carcinogen and paraben free baby wash: anyone?

[EatLessBread]

Newborn who's 4 weeks.

Can any mums out there recommend a safe baby wash that doesn't contain these lethal chemicals?

Thank u!

[simonethebeaver]

Water! Your baby doesn't need anything else right now. We didn't use anything but water for the first six months with my daughter and only started when weaning caused MESS.

[Knomester]

As simonethebeaver says, water should be fine for now. I think we used a Neal's Yard one at first and have been using the Weleda Baby shampoo & body wash since then.

[BellendenBear]

Another vote for only using water for as long as possible.

[bluesuperted]

We use water til at least a year as have mild eczema on both sides. For my 3yo we use Earth Friendly Baby organic body wash and no problems.

[Yuuna]

This is an immensely informative website database listing thousands of products and detailing the level of harmful/toxic ingredients. They have a rating and colour coded system from 0-10. It may be worth a look. It is an American website though many product companies are international so their items are sold here. Here is the link: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

The other posters are right; water is sufficient, although our 'hard water' isn't ideal. Good luck mama!

[DaveR]

On the other hand....

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/healthyliving/cancercontroversies/cosmetics/

http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/afe-negative-claims.html

[Yuuna]

In truth, many of the companies with the 'paraben free' 'no SLS' have simply replaced the well known chemicals with equally or more dangerous ones. Consider shampoo. You don't need 41896214 ingredients - I mean what do all those actually do to your scalp and hair? Surely you don't buy into the adverts? Personally, I use the no 'poo method. ;-)

My concern is the repeated exposure and the downplaying of the long term effects. Parabens are found in blueberries. That doesn't mean parabens isolated and then put together with other such ingredients will behave the same way. Even in nature, there are harmful chemicals. Don't forget that many claims or research/studies are paid for by companies to make them look above board; they won't publish the negative data. I believe we should investigate the source of any health claims; positive or negative. I also believe you should just follow the money (who paid for it/has something to gain from it?)...

[esme]

Try Health Matters on Lordship Lane, they have a lovely if small range of baby products

[chloe11]

Hi there, a fellow East Dulwich resident has her own business in paraben and chemical free baby toiletries, I use them on my baby and toddler and they are really lovely and 100% natural, her website is:

www.worldofcreatures.com

[vch]

We use Dr. Bronner's liquid soap, which you can order from Amazon or pick up from Health Matters. The soap is coconut & olive oil based, which also helped with our son's cradle cap when he was little.

[Bluedark]

I believe Mustela products are also very good. They are much cheaper in the US if you like them and has an opportunity to buy from there. We use its sun cream and face creams... I use earth friendly for bath as it is easier to find in supermarkets and like...

[Saffron]

Dr Bronner's soaps are lovely. I used to use them when camping, for washing in rivers etc safer for aquatic life. Hadn't realised they do baby soaps too!

[Fragolina]

My son is 11 months old & I don't use any soaps on his skin either (I'm trying to avoid it for as long as possible. To combat the hard water battering his delicate skin I add organic castor oil & a couple of drops of lavender essential oil to his bath. This was suggested to me by Monica in Healthmatters & it works a treat, no sign of any eczema anymore! (I also use MooGoo cream after washing his face after food etc)

[Beagle]

Fragolina, I use Moogoo irritable skin balm on my baby to superb success, were you able to purchase locally?

[Undiscovered]

At the risk of sounding a bit minging I barely bath my kids! When I do (usually once a week after swimming) I use Weleda baby wash, and have also used Use More Carrots from healthmatters. It's simply to get rid of the chlorine smell (especially from their hair)! Other than that just water and a flannel twice a day! Is that bad? Found this method is a lot better for dry skin?

[Mfichardt]

Thanks Chloe11.

EatLessBread, we (www.theworldofcreatures) agree to use only water initially (especially first few months), but for after that I'm happy to give you one of our mini washes to try it - it's a 50 ml but should last about 3 months.

M

[Fragolina]

Beagle, I'm afraid I buy it mail order & pay the hefty p&p. It's great stuff though so it's worth it.

[Beagle]

I thought that might be the case. It's carried very extensively by pharmacies in Ireland where I initially came across it but not so widespread here yet. We use the shampoo too, good for cradle cap. Undiscovered we are an equally minging household. I use a bit of weleda calendula stuff for feet and suchlike but otherwise just water in the bath every other day and hair every 10 days. Those ads with newborn babies covered in bubbles freak me out.