Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. (Johnson's Bedtime Bath)

Member Name: peel.rebekah

Product:	Johnson's Bedtime Bath
Date:	02/05/01 (175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice smell.

Disadvantages: Low bubble facility.

This bubble bath is really nice. It makes lots and lots of bubbles and it smells nice. It makes your baby smell nice and....it turns him from a screaming, pernicious, malevolent nightmare, into a sweetly smiling, endearing, angelesque publicity cherub...or not, as the case may be.

What am I doing writing about baby's bubble bath? I don't know, but I thought I'd give it a go.

If you have a child, you are sure to have succumbed to the product giant of all things baby - Johnson and Johnson: Maybe it's the hard sell line of "3 out of 4 midwives use Johnson's baby on their own children", maybe it's those reassuring words "Mild enough for new-born babies" and "Clinically proven mildness", or perhaps it's the trademarked "No More Tears" logo on the front - whatever; Johnson and Johnson have cornered the market on keeping your baby's bottom as clean as a baby's bottom and softly scented bubbles at bath time.

I've used nearly all of their bath products (I'm a consumer, and proud of it): The no frills, bog standard bubble bath is a particular favourite (larger quantity of full blown bubble mania), the chamomile version coming a close second (actually, I prefer to use that for myself than for babs), and occasionally, I employ the breath easy option (to rid those nasty snuffles - Victor gets an allergic reaction to karvol type things). And then I happened upon Johnson's mauve offering - baby bedtime bath.

"NEW!" it proudly announces on the packaging, "Makes bath time an even more relaxing experience to help baby drift peacefully off to sleep".

Now, I love my little pernicious pixie to death, but sleep is just something he doesn't do very well (he has been reluctant to go doe doe ever since he was two days old), and so ANY help in that department is duly welcome (plus it was in a 3 for the price of 2 offer at Boots, not tha
t has any bearing on the matter, of course).

So what added little extras have Johnson and Johnson melanged with their soapy mix this time? Well, on examining the ingredients, one is left to wonder a little as it's all the normal laurate this and sodium that, but it does state parfum (smelly stuff), and in the blurb they tell you that the bubble bath releases "a wonderful smelling aroma of Lavender, and other natural extracts such as Camomile" which have been "known since ancient times for their soothing properties".

*SNIFF* Nope, that doesn't really smell like lavender to me. *SNIFF* (just smelling the REAL lavender I have on the balcony), nope, definitely un-lavender like, I mean, lavender is quite a strong and pungent smell, no? And this aroma is dulcetely sweet (maybe even sickly - if drunk in large quantities), a little like orange blossom covered in honey, and then mixed with large quantities of bubble bath.

Fine, smell aside, does this item actually do what it claims? Will it create that relaxing experience for my baby? Will it help him to drift off to sleep oh so peacefully?

Yeah, right.

I don't know what your baby is like in the bath, but Victor goes a little AWOL when ever the taps are turned on. He gets outstandingly excited at the prospect of parking his sweet, little (and cellulited) derriere in a pool of hot water, myself, having difficulty to undress him before he can clamber into the tub and reek havoc with the soap. Bath time is in no way a relaxing occasion in our household, as Victor tries to grab all that is dangerous (papa's razor etc.) and water permeable (nappies, clothes, towels and the like) to join him in his bath time bonanza.

Bath time is, however, a thirty minute event held in an attempt to wear the little *** out. And that's where I thought that baby bedtime bath may come in handy - Once he was worn out by the endless tossing and tumbling, tho
se wonderful aromas would kick in (a la aromatherapy) and make him a little easier to settle in his bed afterwards.

Nice thought, but all this is just another marketing ploy to get us stressed and overtired mothers to add another Johnson's item to our shopping list.

Biggest complaint: How can it be that although this bubble bath contains all the normal ingredients, it produces less bubbles? I've tried the suggested "swirling of hand to mix evenly", a full on power jet shower head, and of course, Victor's motorised leg propulsion, but nothing seems to get a solid amount of froth from this product. The small amount of bubbles that it does create, are quick to disperse under the attack of a small child.

I'm not impressed. I will be buying Johnson's in the future (I've been got by the midwife's choice thing), but I will be sticking with the tried and tested products that aren't about 20p more expensive because they smell nicer. I?ll stick with the original baby bath (occasionally the other two), and continue to suffer Victor's irregular sleeping urges.

Well, that was fun, maybe I'll write about nappies next ;o)

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