Caring for babies' skins - no bubbles

[mears]

I know I said I wouldn't be here till the weekend but I have done a fair bit of my assignment to thought I would pop on and share this
bathwater

It was nearly 2 years ago that I first posted thisthread

Thanks Mears! I remember you saying about baby bubble bath on another thread. Really interesting article.

This quote is the one I've been trying to tell people about for ages and no-one believed me!!

"Sodium polyacrylate, removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to toxic shock syndrome,is still used in disposable nappies."

Scary stuff!

I must drive pregnant people demented by telling them about this - but then they have seen how much my little boy suffered with eczema. Articles like these encourage organic, natural type product ranges that are just as drying and just as likely to cause eczema IME. I keep saying "Yes it's organic, yes it's got natural lavender oil in it, but look it's still got sodium laureth sulphate in it"

have you tried green people products? competely chemical free - no sodium laureth sulphate,no parabens mind you I only bathe my ds's about once a week but if interested go to www.greenpeople.co.uk

Reusable babywipes are great green, chemical-free and save you a FORTUNE! You can buy them here . Alternatively, buy a packet of cheap flannels, or make your own wipes by cutting up old brushed cotton sheets. We have our changing mat in the bathroom, so I just wet the wipe and chuck in the nappy bucket with the (washable) nappies. They're much more effective than commercial babywipes I generally only need one per change unless she's up to her armpits in poo.

ikea sell very cheap cotton flannels- 10 for £3, I think!

That was something I learned with my second child -- wish I had known it with my first!

Muddaofsuburbia, the reason sodium polyacrylate was removed from tampons is because it is very highly absorbant and this (the high absorbancy of some tampons) was the cause of tss in some women. It's not an issue for babies' bottoms, as skin is a much more effective barrier to strep than the interior of the vagina. Sodium polyacrylate is pretty inert -- it's just the fact that it was absorbing the vagina's natural defenses that was allowing the bacteria to get a hold and cause the disease.

Thank you Mears
My dd has excema and I was searching on the web this morning and have just read the bathwater article and several others within that page.
Being into natural products and the environment...I use only bath water or abit of Weleda soap - still has problems though

What I find amazing is how keen midwives in hospitals are at bathing in bubble bath etc. When dd2 was bathed after birth (in the delivery room, I was still sitting on the table waiting for the doc to come and stitch me up 2hrs later and she had had a feed and everything) I had to sit there saying 'no! no bubble bath! no! no shampoo! No! No talc!' all through the process as the midwife was there with the whole range of a well known brand (!) of baby toiletries.
I've still never used soap or shampoo on her and she only gets a few bubbles if she's in the bath with her siblings or me!
But why do midwives still do it when there is so much evidence against it?

OK, I know that bubble bath isn't good for their skin. (I still use it though - my kids love it and they don't have any skin problems.) But is it really possible to clean their hair without shampoo? Up to what age?

Thanks, mears. That's a very interesting article --- I should send it to my MIL, who insists I am crazy for using only warm water to bathe my dd.

KateandtheGirls, on a separate note, I tried to reach you through "contact another talker", but when you joined mumsnet, you asked not to let people get in touch with you via email....

susanmt - our hospital has finally put out new guidelines for baby skin and cord care that advises no products so we will finally get rid of the bubbles. Midwives will no longer use bubbles and wipes.

I think the main thrust of this is for babies isn't it. Once they get older and provided no skin problems, then some bubbles can be fun.
My dd had bad eczema as a baby and still gets it mildly so we still avoid bubbles for her and wash with aqueous cream rather than soap. But I do use shampoo. She still, at 4, gets cradle cap and you need shampoo to get the olive oil out!

jj, excuse my ignorance regarding the sodium polyacrylate issue - you say that babies skin is an effective barrier so the chemicals in the nappies don't get absorbed. what i don't understand is how some chemicals on the skin don't get absorbed when nicotine and hrt patches work on this very premise?

Something interesting to read about chemicals in disposable nappies here . The Women's Environmental Network did a study which found traces of a "gender bending" chemical in disposables...

Sorry for being unclear, I meant skin is an effective barrier for the strep and staph (?) viruses which cause tss.

And I think tss is a result of an infection gone wild in a suspectible place or in a susceptible person (going way out of my knowledge there...)

But it is hard to get chemicals through skin, although there are ways around it. The makers of nicoderm and hrt patches have probably made a fortune from the patents. And I'm not saying that all chemicals in nappies are good -- my son used to have massive reactions to one brand. Even if the chemicals can't permeate the skin, nappy rash leaves openings for things to enter. But I think the perceived risk that some organisations encourage is much higher than the actual relative risk of using nappies when it comes down to it.

But polyacrylates aren't one of the problems, really! Unless you're coming from an environmental standpoint -- they don't break down and landfills are a mess because of disposables. And it takes a lot of waste to make them.

scuse me for being totally ignorant - can you use any detergent/shampoo at all on a baby's skin? What if they have a real puking and shitting session?

Also, does anyone have any advice for me as regards cotton napies? I'm desperate to try these but I'm living in an aprtment in Canda now and we have to use the communal laundry facilities in the basement. Obviously we have to pay and it's going to work out more expensive than if we had our own machine. I feel really, really guilty that I'm now contemplating using disposables

BTW - preggers with 1st, due in Sep.

yikes- no need for replies. I've read mears's links - should have done that in the first place

I'm not a great fan of anything with parfum in it as I know on me it is an irritant, certainly avoid it in soaps and the like, also more of a fan of plain water bathing for littlies...
Same basis for using cloth nappies too and caring about washing detergents.

Hi

I'm hoping someone out there can help me! My three month old baby girl has eczema and nothing seems to be helping - the doctor prescribed hydrocortisone when she was first diagnosed as it was so bad, and that worked like magic, but obviously as its a steroid cream its not suitable for longterm use. I've tried acqeuos cream, diprobase, oilatum and even sudocreme but these red patches keep flaring up again. Can anyone out there recommend a good emollient or something that they've been prescribed by the doctor? I'm getting desperate!

melon1, go to allergies board for more post on eczema.

off the top of my head, have u got a bath additive perscribed (balneum, oilatum?). also put on loads of emoillant several tim esa day. a good one to try is aveeno, dermol500 (not sure if this is suitable for your babies age, so best check with gp), 50/50 (i think thats what its called) and diprobase ointment, very greasy that one is.

Interesting. I'm not a great fan of bubble bath because when I was a toddler, I was in the hospital with a urinary tract infection, and a fever of 106 F (41 C). The paediatrician told my mum that there was to be no more bubble bath (a point I was rather disappointed about in years to come). I don't know if the doc thought bubble bath caused it or if she just thought that it would irritate an already existing problem. But, it's interesting to read this some 33 years later, and we are all still using bubble bath.

Bubblebath often causes little girls to have a brownish discharge. Didn't realise that till I had my own DD. Cleared up once we stopped using it. It is the same problem for women prone to thrush - bubblebath makes it worse. I have to say though I do love a soak in loads of bubbles but I know the signs of when to bath in plain water only. Can't give them up completely. Babies definately don't need them though.

mears, thanks to your thread I only used water on DS until he was 4 weeks. I still only use cotton wool and water at nappy changes. No we use a wash that is SLS-free, although it took ages to find one

not a hint of dry skin in sight!

Hi Highlander - glad to see you .

Did you ever go on that long trip with 5 week old - never saw a follow-up?