Baby Lotion Review: 13 Different Products Tested

By: Chelsea, from the YouTube Channel: MommysTrying

Background

My L.O. (little one)’s skin has always been sensitive. I even have pictures of her skin drying out and cracking around 2.5 – 3 months old. When she was a newborn we thought she had food sensitivities to dairy, eggs, acidic foods like tomatoes, etc. So, in return since I was pumping at the time I cut food after food out of my diet to no avail (future blog posts about breast feeding and pumping at work). Since she was so young she wasn’t old enough to get an allergy test so I would trial out different foods every 2 weeks to see if there was any difference in her skin.

Reasons Why your L.O.’s skin is breaking out:

Personal things I’ve tried to alter and have learned along the way:

• Your child’s skin may be sensitive to the laundry detergent
  • Try to get laundry soap that’s unscented and see if there’s a difference
• Your child may be sensitive to the ingredients in the current skin care products you’re applying on them
  • For the longest time I thought my child was allergic to oatmeal which is also Aveeno’s major ingredient, Colloidal oatmeal. But, here we are almost 2 years later and it’s one of the lotions that works best on her skin.
• There may be a sensitivity to the materials your child constantly touches
  • Some parents may have to buy 100% cotton clothes, bed sheets, etc.
• Your L.O. may break out depending on how bad the pollen is in your area from the different foods your child is eating
• The air ducts in your home may be dirty or have some traces of cat, dog, bird, etc. hair/dander your child may be sensitive to

The Pediatrician usually prescribed low grade hydrocortisone cream (percentage differed based on where you were applying it) but my husband and I didn’t really rely on that because we didn’t want to mask the issue. If we could we wanted to find the root cause of it.

With the combination of the Pediatrician getting tired of seeing my L.O.’s face and body breaking out, and her getting older (she just turned 6 months old), we were finally granted a referral to a pediatrician allergist.

IF you’d like a quick rundown of an allergy appointment continue reading

If not, feel free to skip this part :

Since my LO was less than 1 year old she had a scratch test done where they literally scratched a high concentration of the suspected food allergy (allergen) onto her back. There will be a control group of saline solution and histamine (which is made to wheal or raise up so you can see how your child’s body will react to an allergy). Since this was our first allergy appointment our L.O. was tested for the 3 most common food allergies in children: dairy, eggs, and peanuts and you wait for 15 minutes for results. If there’s a visible reaction to the allergen the nurse will measure how big it is, document it, provide you with a game plan, and depending on how bad the allergy reaction was prescribe you an epinephrine pen. During that first allergy appointment it was explained that a child’s skin integrity depends on the season of the year, how bad the pollen may be in your area that year which in turn affects the growth of fruits/veggies we all eat, and food sensitivities in general.

According to the AAFA (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America) just because your child had a skin reaction to the allergen that test by itself doesn’t diagnose an allergy and the positive and you cannot use that skin’s reaction to determine how severe the allergic reaction could be.

There will be a 3 month follow up, proceeding that a 2 month follow up, and then a 6 month follow up. During our last allergy appointment we were given a prescription to get a blood test done to see how allergic she could be to an allergen. [According to the AAFA the lab will add the suspected allergens in your L.O.’s blood sample to see how many antibodies are produced to attack the allergen. This is called Specific IgE blood testing or ImmunoCAP testing which is still not considered a good screening test due to the high false positive results it’s rated to get.] But unfortunately it was flu season and honestly we were still traumatized over the 1 year blood work we had to get done. So, we chose to wait until flu season was over. And then, COVID-19 happened. So, our daughter never got that food allergy blood test and we have epi pens available just as a precaution.

In the meantime, when I didn’t want to use cortisone cream that was usually prescribed I would try to find lotion for sensitive skin.

Breakdown of the Lotion Test:

• Chose a surface such as a strip of leather to try and replicate human skin as much as possible
  • Cleaned leather with 91% isoprophyl alcohol to wipe off any impurities
  • Applied 13 lotions and creams onto leather separating them into their own sections
    • Included a control group
    • I’ve used all of these products on my L.O. for a minimum of 2 weeks to see what the product truly offers
    • Prices are based off of Amazon prices to make things fair since product prices differ from different retail stores
      • Tuby Todd products are the exception to pricing since you can only get them on their personal website but they do offer different discounts
      • The prices listed are also based on the sizes of lotion you would typically see at a retail store
      • Applied one 16th of a teaspoon of product into its designated area

• The teaspoon was cleaned off after every use with a new cotton swab
  • Wiped away any excess lotion after the lotion sat for about 1 minute
  • Provided personal feedback on how the lotion feels when applied to skin, durability, results, scent, and price
• Assessed the appearance of what each lotion/cream did on the leather after 30 minutes of application
• Assessed the appearance and feel of what each lotion/cream did after 8 hours of initial application
• Applied tissue paper applying even pressure throughout the entire grid to see if any more excess product would be removed
  • Vaseline, Baby Aquaphor and Honest Co. Healing Balm made greasy imprints

List of Lotions Tested:

(Alphabetized for a quick reference)

• Overall impression: thickest cream, hydrates dry patchy skin, best to apply overnight, need less than a dime sized amount since it spreads thick
  • First 5 listed ingredients: (active ingredient: 1% colloidal oatmeal), glyerin, water, cetearyl alcohol, isocetyl alcohol, dimethicone (moisturizer to prevent dry skin)
• Unscented
• $9 for a 18 fl. oz. bottle, $0.50/ounce

3. Aveeno Baby: Eczema Therapy

• Overall impression: thickest cream, hydrates dry patchy skin overnight, need less than a dime sized amount since it spreads thick

• First 5 listed ingredients: (active ingredient: 1% colloidal oatmeal), glyerin, water, cetearyl alcohol, isocetyl alcohol, dimethicone (moisturizer to prevent dry skin)
• Unscented
  • $18 for an 11 ounce tub, $1.63/ounce

4. Dove: Baby lotion rich moisture

• Overall impression: goes on thin, haven’t noticed a dramatic difference in moisturizing the skin
• First 5 listed ingredients: water, glycerin, petrolatum,

• Strong “Dove” scent once applied to the skin and lingers
• $15 for 13 fl oz, $1.15 per ounce
• What the company wants you to know: created with no dyes, no parabens, no phthalates, pH neutral, hypoallergenic

5. Earth Mama: Calming Lavender (link is for a two pack, couldn’t find just one)

• Overall impression: did well with newborn skin, have to apply again within 2 hours or so to moisturize again
• First 5 listed ingredients: Organic aloe leaf juice, organic olive fruit oil, organic rooibos extract, organic calendula flower extract, organic shea butter

• Strong lavender scent during initial application but tones down later on
• $14 for 8 fluid oz, $1.75/ounce
• What the company wants you to know: they pride themselves on making their products based off of traditional herbal remedies and using research to back up their certified organic products

6. Eucerin: Eczema relief flare up treatment

• Overall impression: works similar to the Aveeno Baby Eczema Therapy but is more expensive per ounce
• Listed one ingredient on bottle: 1% colloidal oatmeal

• Fragrance free
• $8 for 2 oz, $4/ounce
• What the company wants you to know: “#1 Pediatrician recommended brand of cremes and lotions for eczema”, can be used for babies 3 months and older

7. Honest Company: Organic All-Purpose Balm

• Overall impression: you must shake the bottle before each use to avoid oil from coming out (reminds me of an old ketchup bottle), never saw a noticeable difference with my L.O.’s skin
• First 5 listed ingredients: sunflower seed oil, beeswax, olive fruit oil, coconut oil, shea butter

• Slight sweet smell of sugar
• $13 for 3.4 oz, $3.77/ounce
• What the company wants you to know: this product is an all purpose ointment for all skin types, hypoallergenic, certified organic plant and botanical based

8. Honest Company: Face + Body Lotion purely simple

• Overall impression: goes on thin and feels sticky once dried, does not keep your skin hydrated for long
• First 5 listed ingredients: water, caprylic/capric triglyceride, shea butter, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl

• Claims it’s fragrance free but smells like old chewed up spearmint gum
• $10 for 8.5 fl. oz, $1.16/ounce
• What the company wants you to know: natural, hypoallergenic, non-greasy, not tested on animals, and no animal by-products

9. Honey Honey Body Creme by Perfectly Posh

• Overall impression: best smelling lotion, works like normal lotion where it doesn’t keep the skin hydrated for more than 2 hours at a time
• First 5 listed ingredients: water, glycerin, glyceryl stearate, sunflower seed oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride

• What the company wants you to know: the company emphasizes that the ingredients such as: honey, apricot kernal oil and aloe vera they’ve put into this product are natural, non greasy, and long lasting
• $26 for 5.5 fl. oz., $4.73/ounce

10. Johnsons Baby Lotion

• Overall impression: typical lotion, need to reapply within a couple of hours
• First 5 listed ingredients: water, isopropyl palmitate, glycerin, stearic acid, glyceryl stearate

• Has that typical “Johnsons” light baby smell we’ve all grown up on but lingers for no more than 30 minutes
• $5.92 for a 27.1 oz bottle, $0.22/ounce

11. Tuby Todd: Natural Dream Cream

• Overall impression: thick and pasty feel when applied, skin feels grippy after application so might be uncomfortable if applied to entire body, have seen improvements in dry patchy skin in about 3 days
• First 5 listed ingredients: water, safflower seed oil, sweet almond oil, diheptyl succinate, shea butter
  • Pleasant light mint smell
    • seems to satisfy my L.O.’s olfactory needs when applied on face or on nose
• What the company wants you to know: their products are natural, organic and is aimed at users with dry skin and eczema specifically. Free from: toxins, gluten, dairy, soy, parabens, sulfate, artificial fragrance and color, BPA and animal cruelty
• $16 for 3.5 oz, $4.57/ounce

12. Tuby Todd: Natural All Over Ointment

• Overall impression: feels like it has a lot of solids in it where it’s very pasty and thick after you apply it
• First 5 listed ingredients: water, glycerin, stearic acid, propanediol, capric triglyceride, cetyl alcohol

• Personally smells like wet newspaper
• What the company wants you to know: same as listed above in #11
• $16 3.5 fl. oz., $4.57/ounce

13. Vaseline: Original Healing Jelly (link is to a pack of 2, unable to find as one item)

• Overall impression: similar affects to the Baby Aquafor but stronger, sticky
  • I personally use this when my L.O.’s skin gets overly sensitive and she can’t handle lotions at all. This is a neutral lubricant I tend to turn to.
  • Commonly recommended by Pediatricians as it was explained it’s used to keep the baby’s naturally occurring moisture in, not to add moisturize to the skin
• Contains 100% petrolatum (petroleum jelly)
• Unscented
• $7 for 13 oz, $0.32/ounce

Price List (starting from cheapest to most expensive based on cost per ounce):

1. Johnsons Baby Moisturizing Pink Lotion – $0.22/ounce
2. Vaseline – $0.32/ounce (link is for a 2 pack of 5 oz.)
3. Baby Dove Rich Moisture Face and Body Lotion- $0.38/ounce
4. Aveeno Baby Daily Moisture Lotion – $0.50
5. Honest Co.: Purely Sensitive Face + Body Lotion – $1.16/ounce
6. Aveeno: Eczema Therapy – $1.63/ounce
7. Earth Mama Baby Lotion – $1.75/ounce
8. Aquaphor Baby Healing Ointment– $2.19/ounce (link is a
9. Honest Co.: Organic All Purpose Balm – $3.77/ounce
10. Eucerin Baby Eczema Relief – $4/ounce
11. Tubby Todd: All Over Ointment + Dream Cream – $4.57/ounce (tied for 11th place)
12. PerfectyPosh: Honey Honey Healing Body Cream – $4.73/ounce

*I know some of these prices seem insanely high to spend on one particular product but wouldn’t you spend whatever you could if you knew that that one product finally cleared up your child’s skin?

Overall Take away

• Rating from the most to least greasiest (based on both appearance and feel): Vaseline and Baby Aquaphor (to be expected since they’re made of petroleum jelly), Honest Co. Balm, Earth Mama, Aveeno: Eczema relief (slightly)
• Lotions that really soaked their moisture into the leather: Eucerin: Eczema relief, Honey Honey by Perfectly Posh, Aveeno Baby: Daily Moisture lotion which means it has the potential to do the same for your child’s skin
• Left milky cakey appearances in the texture of the leather: both Tubby Todd products > Earth Mama which means it’ll leave your L.O.’s skin feeling grippy and it’ll stay on thick the longest
• Lotions that looked similar to the control group: Honest Co.’s Face + Body lotion and Johnsons lotion which means it had little long lasting moisturizing properties
• Impressed by:
  • Eucerin: Eczema relief, Aveeno Baby: Daily Moisture lotion since they were able to really soak into the leather assuming they would do the same moisturizing properties to your LO.’s skin
  • Dove Baby made the leather feel the softest
  • Earth Mama was a combination between Tubby Todd results and Aveeno Baby results where it was cakey and thick but not overly greasy

Disclaimer

I don’t know how different this test would be on skin compared to actual leather because we’re living, warm, and sweaty so this is just my take on what I’ve tried and I hope it helps someone out. I’m aware every child’s skin is different depending on the region you live in and their diet. This review goes over what I’ve used in the past and what has worked for my family. Of course, lotion is for external use only so be sure to follow any warnings from the manufacturer written on the bottle, and listen to your physician.

Tips:

• Apply the lotion before you dress your child so the lotion/cream gets a chance to stay on your L.O.’s skin and helps seal in the moisture for the night
• If your L.O’.s face is breaking out like mine, I usually apply the cream and then hold her while we watch t.v. to distract her from touching her face for about 5 minutes to give it time to soak in
• Even though these products are marketed for babies and children they’re great products to use for yourself! I personally use the Aveeno Eczema whenever my eczema flares up and I’ve seen the best results using it. Even better results than bandaging my dry spots and applying Neosporin.

Phew!!! Thanks for struggle busing your way through all of that dense info. with me!

Remember to check out my YouTube review video of this if you’d rather just sit back and listen to it. Thanks for stopping by!

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