Deciding what to buy and what to leave behind in the newborn shopping spree is a struggle. “What if I do not buy it and then need it when the baby comes?” could be the motto of the New Parents Club, which would be an admission entry condition to be stressed and feel overwhelmed. In those nerve-racking months before the baby finally arrives, friends and family suddenly decide to tell expecting parents the most far-fetched stories about how one of their babies would cry for three hours straight after the night’s last diaper change until they bought a wipe warmer… “A wipe warmer?” ask the expecting parents, “What in the world is that?”

What’s the purpose of a wipe warmer?

A wipe warmer is nothing more than a gadget that warms the wipes parents use when changing their children’s diapers. It usually comes as a box with a plug, in which parents need to insert the wipes taken from their original store packaging. There is a variety of them available out there for purchase, and each one is different, including wipe warmers that heat all the wipes from below or wipe warmers that radiate heat only the top wipes, which are the ones that, in theory, would be used in a given diaper change.

The purpose of a wipe warmer is, as its name says, to warm the baby wipes. The goal is to ensure that the wipes, which are moist and get cold, will not be unpleasant to the touch. In this sense, the idea is not to displease the baby when the wipe is used to clean its bottom during a diaper change. As parents might already have concluded, a wipe warmer falls into the category of baby items that do not meet an essential need but that help make things, in this case, diaper changes, more comfortable for the baby and, in turn, more comfortable for the parents.

Are wipe warmers safe?

Concerns have been raised about the possible risks of continuously warm baby wipes. There are two main concerns. The first is related to the fact that water is one of the main components of baby wipes, and water is a medium on which bacteria and fungi develop. To address this, manufacturers include preservatives that help prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi. The concern is that most of these preservatives are designed to work at room temperature and not at the warm temperatures of a heated wipe. Additionally, higher temperatures might further increase the risk of bacteria and fungi growing on the wipes.

The second concern is that other components of the baby wipes might react negatively to higher temperatures. Components in baby wipes can vary considerably from brand to brand. Parents would have to make sure that the components of the specific brand they are buying can withstand constant higher temperatures. Put simply, most baby wipes are not manufactured, considering as a possible use case the one in which they will be warmed, so there is no testing done before to ensure they work under those conditions. The temperatures at which wipe warmers work are not considerably high but are higher than what the companies that make the wipes are considering when manufacturing them.

Are wipe warmers necessary?

Like many other baby-related questions, the answer to this question is it depends. Because the need wipe warmers address is, in essence, a preference of the baby (i.e., not being touched with cold wipes), that preference varies from baby to baby. Some will not mind, in the least, the wipe at room temperature, while others will scream like they are in unbearable pain, not even when the wipe touches, but when they are laid down for the diaper change, which they associate with the room-temperature wipe.

It is, unfortunately, impossible to know beforehand whether a baby will prefer the wipe to be warm up to the point of it being a problem during diaper changes. Parents who are considering buying the wipe warmer before their baby is born will have no certainty that such is the preference of their baby until they actually change the baby’s diapers for a while. Something that parents should consider is that babies get used to anything and that their habits are hard to break, so it is advisable to try changing the baby’s diaper with wipes at room temperature before trying the warm wipes. If diaper changes prove to be an issue, parents could then try warming the wipes to see if that addresses the baby’s unhappiness.

Can I warm wipes without a wipe warmer?

As is the case with most of the highly specialized baby items that address a very specific need out there, parents can solve for the underlying problem wipe warmers address with at least two alternative methods. The first method is based on the fact that the temperature range that babies find agreeable for the wipes being used on them is larger than just warm. In other words, babies might find a wipe at room temperature unpleasant, but they might be indifferent to one just a little bit above room temperature. If this is the case, parents could simply rub the wipe they are about to use between their hands, warming it with friction and their body temperature (parents should ensure their hands are clean for this).

A second possible method is to get a hairdryer and point it at the wipe that is about to be used until it is warm. This method would address the preferences of the baby that likes the wipe actually warm as opposed to just warmer than room temperature. The possible risk with this method is overheating the wipe to the point where it might harm the baby. Also, parents should avoid pointing the hairdryer to all the wipes, as it might dry them. This method might be too demanding for parents to implement in each diaper change, but it might be worth it for parents to do so in critical diaper changes, like the ones in the middle of the night.

Are there disadvantages to wipe warmers?

As mentioned above, parents should consider the safety concerns wiper warmers pose. Aside from those, the main disadvantages of wipe warmers are that they might create a habit and thus a problem when they are not available for a given diaper change, like one in a family member’s house; they are an expense, which do add up; and they are a very specialized baby item, so there is no alternative use for them if warm wipes are not something that a baby needs.

Wipe warmers thoughts from new parents

Wipe warmers are a very convenient way of addressing the need to get your baby’s wipes warm. They achieve this in an efficient and fast way. They are also, however, very specialized and will most likely not serve any other purpose. For this reason, it is our advice to new parents to frame the decision of buying a wipe warmer in the following way: I will only have so many opportunities, due to budget or storage space, to purchase specialized items - is a wipe warmer going to take up one of those opportunities? The answer could perfectly be yes, of course. Here is our Honest Nesting Checklist, where we detail further the purchases we think are essential for the baby’s first month.