Are you looking for the best body wash for your baby with eczema? There are many products that are good for babies with eczema or atopic dermatitis (AD) and sensitive skin. You just have to know what to look for. This article will show you how to do that. I hope this article gives you peace as you find the best wash for your child.
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Choosing the best body wash for eczema
When looking for the best body wash for toddler eczema, look for products that are fragrance free. Fragrances can cause allergic reactions. Scents added to products are beneficial only for adults and add no value to use on small children.
Look for products that are FREE of chemicals such as the following:
Phathlates are endocrine disruptors that can affect physical development of infants and children and increase risk of allergic conditions such as eczema, asthma.
Phenols/Parabens can impact puberty timing in females. In other words, girls may start puberty sooner from this chemical.
Formaldehyde is a preservative used in many products including cosmetics, lotions, shampoo, body wash, and even food. It is considered a carcinogenic and commonly used for embalming.
1-4 dioxane is considered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a likely human carcinogen. It is an unintentional byproduct in certain ingredients.
The best body wash for your baby with eczema will not have these chemicals!
The Best Body Washes for Eczema
I have reviewed 5 products and categorized them into the following:
- Honest Wash and Shampoo – the best honest and transparent company
- Cetaphil – the best anti-inflammation and anti-microbial wash with calendula
- Aveeno – the best anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant wash with oat extract
- TruBaby – the best pH balanced wash
- CLn – the best for killing Staphylococcus Aureus without giving a bleach bath
Honest Wash and Shampoo
This is the best product if you want a company that is honest and transparency about the ingredients used.
This product is also considered to be free of many harmful chemicals such as phthalates/paraben/dyes/fragrance/formaldehyde/SLS. It is also free of MEA, TEA, DEA (more info below). For this reason, this product is one of the best body wash for eczema.
It is not tested on animals and derived from plant ingredients. It is considered a vegan product and very gentle for cradle caps.
A few people have reported that it caused a rash after using this product. Some people report that It’s better as a body wash rather than shampoo, although it can be used for both.
People reported that it doesn’t sting their baby’s eyes . It works well with sensitive baby skin and even adults with eczema.
How to use:
Wet hair and skin with warm water. Gently massage and wash thoroughly over the entire body and scalp, then rinse.
Cetaphil Baby Gentle Wash
This is the best product for sensitive skin if you want something with a natural anti-inflammatory property.
Calendula is an oil from marigold plants ( Calendula officinalis ). The oil has anti-microbial properties (ie. It fights fungus, bacteria) and even promotes anti-inflammation . This is another product that is good for eczema because it can help calm down irritated skin.
Calendula became a popular product after a study looking at preventing radiation-induced dermatitis in breast cancer patients.
This product is not considered tear free , so be careful to avoid around eyes. The bottle doesn’t require a lot of force so sometimes a lot of product can come out from a light squeeze. Also, it can cause some children to have dry skin so make sure to moisturize quickly after bathing. Finally, the scent may be a bit too strong for some people, so if you have sensitivities to fragrance you might not want to consider this.
To use, apply onto wet skin and massage. Rinse and pat dry.
Aveeno Baby Wash & Shampoo- Natural Oat Extract
This is the best product if you want anti-inflammation through oats
Aveeno Baby Wash is very good for babies with sensitive skin and eczema and has a light scent so it isn’t overpowering. It contains oat extract which has demonstrated to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Oat helps decrease inflammation so your skin looks better!
Some people have stated that it dries out their baby’s skin and even though it’s lightly scented, some people were bothered by it. I would suggest to moisturize quickly after bathing to lock in the moisture and avoid if you are very sensitive to fragrances.
There are two ways to use this product. Either gently wet your baby’s body and hair and apply to their hair and body. This should be washed off afterward. Another way is to pour directly into bath water and then lather and rinse your baby’s body and hair.
Trubaby Eczema
If the pH of a product is important to you, this is the best product
This product is pH balanced which means that it matches the pH of the skin (which is usually between 5.4 to 5.9). This is important as some products will cause skin to dry if the pH do not match, especially sensitive skin. Trubaby is PETA Certified Animal Cruelty-Free . It is biodegradable with 100% recyclable BPA-free packaging.
This is a fragrance-free product, not unscented (which means that there are chemicals to cover up natural scents from the ingredients).
One thing about this product is that if you don’t like hand pumps, I would advise against using this as the pump makes it difficult for some people to force out the product.
Per TruBaby’s website:
“Pump our Easy Eczema Wash into your hand and wash face and body after a day of play! Gently cleanses sensitive or irritated and cracked skin from eczema. Follow immediately with TruKid Easy Eczema Therapy Cream for a moisturizing barrier that eases and soothes skin discomfort and rashes”
CLn Body Wash for Atopic Dermatitis
If you are looking to kill S. Auerus bacteria, but do not want to give a bleach bath, this is the best product
The main ingredient of this product is sodium hypochlorite , which is basically bleach. Now before you close this page because you’re thinking who in their right mind would give their child bleach, bear with me because this is backed by research and science.
The idea is that colonized bacteria (specifically Staphylococcus aureus ) on our skin is correlated with how severe eczema can be. In other words, the more bacteria that are colonized on people with eczema, the more severe is the eczema. If you can decrease the bacterial load on the skin, then there should be less severe eczema consequently.
Bleach bath has been a common way to improve skin infections and cleanse compromised skin. This product makes it very convenient because instead of bathing your child with a bleach bath, you can apply this product in small applications to help improve the quality of your skin due to eczema.
CLn Body Wash is free of steroids, antibiotics, triclosan and fragrances.
How to use (per their website):
- Wet body or affected area completely.
- Dispense 2-4 pumps of CLn® BodyWash onto wet hands, scrubber, or loofah
- Massage and lather the cleanser on to the skin for 1-2 minutes
- Rinse well with warm or lukewarm water.
- Use CLn® BodyWash daily or intermittently.
- FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY. In case of contact with eyes, flush immediately and thoroughly with water.
Why it might not be good for you:
It does contain SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), which some people may not be comfortable with. Since the 90’s, SLS has been getting a bad rep because of misconstrued information on human and environmental toxicity. SLS can be bad if exposed at LARGE qualities for a PROLONGED period of time. Products that contain SLS have to be manufactured so that is not irritating to skin. They also have to be tested to appropriately characterize dermal toxicity of the product per Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards.
There is also concern that SLS is a carcinogen but there are no studies to prove that from a recent literature search. The studies that people used to claim that SLS is a carcinogen used SLS as a way to deliver certain chemicals, but SLS by itself has not been shown to do so.
How can parents get reliable information on the safety of children’s skincare products?
Have an open dialogue with your dermatologist and pediatrician about choosing skincare products. Be honest with your physician about any safety concerns with products including alternative products and therapy and explain to your doctor why you are using these products. This way, it will help you find the best wash for your baby with atopic dermatitis.
Do you have questions about bathing?
Are you looking for answers to the following:
- How many times should a baby bath?
- When should you start bathing your baby every day?
- When can I put my baby in the bathtub?
- How do you bathe a baby without a tub?
Click here for more information about bathing your child with eczema !
Vocabulary
The following phrases are encountered frequently, especially when you look for the best body wash for baby with eczema.
No tear-
These products contain surfactants (short for surface active agents). Surfactants help wash away oil using water. Water and oil do not mix due to their chemical properties. Surfactants have two parts: an oily part and water part. The oil part sticks to oil on your skin and the water part attaches to water from the shower or bathroom and helps remove the oil when washed off. These surfactants are less irritating to the eyes and thus manufacturers use the term “no tear“.
Hypoallergenic-
This term means that this product does not contain ingredients that will cause allergic reactions. There is a CAVEAT to this statement though. The companies writing these statements can mean anything they want. There is no requirement by the FDA to prove these claims. So with that said, take this term, “hypoallergenic” with a heavy grain salt. On the other hand, the FDA does require companies to list the ingredients, so the individual consumer can determine for themselves if a particular component does cause allergies or other issues.
Ethanolamine: MEA / TEA / DEA
MEA= monoethanolamine
TEA= diethanolamine
DEA= triethanolamine
These are used surfactants in personal care products. There were studies done on animals that linked DEA related ingredients caused cancer in animals, however, there was no link established between DEA and cancer in humans.
Not derived from animal products or animal byproducts. Also, it is not tested on animals.
It cannot contain:
meat, fish, fowl, animal by-products, eggs or egg products, milk or milk products, honey or honey bee products, insects or products from insects such as silk or dyes, or sugar filtered with bone char
Hopefully, this information will help you find the best body wash for toddler eczema.
Skin Patch Test
Before starting a new product, we recommend doing the skin patch test which tests if you will have a reaction to a new product. Basically, apply a small amount of the product on the skin. Wait 1-2 days to see if there is a reaction or rash. If so, please discontinue the product.
Conclusion
There is no perfect product. I recommend doing the patch test if you’re unsure of using any product. Certain product works great for some and not for others. I recommend ordering a product based on what fits your needs and giving it a try. I hope this article helps you find the best body wash for your baby with eczema.