Lesley Mattos’ children are all grown up, but she hasn’t stopped thinking about diaper changing—and the havoc it can wreak on the environment. This San Francisco mom is doing her part to green diaper duty with the Bottoms Up Baby Wipes Kit, which features reusable baby wipes and relies of essential oils rather than chemicals.
Mattos says she cringes when she thinks about the chemicals she used on her children and how much landfill she created in the process.
“Common chemicals that are found in traditional, disposable baby wipes include benzoic acid, butylene glycol, parabens, phenoxyethanol, tartaric acid and propylene glycol. I used them on my kids in the late 70s and early 80s—who knew?” she told Happi.com.
The Bottoms Up Baby Wipes All-in-One Kit includes 100% cotton terry cloth wipes, a mesh storage bag, special containers to house clean and dirty wipes and waterproof travel bags. To prep the wipes, the user puts water into the kit’s “clean” container along with a few drops of Clean Baby Wipes essential oil blend—lavender and chamomile—and places the cloths inside. After use, the wipes are placed inside a mesh bag in the “dirty” container, which is filled with water and drops of another blend—this time, tea tree and lemon oils. When full, the mesh bag gets tossed directly into the washing machine. After the wash, the damp cloths can be placed directly into the clean container again.
While there are other washable baby wipes on the market, Mattos believes the Bottoms Up kit offers busy parents an advantage.
“This is a new entry inasmuch as it is the only all-in-one, self-contained washable baby wipes kit on the market so far as we’ve been able to determine,” Mattos said. “There are companies that sell the various components, but we’re the only one that has everything you need to use cloth wipes from the nursery to a day out and about and very conveniently.”
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The Bottoms Up Baby Wipes Kit, which retails for $60, can reportedly save the average mom over $400 during the first two years of her baby's lifef. |
According to Mattos, the Bottoms Up Baby Wipes Kit, which retails for $60, can save the average mom over $400 in the first two years—based on her calculation of parents using one package of disposable wipes per week.
Clearly Bottoms Up will resonate will consumers who already use cloth diapers, but Mattos insists there are opportunities beyond this niche market.
“Our target customer is the person who’s already using cloth diapers;they’re already onboard with the concept of being more environmentally friendly...That said, we’re also hoping that the features and benefits of the kit will afford current ‘non-believers’ the opportunity to put a toe in the water, use our wipe kit and feel so good about what they’re doing that they convert to cloth diapering too. A tougher sale, admittedly, but worth the effort.” she said.
The Bottoms Up Baby Wipes All-in-One Kit is currently available online at www.bottoms-up-baby.com, however Mattos described distribution partnership announcements as “eminent.”
