Should you be using water-based baby creams and baby wipes?
Strange question!
After all, water is a very common ingredient in commercial baby skincare products like moisturizers, lotions, diaper cream and baby wipes.
Water is used to dissolve ingredients, and also as an emulsifier for creams and lotions – basically it’s used to mix the ingredients together to get a nice consistency.
That doesn’t sound bad! So back to the question.
Humans require water, so what could possibly be wrong with it being a main ingredient in your baby’s skincare product? Let’s get to it.
When a lotion, baby balm or even baby wipe contains water, the company must also put in chemicals to keep the product from spoiling. Just think of a bottle of water or orange juice. You have to use the water within a few days of opening the bottle. Orange juice even faster. Otherwise microorganisms will grow in the liquid and drinking it would be unhealthy. The only way to prevent this from happening is by adding chemicals that kill bacteria or prevent them from growing. Think of a swimming pool or hot tub. You will have to put in chemicals frequently to prevent that stuff from growing there.
The same would happen with the baby cream that contains water. Without chemicals, the shelf life would be very short, and the product would oftentimes start to turn even before you opened it… unless it was filled under conditions of a high security lab like they have where they test viruses and run around in space suit like outfit. But that’s not the situation in factories.
So they put chemicals in to make the product stable. Chemicals that kill microorganisms and prevent their growth.
Now to your baby. Baby will absorb these chemicals through its skin – the skin is a large organ and baby skin absorbs even faster and more than adult skin – check out my video and article on this.
Do you think these chemicals are good for your baby? Unfortunately, most of them are not. We put together a “dirty ingredient guide” that will give you more information if you are interested in which health issues certain chemicals create in babies and moms.
Not to mention, water also washes out and removes beneficial oils and salts that are critical to your baby’s healthy skin that forms a protective barrier from irritation, infections, and more. Check out my detailed post about that as well.
So, what can you do about this and how can you avoid water-based baby products?
Most importantly, read the labels. Water would be listed at the top and it can also appear as aqua or eau. If water is listed as an ingredient, you can be sure there are chemical preservatives inside, which are unhealthy.
When it is about you and baby, the health problems chemicals can cause is probably not something that you’ll want to miss.
The best thing to protect your baby is to buy safe, water-free products because only water-free baby products can be free from chemicals.