Once you finally get past the stage where you're terrified of giving your baby a bath (been there, done that, she survived!), it becomes a lot of fun. What's not to love about splashes and giggles and the intoxicating scent of baby wash? Well, maybe that a ton of the baby washes on the market are full of some truly scary chemicals.
A study done a few years ago found at least two-thirds of the baby bath products tested had either one or both of two seriously toxic nasties: formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane. Both of those are considered carcinogens! So what's a concerned parent to do? Start stocking up on safe baby washes.
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Maybe you won't get the scent of a certain famous and extremely popular baby wash, but there are plenty of yummy options out there that are safe for baby too.
That moment after I'd pulled my daughter out of the water and wrapped her in a towel, when I snuggled her close to my body and stuck my face up to drink in the scent of her skin, remains one of my favorite memories. I think every parent deserves that, and safer options are out there to make it happen.
Here are six of our favorites.
Are you using one of these? What's your go-to baby wash?
Not sure what to look for when you're shopping for baby products? Check out the 7 toxic ingredients to avoid when shopping for your kids!
Image via Joe Shlabotnik/Flickr
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Comments 20
We are big fans of Burt's Bees and The Honest Co. baby washes. But, we don't have an overly sensitive skin issue. Also, we love California Baby, but that carries a hefty price tag.
California Baby Sensitive here! I use it too. We ordered the big GALLON to make it cheaper!
I have to really watch the stuff I get for my girls as they are quite sensitive to soaps. My oldest especially seems to be sensitive to anything with citric acid (which is in pretty much ALL liquid soaps). Younger daughter does well with the Angel Babies stuff (I LOVE the smell!) but my older daughter, even Dr. Bronner's can dry out her skin. It's genetic. My dad could barely bath at all and only use Kurt's Castile soap. I serious, he took fewer baths/showers than there were months in a year because it would dry out his skin so much. My girls seem to have inherited that (not quite as bad though) and even I sometimes have dry skin. So reading some of the suggestions in the comments are helpful because not all of the soaps mentioned work for my girls.
Wow. This is the kind of society we live in now? I'm pretty educated about these things, but so far my kid hasn't died or contracted a horrible rash from bath products (and yes, I am an avid label reader). I think that there are some kids who ARE seriously sensitive and there are those parents who claim their kid is allergic/sensitive to all kinds of things, but in reality they just don't want to look bad in society's eyes. So they buy all the organic products they can while breaking their bank, and justify their kid being "fine" when there was no problem to begin with. Yes, the gov't has problems with the products it approves and/or distributes, but so do many other countries. Look, I'm not saying organic is bad or anything and I'm not judging anyone here, but there is a fine line between protecting your kid from harmful products vs. going overboard with it. To each their own I say, if your kid does have serious problems then obviously don't buy products that make them worse. But if you just ASSUME your kid will have xyz problem and PRE-EMPTIVELY buy massive amounts of organic (and expensive) products then it's a societal thing.