To be absolutely disgusted that Cheeky Wipes are selling essential oils to use on baby wipes!

[userpmfrdh]

How is this allowed?!

I think this is my favourite ridiculous 'WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?' thread since the Yoghurt Pot Lids Are Deadlier Than A Black Mamba With a Migraine classic

We use the tiniest amount of little lamb essential oil in our own pound land containers for the cheeky wipes and so far nothing terrible has happened to our son.

The absolute privilege of being so concerned with this OP. Get some perspective. Don’t use them if you don’t like it. Think of those who don’t even have water, let alone wipes for their babies.

Honestly, go do something more worthwhile with your mental energy and check your privilege.

I used these on my son I only ever used water, always thought the essential oils were unessary

What you are seeing op is that people have a really intense attachment to being able to use scented products. My “favorite” are the people who would never eat peanuts in public, but will get downright nasty if you suggest that a scented product can cause anaphylaxis for someone they encounter.

Op, your reaction to an issue that hasnt happened is excessive. How are you feeling about life, work, family in generally at the moment?

Turn your attention to johnsons, their wipes remove practically any stain from anything. Years ago a bunch of us were at a train station ready to set off on a hen weekend and my friend’s mum spilt her coffee all over her trousers. She has baby wipes on her to i told her to use them. No stain at all. She couldnt believe it.

It quite clearly says about the oils

“Swish the oil around in the box to distribute it before adding the wipes.”

I’m usually Mrs Healthandsafety and I belt and braces my way through life, but even I think you’re way OTT with this one, OP.

How come you’re ‘absolutely disgusted’ about this minor theoretical risk, rather than homing in on real actual risks? There have been actual deaths of babies who slept in car seats, or were co-sleeping with parents, yet thousands of parents still do those things for one reason or another.

Those are REAL risks that have crystallised tragically for some. Why not post about that, or something else real, rather than a hypothetical? It’s not even as though you forked out for some and feel duped, is it? It just reeks of sticky-beaking to me.

@Purpleartichoke

As someone with horrific skin allergies, I find it really disturbing. Essential oils don’t dissolve in water, you would have to shake to distribute. So at some point the baby could get a concentrated exposure. Even if it was diluted, there is no benefit and tons of risk. I don’t know how a parent could risk their child getting a painful rash just so there can be a nice scent in the air.

This is exactly my point. I can understand, as pp said, adding a couple of drops to mucky wipes. Can't say I've heard of people soaking their facial wipes in essential oils.

I agree., Just use water, Trendy nonsense

Why is everyone attacking the OP? Seems like it's mostly come from people defensive about the product.

I don't see her being hysterical, mostly disapproving because she doesn't think it's safe. If you think it is, disagree, but you don't have to go on about how 'excessive' she's being. I'm past the baby years but I think it's interesting. We're often sold essential oils as being natural but that doesn't mean they're completely safe.

It's okay to evaluate and assess the risk, isn't it? To ask the question?

I'm pretty sure I have lavender oil somewhere and probably used it without thinking in the past. Not sure I'd be so carefree about it now!

OP I do think that your tone has done you no favours on this point.

Many many people use these wipes with no issue and many have issues with disposable wipes. Perhaps when you contacted CW they gave you incorrect advice, if that was the case ensure you go back to them with a clear and balanced response on how they are incorrect. As someone whose skin reacts badly to almost everything I am wary with most products anyway but you've not provided any tangible evidence that this company is causing a huge issue.

Natural lavender essential oil is a complex mixture of many chemicals, some of which are serious allergens.

There are recorded cases of people suffering skin damage by putting essential oils in the bath. They do not disperse, and although they are not actual 'oils' they do tend to sit in a layer on the top of the bath. You sit in the bath, and the essential oil touches just one area, and causes burns or allergic reactions.

Lavender (and also tea tree) oil are both massive allergens. Both come with serious EU health regulations and limitations attached as to the concentrations allowed in a cosmetic skin product.

My particular worry over a baby wipe is that it is used on an area of skin that may already be a little sore and even broken. This is the perfect condition for a lifelong sensitisation to occur. I am pretty sure that no medical authority anywhere would be OK with the use of lavender in this instance, particularly when as OP says, there is no way of knowing how much or how concentrated the essential oil is on any given wipe.

I used to have a toiletries manufacturing company, and used only natural essential oils as scent materials in my products. I had to follow far more draconian safety regulations because of those essential oils than for any other ingredient that I used. My scent formulas with their concentrations needed signing off by a toxicologist and had to be kept available in case I was contacted by a hospital in an emergency. This is true for all cosmetic and toiletry products incidentally, my company was not special...

The real safety issue with essential oils is that people perceive them as 'natural' and therefore safe. They are not. These oils do not occur anywhere in nature in the sort of concentration that they are in a bottle - it takes for eg kilos of lavender to make a small bottle-full.

I used to practise clinical aromatherapy. I won't get involved in the debate about the wipes, as I know nothing about them. But just a few points to add..... The concern about using essential oils on babies, is not just regarding their skin, but the fact that the oils get absorbed through the skin and into our system. They are considered to be too strong for babies. That said, I would be happy to use them on older babies if they are highly diluted and the oils are pure. Essential oils are powerful and used properly, quite remarkable. An alternative for babies would be to use the hydrolat ( or flower water - a by-product of the distillation process) which is a mild and completely safe alternative.
As others have said, pure lavender oil would not cause a burn, but for sensitive skins, undiluted they may be too strong or cause a reaction or allergy, although for most people a small amount undiluted on the skin is fine. People who experienced burns would either have had an allergic reaction, or had unknowingly bought oils that, despite being sold as pure, would have been bulked out with synthetic oils (very common sadly).

A good tip for diluting oils in water..... Add the oil to milk first!

I agree that my concerns focus around companies such as Johnsons and their so called 'baby products'.

It doesn't dilute but it does disperse and is absorbed into the towels themselves. It's also why they tell you to tip the container over to help disperse it.

I used cheeky wipes on my two DCs. They were widely recommended on cloth nappy pages and I've been on MN for years as well as still fillowing their fb pages. I've never heard of babies being burned by the oils that accompany them through any media, which rather suggests that there isn't a problem.

DS2 did usee to be left with burns after eating tomatoes.

DS1 was covered in head to toe eczema after a couple of bottles of baby formula.

Neither tomatoes nor baby formula should be banned.

Strangely I'm disgusted that 4 million children live in poverty. Not essential oils being used on some wipes

DS13 was wiped with cheeky wipes with a few drops of this added to water and soaked. Didn’t experience any problems, oil was dispersed throughout the pile of 20 wipes.

@CarrieBlue

We use cheeky wipes. Isnt the tea tree oil for the used wipes so it isnt used on the skin? You get lavender or geranium for the clean ones.

[quote BobbieDraper]@CarrieBlue

We use cheeky wipes. Isnt the tea tree oil for the used wipes so it isnt used on the skin? You get lavender or geranium for the clean ones.[/quote]
No idea - it was 13 years ago 😂

ring your local council. or email, trading standards, re a consumer safety issue.
this is a legitimate area of concern.
i can understand your concern.
it needs to be looked into by professional enforcement officers.
there are poss legal and safety issues.

The tea tree oil doesn't go on the skin. It goes in the dirty box to keep mildew from forming.

This whole thread would make an excellent marketing tactic.

I didnt use cheeky wipes, just made my own. But I did want to point out that my wipes needed to have lavender oil in them, because if I just used water they started to smell musty very quickly. The scent is nice, but the oil did have an actual function.

I did use my homemade wipes from birth on my second baby, he's out of nappies now and does not have a scarred bum...

Tbh for me the issue is that they are selling oils to mask the smell that will occur with reusable wipes. I couldn’t wash Pooey wipes in my washing machine.