duties here is perhaps because
I can look back into my own childhood and see where no care whatsoever was given to isolating me and my sisters (and to be fair the other kids I knew) from pesticides or noxious fumes blowing out of a nearby factory. I tend to blame overexposure to chemicals for a healthy portion of my troubles in life. Granted I have been guilty of meandering off the course with the occasional recipe and rant but I am still driven to not only improve the air quality and the environment of my own home but to help guide others with as many green parenting tips as I can churn out.

Some of the posts I’ve made in this blog were made when my daughter was very sick and it gave me a place to vent my fears and share my pain. I was tempted to go back and delete old posts whose content is no longer relevant or start a new blog altogether and delete this one that displays my struggle to stay on topic.

These days my husband is the sickest one of the bunch and is engaged in a battle with staph which hopefully he will win. I look forward to the day that I can write about how the posts that I made during that health crisis are no longer important. On that note, I believe that I'll keep this blog intact, because moms still leave comments about what they are going through with their child’s peanut allergy, asthma or MRSA plus someday I would like for my girls to be able to read what mommy said about their early lives and to know that I was more focused on them at times than I was on posting green parenting tips on Oooh Baby Green Living and Parenting Ideas.

Parenting Independent Children

I can tell you from experience that parenting independent children is more of a challenge than raising people pleasers. I have a few of each so I know of what I speak. After studying nature versus nurture in school, I thought I had it all figured out until I had kids of my own. After venturing forth into the hands-on experience of actual child rearing, my thinking is that each baby comes here pre-programmed and while some behaviors can be tempered the basic character of a child is hard wired.

My daughters all have different temperaments. Two are shy and eager to please and the other two are rowdy, outspoken and at times, bull headed. I'm here to tell you that parenting independent children is a challenge. I believe that all of my girls are capable of being self sufficient and doing wonderful things in their lifetime even though the odds have been stacked heavily against two of them with chronic illnesses.

Oddly enough the one who has suffered the most is showing the strongest leadership capabilities. She is the one who calls the shots for the group's activities each day. Even though she is not the oldest or the strongest she has won the respect and admiration of the other three by handling herself with dignity that amazes even me.
Watching my girls take care of things because they have decided that I must be tired from taking care of their sick dad (which if you've visited Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues you know about our recent trials and tribulations) or have a lot going on makes me feel like an expert on parenting independent children or at least at giving birth to them.

A Step Forward and Two Back

Battling illness in my house follows a pattern, a step forward and two back or maybe it's three but who's counting, right? I haven't posted much on MRSA wound healing or our battle with staph lately. It's like I've been avoiding the pink elephant in the room that you hope will go away if you ignore it.

The step forward that I mentioned was that the worst of the wounds finally closed. You know you've taken a step forward when the wound care doctor and nurses join for a group cheer some with tears in their eyes and others threatening to tear their shoulders out of the socket patting themselves on the back for having the knowledge and skill to manage the gaping holes. The worst of the wounds now has a paper thin layer of skin joining the sides that is so fragile that it can't be soaked in a tub or scratched if it itches for fear of tearing it.

I hate not to leave our progress report on a completely positive note but yesterday another "bump" or "pimple" was found right alongside the previously mentioned "wonder wound". It's the new year and that means that the insurance deductible starts all over again PLUS the 20% that we have to pay even once that is met.

We were so hoping that we would have a reprieve from treatments and to catch up on old doctor and hospital bills and avoid bankruptcy. We are going to call the wound care clinic and see if they will just call in a prescription to see if a round of antibiotics will zap the bump without having to schedule an appointment.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take an attitude of gratitude and be thankful that we have had a step forward and that we are going to blast our way past the two back. Thanks for the well wishes and uplifting comments that have been left for us on Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues and I hope that you will keep us in your prayers.