Bubbles for baby. (Johnson's Baby Bath)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	Johnson's Baby Bath
Date:	19/11/07 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, soft, gentle (occasionally)

Disadvantages: Dried my babies skin, flared up eczema

When you think of baby care products one of the first companies that springs to mind is Johnsons, for decades they have been supplying mums and dads with all the products needed to keep their little ones clean and fresh. When I was expecting my first child, and again with my second, I was lucky to receive a great many gifts and both times was given a selection of Johnsons products including nappy cream, baby oil, talcum powder and more.


Johnsons Baby Bath-
There are many varieties of baby bath available now, some contain Aloe Vera while others have Lavender to help baby off to sleep, the experience and product I will be talking about here is the classic baby bath that comes presented in a pale blue bottle.

Back when I received my product it came with an unscrew cap that had a flip lid, nowadays though it seems to come with a pump dispenser instead. You can either dispense the liquid into the bath water or pop some onto a soft cloth or flannel and gently rub it into your babies skin, gently working it into a lather before washing it off again, it is designed to be gentle on babies skin and eyes, as gentle as “pure water”

The liquid itself is of a medium thickness drizzling out of its bottle and is clear but blue in colour, it has the famous Johnsons bubble bath smell something that is often called the new baby smell (they don’t really smell like that folks!) when you mix the liquid with water the colour vanishes and is replaced by gentle bubbles and the soft Johnsons scent.


Price & Availability-
The bubble bath come in 300ml and 500ml bottles, from Asda they cost £1.92 and £2.45 respectively, the bath is also available anywhere you find baby products, Boots, Superdrug, Savers………..all manner of supermarkets, pharmacies and corner shops, it’s also available online but when it’s available at such great prices in store there’s little need to buy it online.


Christophers Experience-
In the first few months of Christophers life he was bathed nearly every day and always using this product, it always left his skin clean, soft and smelling lovely, gradually, as he got older, the number of baths got cut down but we were still using the product. He was about 18 months when we first started to notice patches of red dry skin and so popped him up to the doctors to get it checked out, we were advised that he had eczema and given creams and medicated bath products for him.

Religiously, to begin with, we used the medicated bath creams and his itchy legs started to ease but when we forgot to take the cream away with us on holiday we decided to use some Johnsons baby bath on him instead, after all it’s meant to be gentle so we thought it would be ok, unfortunately we started noticing this was not so almost straight away as the patches behind Christophers knees started to look red, when we took him out of the bath it was clear to see that the eczema patches were risen and the next day they were sore and itchy again, it took a week using his creams to settle the eczema down again, which meant a week with a grumpy toddler who was tired from being awake all night itching.


Elsas Experience-
Elsa was born just before Christopher turned 2, we had been dealing with his eczema for nearly 6 months but thought nothing of using the Johnsons baby bath on her as there was a chance that she would not have the skin condition and therefore would not have a reaction to the baby bath.

The first 2 weeks went fine, she loved her baths even at such a young age, but during a health visitors check we noticed that the skin on her tummy was slightly dry and red (Elsas that is not the health visitors) I was asked what I was using in Elsas baths and when I told her it was Johnsons baby bath she informed me that was our problem, the baby bath had been drying out my little ones skin rather then gently cleansing it like I’d thought. Apparently the baby bath isn’t as gentle as the company claim and many young babies she’s seen have suffered similar dry skin as a result of using the baby bath.


My Experience-
Occasionally I have reached for a bubble bath in a rush and ended up squirting Johnsons baby bath into my running water. The bath produces mild bubbles, not quite what you’d hope for in a relaxing soak in the tub but that serves me right for not paying attention to what I’m doing, the classic Johnsons scent provides a nice aroma to relax in even if it does make me reminisce over my childrens baby days.

Being older and therefore having tougher skin then my children I have not suffered any of the dry skin issues that they did, I also do not suffer with eczema so naturally would not flare up in the same way Christopher does. My skin feels soft after using the baby bath although not as smooth, luxurious or moisturised as it would after using one of my grown up Radox or Dove products, it’s also nice and clean but then you’d expect that after 45 minutes lounging around in hot, bubbly water.


Overall-
While the product is recommended for babies I would be reluctant to use it again, my mum always used Johnsons with me and my siblings and never with any issues, so whether my children have particularly sensitive skin and that’s why they react in such a way I’ll never really know. Many mums and dads successfully and happily use the product on their children but with one child definitely diagnosed with eczema and with the other suffering dry skin as a result of the product I wont be using it with any future babies, it’s not worth the risk when I can just as easily by Simple baby products which have so far caused no bad reactions with their skin.

If there’s no history of skin complaints in your family then by all means give the product a go, it could be the perfect baby bath for you and your family, it’s just not the one for us.

Summary: Seemingly not gentle enough for my babies, may work for you though.