Baby lotion/ baby oil? - what toileteries to I need for new arrival

[SalBySea]

do you actually need baby lotion? I'm 34 weeks and trying to get everything I need stocked up so dont have to do too many shopping trips when LO arrives if I dont feel up to it so wondering if you actually need / use baby lotion?

what do you really need in the line of toiletries?
I have:
top and tail bath
baby bath (and newborn insert)
cotton wool
cotton pads
sudocreme
a baby hair brush and baby nail cutters
nappies
towels
flannel clothes
sponges
hooded towels

what else do I need for LO grooming

Nothing... their skin is so sensitive and, IMO, smells absolutely lush the way nature intended

Sudocreme v useful though

Yep you dont need anything at all - sudocreme doesnt work for us though so we use bepanthen instead...

You can do baby massage with olive oil so dont get sucked into buying special oil for that either...

good luck!

that's what I thought but am a first time mum so pretty clueless and thought I'd better ask

Baby lotions are quite thick and pungent so I hadnt bought any and am not sure what the "need" for them is

just thought I'd better check with the experts though

olive oil is very useful if they have dry skin or cradle cap, i used it in dds bath and also to rub on her cradle cap and still massage her with it now if she is a bit dry. much better then baby lotion imo.
i use nail scissors rather than clippers as they are easier to manage on small nails without cutting the skin.
2 change mats, one for upstairs one for down.
i washed dd with cotton wool rather than flannes or sponges to start with.

Good luck

Do you know if it's a boy or girl?

You have it all covered, you don't need any kind of wash, lotion or wipes on little babies just plain tap water. Their skin is 80% more absorbant than an adults and so takes all the chemicals into their bodies, don't do it, resist the pretty plastic bottles of nasties.

Agree with NotNowBernard (great name btw - my Dh Favourite childhood book)
Used nothing on either of my Dc for many months after they were born apart from sudocreme.
Your list looks good though. Doubt you need anything else.

nothing at all. baby oil and lotion is more likely to cause problems tbh, esp johnsons.

second the bepanthen, that's handy to have around but only use when you need to.

(lol at the hooded towels btw. we got them for dd1, haven't found them again with dd2 and seem to have managed just FINE with unhooded towels. )

I have a fragrance-free oil for babies from Boots (own brand) which I occasionally use sparingly after the bath to give DD a massage or if her skin is a little bit dry. I wouldn't bother with all the branded, scented stuff. It's completely unnecessary in my opinion, and can irritate baby skin.

How are you going to dispose of nappies? Are you going to put stinky ones straight into the outside bin? If not, I would buy some of those scented nappy bags (you can get 100 for 75p in Tesco/Sainsbury's). I know some people will be against them (not especially environmentally friendly) but they are pretty handy.

A good barrier cream for nappy changes? Sudocreme is fab if they are a bit sore, but I'd use something lighter for normal changes. Zinc & Castor Oil cream is pretty good.

How exciting! My 2nd child is 14 weeks now and I am already longing for her newborn days back

cotton wool and water

thanks NNB

ATO - my mum AND mother in law are obsessed with hodded towels, think they are in competition with each other as to who gets us the cutes/most hooded towels! LOL Dont know where we're gonna store them all!

When my DS was born I had about 6 hooded towels, a whole wardrobe of pristine clothes hanging up weeks in advance and a cabinet full of baby toiletries.

When DD was born I had a 6 pack of cheap white babygrows, some Tesco own brand nappies, a bumper pack of cotton wool and...urm...not much else.

I think that says it all about what you 'need', really

(Although first-baby shopping is fun and I don't blame your mum/MIL ).

how funny.

tell you what i would whole-heartedly recommend, though, if you can take back your baby bath. a tummy tub. absolute genius, basically a bath in a bucket. so much better than piddling about with your back bent. and the babies LOVE it. (and it's good for farts and colic).

that's pretty much the only baby product i'd recommend, tbh.

I don't think you really need a barrier cream at all for normal changes. Sudocreme is useful if they are looking a bit red, and A.N.Other cream (probably Bepanthen or Metanium) on hold in reserve in case they develop proper nappy rash or Sudocreme isn't helping.

If you want to do baby massage then a little bit of a plain vegetable carrier oil (sunflower is good, or almond if you aren't worried about nuts) may be useful.

Olive oil for treating cradle cap, but you can use the stuff from the kitchen.

Waitrose bottom butter is my favourite !

But dont go overboard you dont really need to.

You have everything! I used a bit of talc when they were older, just to be sure their bottoms were dry before the napppy went on.

I remember standing in the supermarket before DS1 was born 10 years ago looking at the Johnspn's baby lotion and thinking "but what's it for?"

I still don't know!!

talc's a no no with girls, they often find talc right in the middle of ovarian cysts, apparently. (or so i heard on breakfast television... )

I used olive oil for first two DDs but then DD3 had very dry skin and I read that grapeseed oil was more suitable for baby skin. It was also recommended on the Chris Evans show for his baby. The woman recommended another one too which escapes me now.
I liked the organic lavender baby massage cream from Boots- the brand name of which also escapes me [bad brain cell loss]
Tried using a builders bucket for DD2 [as recommended by Libby Purvis in How not to be a perfect mother] which was good except for ridge at the bottom which had to be padded with a facecloth. this was also handy for when we bathed DDs1 and 2 together as the baby could go in her bucket and was kept safely away from big sis splashing about.
How about a change mat too.

another vote for nothing here too. maybe some barrier cream for sore little bums, but nowt else. I still have half a bottle of baby shampoo knocking about that i've had for over a year.

the only other things i used really was olive oil for cradle cap / dry skin.

Well done, organised mummy! There's lots of stuff which you'll work out for yourself so don't worry about buying anything new. From your list I'd say the following:

Buy pure grapeseed oil from the chemist/ Holland and Barrett. The 'baby' products are full of chemicals.

You don't need talc. Just dry their bums with a cloth/ tissue.

You don't need towels plus hooded towels, one will do.

Top + tail bath - what's that? Not necessary. You can just sit them on your lap if you want to give them a quick wash.

Also you won't need soap until they're toddlers and start to get dirty - even then we just swish a wee bit of soapy stuff in the water to make it bubbly.

At the end of the day the most important thing is to use trial and error and work out the way you want to look after your child. That goes for every aspect of their lives. Take suggestions when you need them, yes. But don't just follow a course of action because a more experienced mother has told you it worked for her. Learn to trust your intuitiion and you'll become a confident mummy as well as an organised one.

Have fun!

(one more tip before I go: if you haven't done it already I strongly suggest that you consider cooking and freezing lots of meals in advance. I packed our freezer so we didn't have to cook from fresh for the first three months of DS's life...bliss!)

I definitely need a barrier cream with DD. Despite frequent nappy changes and using warm water & cotton wool only, she is very sensitive and will get nappy rash at the drop of a hat if I don't use it.

DS never had nappy rash once, though, so I guess different strokes for different folks.

EEww!! Mine are boys...

i think that's why the tummy tub was invented, it's shaped a little differently to a normal bucket. it uses so little water and the babies love sitting up when they're wee. plus... as i say... good for getting that wind up.

i KNOW, grammaticus. but it was on breakfast telly so lord knows how reliable...

Aitch, I just googled tummy tubs and think they look brilliant, but next to it I found this! Useful!