When should I start using products to bath my baby?

[Stefka]

My DS is 10 weeks and I just wash him with warm water and cotton wool. I don't feel the need to use any products on him yet - is there a point when I should start? I was thinking he will be ok until he starts on solids.

[Jojay]

There's no rush if you don't feel you need them - once he gets mobile, you'll find he gets grubbier though!!

[Twiglett]

when it stops coming off with water

[kiskidee]

dd is 2.8yo and I still don't use any bath products on her skin due to eczema. If i were to have another child I would do the same even if w/o eczema. I do use shampoo and conditioner in her hair as it is v. dry.

[Stefka]

Ah yes - I hadn't thought about him crawling all over the place!

[RBH]

I still wash both mine with just water and they are 2.9yo and 14 months! The older one gets her hair washed once a week and a very mild soap wash if she has been making herself into a zebra with felt tips. The younger gets her hair washed with a tiny bit of shampoo when she has rubbed loads of food into it and I can't get it off with kitchen roll. She doesn't have much hair yet!

Mind you I have a thing about parabens so am probably a bit neurotic about bath products as most are full of unnecessary crap.

[juicychops]

my ds is nearly 3 and i use bubble bath in his bath as he likes all the character bottles eetc. Probably have done since he was about 8 months and old enough to get excited about bubbles etc.

and wash his hair with shampoo 1-2 times per week

[Furball]

Steer clear as long as possible, you'll know when to start, water just won't wash - scuse the pun.

I innocently used johnsons products thinking they were 'the best'. It was only as my ds has sensitive skin and came out in a rash just looking at the bottle I realised that there were loads of really nasty harsh chemicals in most of these things. I now shop at the health shop for soaps, shampoos etc and we all used Jason products, there is no way I would switch back. Even Simple soap is far from it and full of rubbish. There are loads of kind alternatives available

[CoteDAzur]

I washed DD with baby products from day 1 and never had a problem.

There are wash gloves at the pharmacy that are much better/practical than cotton wool, whatever you are washing your baby with, though.

[juicychops]

i feel really bad now!!!

[Doormouse]

I use Halos 'n' Horns baby bath on my DS - Tesco's and Morrisons sell it. It doesn't contain any nasties (no SLS, parabens etc) and smells divine! (a bit like raspberries...) I think they do a toddler one too. I'm with RBH on the parbens thing-I had to secretly 'lose' the many bottles of Johnsons stuff that I was given when DS was small

[CoteDAzur]

Must admit I am a bit at this avoidance of bath products. Why?

OK, maybe from a newborn. But why would you not properly wash a baby who swims in his pee and poo all day? Especially once they start solids and start pooing the adult poo.

Their skin will come in contact with these products at some point. Unless they have special allergies/sensitivities, I don't see the point of delaying that moment.

[hunkermunker]

I used Simple bath products with DS1 - he has mild eczema and dry skin.

DS2 has had nothing on his skin but plain water except on a couple of occasions. I do use baby wipes, so he does get poo and pee wiped off him. His skin's peachy gorgeous.

Cote, why at people doing stuff differently? Parabens are horrible things - I try to avoid them in my own products - nothing weird about doing it for children, imo. And if plain water does the trick, why not?

[hunkermunker]

And mine don't "swim" in poo and pee all day - what an odd way to put it!

[kiskidee]

if you saw/smelled my dd, you wouldn't think 'hhhmmm that child never gets washed with soap', and she is an avg toddler with an avg lazy mum. It is a real eye opener to me how much useless gunk is sold to parents to keep their children 'clean'.

[hunkermunker]

Kiskidee, same goes for DS2. Fragrant little chap, he is. People always look amazed if I say his skin's never seen soap

[Izzybel]

I've been using bubble bath on my dd for quite a while. She's nearly 7 months, quite a sicky baby and water on its own just doesn't get rid of the sicky smell. Her skin is fine. When I had her in the hospital the midwife, who showed me how to bath her, used Johnson's top to toe wash and said there is nothing wrong with doing so. However, there's loads of people who don't like Johnson's stuff.

[dejags]

google the ingredients on an average bottle of baby shampoo/kids bubbles/soap...

I did and I was an instant convert to organic products.

That goes for all of us (kids and adults alike).

[Tutter]

nothing on dsses for ages but now use the organic baby wash. both have good skin (so far, touch wood) and it seems really mild

expensive, but a little goes a long way. have used it for 2 years with ds1 and am about our 3rd or 4th bottle (despite MIL using loads when she visits)

[Tutter]

thisa is it

[hunkermunker]

I've been using this stuff on me

A lot of the organic stuff has parabens in.

[Tutter]

talk to me about parabens hunker

(not a lot, 25 words or so )

[hunkermunker]

Not the stuff Tutter's linked to, but a lot of the more mainstream supermarket organic stuff.

[hunkermunker]

Preservatives in cosmetics

Would just rather that the stuff I use on my body was as natural as possible - but I freely admit that I cannot find a shampoo that works as well as a chemically one [hypocrite]

[colditz]

Water washes poo and wee off. Detergant strips the skin. I am an absolute non hippy, but I DO have fairly sensitive skin - and the first time I used Johnsons on ds1, my hands felt raw afterwards. I figured that a newborn's skin is even more sensitive than an adult's, but any discomfort and wailing would be put down to normal newborn gribbling - so it might be ripping their skin to shreds, it might not. You won't know.

My skin is extremely uncomfortable before the damage is visible, by the way, so don't take a lack of visible irritation as evidence of no reaction.

babies just do not need to be scrubbed and scoured.