Kenvue: Formulating microbiome-friendly products for baby skin care
07 Aug 2025 | Kenvue
Formulating for baby products presents unique challenges — infants have a thinner skin barrier, lose moisture more quickly, and are more susceptible to microbiome imbalances. Gabby Kosmoski, clinical manager of R&D Baby Claims at Kenvue, highlights the benefits of colloidal oats in formulations. She explains why baby skin care must be exceptionally gentle to support the developing skin barrier.
Good morning.
This is Mika Mankis of Personal Care Insights.
I'm joined today by Gabby Kosmoski of Kenview, and we will be discussing infant skincare.
Good morning, Gabby.
Good morning.
How are you?
I'm , thanks.
All right, so I'm gonna dive right into the first question.
Obviously your study focused a lot on, infant skin care, especially newborn skincare, and, the infant microbiome.
So can you tell me what makes the a newborn baby's microbiome unique?
Yes.
So, our microbiome is made up of a community of microorganisms that can either live in your gut, your skin, your mouth.
So your microbiome does play a central role in overall systemic health.
And babies are first exposed to these bacteria during birth, and the development and the diversity of their microbiome continues throughout early infancy.
So really those first few months of life are most critical in the skin microbiome development, as newborns are exposed to new factors, including the environment, their diet, even parental or caregiver influence.
So we even highlight that skin to skin contact, or kangaroo care as it's known, is a great opportunity for that microbiome transfer between caregiver and infant.
And usually by about 2 years of age, their microbiome begins to stabilize and resemble a little bit more closely to adults.
So, some of the latest research that you're mentioning was assessing the use and tolerance of a gentle baby wash and lotion, not only to assess efficacy and the benefits of early moisturization, but to highlight the gentleness of these products on baby skin, and specifically their microbiome.
So the routine showed a significant improvement in different skin assessments, like irritation, dryness, the skin appearance, and pH, which we know all help support the baby skin barrier.
But more importantly, the microbiome was assessed to look at the richness and the diversity of the bacteria, and showed no significant shift compared to baseline, which just shows that the products are gentle and preserve that newborn microbiome, which is so critical as they're developing.
All right, OK, very interesting.
One of your studies outlined the use of oat-based products, specifically, I think it was oatmeal colloidal.
Could you please explain what, why specifically oat-based products are effective for baby skincare?
Yeah, so, the use of oats in general in skin health dates back as early as 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, where this ingredient was used to soothe and protect dry and irritated skin.
So, the Aveeno brand was founded by two brothers in the 1940s, using that power and harnessing that scientific innovation to really unlock the power of , nature focusing on using oats as the key ingredient.
So, our brand and our legacy began with oatmeal, and we're continuing that heritage today with having oat in all of our products.
So, oat really is, you know, we consider the best in class ingredient for baby sensitive skin.
It's been studied, it's been researched, it's been tested to sort of highlight that multi-functional mechanism of action and the benefit it brings to skin.
So, we can show that it impacts the skin barrier and the moisturization, as as anti-inflammatory actions to help soothe the skin.
And prebiotic benefits to also support that healthy microbiome we talked about.
So we've conducted research to show that it's safe and effective on newborns, on babies, on kids, sensitive skin, as as, you know, compromised skin such as eczema.
Hm.
All right, OK.
My next question was, why is it important to maintain the skin barrier, during the first few weeks and months of life, but that I feel is something that you've already kind of touched upon.
Is there something else that you would like to add to this question?
Yeah, so baby skin barrier is, as as ours, right?
It's our first line of defense from the outside world.
It protects, you know, our body within.
In in utero, babies are in an aqueous environment, and they're transitioning to the outside world, so their skin now is vulnerable and needs that extra protection.
So, as they're leaving the womb with that protective coating, the vernex, now that it's wiped away, it's leaving them exposed to sort of that external irritants and aggressors.
So, really focusing on supporting babies's barrier, strengthening their barrier, it's critical because it protects them, right?
A newborn skin barrier is delicate, and it's still developing after birth.
It's thinner, it loses moisture faster than adults, and it makes it more prone.
Prone to irritation, infection, dryness.
So, babies really need to promote that healthy skin barrier to protect them from that outside world.
If it becomes impaired, it can contribute to the development of dry skin, irritated skin, and atopic dermatitis down the line.
So, making sure that you're, you know, utilizing the gentle, safe baby skincare products that help strengthen that barrier is really critical to help maintain that protective function.
All right, OK.
So in, in developing skincare for infants or for babies, young children, what would you say is the most difficult thing to for formulators?
I would say some of the biggest challenges when anyone is developing a skincare product, especially focusing on babies and young children, is ensuring you're formulating it for the right audience, making sure that the products are safe and mild.
We're committed to creating the gentlest products through, you know, a rigorous process that we adhere to different , safety standards and quality.
For example, if you're, if you're looking at cleansers, if it's not formulated properly, like harsh cleansers, adult cleansers, bar soaps, it can actually remove those barrier components that we talked about, you know, lipids and oils that are naturally found on the skin.
And then it could penetrate the surface of the skin causing barrier damage, which could be, you know, tightening, dryness, scaling, and irritation.
So, you need to make sure you're developing those products.
In this example, cleansers, you know, that every ingredient is, is carefully selected, approved for use by our scientists, and then tested, whether that's in clinical studies or safety testing, to make sure that it's suitable to use on babies and young children.
All right.
OK.
So as, as the microbiome, as a topic grows more and more important in today's kind of conversation about skincare formulation, how important would you say the microbiome is for skin health?
Yeah, so we touched on it a little bit earlier, but I would say when healthcare professionals are talking to their patients and they're recommending skincare products, they're looking for products that they see are safe, they're effective ways to communicate to parents.
So, looking at products that call out that they're microbiome friendly, meaning they maintain the integrity of the microbiome, it's in balance while being gentle and doesn't disrupt their developing barrier, is sort of critical for HCPs to see.
So, where microbiome can become a critical conversation is when they're talking to patients who have more of a disruptive barrier.
So, maybe that's due to eczema or atopic dermatitis, where the skin bacteria can be out of balance due to a shift away from the normal bacteria.
So, ensuring that there are options for parents, to highlight the health and the balance of the microbiome is sort of a key conversation with HCPs.
All right, I actually have another question about that.
Once the microbiome is compromised, how difficult is it to restore to a healthy microbiome for babies?
Yeah.
So we have data in clinical studies where we've assessed the microbiome that has been shifted based on eczema.
So we know that utilizing products that have oatmeal, that is an OTC monographed ingredient to show that helps reduce the symptoms of eczema can help bring that balance back down.
Cause as we see when eczema symptoms have been reduced, we see also that the bacteria has been shifted back to a normal state.
All right.
OK.
Then my final question for you is, what broader trends are you seeing in pediatric dermatology, and baby care that you think that brands should be paying attention to?
Yeah, I think in the market, I've seen there's been a big push in sustainability, and ensuring, you, you know, we try to ensure that our products meet sustainability guidelines, whether it's through packaging, increasing PCR, recyclability, looking at responsibly sourced or naturally derived ingredients, product biodegradability.
I think that's a big key in the market today.
Another space really is to continue to support the need for clinically proven products.
So that calling out clinically proven really shows that you're ensuring that the product's safe and tolerable for those unique populations like newborn, sensitive skin, eczema.
And for us, we like to ensure that everything we put on the shelves goes through those rigorous testing.
So I think that's always, a big need and space out there for other brands as.
