When we first brought Emmett home from the hospital we only bathed him once every three days. This is what the nurses recommended but it was also because he still had part of the umbilical cord on him and he’d also had a circumcision so we couldn’t get him wet and were just giving him sponge baths. Also babies really do not get that dirty or smelly. Since he wasn’t bathing that frequently we didn’t need any sort of lotion to keep his skin soft, it remained soft on it’s own.
As he got older we decided to start bathing him every two days because he was spitting up more and it was leaving him smelling like cheese (lol). However, we noticed that on the nights when we gave him a bath he tended to go to bed a little easier and he was still spitting up pretty frequently so we decided to start bathing Emmett nightly.
Initially, he didn’t need any lotions because it was still summer out and his skin was staying pretty moist and not drying out. But as the Autumn progressed, his skin got dryer and dryer and I decided that we needed to start putting lotion on him morning and night. The first kind we tried was the Baby Magic Calming Baby Lotion because we had gotten it as a gift for one of our showers and because I assumed since it was baby lotion it would work wonders on a baby’s skin.
I was wrong.
The Baby Magic did not work any miracles and even with applying it to him in the evenings after his bath and in the morning before I got him dressed his skin did not get any better, not to mention that the smell was REALLY overpowering. Seamus and I are both pretty sensitive to smells so whenever one of us would apply the lotion we’d want to get through it as quickly as possible. Rushing through anything with a baby isn’t easy and kind of takes the joy out of the experience. I knew I had to try something else but wasn’t sure what, because I assumed that regular lotion would work about as well as baby lotion and we obviously needed something that had a lighter scent.
I did some googling and saw a couple recommendations for using Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil in place of a baby lotion. Thankfully a Trader Joe’s opened about an hour away from us and we were making the trip out for some goodies that weekend so I decided to get some to try on Emmett.
I am seriously IN LOVE with it’s effectiveness and it’s light coconuty scent. It is very greasy and it doesn’t all get immediately absorbed into the skin like lotion does but it doesn’t seem to get absorbed by his clothes either because none of his clothes have grease spots on them. I mentioned above that before I would rush through the application process but now I can actually take my time and give Emmett a little massage while I apply the oil. In the beginning he wasn’t a big fan but now he really loves it (as long as he’s not too tired), I sing to him and rub the oil in and he just relaxes and stares at me, it’s really a wonderful experience.
I have also noticed a huge difference in his skin. His cheeks that were so incredibly dry before are now the softest baby cheeks I have ever felt. He does still have dry elbows but I think that might be because the oil doesn’t have enough time to sit on his skin before we’re getting him dressed but in the Winter you can’t really leave a baby unclothed for too long because they get cold so fast. We’ve been using the coconut oil for a little over a month and I am not even a quarter of the way through it, so it will probably last forever.
It’s really easy to put on too, because it’s a solid oil in the container but once it hits your hands it quickly begins to melt and rubs onto the skin very easily. I’ve also personally benefited from applying the coconut oil to Emmett. Since it doesn’t all come off after I put it on him, it remains on my hands and I rub them together and let my skin absorb some of it too. I typically have really dry hands in the Winter but I haven’t had to deal with it at all this year. I also want to mention that the scent is very very light and after it’s on him for awhile you can barely notice it, so it’s not like he’s wearing a perfume.
I would absolutely recommend someone switching from regular lotion to coconut oil, if you are looking for a way to keep your little one’s skin moisturized. I’m not sure where else besides Trader Joe’s that you can get the oil but feel free to share other possibilities below.
**This is not a paid review and all opinions are my own.