Randomized trial with soaps - what happens to a newborn baby's skin?

OBJECTIVE Evaluate the effectiveness of a children's soap with physiological pH in maintaining cutaneous pH and moisture of the newborn (NB)'s skin after the first bath. METHODS Randomized, controlled and double-blind clinical trial in a rooming-in of a tertiary maternity hospital in southern Brazil with 204 newborns > 34 gestational weeks. Gestational and obstetric history was evaluated, and newborns were randomized into two groups according to the product applied in the bath: the control group (CG), which used common liquid soap with pH 7.0 and experimental group (EG), which used children's liquid soap with pH 5.8. Evaluation was made immediately before and after bath with skin pH measurement, corneometry and clinical parameters (erythema, scaling and moisture), on the forehead, abdomen and thigh. RESULTS There was no difference between groups regarding gestational, obstetric and family history (p > 0.05). In CG, skin pH increased in the abdomen and thigh (p