Hi
For the purposes of this review I was sent the following:
- Boots Baby Sensitive Moisturising Head to Toe Wash.
- Boots Baby Sensitive Moisturising Bath.
- Boots Baby Sensitive Conditioning Shampoo.
I haven't been paid to write this review and all of the opinions expressed will be mine and Aaron's.We received the above products Wednesday morning and I used them in Aaron's bath that very night and again this morning.
Aaron has eczema, which when he was born, was on his:
- neck
- eyebrows
- ankles
- wrists
- back of knees
- He also had the worst cradle cap I had ever seen (I'll write a post at a later date about that).
The first thing I did was change him to non-dairy formula (we are combination feeding: breast and bottle and still are at 8 months in)... We changed to Cow & Gate Infasoy (which I always buy in Boots) when Aaron was only a few weeks old. The colic disappeared and the eczema got noticeably better. It completely disappeared from his face immediately and the back of his knees. All that was remaining was ankles and wrists.
A few weeks later I noticed on the packaging of sudocrem that it is good for eczema so I put it on Aaron's ankles at EVERY nappy change. Within days they were no longer dry and no longer red, and this improvement held even if I stopped doing it. Now I only have to do it weekly and sparingly ... and now normal moisturisers do not irritate it.
So.... I digress, back to the bath products.... so the only remaining eczema of note was on Aaron's wrists which for some reason I never gave the Sudocrem treatment.
What delighted me about these Boots Baby Sensitive products is that his hands felt softer after the 2 baths and his wrists are no longer red.... I can't believe it to be honest, so I took a photo of them:
The one concern I had was that we have always used Johnson's Baby Bedtime bath products (the bubble bath, the wash, and the lotion) and they are "no more tears", but fret ye not. The Boots Baby Sensitive stuff did go in Aaron's eyes at one point and did not upset him at all....
We use the Infoderm shampoo (in the photo) due to how bad Aaron's cradle cap was when he was newborn, but I find that this Boots Baby Sensitive Conditioning Shampoo is sensitive to Aaron's scalp.
I do however ALWAYS oil Aaron's scalp after a bath and
at the moment I am using Kamillosan, which is 100% natural cradle cap oil and is very very good. I know Health Visitors always recommend Olive Oil but I never got on with it to be honest. When Aaron was a few weeks old his cradle cap was really bad and nothing helped. Back then a colleague gave me "parafina ciekta" which she got from Poland and that got rid of it). We use the Kamillosan now for maintenance on a daily basis.
Being sensitive, there is hardly any smell off the Boots Baby Sensitive products. And according to Aaron there must be very little taste too. We have been using the Johnson's Baby Bedtime bath products for months and he does everything to get some bath water in his mouth as he clearly loves the taste of the lavender (which is the bit that helps the baby sleep - supposedly). With these Boots Baby Sensitive products he makes no attempt to get water in his mouth.
Conclusions:
- The Boots Baby Sensitive range is gentle on sensitive skin.
- I can say it is suitable for mild eczema. I can't comment on severe as I do not know...
- I would say its claim that it is moisturising is true.
- It is affordable.
- The packaging I would say is nicer than Johnson's and looks less clumsy in the bathroom. Look at them side by side in my photo and let me know if you agree?
- My one criticism: why oh why are 2 of the products the same colour... and the bottles are even the same shape and size. When trying to keep an eye on baby, Mummy wants to grab the right item easily...!
On a final note I have never ever bathed Aaron daily and I do believe that is another reason we have stayed on top of his Eczema. The following is an extract from
here:
For most parents, evening bathtime is part of their baby's daily routine. However, it seems daily baths could be increasing a baby's risk of developing eczema.
According to the National Eczema Society, the higher levels of water used in baths today could be linked to the increased number of babies suffering from eczema as too much water and many bubble baths dry out skin.
In the 1940s, only 4% of babies were diagnosed with eczema in comparison to 25% of babies in 2010. There was a 41% increase between 2001 and 2005 alone. Margaret Cox, from the National Eczema Society, believes that daily bathing is the reason.
Skin experts believe that daily bathing removes essential oils from the skin's surface, causing it to become dry and exposing babies skin to the risk of allergy and developing eczema.
I partly agree with the above, but I would say that the increase in eczema may well have also been linked to an increase in dairy consumption - that's just my opinion don't shoot me!
Bye for now, Liska
