For moms-to-be, pregnancy is a time full of changes—including, of course, to their bodies. Thankfully, there are products out there designed to make pregnancy a little easier and as comfortable as possible. We zeroed in on a stretch mark cream, Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter, that consistently gets tops marks from reviewers online and features high-quality, natural ingredients. We sent it home with a tester who used it for about three months, from the time she was five to eight months pregnant. Read on to find out about her experience.
Ingredients: Natural and paraben-free
The label claims that the ingredients in this belly butter are “99.0% natural,” but you should take that with a grain of salt. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t regulate the use of the term “natural” on labels, so it’s basically up to the manufacturer to decide what makes the cut. We can, however, recognize most of the names on the ingredient list, and Burt’s Bees specifically calls out shea butter as the featured ingredient, highlighting that this natural fat can reduce wrinkles and improve skin elasticity. More importantly, this product is formulated without phthalates, parabens, petrolatum, or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. According to the clean beauty pledge from our sister site, Byrdie, sulfates can be irritating to the skin, parabens can pass through the skin barrier into our bodies, and phthalates are believed to be endocrine disruptors. Obviously, it’s of the utmost importance that anything you rub on your skin during pregnancy is as safe as possible. Our tester noted that the paraben-free labeling was particularly important to her. This belly butter is also fragrance-free—which, according to our tester, gave it a slightly unpleasant odor at first. “I understand why the product is unscented,” she explained, “but I do wish it had a tiny scent to it. The natural scent isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not great. I couldn’t smell it once I applied the lotion, but when I first opened the product and smelled it, I wasn’t a fan.”
Texture: Soft and pleasant
This belly butter does get points for its consistency: “It was soft, creamy, and didn’t leave me feeling sticky,” our reviewer said. She also noted that “it absorbed really well,” which was a contrast to the pure shea butter she’d been using previously, which “took a really long time to soak in.”
Results: Softens skin and stops itchiness
The butter was effective in multiple ways, according to our tester. Firstly, she said that it softened her skin: “I applied the lotion every night,” she said, “and in the morning, my stomach would feel silky.” Secondly, she never got stretch marks her entire pregnancy. At five months pregnant, she said that her stomach was “just getting to that stretching point,” so it was a good time to start applying a stretch mark cream. Another benefit to the butter was that it stopped her belly from itching. “As my stomach grows, it’s getting itchier and itchier,” she said, “and a little bit of this lotion definitely puts a stop to it!”
Price: Good value for the cost
Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter comes in a 6.5-ounce container for around $13, which puts it on the less expensive side for a stretch mark cream. Our tester initially used this product once a day and then switched to two in her third trimester. She said “a little bit goes a long way” and the entire container lasted her three months. It’s a great value.
Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter vs. Best Nest Wellness Mama Body Butter
Best Nest Wellness, an American lifestyle brand and supplement line, also makes a popular body butter for pregnancy: its Mama Body Butter. Burt’s Bees’ butter is 99 percent natural, while Best Nest’s touts itself as 100 percent organic. Both are paraben-free and unscented, though Best Nest also offers a sweet orange-scented variety. In terms of ingredients, both products contain sunflower seed and coconut seed oils as well as cocoa seed butter; Burt’s Bees’ version also contains almond oil, jojoba butter, and shea butter, while Best Nest’s option has beeswax, calendula oil, and macadamia oil. The sizes and prices of these products differ slightly, too; Best Nest’s butter can be found for around $25 for 4 ounces of the product, whereas Burt’s Bees is a better value with a list price of $13 for 6.5 ounces. Since our reviewer loved the Burt’s Bees version so much, we’d say it’s a better buy. It’s more budget-friendly and definitely works. This belly butter is a good value for the price because a little bit goes a long way. It’s very effective at softening skin and preventing stretch marks.
