Did you know ? Infants have still immature skin. Very fragile, it dries out and is easily irritated. In question ? The friction of clothes, stools and urine but also bath water or air pollution. This is why it is recommended to use products specifically formulated for the care of your baby, right from birth. In addition, some “general public” hygiene and cosmetic products contain toxic ingredients, in particular endocrine disruptors, which must be absolutely avoided for babies, a particularly vulnerable population.
Toilet seat: what soap for the change of baby?
On average, in the first few months, a toddler’s diaper is changed 6-8 times a day. To prevent inflammation of the buttocks, it is advisable to regularly use oil-limestone liniment, or a diaper milk based on olive oil, which respects and nourishes your baby’s skin. But most of the time, a simple cleaning with water is enough. Soap and liniment are best reserved for very dirty buttocks, or when the stools are a little “dried” and the residue on the skin is difficult to remove.
Baby bath: which products and how often?
To wash your newborn, it is not mandatory to give him a daily bath. The right rhythm: every other day to prevent the skin from drying out. For this, preferably use a special surgras baby soap, or a real Marseille or Aleppo soap. Some foaming gel cleansers do double duty. They allow to wash the body and the hair. Practice ! In any case, remember to dry your baby well when he gets out of the bath. How ? By dabbing all areas where moisture could lodge and stagnate, especially in the folds.
Can you put moisturizer on baby’s skin?
After bathing or washing, you can occasionally apply a special baby moisturizer to your child’s cheekbones and forehead. Keep in mind, however, that apart from dry skin or a particular pathology (eczema…), it is not essential, far from it. When it comes to baby cosmetics, the watchword is absolute moderation.
For the body, you can use a vegetable oil or a hypoallergenic nourishing treatment. Prefer them without perfume. You can take the opportunity to gently massage baby. Know that for this, nothing beats a simple vegetable oil, such as olive oil.
baby’s cord care
The small end of the umbilical cord that remains attached to the baby’s navel will take 8 to 15 days to fall off! During this period, after the daily bath, pass a compress soaked in an antiseptic solution on the base of his navel. A gesture that the maternity staff will show you from the first day of the newborn’s life.
Does he have watery eyes? Don’t panic, it’s common. Just pass a compress, lightly soaked in saline solution, from the corner of the eye outwards. Same thing if your baby has little “eye droppings” at the corner of his eyes when he wakes up.
In babies, the use of cotton swabs is strongly discouraged. Faced with a slightly dirty ear, with earwax coming out of the pavilion, just remove what you see with a gas compress, possibly rolled into a point. Going to get what is deep in the baby’s ear risks at most making a plug of earwax, which then increases the risk of otitis and other infections of the ENT sphere.
As for the hygiene of the nose, same thing: nothing beats physiological saline and the gas compress, rolled into a point. We soak the compress and insert it in one nostril, then in the other. The real washing of the nose is rather to be carried out in winter, where the viruses of the ENT sphere (flu, cold, etc.) are legion. If the nose is very full or clogged, the use of a baby nasal aspirator may be relevant, but it is better to avoid using it too often so as not to risk irritating the baby’s nasal mucous membranes.