Are Chemicals in Baby Lotion Skincare Products Safe?

You are rubbing 121 different plastic additives onto your baby's skin. A new study published in Environment International analyzed 55 common baby lotions, powders, and shampoos and found a chemical cocktail that shouldn't be anywhere near a nursery.

Researchers identified a median total concentration of 3,220 ng/g of plastic additives in these products. The list includes non-phthalate plasticizers, organophosphate esters, UV stabilizers, and even bisphenols. You can read the full breakdown of the study here. These aren't just trace amounts. They are complex mixtures of chemicals that are being absorbed through your baby's skin during their most sensitive developmental windows.

The industry likes to claim these products are safe, but they are ignoring the cumulative effect of these mixtures. You don't have to wait for regulators to catch up. Start by auditing the ingredient labels on your changing table. If you can't pronounce the ingredients or they sound like industrial byproducts, it is time to swap them out. We have curated a list of non-toxic baby alternatives that ditch the plasticizers and focus on simple, safe ingredients. Your baby's skin is their largest organ. Stop treating it like a testing ground for the plastics industry.

Source: Liang X, Cheng Y, Tang S, Liu X, Li J (2026). Environ Int.