Diva R's Skin Care of the Past :) Age Newborn-Age 3

I thought it would be fun to recap back when Diva R was a newborn baby and reflect on her skin care from being a newborn through age 3 :)

I will begin with the bath time/wash products that were a part of Diva R's skin care journey.
When she was just born in the hospital, for her first bath they used the Johnson and Johnson's Baby wash in the yellow bottle...                            

 This Baby wash we used up until she was 1 religiously and up until 2 years old interchangeably with a few others :) For the first year of her life this was used as her body wash and a shampoo when Johnson's and Johnson's Baby Shampoo wasn't being used.  I liked this one alot because she never reacted to this one and it was hard to find a product for her when she was a baby other than this one because she was EXTREMELY sensitive to everything when she was born and especially for the first 6 months of life. It wasn't the best for moisturizing but sure did have a great smell to it :) This was an old faithful product of ours and we even used it on our son up until recent times. 

The Huggies Extra Sensitive wash in the Teal colored bottle was our relied upon heavily product from the first week she was born until she had fully gotten over her skin sensitivity at 8 months.  At this time Dreft was our ONLY washing option for her clothes and the whole Extra Sensitive Huggies Line stayed plentiful in our household for all of Baby Diva R's care needs. This one was the only wash aside from the yellow Bottle baby wash pictured above that Diva R was using for the first several months of her life. Her skin was so sensitive if she were to have spit up she would break out instantly, drooling broke her out, tags on clothes and any fabric softeners or detergents other than Dreft washing her clothes would give her a full body rash also.

This wash was an old faithful by force not choice, the scent wasn't pleasant even thought it was "fragrance free" there was still an oily or medicated scent that was just bland :(.  It wasn't moisturizing and it seen to be a "stay on only in the bath" type of product, although that yucky scent liked to linger forever... I was so glad to be able to move on from this to the Bedtime wash and the Shea Butter Wash! We didn't have to use this on our son Z at all! THANK GOD! we went straight into the products that we loved with Diva R gotta love previous opportunities to try out many products and dwindle them down to your FAVs for future tense :p

This Johnson and Johnson Bedtime Bath/Wash in the purple bottle was the second wash that we used on Baby Diva R in hopes it would help her sleep better at night or at least be more soothed to sleep. Since it was a Bedtime wash we used it as a bubble bath and a body wash at night time and it had a different type of smell which was so lovely and she began to know that when we used this that it was night night time and id say it worked great for us! The claim proposed that its supposed to help your baby sleep better and longer through the night. It also claimed that it is allergy and dermatologist tested and approved, but my Diva was still reactive to it and will sneeze like crazy in the present times if its opened near her. I believe it is a good sleep aid system along with the other two Bedtime Johnson and Johnson products; The Massage Gel and the Bedtime Lotion. 

We used this wash from her being about 8 months old-her being 2 1/2 before i began to suspect she became sensitive to something in this wash because she would sneeze uncontrollably when i put it on her or in the bath... This would also be used hand in hand with the Bed time lotion and this became the clear indicator that she was allergic to something in it... So regardless of its good previous effects on Baby-Toddler Diva R i discontinued use and passed it on to her baby brother who had no issues with it and seen the best of results from using it :) I just ran out of our last bottles of the Bedtime products for our son Z a few months ago.

This Johnson and Johnson Moisture Care Baby Wash in the pink bottle we used on and off from 8 months old-2 1/2 years old.

It was also one of the few washes that never irritated Diva R's skin or allergies, we only used this on her body, not hair.  I didn't get the moisture part of it because it didn't really overly moisturize her thirsty skin much and we always had to use a generously lathered lotion afterwards. We had lots of this from our baby shower and it took a while to use it all up but every last bottle was used and the smell was soft and baby power mixed with baby lotion scented. The fresh soft scent lasted after the wash and complimented well with the Johnson's Baby Lotion in the pink bottle. It was not a decent bubble bath though, the bubbles would diminish quick.  We used this with our son from birth through age 12 months when we used it all up :)

This Huggies

The Shea Butter ingredient is what pulled me on board to try this wash... We began using this around 6 months and as a side note it was tried earlier on baby Diva R but she was too sensitive at that time to branch away from her Huggies Sensitive Wash so we waited until she was a little older and it became our FAV.  I found that this wash left her skin softest longest of all we have tried at this point and the fresh shea butter scent lasted forever it seemed! I used this hand in hand with the Huggies Shea Butter Lotion and they were used for years! We only stopped using this Lotion because i felt it was time to move beyond baby wash when she became 3, if they had a big kid formula we would still be on board :). I began using this on Z also and it proved to work great on him also :) Loved the awesome scent and the texture was nice and a perfect mix between a shampoo and a wash.

The following Johnson and Johnson's Baby Bubble Bath and Wash in the blue bottle we used from when Diva R was 2 1/2-3 1/2 (simply because this was bought for Z and why not use it for both and be less complicated :)

Diva R was done using Baby product at 3 pretty much but this one seemed to linger around a little longer... It was a good wash and had a pleasant scent i liked this wash best of all of the Johnson and Johnson brand washes and it was a GREAT bubble bath :) The best one in my opinion from JJ.  This big bottle we got lasted for months on end even ashing two kids regularly with it! I would buy this one again for future babies or even Z because hes still a toddler and not all products in our eyes have ages stamps on them, its only when the quality is exceeded by another product have we moved on or used it less frequently.  In this case we ran out and had a few others on had or i would probably still be using this for them :)

As for Diva R's after-bath skin care regime for the first 3 years of her life goes....

In the beginning of time we were given lots of the Johnson and Johnsons Baby Lotion in the pink bottle, this was the first ever lotion used on Diva R as a neewbie as well as this was also the most popular baby shower gifted item we got :) Needless to say we had tons of this!

This became a faithful product of ours and it went great hand in hand with Diva R's sensitive skin.  We used lotion every other day on her baby fresh skin because we were told by many people not to over use lotion on her skin so that her skin doesn't become excessively dry or dependant on lotion. (Wish i would have listened better...) We began using lotion on her every other day after bathing her and this one was the lotion of choice and she had no reactions from it :) Diva R was blessed with dry skin from birth so it has been a challenge keeping it moisturized from day 1.  We used this until Diva R was 3 interchangeably with others here and there and when she was young before i knew anything i mixed a little baby oil in with it. This lotion has been wonderful on my fair skinned son, we would be using it today if i wasn't a product junkie :P

Of course since Diva R had to have patch tests of every type of product before we put it on her i had to add the Huggies Extra Sensitive Lotion to our opposing regular lotion application days.

This i would say the ES lotion has been used more often and often in place of the JJ Baby Lotion pink bottle pictured above due to her on and off sensitivity days of being a baby :) Like i mentioned above with the Extra Sensitive wash, i didn't really care for the scent of this it was oil smelling with a hint of a medication-ish type of odor. Not pleasant and there were many times i tried to just mix a little of another type of lotion into it for some type of good smell.  This was used after her baths and maybe once at night depending on the dryness of her skin. She never reacted to this one and we ended up using the whole bottle and fortunately never had to buy it again.  I don't get how an item can be labeled fragrance free but stink horribly... Ive smelled this many times in different stores so i knew we didnt have a bad bottle, maybe my sense are naturally on overload. It did do its job to keep her skin moisturized while keeping the harsh chemicals and fragrances off her skin. This was used only for the first 5 months of her beautiful existence *_*

This JJ Bedtime Lotion pictured below in the white bottle with purple writing was a lotion that we had on hand from day 1 but weren't able to use until she got older because of the strong scent behind it. I LOVED the scent but her body didn't agree with it right off bat.

This lotion was introduced when Diva R was 8 months old as we found through repeated patch testing she was fine with using it at that age :) I was so glad because i was waiting to see if this would REALLY help her sleep better and through the night as its claim stated.  We would always use this before she went to bed right after her night time bath and she seemed to knock right out there after and slept through the night each and every night. Either we were just blessed with a perfect baby or this really worked :) I loved the texture and scent it was near heavenly Little Diva R knew when it was bedtime when this lotion was used. I had to get this for our Z also when he was born because this was such an awesome baby lotion he had to experience the joy also :) This was wonderful with him from day 1 and without this i don't think he would have slept well on the nights without using it... He had a hard time sleeping through a full night and it may have been heart related so this was a God send it provided me with a few hours extra sleep than what i was getting being a Heart Mommy as it is :) This worked great on Z along side the Massage Gel :) He LOVED that :)

The Huggies Shea Butter Lotion pictured below in the yellow bottle was a MUST have in our collection and this was bought at the same time the Shea Butter wash was because i needed to find ethnic baby products to try and add these needed elements that those had that the regular stuff didn't have in them, to Diva R's dry skin in hopes for a miracle.

This had become my FAV lotion for Diva R's skin as she was able to be moved from all the extra sensitive stuff and more plainer fragranced things.  The Shea Butter made a big difference in her skin!! I was in love for sure with the thicker texture and wonderfully pleasant fragrance! and better yet little Diva learned to love this one too.  I used this and the Shea Butter Wash so religiously hand in hand and went through a couple sets of these bottles through the course of her being 6 months on until i felt her skin required more big kid moisturizers. Of course i had to try this on Z and i loved the wash on him particularly and this was a decent lotion on him as well. He doesn't really have dry skin so extra moisturizing is never needed.  One application will do him good for a whole day :) This product is what made be fall in love with Shea Butter :)

Of course i had to jump on the bandwagon with using the JJ Baby Oil.

OK i don't even know where to begin with this one, BUT before i had Diva R i used this as tanning oil and i would get DARK it was something my mom has used from day 1 of her tanning life also. I was skeptical about using this on Diva R especially in the summer because i seen what it did to mine and my moms Caucasian skin as it was. SO I only used this during winter and cold months where we wouldn't be out in the sun at all. I began using it on her hair and did this for some time before i got tired of it getting on her clothes, crib bedding and our furniture. It was just downright messy. LOVED the scent of it in her hair though and wow did it make her tiny curlees POP! I know oils like this are bad for the hair now, but then i was listening to anyone who i felt had more knowledge than me. I used this in her hair when she turned 1 month old- about three months along side of the very FIRST ethnic hair lotion i have ever purchased and then stopped. I began to experiment with it on her skin and it was just to slimy and oily so i mixed it in with a lotion from time to time and i liked how soft it made her skin, it seemed like it sealed the lotion in her skin :) That was a great use for this oil after all but nothing more and DEFINITELY not in the summer months or sunny days.

We also used the Aveeno Calming Comfort Lotion with Colloidal Oatmeal, Lavender and Vanilla pictured below.

I really liked this one over most of the huggies and nearly all of the JJ, this was my stepping outside of the box product and it was so heavenly scented and the texture was VERY nourishing. This had one of the best FAV yummy scents of all time. We have never tried an Oatmeal having product so that was kind of different of a thought. BUT glad we did. This product was of great quality and the scent lasted until she was washed. This like every other lotion used was used right after Diva got out of the bath.  We had this product on hand from right when she was born but didn't begin using it until she was about 5-6 months old, and we used it until it was gone :) Never tried this one on Z.

We bought the Johnson and Johnson Head to Toe Fragrance Free Lotion when Diva R turned 3 and figured this would be good for her and her new found allergies.

We pre-planned on using this on Z also. SO this was the product of choice at this time because of it being on clearance mainly and that it was fragrance free. It was a new product so it was puzzling as to why it was clearanced. But we tried it anyways and still have this on hand as our daily lotion, not for long though. This lotion seems to be potentially bad as i am not finding out. I definitely do NOT like the scent of this one it nearly reminds me of a pure wheat scent. Aside from that it is just a "normal" JJ product that doesn't really variate from the rest. I will not recommended this one to anyone and shortly after this post i will be searching for a new safer lotion for them. The cone ingredient in this and in alot of other JJ products is rated an 8 in hazard number ratings indicating this as being a high hazard ingredient that can cause Kidney and Liver problems!!!!! Nothing more to say about this one....

As you all can determine by now i am a product junkie and have been from day 1, so we mainly used all of the brands or tried them all at least from Babies R Us ( i was big into R-Us when Diva R was a baby so everything came from there that we had or would buy besides what was bought for us and her whole nursery decor.)  There were always so many JJ and Huggies formulations coming out i just kept trying each one until i found ones that worked for us and since Diva R had the skin texture and SAME exact hair texture and luster as me i didn't feel the need to do anything extraordinary or ethnic incorporated. SO since i now have good sound knowledge on most of all the organic ingredients out there that can make good skin care products that are hazard free i will be moving on to either buying new ones for our household and or making our own.  I have to say that we will be discontinuing the JJ and Huggies brands along side the other associated brands of this nature and moving on to better and more pure products :) BUT HEY at least i learned when i did and learned from all these trials and errors. No one is perfect and no one should be criticized based on their mistakes or ill knowledge. Thanks to the Internet I've become a hair and skin care guru!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed our blast from the past on Diva R's skin care from day 1-3years. I will be updating this series as the years pass. Look out for our current skin care post in the near future :)

Diva R's Mommy- Kim