Frugal and Natural Baby Care

Natural and organic baby products can be expensive!  Here are a few ways to save some money.  Please add your tips and recipes!

Baby Wipes

Using cloth baby wipes can save as much as 800.00.  Still, the initial purchase can be pricey for a bum wipe.  If you don’t have the funds, you can cut up old t-shirts or flannel blankets.  For Norah, I bought the 1.00 “bag o rags” from Goodwill.  It was a huge lot of t-shirts already cut into rectangles.  I washed them on hot a few times to make sure they wouldn’t bleed on the dipes.  Good to go.  They weren’t pretty but hey, they were for wiping butts.

Baby Wipe Solution

You can simply wet your cloth wipes in water.  There are many solutions that are easy to make and smell yummers.  I like to use a few drops of lavender essential oil, a few drops of almond oil, water, and a squirt of Dr. Bronner’s castille soap.  There are lots of additional great ideas here.  I keep my solution in a spray bottle (one for the diaper bag and one for the changing station).

Cradle Cap

When your babe gets the scalp funk, use some olive oil to loosen it.  Use a fingernail or a toothbrush to gently exfoliate the area. 

Shampoo or Baby Wash

A tiny bit of castille soap goes a long way.  I often find Dr. Bronner’s on Amazon for a great price with free shipping.  A 32 oz bottle retails for 14.99 and lasts a long time.  One important point:  this soap is not “tear-free” so keep it out of baby’s eyes.  And pick a mild kind like the baby unscented or lavendar.  The peppermint might be a bit strong for baby bums. 

Baby Oil

I prefer baby oil to lotion.  My favorite is calendula.  Calendula flowers are so healing.  To make this oil, heat 8 oz of oil (I like almond but you can use other vegetable oils) and 1 oz of calendula flowers on low heat or in a crockpot for several hours.  Strain and cool.  You also can make a simple oil by adding a few drops of essential oil to a quality veggie oil.  Try lavendar, orange, rose, chamomile or a combination.

Oatmeal/Milk Bath

Grind oatmeal in food processor or coffee grinder.  Mix with dry milk.  Pour in the bath.  You can also add some epsom salt for a calming bath.  My friend, Ellen, gave me a variation that was ground oatmeal with lavender from her garden.

Diaper Pail Deodorizer

Simply put 10 drops of orange, lemon, peppermint, or lavender essential oil on a cotton round and attach to your diaper pail.  I love the diaper pail liners that have a built in pocket for such a deo-disk.  Mine doesn’t. 

Diaper Rash Treatment

Coconut oil is fantastic!  Combine coconut oil with nakey time and say bye-bye to diaper rash.  Or use the calendula oil you made earlier.

Bug Repellent

Lemon Balm grows in my herb garden and anywhere else it escapes to.  I grab a leaf and rub it on arms/legs.  You can also make a spritzer by boiling the leaves.   

Tummy-ache and Gas Medicine

Fennel tea.  Fennel is inexpensive.  I grind mine just a bit in the coffee grinder and make the tea in a french press.  Let it cool.  You can give with a medicine dropper, make into popsicles, add to a bottle, or for older babies, put in a sippy.  You can also combine with chamomile or catnip for a sleepy tea.  When Norah has a tummy-ache, I add peppermint.

Certainly with all of the above concoctions, be smart.  Try out a tiny bit on your baby’s skin first to make sure there are no allergic reactions. 

The item I don’t try to make frugally or find inexpensive alternatives is sunscreen.  I’m still a big fan of Jason’s Mineral Sunbrellas.  You can find a fantastic cheat sheet from safemama on sunscreens here.

What do you have to add?