This particular tip comes from years of experience.  Not general mothering experience, mind you.  I mean experience walking into church, a store, or the kids’ school only to find that I’ve got lovely patch of baby spit-up hanging out on my shoulder.  I’ve tried tons of different burp cloths over the years but nothing really seemed to work.  Even the washable diapers everyone raved about didn’t actually absorb anything.  For the most part the spit-up just sat on top of the fabric, which inevitably found its way back onto the baby or worse, onto my shirt.

With my fourth baby, I finally found a better option in the car care aisle of Sam’s Club – a mega-pack of microfiber cleaning towels.  Initially I bought them for  house cleaning purposes (I was trying to break my addiction to paper towels).  Then one day, desperate for something to catch the spit up, I grabbed one of these towels from the closet.  Much to my surprise it worked like a charm.  It soaked up the spit up like a sponge and consequently kept the mess off my baby and my shirt.  I’ve been hooked ever since.

With this baby, I prepared early by sewing a bunch of burp cloths before the baby was born.  I’m sorry I don’t have step-by-step photos of the process.  I made all 20 burp cloths in the middle of the night and couldn’t get decent lighting for the pictures.  Luckily they’re pretty easy to make (I’m talking 3 minutes each) so you shouldn’t need much instruction.

1. Buy a big pack of towels (I paid around $10 for 20 towels).  I pre-washed my towels because they shrink a little the first time you dry them but you could probably skip this step if you’re in a hurry.
2. The towels usually come in large, thin squares.  Fold the square in half to form a long rectangle (the fabric is the same on both sides so don’t worry about right-sides together).
3. Next, stitch a straight line down the long side (opposite the fold you just created).  Now flip your towel inside-out to hide the seam.  Your towel should be like a tube at this point; lay it flat so the seam is centered on the back.
4. Stitch the top of the tube and the bottom of the tube closed.  Now stitch a straight line down the center of the towel for stability (you don’t need to measure or pin, just eyeball it).

That’s it.  Now just whip out 19 more and you’ll be armed with excellent baby protection.  I know they’re not the prettiest things you’ve ever seen but they’re super-soft, inexpensive, and totally functional.  Trust me, when it comes to protecting your clothes from spit-up (and everything else that spurts out of your little bundle of joy) they’re a mothering must-have.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

Want more great baby advice?  Check out all the fabulous comments from this past MeckMom post.