Bath products...what do I need (new mom to be post)

[overcome]

I am shopping this weekend for all bathing products I wll need for my baby (due Nov. 4).

Any particular brand better than another? I'm assuming I need body wash, shampoo, powder (with no talc!), maybe lotion and oil?

I have 5 or 6 hooded towels and washcloths and the tub of course.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have no clue. I lent my Baby Baragins book to a friend who is registering for her shower this weekend, so I don't have access to that :(

TIA!
Ashley

[nicknack]

I can't really recommend brands, but I would say not to buy too much of anything in particular until you see what works on the baby. I know, that's not much fun (!), but you don't know if the baby will be super sensitive or what. I couldn't use ANY lotions on Brooks for a long time, we had to just use Eucerin after his baths due to his very dry skin...

[mudder17]

I have this bathtub:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000067EH7/qid=1128128507/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6664891-3596806?v=glance&s=baby&n=507846

and it worked great for Kaya as a newborn. It has a sling that allowed us to support her better. We used this one for 19 months and recently switched to a larger tub that I got from Ikea. We also received the Eurotub, but I gave that to our neighbor because we thought it was too big for Kaya as a newborn. But she used that one (and still does) with her newborn with apparently no difficulty. I guess if we had started with the Eurotub we could still be using it now, but I liked the convenience of the one above better. The one I just got at Ikea was $7.99 and it's perfect right now and will probably last for quite a while (nice and roomy).


Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/candle.gif for Leah

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif , 19 months, hoping for 2 years


http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_4_Kaya+is.png

[nfowife]

We have the same tub Eileen posted above and it's worked really well for us so far. I use Johnson's head-to-toe wash for DD's body and Johnsons softwash shampoo for her hair (I love the smell!). I use the hooded towels and washcloths, too. I don't really use lotion anymore unless I notice a dry spot, but when they are newborns their skin does peel quite a bit so you might want some aquaphor or eucerin for that. Add a baby brush for the hair, and walaa! You have all you need :). I don't use powder or oils or any of that stuff. And I only bathe DD 2-3 times a week unless something explodes.

[amp]

You can use whatever brand and product suits your fancy.

We just used Johnson and Johnson Head to Toe baby wash. It works on their hair and body, so only one product needed. But we also got shampoo, which we also sometimes use, just to use it up. It's really your preference re: scent, price, etc.

We've gotten by on just a couple of hooded towels and a handful of washcloths, which we used more for burp cloths and then later when we started solids. I rarely use them in the tub, but just use my hands. Again, a matter of preference.

We use lotion after the bath, generously!

We never used much in the way of oil or powder or other stuff.

You will want a brush of some sort, but we preferred the one we got at the hospital (which is actually the brush side of a doctors scrub in thing. It worked better on baby hair, and more gently, than any brush we could find.

[overcome]

The tub mentioned above is the same one we received!! I had heard good things about the sling for newborns. Glad to hear everyone likes theirs!!

I think I might just pick up a trial kit at the drugstore with the bath products, just to have something on hand. I'm partial to Johnson and Johnson due to name recognition/reputation, but we'll see.

Thanks for the advice..any more would be greatly appreciated :)

Ashley

[SarahK]

We used that same tub and loved it!! Never did use the newborn sling though.

Here's what we used (and still use!) for our baby girl
*baby tub
*all-in-one wash (we went with J&J) This eliminates the need for body wash and shampoo
*lotion (we like the pink bottle from J&J)
*washcloths
*towels

That's pretty much it! We do sometimes use baby q-tips, but didn't use those at all when she was an infant. No powder, no oil.

[brittone2]

We used the Eurotub until DS was about 9 months. We really liked it...it has two "sides"...one for a young baby so they can lean back and one side that allows them to sit up (with a pommel type thing in the middle).

I agree...don't buy too much of any one thing until you know your child's skin will be okay with it. I also found that a bottle of body wash lasted us a long time. We didn't bathe DS every day and they don't really need much more than water, so you certainly don't need a ton of soap.

We use California Baby and like it. It is a little pricey but I'm not into SLS and I like more natural products. I've used Arbonne (was a gift) in the past, although they have nut oils (have heard they are phasing them out) but it smells divine.

The California Baby can be used as body wash and shampoo. We never used powder of any sort on DS. We had lotion but he didn't tend to have dry skin and rarely "needed" it...I did use it to massage him sometimes though.

It all comes down to preferences and as long as your baby doesn't have sensitive skin, I'm sure whatever you pick out will be just fine :)

[Saccade]

I would recommend against Mustela if you are at all bothered by synthetic perfumey smells. We got a sample pack as a gift, and while the foam shampoo is a nice idea in theory (stays put on the head, doesn't run, breaks up any scaling/cradle cap), it made us all sneeze and left me with a sore throat. The other Mustela products had a similar strong smell. They are also spendy and trendy.

You'll get J&J samples at the hospital and in the mail, probably. Burt's Bees and Weleda both sell trial kits containing baby products, so you could explore that way. Some people spot test on their child an hour before using a product all over. Ultimately it'll be a matter of fragrace preference and budget more than anything, as a PP pointed out.

Personally, we avoid products with comfrey, as it's been linked to liver failure (albeit in large amounts) and can be absorbed through the skin. I think Burt's Bees diaper cream has comfrey.

As for us, we got mini bars of Neutrogena at the hospital and it's been all we've needed up until now (besides occasional diaper cream) -- not even lotion. As a PP said, it's not as fun as buying all of the little bottles of specialized products in advance, though!!

Now that DS is progressing out of the newborn stage and into more frequent baths, we are moving to California Baby wash/shampoo since a shop near us has it at a reasonable price.

-- Saccade

E for clarity

DS #1, 7/13/05
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/eleeleabk20050713_-8_My+child+is.png[/img][/url]

[supercalifragilous]

Like the PP, I think the *best* bath product I bought for DD was the Primo Eurobath. I didn't get it until she had outgrown her infant tub and I wished I had bought it earlier. We have the WaterPik handheld shower so we actually set up a small table in the tub and set the Eurobath on it to save DH & my backs.

Also, brittone2 mentioned California Baby products - ITA w/her! We LOVE California Baby - DD has eczema so we had to switch to the California Baby Super Sensitive line but I loved the scent of the Calming line too. We also use the CB citronella sunscreen too. It's a hair and bodywash and it's tear free.

Now that DD's older and needs conditioner, we use the Jason Kid's Only line and that's really good too. I actually use the shampoo to remove my eye makeup b/c it's supposedly the same pH as saline or something like that. It never burns.

I'd caution you on Mustela, too. It's very strongly scented. We used it for a while in the beginning when I wasn't so aware of all the chemicals that are in there and I actually loved the smell but I've seen a big difference in DD's eczema since switching over to CB products.

For moisturizer, I use Shikai Pediatric Borage Oil therapy lotion to help with her eczema. I don't know if it's actually done any good in that arena but it does keep her skin moisturized. When she was an infant, we were using Weleda's baby Calendula Massage Oil. I tried the Burt's Bees Apricot Oil too but I read some negative articles about it in an organic magazine so I switched to Weleda. I don't know how "crunchy" or "granola" you are but I thought I'd put that out there.

We didn't use hooded towels much at all and my favorite washcloths are actually washgloves that were given to me as a gift - you can probably make your own or find them online somewhere but they're great for keeping a good grip on a slippery baby! I hated the one-ply cheapie washcloths that curl up on the ends.

I also didn't use baby bathrobes, either. They're cute but impractical, so unless you get them as a gift, I wouldn't spend too much $$ on them. I wanted to preserve the moisture in her skin so I'd make sure to apply lotion within 3 minutes of getting out of the bath and toweled off and then put her in her jammies.

[The Review Mommy]

We have the Euro bath too!

I'm not as "fun" as some of these other moms but our Dr. recommended Cetaphill. I can get two bottles at Costco (They also have J&J's Head to Toe) for about $15. I've been using that stuff for myself since middle school! We use it both for the body and hair. It's extremely gentle.

We also use wash gloves instead of those cute washcloths. PP is right. They are great for a slippery baby! We got these for $1 at a Dollar Tree store along with a set of black "Never Break" combs. I love the fishtail one for doing parts in DC's hair.

We use Q-Tips for cleaning the outside and back of the ears. It's amazing how dirty they can get especially if you've got a toddler.

We've tried all kinds of diaper cream and still haven’t found the right one for us. Hopefully someone here can recommend a good one for you.

Congrats! :)
-Rebekah

[hellosmiletoday]

My ped recommended Cetaphil for DD as a newborn, and we still use it b/c it is recommended for babies with ezcema. Cetaphil (blue) is very mild, has no detergents. The main reason I think it is great for newborns is that technically you dont have to rinse it off completely b/c is is also a moisterizer. I get it at Costco. I used Cetaphil lotion for ezcema or other dryness.

I also used some unscented shampoo (not sure what brand, from BRU). DD is 17 mo and I still have half the bottle left...so dont worry about saving money on shampoo or soap...buy quality, unscented products for newborns!

I did not use oil or powder.

One other product that I did not have with DD but wish I did was a big yellow sponge to put over the bathtub.

[bricorssk]

When DD was first born we loved the huggies washclothes with the soap in them (until her umbilical cord fell off, they were easy to use to wash her just laying down on a towel) then we moved to California baby products (LOVE THEM!!!) as for lotion go to Costco if you have one near you and buy a large jar of cetaphil lotion (unscented), with the dry winter weather coming up this works miracles and if you want scent in it I mix in the scent of baby lotion I prefer so I have the best of both worlds! Cetaphil will keep baby's skin feeling perfect!

[KBecks]

IMO, you don't need very much. We had a hand-me-down infant bathtub that worked fine. I had looked for the Eurobath but could not find it in our area.

We had a bottle of J&J Baby wash and we've used that -- it will take a long time to go though.

More washcloths might be good for cleaning up various messes and washing face and hands.

We don't use powder or oil... I've used a very little lotion when DS's legs seemed dry.

I'd recommend a bath duck that has the temperature color-change check on it. Making sure the water temp is safe is important, and DH made our water too warm once -- even with the duck!

[KBecks]

Oh, you'll also need a toothbrush for when the baby gets teeth. We have a set that was given as a gift and it's nice... probably even overkill.

You could wash baby's teeth with your finger wrapped in a baby washcloth also.

[KrisM]

We have that tub, too. We only used it until 9 months or so, because DS would climb out of it. He's been in the big tub since then.

[jgriffin]

Not exactly a bathing product per se, but make sure you get at least one pair of baby nailclippers and nailfiles. We have 2 sets, one for each area of the house where I nurse, as I find either during or right after nursing is the best time to do DS's nails.

Before DS was born I bought a gift pack of J&J products, which came with baby wash, shampoo, oil, and lotion, mainly because I was so excited about having the baby. The only thing we use is the baby wash; I used to use the lotion, but I am sick of the smell and now use Eucerin. I'm sure we'll eventually use the shampoo, but the wash is good for hair, and it's so much easier to use one bottle of something when the baby's wet and squirmy.
Go for trial sizes to see what you and your baby like (and use!), then get larger bottles. Not as much fun, but a better use of your money.

I read (somewhere) not to use powder if your boy is uncircumcised, as the powder can get in places it shouldn't.

Jen