Why WOULD you mess with their delicate skin?

AS A beauty editor and the mother of an 18-month- old, I’ve been aware of the growing trend for baby beauty for a while now.

Dior’s baby range – which includes an £80 cleanser and a £95 moisturiser – joins the likes of Bulgari’s £64 eau de toilette for ‘ mothers and their children’, Jacadi’s £49 baby fragrances, and premium skincare brand Dr Barbara Sturm’s £100 Baby & Kids Body Set. Frankly, however, the trend makes me feel deeply uneasy – and I’m not alone. When I raise the subject with top dermatologist Dr Thivi Maruthappu, she is equally troubled. ‘Why would you mess with a baby’s delicate skin?’ she adds. ‘Fragrances [whether natural or synthetic] can sensitise and irritate skin and can even be the trigger that tips their skin from being dry into having full-blown eczema.’ Babies need a simple soap and shampoo, and a moisturising lotion if their skin is dry, but products should have no fragrance at all. Natural scent – both that of babies and of their parents – is also thought to be of great importance in the bonding process.

But it’s not just the idea of baby beauty that repels me, it’s the ludicrous price tags and the revolting idea that you’re turning your infant into a label-conscious consumer from the moment they take their first breath.

I’ve never been one to go gooey over the smell of my child’s head, and I’ll confess that I’m not above spritzing my son’s room with a Jo Malone room spray after a particularly pungent nappy.

But the idea of masking his natural smell with a perfume seems utterly insane to me.