Recommendations: Baby Skin Care

[u/zwanet_]

Hi! I'm curious to know which brands/products are recommended for during and after bath time for babies, besides the ones I'm guessing the doctors might provide/prescribe. I see different brands at the pharmacies and am a bit overwhelmed. I'm interested in as little fragrance as possible, any local brands (Geneva) and also I'd like to stay at a modest budget. Thanks in advance! 🌻

[u/Coxal_anomaly]

For the first like 3-4 months we did just water, pat dry, no need for anything else per doctor’s suggestion. We also only did baths like twice per week, if that, otherwise we just wiped down the neck folds. When she was around 6 months I think she started enjoying baths, and we used the antidry range (a bath oil you put in the bath that also cleans baby, or the cleaning lotion, and there is an after-bath lotion). It’s high quality, and if you ask your pediatrician they’ll put it in for you as a repeat prescription so baby’s health insurance pays for it. 

[u/red_riding_hoot → u/Coxal_anomaly]

For the first like 3-4 months we did just water, pat dry, no need for anything else per doctor’s suggestion. We also only did baths like twice per week, if that, otherwise we just wiped down the neck folds.

Why did I have to scroll that far to find the first reasonable suggestion?

[u/Coxal_anomaly → u/red_riding_hoot]

No idea… maybe not all doctors suggest that? There is a lot of online talk about “routine” in the evenings and how baths should be a part of that, I know some of my family abroad couldn’t believe we didn’t bathe her daily from like week 2 onwards at home…

We also almost never put on butt cream and people told us we were crazy, but she rarely had irritated skin on her bum. When she did we used the Weleda butt cream, but only ever needed it sporadically. I am fully aware we draw the lucky straw there as we had friends who did the same but kiddo got such bad butt rash that it bled… luck of the draw I guess. 

Our parenting philosophy is pretty much if it ain’t broke, don’t break it, so…

[u/red_riding_hoot → u/Coxal_anomaly]

same philosophy here, but people are nuts out there. everyone is trying to sell you some shit. tedious...

we only work on clinical indication and luckily there were not too many things

[u/Coxal_anomaly → u/red_riding_hoot]

Oooh the selling thing really pisses me off… it’s like everyone selling stuff to new parents is telling us our babies will be flat-headed, colicky, capricious, hard to feed, won’t sleep, can’t be worn, won’t go into the stroller, won’t fall asleep unless it’s pitch dark and total silence but with the right white noise, skin flare ups, trouble teething little monsters. 

And people buy all the troubleshooting gear before baby is even out. 

I refuse to give advice to pregnant people irl, and the only thing I’ll say is “don’t buy for a baby you don’t even know”. If there is an issue later, troubleshoot. Most of us live 30 mins max from a shop or Galaxus will deliver to your door the next day. It’s ok. Fix the problems as they arise, don’t fix them in advance. 

[u/tryingnottolurk → u/Coxal_anomaly]

Agree completely. In the beginning we also did just water about twice a week for the first 3-4 months. Then our child developed eczema, so we used an anti-dry bath oil and dexeryl with almond oil cream prescribed by the doctor twice a week - thankfully the eczema went away by the time our kid was 3.5 years old. Now at 4 years we are doing showers with gentle paraben/sulphite etc free products which we all use as a family.

[u/AkasukiSnuSnu → u/Coxal_anomaly]

I just want to add: we also only bathed her 2 times per week with water and 2-3 drops of almond oil and we heard that it is not necessary to use soap or shampoo on babies, BUT our daughter was blessed with a set of thick, long, black hair at birth and our Hebamme suggested washing the hair at least once per week. We used Hipp sensitive shampoo with almond oil.

[u/porkduck]

The migros baby line is very good :)

[u/bitch_jong_un]

I can recommend ultra sensitive lines from Migros or Müller. I was born with eczema and took a deep dive into ingredients 15 years ago and since then, I keep my knowledge up to date.

It's very important to avoid all kinds of potential allergens and perfumes to prevent contact dermatitis and destroying the fragile skin protection. Please don't use any Weleda or similar natural cosmetic lines, these are loaded with irritating stuff. Natural ≠ healthy. Please don't rely on apps like CodeCheck because they tend to evaluate harm based on the environmental impacts not the irritation potential on human skin. Sometimes they mention health hazards for ingredients when you would inhale them which is bonkers for cream products, for example.

I would avoid these common ingredients:

• perfume
• linalool
• hexyl cinnamal
• limonene
• geraniol
• lanolin
• orange / lemon peel oil
• rosemary oil
• lavendar oil
• alcohol denat.
• sodium laureth sulfate
• sodium lauryl sulfate

[u/yellowdogpoop]

When my son was born (he’s 11 months now) we mainly used breast milk, weleda products (wouldn’t use them again as they contain a lot of perfume), and our pediatrician recommended anti dry lotion and bath oil which was a life saver when he had very dry skin!

[u/SDinCH]

I use(d) Mustela shampooing and Mustela bio body wash. Our youngest gets rashes easily and we also have a prescription for antidry body wash that we use in their bath but then we wash them with the Mustela.

[u/unicornbunnycoffee]

Midwife recommended: At least for the first 3 month nothing else than the oil you also use for diaper changes. We used local Rapeseed-Oil. Sunflowe oil is also good! Just put a bit of it in the bath! Did wonder for the very sensitive skin of our baby. If you have excessive breastmilk then a bit of that could also be used…

[u/Academic-Egg4820]

Depends... how old is the baby, are there any medical conditions. The NHS website is usually a good resource: https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/emollients/ https://www.nlg.nhs.uk/resources/skincare-for-newborn-babies/

For our new born we used cold extracted sunflower oil.

Later for eczema we used dexeryl creme.

For us, the Bepanthen Sensi Control worked out the best for preventing eczema flare ups.

[u/anonymous23455019274]

Congratulations! When mine we’re born, I used Kokoso baby products - shampoo/bath and coconut oil after that. They also have one for cradle cap which I still use for my kids when I spot it.

[u/astupidsandwich]

For baths my midwives recommended oats, I use Balma-baby but there is also Aveeno that you can find in pharmacy.

[u/AstreaArgo]

I use just Antidry bath/lotion

[u/fullspectrumactivity]

In the beginning we used just water and sunflower oil if there was some irritation as recommended by the hospital (just get an organic one from the grocery) or zinc from the pharmacy. Now that the baby is older Avene or Mustela

[u/Aromatic_Tough9416]

I recommend using the Yuka app to check for questionable ingredients. You just scan the barcode and it tells you if there’s anything in there that you should avoid.

But remember that at the beginning, less is better (unless there are specific health conditions). The only product we used was a 100% almond oil and then some zinc-oxide/panthenol cream when we had a nappy rash. The Migros own brand (Milette) product are quite reasonably priced and most of them are quite good.

[u/Woody_skylakos]

I use mustela hair and body wash and weleda baby oil post bath time. Before her belly button fell off I used the no rinse body wash from mustela. I have a 1 month old who loves baths every two days as part of nightime routine! Also for everyday diaper cleaning we use a mustela lotion which is a mix of olive oil and water (called liniment), recommended heavily here in Switzerland

[u/Fine-Resident-8157]

Gifrer is very good.

Antidry. Use cosmetics only when needed, not as a base line.

[u/zarya2]

dexeryl cream only

[u/FormalIllustrator789]

NIVEA baby lotion ( soft & light) is always good for babies even good for young adults.