Baby wipes are so useful! But almost all of them contain plastic and so won't break down for hundreds of years.
**UPDATE! Aldi stores now sell Mamia (own brand) biodegradable, plastic free baby wipes**
An easy switch is to biodegradable baby wipes, such as Aquaint Happy Planet wipes from JoJo Maman Bebe or Ethical Superstore (about £1.80 for 60). We use these only for 'messy' jobs, and when out-and-about. So although they are more expensive, we actually spend less on wipes now than we did when buying bargain-value plastic-containing wipes. The turquoise-blue packet is the old-design, the white packet is the new packaging.
Around the home we have re-usable wipes to hand, Ikea sells 'washcloth' cotton flannels (4 for approx. £2) which are hard-wearing and ideal for hand wiping at mealtimes.
Peace with the Wild has these from Marley's Monsters, they are beautiful (but expensive) rainbow cloths for the kitchen - a lovely present to give to a green-minded soul.
For baby wipes to use on a baby, I love the brightly coloured, patterned fleece-material of these wipes by Easy Peasy Nappies. They dry in no time and the patterns make a mucky clean-up job look less disgusting! I have since discovered that synthetic fleece sheds microfibres of plastic, so I make sure that I wash them in a Guppyfriend Bag from Ethical Superstore.
*UPDATED* after 6 months of regular use (including 3 months of daily use) the zip broke off my GuppyFriend bag. Oh dear! But the customer service provided was excellent. I emailed the company direct on us@stopmicrowaste.com to raise my concerns and a replacement was dispatched swiftly. An alternative is the ingenious micro-fibre trapping Cora Ball from the Babi Pur website.
Cheeky Wipes are cult-status cotton baby wipes (so no shedding of plastic fibres if you choose the 'terry towelling' ones), many people buy them when they have a baby and find that the cloths are still useful around the house when the baby has become a teenager - they are pricey (25 wipes plus boxes plus bags plus spray for around £40) but clearly an investment!
It's all a question of getting used to a new 'normal' - using disposable wipes for everything has only recently become the norm, let's move forward to a way of 'being' that is convenient and sustainable.