When my daughter was born, I bought a big jug of Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Soap. We use it for every thing- bath wash, shampoo, diaper area wash, even hand soap. Depending on the use, I add various essential oils for antibacterial purposes.

2nd-ing Dr. Bronner's. We buy ours from our local coop but I know target carries some of their scented ones as well.

I also love Dr. Bonners. You dilute it so a single bottle goes a long way.

The easiest, cheapest, safest baby wash out there: water. It doesn't clean quite as well as some others, but it actually does a pretty good job. Before you use a baby wash, try water and see if you actually -need- soap. I mean, how dirty is your baby actually getting?

Another vote for Dr. Bronner's Baby Wash. Castile soap is about the gentlest soap you can use on your baby. It's also an really good value, since you dilute it and a little goes a long way. Your best bet would be to get the unscented Dr. Bronner's and use some essential oils to create the scent you want, although at this point they also have about a dozen scents to choose from (including rose, orange, peppermint, almond, etc).

I also like the Hugo Naturals lines. Really lovely scents and it rates well on cosmeticdatabase.com (a good place to check the safety of your baby soaps). It's gentle on my baby.

I've never really had an issue with tears with either of the soaps I've mentioned above. I'm not sure if it's the soaps or if it's my method of hair/body washing. My son is a toddler, but I'm still using a Primo Eurobath tub (the really big baby tub) and it has a little seat I can lean him back into. Once he's laying back in the seat it's easy to wash and rinse his hair without it getting anywhere near his eyes. I also use way, way less water by using the toddler tub than filling up the whole bathtub. So it's quicker and eco-friendly.

I like Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild too but it is not tear-free and would irritate eyes.

One way to stretch a batch of baby wash/shampoo is to dilute and put it in a self-foaming dispenser. I have bought and saved the containers from these soaps: http://www.kissmyface.com/selffoampages/selffoampage.html (it's quite expensive soap but think of it as buying the container which seems to be made of bpa-free plastic).

I dilute 4 Tablespoons of soap to 1 cup of distilled water and put in the self-foaming container. I've reused the ones from the Kiss My Face soap with great results. I use Dr. Bronner's for a hand soap and use california baby super sensitive shampoo and body wash in the tub and for hair washing. I find that you use MUCH less soap this way. You could also play around with the ratio of soap to water based on how rich you want the lather.

Thanks, everyone. We currently use the California baby, but as I mentioned/asked, it can get pricey. I really like the idea of using the foaming soap dispenser to cut down on the amount I use. I will also look into Dr. Bronner's. We use it ourselves, but since my experience has been with the original, I imagined it would be too harsh on wee ones. And I mostly use soap for the desired bubbles my toddler requests and for washing her abundant hair, but do use plain water on her face/body. Thanks again! Any more ideas out there would be great.

Forgot to mention that we buy the California Baby in bulk. A gallon costs a lot but is cheaper than buying a small containers. The shelf life seems stable (we've gone through about half of the gallon jug so far and this is the 2nd gallon we've ordered in about 3 years).

http://www.californiababy.com/gallon-size.html

I don't know if itis available in U.S., but i used to prepare Saponaria officinalis root for my baby's shampoo& wash, as
she didn't tolerate any soap.
I used 2 tb to 1 cup boiling water and simmered it for about 15 minutes.

This herb can also be used for washing delicate fabrics, such as silk.

The way some shampoos are tear-free are not because they are so mild, but because they contain numbing agents. Better to avoid that altogether. It's natural for the eyes to water and protect themselves if something gets into them.

That said, I use Druide and California Baby along with Dr.Bronner's. They do cost more but they last such a long time because of how little we use. I think it's worth it.

Another suggestion that I didn't see mentioned yet is Rainbow Research. We've used several of their products and been very happy with them all.

You can add vegetable glycerin to castile soap to make the bubbles bigger and longer lasting. The bubbles are an especially crucial part of our bathtime and I found the tip when looking into making actual homemade bubbles (never did that but it solved a bathtime problem). It works pretty well but Dr. B's still won't lather like some other soaps. The foaming dispenser sounds like a pretty good idea as well.

Here's our family's bubble bath recipe, using glycerin and Castile:
www.llstivers.blogspot.com

I agree with the commentor who reminds us that water does the trick most of the time. I will add that soap can be used only when necessary, and EOs have great home remedy purposes that babies and toddlers could benefit from. Perhaps consider making your own soap with EOs and using them for whatever need you have (eucalyptus, aloe vera, tea tree mixture for colds, lavender for bedtime, etc.).

Enjoy!

http://llstivers.blogspot.com/2012/03/mommas-day-book-day-6.html - recipe hyperlink edit