References
698 mothers and babies, 38 390 nappy changes: what did we learn?
Abstract
Background
Several industry funded studies between 2001–2018 have compared the use of a single brand of baby wipes to cleansing with water and either cloth or cotton wool during nappy changes. All of these studies found that wipes were safe and effective from birth. Recommendations from these studies have included the need for brand or formula comparison but to date, no previous study has done this.
Aims
The ‘Baby skin integrity comparison survey’ (BaSICS) study was designed to compare three brands of baby wipes to determine if there was any difference in the incidence of irritant diaper dermatitis (IDD or nappy rash) during the first eight weeks of life.
Methods
Mothers who were allocated to a single brand of nappy but divided into three baby wipe allocation groups, collected and reported survey data on infant skin integrity during one nappy change daily with the use of a user-friendly smartphone application.
Findings
All brands of wipes were acceptable to mothers and safe and effective when cleaning during nappy changes. The brand containing the fewest ingredients showed a clinically significant advantage of fewer incidents of rash than the other two brands.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that wipe formulation is a significant factor in prevention or reduction of IDD during the first eight weeks of life.
In 2018, a midwifery research group in the North of England was commissioned by a manufacturer of baby wipes to compare three brands of wipes, including their own, to determine whether there was any significant difference between products. The manufacturer's initial hypothesis that their wipes protected against nappy rash was based on anecdotal evidence. To ensure lack of bias, good scientific practice and ethical research conduct, they engaged a university based research group to design and implement a prospective experimental study, as defined by Salkind (2010), to conduct a brand comparison with daily use of baby wipes during the first eight weeks of life.
The title of the study is the ‘Baby skin integrity comparison survey’ (BaSICS) study and the location in which the study took place was a major urban district that included outlying suburban and rural areas. This location was selected as it represented a diverse population in terms of both ethnicity and socioeconomic classification. The aim of the research was to determine whether there was any difference in the incidence of irritant diaper dermatitis (IDD), also known as nappy rash, when different brands of baby wipes were used to cleanse the skin during nappy changes when the brand of nappy was the same across all three arms of the study.
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