Editorial

Baby Skin Care Tips

While your baby’s skin is famously soft and smooth, it is also strong and resilient. The skin is the body’s largest organ – a group of cells stacked together to

  • PublishedApril 8, 2014

While your baby’s skin is famously soft and smooth, it is also strong and resilient. The skin is the body’s largest organ – a group of cells stacked together to form a thin but tough barrier. Skin constantly renews itself throughout life, and the renewal process begins even before birth.

Still, many a newborns’ skin is anything but perfect at first. Don’t be alarmed by considerable peeling, redness, or flaking in the first few days after birth. Areas like the wrists, knees, and feet may even bleed as they adjust to being exposed to air. This is all normal. Use a gentle skin ointment to help lubricate and heal cracked or bleeding skin. Your baby’s skin will fill out and get smoother very soon.

Moms greatly value dryness in their baby’s diaper, and of course it’s essential for babies’ well being. Pampers diapers have something called absorbent gel material (AGM) that captures and holds fluid and locks it in place. The AGM helps to prevent wetness from seeping back and irritating baby’s skin.

Prior to contact with wetness, the AGM is a dry particle, which transforms into a gel upon contact with fluid, absorbing large amounts of fluid as it swells, in fact it can absorb 30 times its own weight. This amazing technology allows one diaper to keep your baby dry for a whole night. In fact, it’s been clinically tested to help keep the baby’s skin dry.

Below are some more tips on how to take care of your baby in various situations.

Everyday care. To keep your baby’s skin healthy, you need to maintain its natural softness and strength. Even if your baby’s skin isn’t peeling, it will benefit from using moisturisers. For everyday lubrication, try petroleum jelly. You can get fragrance-free products with ingredients such as mineral oil or petrolatum. For those who prefer some fragrance ensure that it is mild. The routine moisturiser you use on your infant should not contain alpha-hydroxy acids or sunscreens.

During sunny days. Babies of all ages should stay out of direct sunlight. A baby can get sunburned in as little as 10 to 15 minutes, even on cloudy days. The first line of defense should be clothing. On warm days, dress your baby in lightweight cotton clothing that covers her arms and legs, and make sure she wears a wide-brimmed hat for every outing. Try to avoid going out when the sun’s rays are strongest, between 10a.m. and 3p.m. However ensure to give your child a daily dose of the sun’s rays for strong and healthy bones.

After circumcision. Caring for your newborn son’s circumcision isn’t difficult if you know what to do. For the first week after the procedure, the penis may look quite red and develop a yellow scab. To keep the area clean, use mild soap and water after each diaper change. Coat the head of the penis with petroleum jelly to protect it, and cover it gently with a gauze dressing.

Your health care provider will tell you how long to keep the dressing on. If you suspect an infection at any time, notify your provider. If your son is not circumcised, bathe his penis with a mild soap and water just like the rest of the diaper area. Don’t try to pull back the foreskin—it will gradually retract on its own, usually by his third birthday.

Published on March 2013

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