It’s not uncommon for parents to use baby wipes to clean everything around the house. Baby wipes are something you always have available anyways, but many parents may wonder can you use baby wipes to clean a computer screen, TV screen, or phone screen? Since I have definitely tried this before, I thought I would share my lessons learned with you all today!
You generally shouldn’t use baby wipes to clean computer, TV, or smartphone screens. The wipes often contain moisturizers and other ingredients that could cause streaky residue to form or damage the display. LED screens should be cleaned with a microfiber towel moistened with distilled water or a 50/50 mix of distilled water and vinegar.
Although it can be tempting, it’s best to exercise caution when dealing with electronics because there is nothing worse than a damaged screen. Let’s check out some of the details.
Table of Contents
Can you use baby wipes to clean a computer screen or other electronics?
While it might seem like a harmless idea, you generally don’t want to use baby wipes to clean your electronics.
While baby wipes probably don’t contain enough moisture to damage your electronic screens, the solution usually contains ingredients such as water, surfactant, preservatives, emulsifiers, humectants, perfume, and stabilizers.
Parents ideally use it to clean the delicate areas of their baby’s skin, including buttocks, hands, faces, and mouths when their baby throws up or has a messy meal. With that in mind, most manufacturers add some amount of moisturizers, oils, and other things that help protect baby’s skin and keep it healthy. Unfortunately, this won’t do your electronics any good.
If you’re looking for something to clean your screen with, use microfiber glass cleaning cloths with a dab of distilled water or a 50/50 mix of distilled water and vinegar. This mixture won’t damage your electronic screens and won’t leave lint stains either.
Do baby wipes actually clean surfaces?
Most parents use baby wipes to clean all kinds of surfaces in the house. This is mainly because baby wipes are something parents always have around and since they’re already wet, they can clean most surfaces pretty well. However, you may wonder if baby wipes actually clean or disinfect any surfaces.
Baby wipes can wipe away things like dirty or food from a surface, but they aren’t going to necessarily clean it depending on your definition.
In most cases, baby wipes do not contain alcohol or other disinfectants because they can be irritating to the skin. With that in mind, baby wipes won’t have the ability to actually kill any germs on the surface of whatever you are trying to clean.
Can you use baby wipes to clean electronics?
Nowadays, electronics are something most people have in their homes or carry in their pockets. Whether it’s a TV, computer screen, or phone screen, you might wonder how to keep your electronics clean.
How to clean your electronics will vary slightly depending on the type of electronic, but in most cases, you won’t want to use a baby wipe. Instead, you can either use something like a microfiber cloth, or even screen wipes.
Although baby wipes can wipe dirt, dust, or food off most surfaces, there are some ingredients in baby wipes that may damage your electronic screens or leave an unwanted residue.
Let’s take a closer look at each type of electronic to see how to clean them.
Can I clean the TV screen with wet wipes?
Baby wipes don’t do well with most screens because they often leave residue. Depending on your screen type, there are different strategies for cleaning your TV screen.
LCDs and Plasma screens can’t handle wet cloths such as baby wipes. Instead, you should dust them with soft microfiber cloths without any solution on them at all. Plasma TVs have an anti-glare coating that can be damaged in the process. So for these types, it’s best to keep things dry. You shouldn’t try to spray antibacterial sprays directly on the screen either because the liquid can also cause damage.
Here is an example of the type of cloths you may need. These are cheap, simple, and effective.
If your TV is really dirty, especially with oil, then you will likely need to use a tiny dab of the vinegar solution I mentioned earlier to get it clean. Just be careful not to use too much.
Many new TVs ship with the soft microfiber cloths, but if you got your TV used or you’re like me that misplaced mine, they are easy to find especially online.
Can I use baby wipes to clean my laptop screen or computer screen?
Baby wipes generally should not be used on your computer or laptop screens.
The only thing suitable for cleaning computer screens is microfiber cloths. These cloths are gentle on the screens, keep the screens dry, and don’t leave lint stains on them.
You can keep them around your house and use them for your other gadgets as well. It’s a good idea to keep one handy in your laptop bag, office drawer, bedroom, and wherever else you use your devices so that you have one available whenever you need it.
Some other things that shouldn’t touch your LCD or LED screens are:
- Windex
- Ethyl
- Ammonia
- Lysol spray or wipes
- Anything with Acetone or Methyl Chloride
All of these can ruin your screen. To clean tough stains, use water and soap with your microfiber cloth. Squeeze it and make sure there’s no water dripping out. Then, take the corner of the cloth and start cleaning from the side. Avoid cleaning in a circular motion or pressing too hard on the screen.
Can I use baby wipes to clean my laptop keyboard?
Baby wipes probably aren’t the best choice for cleaning your laptop keyboard because they can still leave an oily residue on the keys. Certain brands that do not include these ingredients, like Water Wipes, could be a decent choice though due to their lack of extra ingredients.
For a step-by-step guide, make sure you:
- Turn off the laptop or unplug the keyboard from the computer.
- Get a soft bristle brush to wipe off the debris.
- Wipe off the keyboard with a slightly damp microfiber cloth.
Even though it may be tempting to use a baby wipe to clean your keyboard, cleaning it properly will extend its life and keep it working properly.
Can you clean your iPad screen with baby wipes?
Like most other electronics, you shouldn’t use baby wipes to clean an iPad screen. iPads are made of corning gorilla glass, and the moisture from baby wipes can negatively affect the display.
Additionally, you should always get your kids to wash their hands properly before using their gadgets to keep the screens protected.
Moving on, the screens may still be greasy from day to day use, so you may wonder what you should use to clean them. Once again, the microfiber cloth is your best bet when cleaning screens. Whether you’re trying to clean off grease, smudges, dried spills, or any other substance, you should use a microfiber cloth.
Can you use baby wipes to clean your phone?
Whether you can use baby wipes to clean your phone depends on what you’re trying to clean. If it’s a sticky stain, you can use baby wipes to get the initial residue off, but it would still have lint stains. To avoid lint stains, you can use a microfibre cloth. It’s necessary to clean your phone once in a while since phone screens can easily end up with a ton of germs.
Whether it’s an iPhone or Android, it’s the same process. What should differentiate the cleaning process is if the phone is water-resistant or not.
To clean a water-resistant phone:
- Remove the pouch.
- Disconnect the phone and remove all the attached cables.
- Soak the microfiber cloth in water and squeeze all the water out.
- Wipe the phone gently so you don’t spoil any parts.
- Dry the phone with another dry clean cloth.
For non-water-resistant devices, you should ensure that you don’t go near any of the ports to avoid damaging anything. To be safe, you can always stick to the dry cloth instead.
What can you use baby wipes for?
By now you know that using baby wipes for your electronic screens is out of the question. But since baby wipes are always somewhere around your house, you may wonder what else you can use them for.
Even though they could potentially damage electronic screens, that doesn’t mean they’re only good for changing diapers. You can also use baby wipes for:
- Wiping up spills in the kitchen
- Cleaning your little one’s highchair
- Dusting the counter, dresser, or other items
- Wiping up messes in your car
Whether you use baby wipes in the kitchen, bathroom, and in your car, they have many uses besides cleaning babies during a diaper change. Just remember baby wipes aren’t antibacterial, so don’t use them to clean up anything that should be disinfected.
Conclusion
Baby wipes have many surprising uses other than cleaning your baby during a diaper change. Since they’re always pretty accessible around the house, many parents wonder if they can use baby wipes to clean their electronic screens.
In most cases, you shouldn’t use baby wipes to clean electronics. The moisture and ingredients could potentially damage your electronics. When you need to clean your screens, you’re better off using a microfiber cloth.
