The Shocking Truth Baby Wipes and Wet Wipes

Baby wipes and wet wipes are prepackaged moistened sheets of soft material designed to wipe reside such as bowel movements from the perianal area and the genitals. The implicit and often explicit promise of baby wipes and wet wipes is that they are gentle - meaning do not cause irritation or any other local problems and that they are safe to use. But there’s a dark side to baby wipes. Here I’ll discuss baby wipes and wet wipes in detail address the benefits, disadvantages, as well as offer solutions to those problems.

 

So, baby wipes by their very name mean to most of us that they are harmless enough for a baby to tolerate. Babies are the pride and joy of their parents and as a mother or a father of a baby you obviously want nothing but the best for your baby.

 

One thing that all babies do from day one is they poop. That’s a hard fact of life and as such, you as the parent have to invest significant amounts of time and resources to keep up with bowel movements and make sure that your baby is kept in a poop free environment for the most part. That means diapers and it means that when you change those diapers - the buttocks, perianal and genitals remain free and clear of bowel movement. That has several advantages the first and most obvious - bowel movements are disgusting. They smell and they can stink up the room. But even more importantly, bowel movements can be a cause of irritation to the skin, as well a cause of infection for the genital skin and urinary tract - so it’s important to clear those bowel movements often and effectively.

 

That’s where wiping the area comes into play. So, wiping must achieve several criteria - first it has to be effective and time efficient: you want to be done ASAP and get on with the rest of your day. Second, the wiping must be safe - meaning not a source of irritation by means of physical friction or chemical aggravation of the skin. And that is why baby wipes are so popular. They offer a ready-made solution: they are pre-moistened and soft- meaning they can get the job done by picking up bowel movements easily and with little physical friction. Fair enough.

 

However, with pre-moistening there must be at least one component added and that is preservatives. The reason baby wipes must have preservatives in them is because they are made with organic materials and are immersed in water. That is a hotbed for microbial growth and there is really no effective way of getting around that. Water and organic material in a closed container can grow microbes and those can be a source of infection or irritation. That’s why baby wipes or wet wipes must have a preservative. 

 

But, what’s wrong with preservatives? Well, first they are harmful to microbes - dangerous ones - but also friendly microbes such as in the microbiome which are the overwhelming majority of microbes in our environment. So, preservatives can harm the microbiome. The consequences of such effects are not fully understood - but a very obvious result could be that the microbiome is damaged enough to make room for less friendly microbes that can colonize the affected area. Another possible effect of preservatives is that can be toxic to human cells - causing irritation and other issues. Additionally, preservatives can become allergens - causing irritation over the affected area. Also, many baby and wet wipe products are infused with all sorts of different compounds such as fragrance and plant extracts which could cause a whole host of problems similarly to preservatives.

 

That is why I generally recommend staying away from baby wipe products. There is simply too much involved in the production of those items and while I understand the need for gentle products for babies or even for adult use - I think prepackaged wipes are not an optimal solution.

 

So, what can be done? Well, we need a product that is soft and neither causes physical abrasion over the skin, nor contains all the chemicals we mentioned. A simple solution could be using a squirt bottle with lukewarm water to rinse the area gently. Then you can wipe the residue off with a moistened soft paper towel to gently remove any remaining bowel movement. This is a much more affordable solution, as well as relatively free of the risk of irritation through contact with the compounds typically incorporated into wet wipes. For adult use, a bidet and, a soft paper towel moistened with tap water, or even soft 3-ply toilet paper are helpful alternatives to baby wipes or wet naps.

Thanks for reading and God bless.

 

Yuval Bibi, MD/PhD - Board Certified Dermatologist

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