MOTHER AND BABY ESSENTIALS
“Avoid things that are going to dry out your skin… colourants, fragrances and preservatives.”
Our pick of skincare products, sunscreens and slumberinducing mists designed especially for mother and baby. • A decade after launching her eponymous Sydney-based luxe organic skincare range, Vanessa Megan is still fully dedicated to her mission statement: “You should never put anything on your skin you wouldn’t eat.” Mums in their first trimester will love the VM Baby ‘Garden Wonderland’ Natural Pregnancy Perfume and Morning Sickness Spray (100ml, $39.95) that helps to minimise nausea with lavender and mandarin essentials oils. • After bathing their baby daughter Willow in chamomile flowers to soothe and calm her skin, Corina and Luke were inspired to create their own organic baby skincare range, Willow By The Sea. Their products are 100 per cent organic and made by the beach in Newcastle on the NSW coast. Try their signature Calm Baby Bath Tea (75g, $29) with organic oats, chamomile and calendula flowers. • On a quest to make a natural sunscreen for his daughter, Chris Mathews created Little Urchin Natural Sunscreen SPF30 (100g, $24.95) — a sensitive-skin-friendly sunscreen with zinc oxide that can be used on babies from six months. The best part is it sinks straight in and isn’t sticky or oily. • Every mum-to-be needs a luscious body oil and the Weleda Stretch Mark Massage Oil (100ml, $27.95) is one of our favourites. Massage it into your belly twice a day to relieve itching and tightness, while giving your skin a nourishing dose of sweet almond and jojoba seed oils, and arnica flower extract. • A firm pregnancy favourite, rosehip oil is a skincare all-rounder that calms and hydrates. A’kin Weightless Rosehip Oil (45ml, $39.95) is a lightweight option made in Australia that blends rosehip with sandalwood and macadamia oil, and can be used on your face, body or hair. • Give your baby a relaxing massage with Jurlique Baby’s Calming Massage Oil (100ml, $39). It’s packed full of lovely oils, soothing calendula and calming flower extracts such as chamomile and lavender. • Spritz a little of The Base Collective Little Sleep Spray (125ml, $21) with lavender, marigold and chamomile on your baby’s cot at bedtime to help create a mellow mood. • A lovely solution for calming irritated, dry, cracked or dehydrated skin, La Roche-posay Cicaplast Baume B5 (40ml, $15.95) is an anti-bacterial multi-purpose balm for mothers and babies that you’ll want to keep handy.