One of the main concerns I had as a parent switching from a sturdy wipe to a small cotton pad with a lotion liquid was, Would it withstand all that babies have to throw their way? By that, of course, I mean nasty poop disasters. The difference, I found out from Cheryl Bayart, MD, MPH, a pediatric dermatologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, isn’t in my head, but in the absence of “surfactants.” These are detergents or cleansers, she explained, and help with ease of cleaning. But the fewer ingredients, the better, she says, even if that means losing that convenient surfactant.
“Surfactant provides convenience by facilitating cleaning, but adequate cleansing with less risk of skin irritation can be achieved with plain water or mineral oil. Surfactants such as cocamidopropyl betaine and preservatives are common allergens,” she says. She points to how, even a decade ago in 2013, the American Contact Dermatitis Society named methylisothiazolinone (MI) “allergen of the year.” “At the time, MI and its cousin methylchloroisothiazolinone [MCI] were very widely used as preservatives in wipes. Many wipes continue to contain them.”
Given this information, I was unsure if it could hold up to more than just watery baby poop. Turns out, it does pretty well. Changing my 5-month-old was a breeze, as she is breastfed and doesn’t produce hard stools. My 2-year-old, on the other hand, required a few more cotton pads and a bit more patience as he wrangled around the diaper table, balking at my extra—and what probably seemed to be unnecessary—minutes of cleaning. But he is typically quite sensitive and seemed to benefit from the lotion solution by having less irritation throughout the week.
There can be a particular complication, I found out, from trying too hard to make this diaper care system work on really tough poop messes, particularly if the poop is stuck on the skin or isn’t very watery (gross—sorry—parenting …).
Amy Wechsler, MD, FAAD, a dermatologist and psychiatrist in New York, speaks to this issue just as I experienced it with my 2-year-old: “Some liniments are irritating—I think it’s easier to clean with something that is wet. Also, with liniments, sometimes one has to rub too hard, and that can irritate the skin.” Sadly, a toddler that woke up on the wrong side of the bed with poop fit that description perfectly, and the scrubbing itself became a bit much for his skin. Though he didn’t show any redness or rash, his skin seemed irritated at the end of the cleaning attempt.