Making your own DIY baby lotion is an incredible way to get creative while taking charge of your baby’s health. I love to hear the roar of a momma who comes to me because they’ve learned that what typical baby products contain are not going to come near their precious little one. Today let’s continue our health conscious journey and make DIY Baby lotion that is safe and effective for the entire family to use.
DIY Baby lotion is a staple in my home. Our winters are dry, as are our summers. Everyone’s skin can always use added moisture and hydration.
Even the healthiest baby skin can become parched at times. I have created a thin, light and calming lotion, perfect for babies, and mommas alike!
Why Should You DIY Baby Lotion & Other Baby Products???
You might be questioning why should you make your own baby oil, powder and lotion?? A babies skin is more susceptible to chemicals and irritants. While babies don’t typically suffer from dry skin, they easily lose moisture. It is important to replenish their skin after a bath.
A baby’s skin can be very sensitive to chemicals that are used for dyes and fragrances. Using products with chemicals could even trigger the immune system and cause asthma or allergies.
Did you know that a study was done on 10 newborn baby’s umbilical cord blood and over 200 chemicals were present. If this doesn’t prove that what we put on our skin matters, I don’t know what does.
“We know the developing fetus is one of the most vulnerable populations, if not the most vulnerable, to environmental exposure,” said Anila Jacobs, EWG senior scientist. “Their organ systems aren’t mature and their detox methods are not in place, so cord blood gives us a good picture of exposure during this most vulnerable time of life.”
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know the why behind why we make our own products. To find out more about why conventional beauty products can often contain hidden ingredients that alter and harm our hormones, cause cancer and irritate the skin, check out my Beginner’s Guide to DIY Skin Care.
Check out my recipes for DIY Baby Oil and DIY Baby Powder!
Diaper Rash issues? I’ve got you covered there too! For a quick and easy recipe, look into my Diaper Rash Spray. If you’re looking for a more thorough diaper product to keep away moisture check out my Chamomile Infused Coconut Lavender Diaper Rash Cream with Clay recipe.
Johnson & Johnson is the most popular baby product brand here in the US. While they have made some effort to keep things a bit more natural for babies sake, I’m not buying it. Their effort is worthless when you read the ingredients on products meant for babies. Fragrance, propylene glycol, mineral oil and parabens are just a few of the ingredients found in baby lotion.
Making your own lotion, ensures that your baby’s skin is getting nothing but the best, most pure ingredients.
DIY Baby Lotion
- 1/4 cup almond oil (find it HERE)
- 1 TBSP glycerin (find it HERE)
- 1 TBSP. emulsifying wax (find it HERE)
- 1 cup distilled water (find it HERE)
- 1 tsp. NeoDefend (find it HERE)
- 15 drops Lavender Essential Oil (find it HERE)
- 1 tsp. Vitamin E (find it HERE) (optional)
Directions
- Fill 2 medium sized pots halfway full with tap water.
- Add a medium sized glass bowl with a spout in each pot.
- In the first “double boiler” add almond oil and emulsifying wax. Turn heat only to medium. This will be called our “Oil Mixture”.
- In the 2nd “double boiler” add water, neodefend and glycerin. Turn heat to medium. This will be called our “Water Mixture”.
- Once both double boilers reach a temperature of about 120-135 degrees, pour your water mixture into your oil mixture. I use THIS thermometer.
- Using a hand mixer-blend your mixture for about 1 minute. Periodically check your mixture over the next 30 minutes making sure the water doesn’t separate. Blend as often as you want but once the cream cools and thickens a bit and you see no water separating your cream is ready to be transferred to a container.
- Add essential oils and vitamin E once mixture is cool.
- Transfer to a bottle with a pump or disc. Find pump bottles HERE and disc bottles HERE.
For more clarification on making lotion, head to my Lotion Making Guide for Beginners for a thorough tutorial with step by step pictures.
Naturally Preserving DIY Baby Lotion:
**Distilled water must be used in order to keep your cream fresh longer. I have included a preservative with this recipe. NeoDefend is considered certified organic and non-GMO. It is antioxidant and very gentle to the skin.
Those of you weary of using a preservative must remember that it only makes up .75-1% of your product. You can read more about NeoDefend HERE.
Your cream should always be stored in preferably dark glass pump bottles. This will keep your cream bacteria free longer. Any container that allows you to pump out your lotion is a good idea-this keeps you from depositing bacteria from your hands into your lotion.
A Note on Lavender Essential Oil:
Lavender essential oil is commonly known and used as a natural sleep aid. A 2005 study assessed how lavender essential oil affected 31 young, healthy sleepers.
Researchers found that lavender increased the amount of slow- and deep-wave sleep in participants. All participants reported having higher energy the next morning.
I rely on lavender for many different situations that may arise but especially to calm my kiddos. It’s an amazing tool to aid with sleep issues. I add essential oils to my daughter’s baths and of course I put it in all of my baby products.
You would be surprised at the calming effect this essential oil can have! So much so that I made a DIY sleep balm to be applied to the bottoms of the feet for added rest and deeper sleep.
On particularly trying sleep issues I also diffuse lavender in their rooms.
For more information on using essential oils on children, read my post on Essential Oils for Pregnancy & Babies.
Make this DIY Baby Lotion and rest easy that you are giving your baby the best product made with natural ingredients and of course, LOVE.
No one has the best interest of your child like you do-NO ONE. There is nothing as powerful as the roar of a momma protecting her child.
xx, Jenni
PIN IT!!!
Sure wish there was a pin button on your posts.
Diane, there is! It should show up as you run your cursor over the pic!
hey
for what do you need the citric acid in the recipe?
Chris-Citric acid helps prolong the cream’s shelf life. Thanks!
Could I use beeswax instead of emulsifying wax?
Jenine-Unfortunately you can’t, you’ll end up with a watery, greasy mess. I would love to omit the emulsiyfing wax in my lotions but have not found a way yet. Hopefully soon!
I followed the directions as you listed but the water mixture is separating from the oil mixture. What did I do wrong? When I combine the two mixtures do I keep it in the broiler or take it out of the heat?
Carissa-What do you mean by broiler? Yes, definitely take it off the heat. You don’t want it to get any hotter. Sometimes you have to blend your mixtures periodically for 30 minutes-1 hour. Sorry it’s not coming together-it can be tricky the first time, don’t give up!
Sorry meant boiler. I took my glass measuring cup off of the heat once the two mixtures were combined. So after you blend in is it normal for the mixtures to separate? I kept mixing them back together for about an hour and left sit for a few more hours and they seemed to stay mixed together better but the lotion was super running….nothing like the photo you have posted. Do you have any ideas of why it would be so runny or any advice?
Carissa-you have to keep mixing it until it stops separating. It could be thin because we have different brands of emulsifying wax-I use Mountain Rose Herb. I use exactly a tablespoon for this recipe to keep it thin. To make it thicker you can use more. I don’t know if this works but if you melt about 1/2 a tablespoon more then add it to your mixture and blend again, it might thicken it up. I’ve never tried it but it seems like it would work. Keep me posted!
Thanks Jenni, I got it to work. I just wasn’t mixing it enough the first try. Used it on my hands tonight and liked it, excited to try out on my lil guy tomorrow!
Carissa, I’m glad! Thanks for letting me know!
Hi Jenni,
I have another question for you =) I was thinking to use this recipe as a base for a magnesium lotion. I think turning the water-mixture into a magnesium solution would to the trick.
Water-mixture: 1 cup distilled water + 1tsp citric acid + 1tbsp glycerin + 1/2 to 1 cup magnesiumchloride flakes
and then still following the rest of the recipe.
Do you think this could work?
Greetings from Germany =)
What is the estimated shelf life of this?
Tanna-I would say 3 mos. but all my creams have lasted 6 plus months so you never know!
Jennifer,
I made this lotion and it went bad really quickly, probably within a month. What can I do to prevent this from happening again? Also, it didn’t turn out very thick, do I just need to mix it longer? It was pretty watery almost like it would work well in a pump container rather than a jar. Also, sorry, one more thing, it was a little bit sticky, is that how it is for you? I thought that it might be the glycerin. I was going to try your other lotion that doesn’t have glycerin in it, do I need the glycerin? Thanks!
Madalyn-I have had a bit more education on lotion making since I posted this. I have since added a non GMO, certified organic preservative-NeoDefend. This will help prolong the shelf life of your cream. NeoDefend must be used in conjunction with citric acid. Citric acid helps to lower the pH. NeoDefend only works if your cream’s pH is between 3-6. Bacteria has a harder time growing in a lower pH so that’s where the confusion comes from with citric acid being a preservative.
About the thickness-next time you make this cream, I would add a heaping tablespoon of emulsifying wax-that will thicken it up. I don’t like to use too much emulsifying wax because it’s an ingredient that does nothing for the skin. It simply thickens up your cream.
Thanks!! Sorry for the late response.
Jennifer,
Thanks for getting back! That sounds very interesting, I will have to try it.
I’ve read a little bit about this preservative and I believe its saying that you shouldn’t use citric acid in the same recipe because it could accelerate the production of benzene. Whats your take on this?
Shelly-I agree. I believe I used to have it in before I added Neodefend to better preserve but it’s been removed. Did you see it somewhere in the post that I missed?
I was looking at the recipe and do not see the ingredient citric acid. I would like to make this for my new grandson. Thanks for your help.
Kelly-I have omitted citric acid-My facts were wrong on this ingredient-it is a pH adjuster, no a preservative. This ingredient was causing my lotions to have too low of a pH-possibly irritating for some. NeoDefend is in it’s place and will help preserve the cream better-Whenever there is water in a recipe-mold and bacteria are very likely to form and a preservative is a must. Thanks!
Hi Jenni,
Great blog! I was just wondering whether there was an alternative to NeoDefend preservative as I am unable to locate it to buy where I am?
Also, do you have any PH balanced body wash recipes that I can use on my toddler and newborn please?
Thanks in advance!
Kay
Kay-I would just look for “natural preservatives” where you live. That’s how I found neodefend. I haven’t worked with anything else for lotions.
As for a ph balanced body wash, they are so hard. I don’t recommend making your own for a toddler or newborn. It’s just too hard to balance and preserve properly. I would buy. Bummer, I know but I’ve tried so many times and just never feel good about body washes I make.
Hi
I was wondering if i could use Euxyl as my preservitive ? As i cant find the Neodefend her in SA. Look forward to hearing from you.
Ps. I love your blog❤️
Sukainah-Hi! Thank you so much! Ok, what I found was that it is fine to use in lotions. What I couldn’t find is whether it is free of harmful ingredients such as formaldehyde. You’ll have to dig a bit more to find that out. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for your response. I’m actually only seeing it now! will do more research and check it out. Thanks again!! Look forward to trying this
Can aluminum bottles be used instead of glass?
Wow, this is one of the best blogs I have read. Thank you for sharing. Can’t wait to try this DIY. Though I don’t have a baby but want to gift some handmade products to my brother’s son. Hopefully, I will be able to do it correctly.