Until you have a baby, you can’t quite predict the moments that you’ll look forward to most each day: tickling little toes, blowing raspberries on a soft tummy or smoothing some cream into the luscious folds of your baby’s legs and arms after bath time.
Trust us: once you see how cute they are in the bath, and how much they’re enjoying themselves, this nightly ritual will easily become your favourite part of each day.
Soon you’ll notice you’re sharing everything with your baby: your bedroom, your food, your laundry detergent, your hairbrush, your shampoo, your shower gel and body creams, simply because it’s easier and more convenient (and when you’re on baby time, convenience is always the priority).
As it turns out, there are many benefits to sharing your skincare products with your tiny tot – provided you have the right kind of products.
You may have heard that a baby’s paper cut will heal faster than an adult’s because a baby’s skin is growing all the time. But babies also have thinner skin than adults - their epidermis is roughly 20-30% thinner in fact – which makes it easier for irritants to penetrate infant skin and makes that smooth, delicious baby skin that much more sensitive to everything (especially UV rays – be careful with babies in the sun).
It’s also tough for babies to regulate their own temperature through their skin in the way that adults can, since they have fewer sweat glands and their skin circulatory network isn’t quite working at the speed it needs to be to keep them cool or prevent them from overheating.
Since baby skin can also dry out more easily, you need to consider what products you use for your little one: in general, avoid perfumed products and those with soap or alcohol in them, which could be irritating to sensitive skin.
Mild creams and shower gels, which you’ll find in the Oilatum range, work well. If your baby is prone to dry skin or eczema (when skin becomes itchy, dry, red and cracked), you also need to make sure to use fragrance-free emollient creams and ointments, which can prevent dry skin and help to restore your baby’s skin barrier.
When it comes to sharing body washes and bath products, if you favour Oilatum’s mild, unscented and moisturising products, then you and your baby can easily enjoy bath time together – using the same products.
Even though there’s a large variety of bath products marketed towards children, many are filled with artificial fragrances and chemicals that may play a role in causing allergies and itchy skin in babies.
Oilatum’s Soap Bar works for adults as well as babies and children as an everyday cleanser that’s gentler than ordinary soap, while the range’s Bath Formula helps to rehydrate dry skin and adds a milky sheen to everyday bathing.
Oilatum Shower Gel cleanses and conditions the skin, helping to provide relief from eczema and other dry skin conditions.
You can apply Oilatum Cream to your skin and baby’s immediately after washing to help keep it feeling soft, smooth and moisturised.
And what’s more, Oilatum Scalp Anti-Dandruff Shampoo can also help with that itchy scalp you’ve been feeling since giving birth (which happens to be driving you bonkers): Oilatum Scalp Anti-Dandruff Shampoo has ciclopirox olamine to help clear stubborn flakes away.
So there you have it - just a few ways you can share bath and shower products with your little one, saving (oh so valuable) time, money and effort in the process.
Oilatum Cream and Oilatum Shower Gel Fragrance Free (light liquid paraffin) are medicines for eczema and related dry skin conditions. Always read the label.
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