In these times of modern convenience, the days of a warm washcloth and water basin on hand while changing a baby’s diaper are long gone. We now have the ‘baby wipe’ in its self-contained tub dispenser to make wiping baby’s bum a breeze, and the brand choices are numerous.
I have used both Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes and Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes when cleaning my baby’s behind during diaper change time. While both have their pros and cons, I find Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes the more preferable product.
I started using Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes in 2004 with my infant son and was satisfied enough with their performance. I was brand loyal to the Pampers line of diapers, hence I used the Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes for the sake of continuity. The words “natural” and “aloe” appealed to my maternal sensibilities and desire to make diaper change time an unaffected and comforting experience for him.
At a dimension of 7 inches by 7 inches, I usually averaged about two wipes per urine-only diaper change, and a minimum of four wipes per poopy diaper. I remember upwards of ten to twelve wipes used for the larger “blowouts”.
The Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes tub dispenser contained 77 wipes. On a good week I could catch a sale on their 5-pack refill at Target, but I could still go to any supermarket or pharmacy at any time and easily find the standard size wipe container. I used the wipes on my son exclusively until we moved on to potty-training and Pampers Kandoo Flushable Wipes.
I continued to use Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes with my daughter, born in July 2006. However, at about six months into her life, I noticed that her little butt cheeks seemed to remain consistently chaffed and non-responsive to diaper rash cream remedies.
At her pediatrician’s suggestion, I decided to switch to another brand of diapers and baby wipes and see if I didn’t notice a difference.
I chose to purchase the Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes.
At a larger dimension of 7.1 inches by 7.9 inches, I found that I was able to allow one wipe to cover my entire palm and clean my daughter’s front and back areas with ease during a urine-only diaper change. With a poopy diaper I could take care of it with 2-3 wipes. Within a few days, her cheeks lost their raw texture and returned to being “smooth as a baby’s bottom”. From the start I’ve experienced no “blowout” that required more than 5 wipes.
As a result, the Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes last for a longer stretch than Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes. Its tub contains 80 wipes, and midway through the tub you happen upon wipe with a reddish colored stripe that alerts you to the fact that you’ll need to be planning a trip to Whole Foods soon in order to buy more. This head’s up is helpful, as unlike the Pampers brand, you will not find the 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes anywhere but at Whole Foods.
With both products, I found that as I moved deeper into their tubs, the wipes at the bottom were moister than those I started with at the top, resulting in an excess residue on my daughter’s skin. This was and continues to be a little bothersome, but when I consider that the Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes contain, according to their label, “water, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, disodium edta, xanthan gum, BIS-PEG/PPG-16, dimethicone, caprylic, benzyl alcohol, ioddopropynul butylcarbanmate, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, peg-40 hydrogenated castor oil, citric acid and pentadecalactone” compared to the Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes’ contents of, “filtered water, aloe vera, glycerine, alkyl poly glycoside, citric acid, Vitamin E and sodium hydroxymethyl glycinate,” I’m inclined to believe that the Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes are less of a grievous offender as I grab a towel and wipe her dry.
All things being relatively equal in price, I lean toward the hypo-allergenic, whitened without chlorine bleach option of the Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Baby Wipes to clean my baby’s buns, and the Pampers Natural Aloe Gentle Wipes to clean inanimate surfaces elsewhere around the nursery.
