Hi, I am interested to hear tips/strategies to look after babies skin. Can people recommend products that are gentle on babies skin as well as being gentle on the wallet. Is it possible to make your own skin care products for baby? Does buying in bulk work?
Can anyone recommend products in any stores? Ebay, Amazon and Aldi come to mind.
Baby on the way. Due end of this month. Just wondering what kind of creams we should be using? And how to keep costs down.
Massaging and moisturising baby is a good idea even if no ‘skin problems’
Only thing babies need covering in is love.
Covering them in some petrochemical or other dubious cream is mostly unessary.
But if that is how you want to spend your cash , have fun and enjoy
Babies are tiny and don't need a lot of cream. It goes a long way
Haha, this.
skimp on urself and not the baby!
Not planning on skimping. Just want to know what's best value for money and how much it costs.
We use QV baby cream, it’s good for babies. Avoid Johnson and Johnson, it will give rash to baby skin.
You can buy big bottle of regular QV products instead of those tiny 'QV Baby' products. They are exactly the same stuff.
What are you using at the moment?
Baby due end of the month.
Like quite a few people in the world, we have got two kids through to double digits so far. Only one had a tiny bit of nappy rash. AVOID THIS AT ALL COSTS.
Buy the best stuff you can afford.
We were fans of everything 'gentle'. Curash is a great brand. We used….
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/curash-babycare-baby-wipes-6…
Huggies nappies worked well for us. We tried cheaper ones, but no……….. They do have specials on them, BUY IN BULK.
https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/buy/56267/curash-babycar… - use every change.
Lots of hugs and read up on the 5 or 7 types of crying. There is a book, can't remember it's name, but once we worked out the type of crying our little one was creating, we could fix that issue and it worked, I reckon, 80% of the time. So from driving us crazy, we simply listened to the type of cry and fixed it and junior was good to go in under 10 mins !!! It's a life saver.
Care to share the book title on the 5 or 7 types of crying? We are due next month and any books you can recommend would be appreciated
I wouldn't bother making anything, just use a cleanser like cetaphil, qv etc. The biggest saving for you would be using modern cloth reusable nappies and reusable wipes because disposable products will be the biggest cost
Totally agree. Convenience does have a cost, but it also has massive benefits. Apparently, when you weigh up the water and detergent and energy etc… required to constantly launder 8+ nappies a day and weigh that up against disposable ones……
Yeah true, but on the other hand if you are short on cash one week you've got the nappies sorted
Yep
Got water and electricity included in the rent. So detergent is going to be our main expense washing nappies. Any ideas how to save on detergent? Is soaking with hot water a good idea? Also boiling water may be an option since we don't need to pay for electricity.
You have to be careful with the soaking in hot water - it can damage the elastic over time. Modern cloth nappies actually require you to use very little detergent (if you use to much then they lose absorbency). I would recommend getting a good sensitive skin detergent (I used ecostore) and it will last for months.
We bought cloth nappies
I would try some and see first. We went all out and bought a hole set of cloth nappies (friend down the road works for a company so we got them at a good discount, and agreed to buy them off us when we were done with them). We tried them for a few weeks (both all in ones, and cloth with covers), but found that they weren't enough to contain our child's 'emissions', they always soaked through - in as little as two hours. Having to launder nappies 10 nappies a day we were prepared for, but having to launder an extra 6 complete outfits for the child, plus sometimes having to change our own clothes when they got urine or occasionally excrement on them, as well as the effort of having to change a baby head to toe every time if soaked it's nappy - was just too much. We gave up after a few weeks and went to disposables. The disposables almost never leak for us.
I know they work for some people, and I do feel bad about the extra waste of disposables, but we made a genuine effort to use cloth nappies and they just didn't work for us.
We will have to find a good strategy. At least we have electricity included in our rent so it works out cheaper to launder them.
100% this. We tried really hard to only use disposables when we were out of the house but eventually gave up.
We had received three different types of re-useables from friends, all of whom had also given up themselves a few weeks in. We thought we knew better than all of them.
Yeah we didn't. All of them leaked way too quickly, and that was just a newborn milk poos and wees, I can't imagine how bad it would be when you start introducing solids :-|
The other big issue is drying the cloth nappies. We were going through 8-12 liners per day, plus at least 3 outer layers. Drying them without using the dryer was almost impossible, which kills any environmental credentials that re-useables might claim. Different I guess if you're in summer and have access to a clothesline but in winter in an apartment, it was impossible to not use the dryer.
Parenting is hard enough as it is, make it a little bit easier on yourself and use disposables. We used Aldi nappies during the day and huggies at night, really cut down the costs (and you can get the huggies on special for about $24/box, keep an eye out).
Have fun! It's bloody hard work, but the most rewarding work you'll ever do.
Buy a good olive oil for your newborn ( cooking/kitchen oil). You will see that some newborn has aLittle bit of dry skin. Most product will be too nasty to use of them and olive oil for kitchen massage on their skin is what most midwife recommend. The first two month i wouldn t use anything apart water and dry wipes/cotton on them as newborn are not use to chemichal. After that i used only QV BABY ( bath oil, cream and soap) as they are free of chemichals. They are quite expensive but usually each bottle product last for 3 months as you don't need to use a lot for babies. Don t think saving but more how to protect efficiently your baby skin .
Interesting. We had multiple midwives say to use olive oil for cradle cap.
Yes you use olive oil for cradle cap
You don't use it as a daily moisturizer
There would be always pro and cons for olive oil. You re referencing to an article from uk. While in australia, midwives and pediatricians will definetly tell you to use it … It s the same as which one is best for cooking ?.. Olive oil or canola oil… So, as a parent you will always look for the safest product to use on your little one.
Also coconut oil is recommended by midwives and paediatricians.
We used coconut oil with our babies and worked the trick.
i used only QV BABY ( bath oil, cream and soap) as they are free of chemichals
??? (link to QV Gentle Wash Safety Data Sheet)
You can not have a chemical free lotion. It is impossible.
It's a little jar of vacuum with Lotion written on it.
Good luck opening that.
We've mainly used "Botty Butter", a natural beeswax based product made by a Tasmanian company called "Beauty and the Bees". Both our babies (now toddlers) have barely had any skin problems or nappy rash etc throughout the now 4 years of using it.
Redwin sorbolene.
$3 for large pump pack regular catalogue item .
.
This is what I buy too whenever it's on sale for $3 for the 1L pack. GP recommends just using sorbolene as well. I use sudocrem as well for nappy rash. When I do want that extra boost, I mix some sudocrem with the sorbolene and rub this all over. This usually helps my daughter when she gets itchy.
Redwin sorbolene.
$3 for large pump pack regular catalogue item
This
If you skimp on your baby's skin care then you are the WORST PARENT EVER - Baby Products Industry
But seriosuly-
We just used vitamin e cream. And for nappy rash - sudocream. 3 kids and they turned out fine
Our midwives recommended that we simply wash our child with water, so that's what we do. We use bepanthen and sudocream to prevent nappy rash, but nothing else.
We're forever being given samples; at the hospital, and antenatal courses, and any sort of baby expos, or doctors etc they keep giving us sample bags full of mostly junk. Every one of them has had a sample of either sudocream or curash ointment. Our child is nearly 5 months old and we're less than half way through our stash of samples, and we're still collecting them every now and then.
Really, is it Ok to just wash baby with water? No soap?
Until they start getting dirty in ways that won't wash off with just water, yes.
Yes they don't get dirty until they start crawling. A newborn does 3 things: sleep, feed and poop(/wee). You should be cleaning them with wipes after every change. You should also only bath them once every 2-3 days. They love water but hate getting out of it.
This is stuff that you go through at the hospital. This is more important than any savings.
Maybe look at booking that? (They generally have something for new parents before the birth. You will need to go over it again after though)
Babies can have random allergies so I would stick to using sample packs till you can figure out what your baby doesn’t react to. Saves buying a large supply you can’t use. Then when you figure out what works then you can shop around for cheap sellers.
Bounty bag have sample bags which you can collect from some pharmacy look up their website. The hospital gives these bags out too. You can also attend the pregnancy baby expo (pcbexpo) and get samples there. Entry is free but need to pay for parking. Depending on state you live in might have just missed one.
I’ve tried Johnson and Johnson’s but I found the chemicals in them too strong. We use Curash, it seems to be mild enough and cheap enough to buy from Woolies/chemist/amazon in special.
Moogoo is a great brand for babies with eczema and other skin. Issues it is on the pricier side but works great and again you can shop around for it.
Exactly this - I bought 3 different cleansers for bath and my 2nd was allergic to all so ended up using the same as the hospital one and it is expensive but you don’t need much.
Try as many samples as you can and just buy whatever works (we use Mustela for bath, Bepanthen (nappy cream normal from WW) and baby love nappies also dermeze for dry skin)
I’ve been warned by a few medics to stay away from any Food based skin products (paw paw, coconut oil) as they have noticed a link to allergies.
Congrats and good luck!
Agree don’t use milk or almond based oils on baby as it can lead to allergies
Try epaderm ointment twice a day if dry skin or eczema
Sorbolene is all you need. Everything else is just marketing crap
That's it. Cut to the chase.
And if you don't eventually get a photo of the kid who's managed to spread if all over himself when you weren't looking, you're not trying hard enough.
Generally this is true. We do use QV oil in the bath though as my son's regularly have dry skin.
We didn't use anything special on our kids but they had no skin issues. Stick to the advice from your doctor or community health nurse. Pharmacies tend to up sell lots of useless shit.
they produce their own oil or something, should not be a need for products or lotions.
Really, don't need to worry?
I think he's making the joke that babies will product baby oil. Which is surely superior to any other product you would apply.
Is this a solution looking for a problem? Why don't you ask when your baby has a need for a lotion?
Our babies got zip, except for some eczema which we used specific creams for, and stopped when it went away.
So don't really need lotion?
What for?
I would just have something like sorbolene, QV or Cetaphil handy. Dermatologist told me to use those as anything with scents or other stuff added just makes things worse.
Buy as above, why have a solution before you have a problem? Not all babies need it. We had one that did and another that doesn't and if the odd patch of dry skin pops up just use cream on that.
Sudocrem for nappy rash, which will almost definitely happen at some point. Costco have some of these products much cheaper than elsewhere if you or someone you know has a membership you can use.
Is Costco the absolute cheapest? Worth applying for a membership if the need to buy arises?
@BluebirdV: 400g of sudocrem is $26RRP. That's a huge pot which will probably last you well over a year. You don't need to be concerned with saving money there.
@BluebirdV: Definitely cheaper than anywhere else. I buy cetaphil moisturiser which is a lot cheaper than anywhere else I have found and I got a couple of large pots of Sudocrem at about $16 when Costco had them on sale. So not worth it just for something like this, given it's probably one purchase a year just for the baby. But if you're close to a Costco, then you'd easily save the annual membership on other things as well. Nappies and wipes are frequently on special.
I have a four month old and haven’t needed anything at all. The same goes for my four year old. The only cream I keep (aside from sunscreen obviously) is a rash cream called Nappy Goo. I don’t even use soap in my baby’s bath.
Really, no soap? What do you use instead?
No soap, use QV bath oil (a couple of squirts), sudocream for nappy rash and sorbolene for general moisturising if needed.
Can you recommend the best place to buy these? Thanks.
@BluebirdV: You can get massive packs of sorbelene and qv at any supermarket and probably a discount chemist. Can't say which will be cheaper for you.
I put a drop of either olive oil or coconut oil in his bath when he was a newborn and had dry skin (it was recommended by the midwife). Now just plain water. For me, his bath is really just to rinse off around his nappy area and make sure nothing is getting into the folds of his skin. Once he’s bigger and moving around enough to start getting dirty, I’ll start using a gentle soap. I used to use a Moo Goo one when my other son was smaller.
Water.
Plus one vote for nappy goo. Forgot about that one.
Large sudocrem container (400g for $25) is probably the most cost effective barrier cream. That size lasts many months
My wife got a sample of this.
You'll get a little sudocrem container in free Bounty bags. That is great for travel/going out.
We have gotten about 12 of them so far, we have them all stashed on the change table. We haven't yet paid for sudocrem.
We had one kid who got eczema from nearly anything and another without it. Through endless trial and error:
Other things to consider:
The biggest issue nearly every single Mum had was actually with breastfeeding. We found there wasn't much honestly that initially, even though the baby knows where the food comes out, they aren't good at efficiently getting it out and it takes a few weeks to stop sucking like a Dyson on there and develop a technique. So initially, things get sore even with good feeders. So after learning things the hard way the first time, I made a breastfeeding “box” that sat next to me each feed with:
My mates have done the same now too as it's handy to take around the house. And if it does get difficult in that department, remember it's actually completely normal but isn't spoken about for who knows why. I truly feel not getting first time Mums mentally aware it's tough for most at first sets them up for a cruddy time without knowing they're not alone. So now I make a point of going through my experience with any friend before the baby is born, which has been good as they've felt comfortable to reach out when times got tough. Oh and look up a good lactation consultant that does home visits in advance just in case you want them to have a look at anything you're not sure about/think something is happening like tongue tie. If it wasn't for my lactation consultant that visited me, I wouldn't have stuck to it the first time as the older child was a shocking feeder (worst one the consultant ever saw) and stubborn too, so it took a lot of effort to get her feeding normally.
Good advice 🙂
Where do you get Trinature on sale ?
We get it from their website: https://trinature.com/Laundry they usually discount it once to twice a year, so we buy the 10kg tub when they do.
Other brands new of hypoallergenic detergents from the supermarket are fine too; I just doing that when discounted, the per-wash cost ended up a bit cheaper than the supermarket ones I could use, and it still cleans well.
Are there any particular times of year it goes on sale?
just use baby soap.. they'll grow out of their skin/skin sheds
When it comes to bub it's worth spending that bit extra it will be cheaper overall. I found that there was a massive massive difference in the huggies brand to everything. After trying a few wipes the huggies with aloe wipes do the best job wiping and less irritation. They are more expensive then curash and some other brands but take care of most of the nappy rash without need for powder.
Huggies nappies are worth the premium as well.
Id keep an eye on sales and stock up on things like wipes and nappies while you can. Keep an eye on baby bunting they have have good sales.
Enjoy sleep while you can
For thousands of years, no one used any "baby lotions". The "baby lotions" are a first world thing.
My kids never saw a lotion unless really necessary. Never had a problem without one. Save your money and use lotions only if the bub has a skin condition.
Baby soap?
What I used is a soap that doesn't hurt the eyes, that's to avoid hysterical crying during bath times.
I have a 4 week old - once baby is born the midwives should take you through your first bath in hospital. There's no need for any product, just use water.
This is what worked for me.
YOU DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. Every one has advice, most is crap or outdated. Talk to the nurses on ward (when bubs comes). Each will tell you a different way to do the same thing, and their way is the only way…
Sorbolene. Baby powder/talcum powder is a no no now as it is considered a carcinogen. Oil's are rarely pure so I would avoid them.
Bath the kid in the shower. One parent passes to the shower parent one the water is lukewarm. Rinse and play with the kid for a few minutes. Pass back to other parent to dry. Good for 'dad time'.
Cloth nappies are a nightmare. Aldi's nappies are comparable to Huggies and will cost you ~$1 per day (less than it costs to run most washing machines on eco).
Aloe vera wipes tend to cause very few rashes. I used to stock up when Aldi had them on sale (their normal wipes work, but caused rashes when used for too long).
Nappy bags are a must. One per poo nappy. Tie them air tight. Don't be that animal who ruins people's day buy throwing out unsealed poo nappies. Those animals are the worst. Again, cheap at Aldi's.
Babies will rash up from time to time. A short flair up is normally a bug and not a reaction to your cleaning products. This sounds like your first child so seek medical help when ever your are concerned (about anything to do with the baby). Don't be afraid to call the radio doctor or hospital if you have a concern after hours.
Ask for referrals for a GP good with babies/children. It helps to have a good doctor you trust as your first point of call.
Again, this worked for me. Feel free to ignore any and/or all of this. Babies are hard. Do what works for you and your family.
Totally agree about the shower. Once you get over the initial fear of having them in the shower you'll find that it's much quicker and easier than a bath (assuming you have someone to 'catch' [take the baby away and dry and clothe it]). You're baby is not going to die if it gets some water on it's face, they have the innate sense to hold their breath from birth. From two weeks old I have been rinsing my child's face in the shower - he knows what to do.
Your baby should not need any skin lotions, creams etc.
You will be given lots of advice by lots of stupid people, many of them health professionals. Actual medical advice from your actual doctor should be heeded more, though, many doctors now are forced by parents to recommend something as they are basically forced by the parents, most of the time, the advice is just aqueous cream, sorbolene, qv, alpha keri, cetaphil.
Don't make the water too hot, your skin generates it's own natural oils.
I may be a bit narky though after replying some incredibly annoying posts on ozbargain.
First.. congratulations on baby!
In terms of advice I wouldn't go buying a heap of things until you know you need them. Use as little as possible and figure out what works for you. You can get free samples of pretty much EVERYTHING, go to a baby expo or hit up companies, if you find something good stick with it. Nappies, baby wash, formula, get ALL the free stuff.
We currently use thank you body wash and no shampoo as we found it left residue, sudocrem if and when needed. That's it. The body wash lasts months with nightly bath. Less is more for us as baby's skin doesn't like a lot of soap usage.
Nappy free time works wonders for us and you can try expressed milk from mum, the stuff is legit magic for us at clearing up skin issues. Throw any expressed milk that's been out of the fridge too long in the bath. Cost is nil.
As above the shower is great, bath baby in the sink, or if you want a baby bath get it second hand / on ozbargain. Saves water, saves money, and is easier to get the temperature right.
Just know that what works for us or for someone else may not work for you. Everyone's different, every baby is different, trial and error will get you there, so again, start with as little as possible and add things as you need them. Consider this for all things with baby.. it's trial and error.. there's no right answer.. enjoy the challenge.. and congratulations.
We used Gaia. You can get this brand at most shops.
Australian made, and natural.
https://www.gaiaskinnaturals.com/.
Never had issues with reactions.
Luckily my son has never had any skin issues, he is 2 now and we have gone through:
1.5 tubs of sudocream (regular size, both gifted, RRP $10 each, nappy rash/body rashes)
80% Aveeno Dermexma lotion (Paid about $15 for 200g, for dry skin on the body, is amazing)
80% Bepanthem 100g (gifted, RRP $10, for dry skin on the face)
10% Johnson's baby lotion 200g (pink bottle - gifted RRP $5, for dry skin on the body, didn't work that well)
That's only $50 worth worth over 2 years. Again, we're lucky that he rarely gets nappy rash, and only gets dry skin on cold windy days, but you might also get lucky!
I'd suggest where you can to try cheap stuff and see if it works before using premium brands (like others have said, samples are everywhere) For example we were gifted the Johnson's top to toe body wash/shampoo which often gets bad reviews online, but my son has never had an issue, so we've stuck with that and probably spent about $30 in 2 years on it - the 500mL bottle is often on sale for $4.
Of course, if they are getting rashes/eczema you'll have to buy the better brands, but probably worth researching the specific products recommended for whatever issue your child may have at the time.
Hey, I have kids with eczema so have tried tens of different products. The cheapest moisturizer so far is Kenkay emulsifying ointment. This is used by pharmacists as a base to mix medicinal ointments, so comes very cheap, around $2 for small jar and $15 for half a kilo jar. The best part is that you could dilute it with 1:1 ratio of water (use boiling water and it will melt and mixes easily), so one jar becomes 2! We used it liberally and it works well :D
Not too much to add here besides what was already commented.
Just wanted to send my best wishes to you. Enjoy and treasure every moment when the little one arrives.
Honestly Sorbolene will be fine. If baby has a reaction to that you can try other things. But a big pump bottle of Sorbolene is cheap and will go along way.
If they start getting rashes and it is persistent after 6 months (lots of newborns go through all kinds of rashy stages and no amount of cream will get rid of it so to speak) you can try some other things.
Nappy rash stuff, start out with Sudocrem and go lighter if they have a reaction. Also try premium nappies if you have problems with rashes from the cheap ones.
The best thing I found was spending more $$$ on wipes. Water wipes are great but exxy, or go for the Huggies mostly water ones to stretch the dollar further.
Not the cheapest but works the best for us personally and we have used pretty much every product, to get cheapest just watch catalogue cycle
1. Bath QV oil - Most moisturising than the solution
2. QV shampoo and conditioner - don't have to use very often as water most of the time is fine
3. Moisturiser would be QV cream but if particular areas get very Dry then dermeze ointment works well
4. Nappy cream I would use Nappy goo (not on catalogue much though) and if a little inflamed then use Bepanthen ointment (not the cream as ointment has anti-inflam effect)
Most of the cheaper (soap based) stuff is OK for most babies but often it's not all about the product
To prevent dry skin use Warm (not hot) water bath for short period with no excessive rubbing when drying followed by applying moisturiser. Obviously with nappy change do it often and thoroughly cleaning (don't use wipes with alcohol) and drying well then applying product
Baby oil is baby oil so cheap stuff will do.
What kind of skin problem(s) does your baby have that requires such products?