Review and giveaway - Aveeno Baby

Like so many other newborns, when Mia first arrived the poor little thing was the recipient of both cradle cap and eczema.  I remember one particular bad bout of eczema that appeared on her sweet little face, and began to form crusts on her forehead.  It made me really think carefully about what was coming in to contact with her skin, and particulary about what skin and bath products I was using on her.

Thankfully the days of cradle cap and constant eczema are behind us, although she does still get the occasional red, angry patch of inflamed skin here and there, so I'm still cautious about what products go on her skin.

We had used one or two Aveeno Baby products before, and I was keen to put them to the test some more when the opportunity came up recently to review them (my first "proper" review!). The timing was good too, Mia had just developed some minor eczema patches on the backs of both of her knees, so I was interested to see if the Aveeno Baby products would make a difference to those.  The range is all hypoallergenic and suitable for sensitive skin, and contains natural colloidal oatmeal which both forms a barrier to protect against external irritants and is super-moisturising, and can be effective in soothing aggravated skin conditions.  Through my own research I found that colloidal oatmeal is also said to help comfort other skin problems or conditions which involve itchiness, such as psoriasis, acne, bug bites and even chicken pox.  You can even purchase it in its ground form to make up your own milky baths, and it's also suitable to use on pets.  So there you go.

We spent a good 2-or-so weeks using these Aveeno Baby products, and here's what I found:

Daily Moisturising Lotion:

This lotion was light, easy to apply and very fast absorbing.  It's also fragrance-free, and kept Mia's skin beautifully moisturised.  We used this product alongside the Wash & Shampoo (review below) for about a week, however the combined regime didn't appear to help clear up or soothe Mia's eczema patches.  I did find it a nice product to use though, and it's light enough that it could be comfortably used in both cold and warmer weather.  Also, a little seemed to go a long way!  Overall, I would certainly buy this product again.

Wash & Shampoo:

As mentioned above, we used this product in conjunction with the Daily Moisturising Lotion but there were no changes to Mia's eczema patches.  We had already used this Wash & Shampoo in our house before on a number of occasions, and we were already fans of it.  It is lightly scented, but it's not overbearing and the scent is very pleasant.  It's soap-free and tear-free, and I have found it a light and easy product to use.  The fact that it's a combined wash and shampoo product is a big tick for me, I like to have things as easy as possible!  We will definitely purchase this product again.

Soothing Relief Moisture Cream:

This thick, fragrance-free cream is "suitable for use on dry skin caused by eczema", and we used it in conjunction with the Soothing Relief Creamy Wash (see below for thoughts on that product).  I found this cream to be very moisturing and left Mia's skin lovely and supple, however no more so than other creams I have used before.  It also didn't make any difference to colour, size or severity of Mia's eczema patches after I used it consistently for around a week. Overall, I would buy it again if I only had a limited range to choose from, or if it was on special, but I wouldn't go out of my way to track it down.

Soothing Relief Creamy Wash:

We had actually been using this at home already before the review pack turned up in the mail, but we were about to run out.  We hadn't been too impressed with this product on using it previously, but when the review products arrived we decided to continue to use it in conjunction with the Soothing Relief Moisture Cream, which is the suggested routine.  This Creamy Wash is fragrance-free and tear-free, which is always a bonus.  However this was my least favourite out of the Aveeno Baby products I received.  The product is extremely thick, and sometimes we found it hard to get it out of the bottle which, when you're trying to manage a wriggly toddler in the shower or bath, is not that helpful!  It doesn't claim to be a combined shampoo-and-wash, but we tried it on Mia's hair anyway and it was far too thick and gloopy for the job.  Personally, I prefer to have as little product on hand as possible, so I like the combined option.   I also didn't see any improvement to Mia's eczema patches after using this wash.  Overall, I wouldn't purchase this product again if I had other choices, I just personally found it a little frustrating to use without having any advantage over other wash products.

So generally, I would recommend giving the Aveeno Baby products a go if you haven't already, especially if like me, you are after products for your baby or child with as little amount of nasties as possible.  I mentioned above that Mia's eczema patches were still hanging around after we had been using these products, but I wouldn't let that stop you if you wanted to try them out yourself.  It just means that for Mia and I, these products are fine for general everyday use but they're not the right ones for her when it comes to clearing up the odd eczema rash that she gets.

Would you like to try out these products for free?  Of course you would!  What have you got to lose?  I've generously been offered a pack to give away to one reader (Australia only, sorry), containing one of each of the four Aveeno Baby products that I reviewed above.  

If you'd like to win, all you have to do is:

• Follow me if you don't already
• Leave me a comment below, telling me what bathtime/showertime routine you have with your little one.  If you don't have a little one but are entering anyway, then just tell me why you'd like to win these products!  And make sure to leave your email address as well so I can get in touch with you if you win

Entries are open until 5pm AEST Tuesday 24th April 2012.  I'll then pick a number at random and if your comment corresponds to the number that's chosen, the pack is yours! Best of luck!


UPDATE 3 May: Well I actually drew a winner and notified them a couple of days after this giveaway closed, but have been plagued once again by troubles with commenting on mine or any other Blogger sites.  I've finally realised now that waiting for whatever the bug is to be fixed, so I can leave a comment here to acknowledge the winner, could take who-knows-how-long.  So I'm just updating the post instead - why didn't I think of that earlier?

Using a Random Number Generator, the winner is.....

 

Lisa @ Simply Me!

Congrats Lisa, thanks for entering the giveaway.  The goodies will be on their way to you shortly!  

Disclaimer: I received four Aveeno Baby products to review on this blog.  No payment was exchanged, and the opinions above are solely my own.