Babies don’t need much at bathtime, sometimes warm water is enough if they are clean. All they really need is a simple soap and perhaps an oil or cream for dry skin, and a talc-free powder to stop chafing. They don’t need essential oils, and they for sure don’t need artificial fragrance oils, mineral oils or talcum powder, all of which don’t biodegrade nor are safely absorbed by the skin. Here are some better brands. They cost a little more, but then you just use less products, so it balances out. Avoid essential oils for babies and avoid shea butter for latex allergies. All these choices are plant-based, free from palm oil and in zero waste packaging.
Coraline Skincare is a lovely little company, founded to help find gentle toiletries for the founders’ little girl, who was born with Down’s Syndrome and various medical issues, which meant conventional products were too harsh. Their chamomile & yarrow soap is packed with skin-healing ingredients and ideal for sensitive skin. Nettle & Calendula Soap is also free from essential oils. Both for 3 months and over.
Florian Botanicals Delight Baby Soap is a gentle soap made with organic natural ingredients. It’s free from fragrance to soothe sensitive skin, and safe for sensitive and eczema-prone skin. Sold in sustainable packaging, the product is handmade, so size, weight, shape and colour may vary.
Purity Baby Soap is lovingly handmade with oatmeal and coconut milk, to soothe sensitive skin. Often it’s the simplest things that work the best.
Comfort Rescue Baby Balm is ideal for sore skin and sweet cheeks, along with rashes, inflamed and dry skin. It can also soothe flaky patches, cradle cap and insect bites/sting,s and provide relief for sore bottoms. It’s made with nourishing watermelon and poppy seed oils, olive squalane (similar to sebum), castor seed oil and anti-inflammatory blackcurrant seed oil. It also contains love-in-a-puff flower extract to soothe sensitive skin.
Florian Botanicals Nurture Nursing Balm is also fragrance-free and unlike most, is free from beeswax and lanolin. Ideal for tender, cracked or inflamed nipples from breastfeeding, it also won’t stain clothes. You can use it also as a lip balm or to heal minor cuts, burns and scrapes or any dry itchy skin, including your hands. It uses capuacu butter to increase skin hydration and reduces trans-epidermal water loss, along with anti-inflammatory murumuru butter, hydrating passion fruit oil, anti-inflammatory chickweed and healing plantain.
