With a 5-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old at home, wipes are the one thing I never let run out. They’re not just for diaper changes, either. They clean sticky hands after lunch, wipe down high chairs and get yogurt off their face in the back seat of the car.
A wipe that tears, dries out quickly or smears the mess around makes every one of those moments harder. And while every pack on the shelf says “gentle” and “sensitive,” not every wipe cleans the way you need it to.
That’s why I tested 10 of the most popular baby wipes on the market on my two youngest and some very messy pudding, juice and peanut butter tests for Shop TODAY’s Ranked series. Plus, I reached out to experts to find out what to look for when shopping for baby wipes.
Best overall baby wipe
Coterie The Wipe
Softness: 5/5 | Packaging: 5/5 | Efficiency: 5/5 | Moisture balance: 3/5 | Overall average score: 4.5/5
Softness: These were really gentle on both of my little ones’ skin. The cloth feels substantial without feeling rough, and I never worried about the wipe dragging across their skin during a cleanup. After a full week of changes, neither my 1-year-old nor my 2-year-old had any redness or rash.
Packaging: The packaging was one of the easiest to use in the test. I could pull out a wipe with one hand, and the lid closed securely between changes. I also didn’t have much trouble with extra wipes coming out.
Efficiency: This was the thickest wipe I tested, and it’s really nice to hold and use. It feels solid in your hand and didn’t rip when I tested how sturdy it was (by pulling each end in opposite direction until it tore). In the mess test, it picked up most of the pudding and peanut butter in a single pass. The surprise was the juice: I expected a thick wipe to soak it right up, but it left a wet film behind. Coterie’s wipes are 71 grams per square meter (gsm) — a measure of how heavy and thick the material is — and it’s the only wipe here that lists its fabric weight right on the product page. It’s the one I kept reaching for on the messiest changes of the week, when my 1-year-old was wiggling and I only wanted to grab one wipe.
Moisture balance: Even after soaking up a mess, it didn’t turn heavy and soggy in my hand the way some other wipes did. On the kids, it left their skin clean without a damp or sticky residue, so I could get a fresh diaper on right away. The downside was that it felt a little wetter than I wanted for liquid messes, where it sometimes seemed to move moisture around instead of absorbing all of it.
More baby wipes, tested by the author
Best bulk buy:
Softness: 5/5 | Packaging: 4/5 | Efficiency: 5/5 | Moisture balance: 3/5 | Overall average score: 4.25/5
Softness: These wipes were soft on both of my kids. They have enough substance to feel sturdy without feeling stiff.
Packaging: The packs were easy enough to open and use, but I occasionally pulled out more than one wipe at a time. It wasn’t a constant problem, but it was enough to keep this from getting a perfect score.
Efficiency: These did well on the thicker messes, and I never felt like anything was going to seep through the wipe onto my hand. In the mess test, the pudding came up in one neat scoop, leaving only a faint streak on the mat. I kept a pack by the high chair all week, and it handled sticky hands and trays after lunch without falling apart. With 900 in a box, you get a lot of cleaning for the money.
Moisture balance: Each pack in the box was consistently moist, something I’ve noticed doesn’t always happen. They were a little wetter than I’d like, though, especially when I was cleaning up a liquid spill. I didn’t mind the moisture during diaper changes, but it sometimes felt like more than I needed, and I’d needed give my 2-year-old a second to air-dry before a fresh diaper went on.
Best moisture balance:
Softness: 4/5 | Packaging: 4/5 | Efficiency: 3/5 | Moisture balance: 4/5 | Overall average score: 3.75/5
Softness: Parasol leans hard into skin-first design, with purified water, aloe and a plastic-free cloth. It was gentle on my kids’ sensitive skin. Plus, the cloth has enough thickness to feel protective without being bulky.
Packaging: The pack is small and compact, but the wipes pull out folded, which is hard when I’m juggling kids. The brand also says to finish a pack within four weeks of opening, which is a short shelf life for a wipe. That’s easy to hit in our house, but it’s not the one I’d leave in the diaper bag as a backup long-term.
Efficiency: It’s a smaller wipe and landed in the middle of the pack during the pudding and peanut butter tests. By the end of the test, each wipe was balled up around the mess in my hand. Juice was its weak spot: a wide wet sheen was still sitting on the mat where the spill had been. And during a change with my 2-year-old trying to climb off the pad, stopping to unfold a wipe was the last thing I needed.
Moisture balance: These had a comfortable amount of moisture for routine diaper changes. They didn’t feel overly wet, and my kids’ skin felt clean, not damp, afterward, with no residue left behind. Because the wipe is smaller, though, it could feel saturated more quickly during a bigger mess.
Best dispenser:
Softness: 4/5 | Packaging: 4/5 | Efficiency: 2/5 | Moisture balance: 4/5 | Overall average score: 3.5/5
Softness: These felt soft enough for everyday changes, though they felt thinner than some of the other ones I tested. They were comfortable against my kids’ skin, but not especially memorable for their texture.
Packaging: The pop-up pack is a small detail that makes a big difference mid-change. I could grab a wipe without stopping to wrestle with the package. I did occasionally get an extra wipe, which cost it a point.
Efficiency: Pampers did okay in the mess tests. A single wipe left a smear of peanut butter and a wet streak where the juice had been. It was fine for quick hand and face wipes in the car, but I reached for something sturdier for bigger diaper messes.
Moisture balance: These had a good moisture level for everyday diaper changes. They were wet enough to clean without leaving my hand feeling soaked, and my 2-year-old’s skin was only slightly damp afterward, never sticky. The moisture couldn’t make up for the thinner cloth on a real blowout, though.
Best for light messes:
Softness: 4/5 | Packaging: 4/5 | Efficiency: 3/5 | Moisture balance: 2/5 | Overall average score: 3.25/5
Softness: These felt more like a basic drugstore wipe than the thicker ones I tested, but my kids didn’t mind them.
Packaging: The package is designed to dispense one at a time, and it delivered. Wipes pulled out one at a time very easily, which made them simple to grab with a kid in my other arm.
Efficiency: Rascals stood out on juice, picking up more of the spill than most of the wipes I tested. It was the one I grabbed when a cup tipped over at lunch. Pudding performance was about average, while peanut butter left a few tan streaks on the mat after one pass.
Moisture balance: These were noticeably drier than the rest of the lineup. That worked in their favor with the juice spill, and it meant no lingering wetness on my 1-year-old’s skin after a change. But for a regular diaper change, I sometimes wanted more moisture to help loosen a tough mess. It’s the main reason this category scored so low.
Gentle formula at an affordable price:
Softness: 3/5 | Packaging: 3/5 | Efficiency: 3/5 | Moisture balance: 3/5 | Overall average score: 3/5
Softness: These weren’t harsh, but they didn’t have the especially soft, substantial feel I expected from the formula. They felt perfectly usable for everyday changes, but they didn’t stand out against the softer wipes in this test.
Packaging: The packaging was functional but didn’t make changes noticeably easier. It worked, but the dispensing wasn’t as smooth or satisfying as some of the other pop-up packages I tested.
Efficiency: These wipes weren’t the strongest on any of the three messes, leaving streaks after one wipe of peanut butter and barely making a dent in the juice. After having a peanut butter sandwich at lunch, it took a few wipes to get my toddler’s hands completely clean.
Moisture balance: It was gentle on skin, consistently moist from pack to pack and dependable for everyday changes, which is more than I can say for some pricier options. Add a clean, plant-based, fragrance-free formula at a price closer to mass brands, and it’s an easy, low-risk choice for parents who want to try a cleaner wipe without paying premium prices.
What should you look for in baby wipes?
Start with fragrance-free. “The dyes and fragrances found in baby wipes and diapers are not dangerous. They can cause irritation for certain babies,” says Dr. Amanda Furr, a board-certified pediatrician and chief medical officer at Zarminali Pediatrics. Usually that means redness or a rash, she says, but it can become more serious if the skin breaks down. (All 10 wipes I tested are unscented.)
Jessica Hung, founder and CEO of Parasol, puts it simply: “Fragrances and dyes don’t make a diaper or wipe work better.” Furr also says to skip anything with alcohol or disinfectants, which “should never be used on babies’ skin.”
Don’t lean too hard on the word “hypoallergenic,” either. “In the U.S., the term is not federally defined,” says Jessica Kizovski, director of product development at Coterie. She suggests looking for specifics instead: fragrance-free, dye-free, alcohol-free and dermatologist- or pediatrician-tested. Furr agrees, recommending parents read the ingredient list rather than the front of the pack.
Beyond the formula, a bigger, thicker wipe usually means fewer wipes per change, and a pop-up lid that releases one wipe at a time makes a big difference when your other hand is holding down a wiggly toddler. If your baby has eczema-prone skin, look for the National Eczema Association’s Seal of Acceptance.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. “Excessive wiping or attempting to wipe diaper cream clean off can cause more friction and make rashes worse,” says Furr. If skin is already irritated or the mess needs a lot of wiping, she suggests rinsing your baby in the bath with just water instead.
Stop right away if you notice redness, itching or soreness after using a product, then call your pediatrician, advises Kizovski.
Hung recommends watching for patterns, like a rash that shows up wherever the wipe touches or right after switching brands. Blistering, open sores, fever or a rash spreading beyond the diaper area all warrant a call to your doctor.
Not always. “Generally the extra price is only worth it if your child does not tolerate other brands,” says Furr. She says trying different brands is the only way to know what works for your baby, and suggests new parents register for gift cards instead of a single brand.
Keep them in their original packaging and reseal after every use, says Kizovski, who also recommends skipping the wipe warmer.
Hung adds that wipes should stay at room temperature, away from sunlight, steamy bathrooms and hot cars, since heat and humidity can break down the formula.
Water-based wipes made for sensitive skin aren’t meant to last forever once opened, so use them within the time listed on the pack.
How I tested baby wipes
I, Rebecca Delman, tested 10 baby wipes on my two youngest kids, ages 1 and 2, rotating through every brand over one week and reaching for wipes more than six times a day. That covered diaper changes, sticky hands and faces after meals, and quick cleanups on the go. Neither kid had a rash from any of the wipes.
To compare cleaning power head-to-head, I ran every wipe through the same mess test on our foam play mat, using the same measuring spoons each time: a small spoonful of chocolate pudding, a spoonful of peanut butter and a scoop of juice. I cleaned each mess with a single wipe, then checked what was left behind — streaks, smears or a wet film — and how the wipe held up.
While testing, I considered four main factors:
- Softness: How did it feel on my kids’ skin? Did either of them get redness, a rash or irritation over the week? A thin, papery wipe can feel scratchy on a sore bottom, while a thicker, cloth-like one glides more gently.
- Packaging: Could I pull out one wipe with one hand? Did it come out flat, folded, in clumps or torn? Did the lid seal well? With a toddler squirming on the changing pad, I usually have one free hand, so I judged every pack mid-change.
- Efficiency: Did one wipe lift the pudding and peanut butter, or just smear them? How much juice did it leave behind? Did it tear when I scrubbed? A wipe that rips mid-change means reaching for a second (or third), so durability counted as much as pickup.
- Moisture balance: Was it wet enough to clean, but not dripping? Did it leave my kids’ skin damp or with a residue? Too dry and a wipe drags on skin and smears the mess. Too wet and it goes soggy in your hand and leaves skin wet under a fresh diaper.
Why trust Shop TODAY?
Rebecca Delman is a Senior Photo Editor for Shop TODAY who joined the team in 2021. As a mom of a 5-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, she’s always testing what makes life with little kids easier. She has written about everything from the best school supplies for kids to the best screen-free travel toys kids will actually play with for NBC Selected.
Meet the experts
- Dr. Amanda Furr, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician and chief medical officer at Zarminali Pediatrics.
- Jessica Kizovski is director of product development at Coterie. She has more than eight years of experience in product development and a background in cosmetic science. The decision to test and include Coterie in this article was made independently of the use of Kizovski’s expertise for guidance.
- Jessica Hung is the founder and CEO of Parasol. The decision to test and include Coterie in this article was made independently of the use of her expertise for guidance.
