Common Sense Organic and Natural Skin Care for Babies

In the beginning months of life, it is best not to bombard a baby with tons of toiletries and products. They truly don’t need lots of baths and toiletries.

Most doctors agree that about twice a week is usually enough. Plain water will do just fine most of the time, with baby wash or shampoo reserved for when the need arises and for the bits that need it. Their skin is delicate and significantly more permeable, in fact about 5 times thinner than ours. Cleaning can strip their delicate skin of its essential body oils. There seems to be a fallacy that until you have lathered the body with soap that the skin won’t be clean, and its total nonsense. Babies and young children don’t need tons of products in the bath. Baby lotion and baby powder aren’t really necessary either. Warm water and a good organic or pure natural baby massage oil or lotion is all that is needed, along with a balm for the bottom to prevent nappy rash. When you do need baby skin care products, if you stick to simple pure natural and organic products you should find that their skin will remain naturally soft and supple as they grow.

The growing trend in production and sales of organic and natural toiletries is as a result of the alarming facts about the truth behind baby and children’s skin care products and toiletries. Ian Taylor, of Green People, established by a woman who wanted to soothe her own daughter's eczema, says their baby washes and lotions simply "avoid any ingredient that can irritate the skin and all unnecessary synthetic chemicals ".

The escalating use of unnecessary products in the name of hygiene could certainly be doing our children's skin more harm than good. Warm water, for instance, is all that's needed to keep most babies clean. But Dr Michael Cork, consultant in dermatology at Sheffield Children's Hospital, recently published a paper showing that our consumption of products such as bubble baths, lotions, oils, talc, wipes and even baby perfumes has shot up in recent decades. As up to 20% of British children are now affected by eczema at some stage in their life, compared with fewer than 5% during the 1950s, there is, Cork says, "strong accumulating evidence suggesting that the rise in eczema and the increased use of such products are linked". The best guidance for helping children with eczema naturally is to keep them well moisturised with organic and natural eczema creams such as Essential cares Ultra Rich or Soothing Salve, Repair Lotion or Earthbound Organics Chickweed and Calendula cream. Give only lukewarm baths as hot water can dry out and aggravate the skin further. Use environmentally friendly cleaning products in the home such as eco friendly washing up solutions on their clothes such as unscented Aquaball, and Miessence’s Bio Pure Probiotic Cleaner. Get your child checked for allergies and food intolerances and pay a visit to a nutritionist on guidance with diet. Keep them well hydrated and the house clean and free of allergens such as dust mites.