In the first few weeks of your baby’s life, you will need to take special care of them to ensure they’re healthy and comfortable. And this includes paying particular attention to a newborn skin care regime. This article is going to look at some of the top tips for looking after your newborn baby’s skin during the hot summer months.
Keep them cool
As with older babies and children, newborns can’t tell you if they feel too hot or too cold, so it’s important to regularly check their temperature. Touching their hands or feet is not an accurate way of measuring their temperature so you need to place your hand on their belly or their back to gauge if their too hot or too cold. Likewise when you’re bathing them, be sure to check the water temperature carefully beforehand.
The best way to care for your newborn’s skin is to keep your baby cool and dress them in loose fitting cotton clothes and if it gets particularly hot, it’s okay to leave them in their diaper.
Don’t over bath them
Newborn baby’s aren’t particularly active and therefore don’t need cleaning as often as an older child. A sponge bath two or three times a week is sufficient for this and will also prevent your newborn’s skin from drying out. As newborns will sweat mostly from their head, it is a misconception that this is related to them suffering from colds. As part of your newborn skin care regime, ensure that you’re bathing them frequently, but not too often. Here are some tips for your baby’s first bath »
Dry skin
Particularly around the nose area, dry skin can occur during summer as well as during the winter months. Although this won’t be as severe as it is with older children, taking the care and time to moisturise areas at high risk is a great way to prevent dry skin from occurring. Additionally, dry skin can cause itching and therefore irritation so be mindful of areas that look red or irritated.
If your newborn is suffering from extreme dry skin, don’t worry. After living in fluid for the last nine months, the constant exposure to air is likely to have this effect on the skin. There’s no need to do anything as this will resolve itself but if you’re worried or the dryness persists, then speak to your doctor. Here are some tips to take care of your newborn baby’s skin in the summer »
Use your instincts
When it comes to caring for your newborn, you maternal instincts will be taking over, and it’s important that you trust them. Knowing when to go to the doctor’s is also important. The combination of trusting your intuition and relying on medical advice will be sure to protect your baby.
Before you even realise, you will have settled into a regular newborn skin care routine that will keep their skin in the perfect health.
Resources:
http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/baby/your-newborn/tips-for-healthy-summer-newborns/
http://www.mychildmagazine.com.au/newborn-care-for-summer-babies/
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-skin-10/skin-care-tips
http://motherandbabyindia.com/newborn-care-in-the-summer/
http://www.onhealth.com/content/1/baby_skin_care
https://www.pampers.co.za/newborn-baby/care/article/newborn-skin-care-baby-eczema-and-dry-skin