When Thinking About Bathing Baby These Are 5 Things You Should Know

Below are 5 very common Baby Bath Products, there are some things you should know about each of them.

1. Soap

Tepid Water is the best thing to bath baby with, only occaisionally will there be times when a small amount of mild soap may be needed. Avoid using any form of antibacterial soap and only use very plain mild soaps with no additives except the possible inclusion of some coconut, palm or olive oil. It is important after using soap to add oils back into baby’s skin by gently massaging with soothing lotions possibly containing coconut or sesame oils and maybe the herbal extracts from arnica or calendula.

2. Bubble Baths

The use of bubble baths is definitely not recommended for very young babies and not really recommended for young children at all. The detergents and surfactants in these products (which break down the water tension and allow the forming of such good bubbles) also strip oils from baby’s skin and destroy baby’s natural skin protection. There are mandatory warnings on these products as an indicator that authorities are concerned with their overuse. Add a couple of drops of lavender oil to the bath water if you must have a scented baby.

3. Shampoos

Some baby’s have lots of thick oily hair and these may need an occasional shampoo, but most baby’s hair doesn’t need much shampooing at all. When you do shampoo baby’s hair use only the mildest you can find. Shampoos often use the similar ingredients to bubble bath and you need to have the same concerns. Shampoo strips natural protective oils and skin flora from baby’s skin and should be used infrequently.

4. Lotions and Oils

Massaging baby’s skin to relieve irritation with oils or lotions needs to be done with caution and only when necessary. Mild soothing additives and an oil base which is not derived from petrochemicals is a good idea. Aloe and chamomile are products that are recognised for their moisturising and soothing effect on irritated skin. They may be used on baby skin with care.

5. Baby Powder

Adding any product to baby’s skin which can irritate is not seen to be a good idea. Recognition that talc based Baby Powder contains tiny particles that can irritate sensitive skin has led to a move towards powders made from corn starch and benontite clay for baby powders. Discussion as to whether talc is carcinogenic is ongoing but for the time being it seems that caution is the best tactic and once again less is better.

By frequent changing and allowing fresh air to get at baby’s bottom you will avoid the likely hood of diaper rash. Keeping baby’s bottom dry is the best preventative treatment but if you need to carry out some treatment then zinc oxide cream or chamomile lotion are good solutions. Avoid products like petroleum jelly which will only make the problem worse by trapping moisture next to the skin.

Some final thoughts.

Baby Bath Products can contain all sorts of irritants. Just as adult skin care products are unregulated so are most of the products we buy for baby’s bath time.

Products may not contain those ingredients which are definitely considered dangerous by health authorities but that does not mean that some of the ingredients may not cause irritation to some baby’s skin.

Major companies, with multimillion dollar reputations to protect, spend a lot of money and effort to ensure that their baby skin care products are safe. They are able to ensure that the ingredients they use, and products they make, pass stringent quality control and safety checks.

The small operators may not have the research facilities available to formulate their products nor the resources to quality control to the same extent. And they may be inclined to take more risk.

And don’t be fooled into thinking that all “natural” products are good for baby. Some of the harshest chemicals known to man are actually natural products; you just need to keep them away from baby’s skin.

Baby’s skin is young and very soft, it is also thinner and things which don’t worry your tough hide may penetrate straight through baby’s skin.

Remember that many of the damaging chemicals may be entirely “natural” and that baby really only needs a gentle bath with pure water once every few days using as few Baby Bath Products as possible.