Newborn and baby skin care
The delicate skin of newborns and babies in the first years of life is not as resistant to external influences as adult skin. Therefore, it requires special care. But even here, you need to know the right amount.
Excessive hygiene and inappropriate selection of cosmetics, as well as sudden changes in air temperature, all excessively dry out children's skin and increase its sensitivity. To know how to care for babies' skin, we must first understand how it actually works.
In the first months of life, baby's skin is up to five times thinner and contains 80% more water than ours. Its sebaceous glands do not yet produce as much sweat or sebum, and its defenses are only just beginning to build. And it is the small amount of lipids, whose role is to protect the skin from the penetration of irritants or microorganisms and ensure even evaporation of moisture, that causes the skin of the youngest children to be prone to drying out and irritation.
The most critical period for a baby's skin is the first 3 months.
The most sensitive and least resilient skin is, of course, that of newborns and infants up to three months old. It reacts particularly sensitively to external influences such as wind, cold, excessive heating, hard or very hot water and especially chemicals. Very often, dry skin and eczema appear in children during infancy. Special care is needed when treating it, but the well-known saying 'less is more' applies to newborns.
When bathing for the first time, focus on naturalness.
When you bathe a newborn for the first time, you do not need to add any bubble bath or oils to the bath. This should remain the case until at least the end of the first month of life. Dermatologists recommend starting to use soap only after this period, and only for a soiled bottom or sweaty skin folds. When choosing, however, pay attention to the gentle composition and neutral pH. Paediatricians recommend traditional and proven solid soap with lanolin or hypoallergenic shower gels and 2-in-1 shampoos. They have a natural, non-irritating composition and provide the skin with the necessary hydration.
Bathing for 10 minutes every other day
When we say that hygiene for babies should not be overdone, we do not mean, of course, that you should not wash them at all. However, it is enough if you bathe your baby every other day, for only 10 minutes. With longer baths, you risk drying out the skin, as water, along with impurities, also removes the natural lipid barrier. The water temperature is also important, which should ideally be 33 °C.
Skin care after bathing
You can easily disrupt the lipid barrier of your baby's skin when wiping them after a bath. For the smallest children, it is better to use a cloth nappy instead of a classic towel to wipe them and absorb water from the skin by patting it on the body. After drying, many mothers usually apply body lotion or oil to the baby. However, it is also true here that if the baby is healthy and you have not used a lot of soap during the bath, you do not need to use anything after the bath.
If you do decide to use cosmetics after the bath, it is very important what you apply to your baby's skin. Various substances can be absorbed, cause allergies, or irritate the skin. As a rule, you don't need to apply anything to a healthy baby's skin unless it shows signs of dehydration. If your little one has sensitive or atopic skin with a tendency to redness, it is necessary to use a suitable product that can be recommended by a paediatrician or dermatologist. Paediatricians recommend gentle and tested products for regular hydration of baby's skin, such as this gentle baby oil or body lotion with soothing chamomile.
