Oh-Lief skin care special
Your baby’s skin is very different from yours and needs specialised care. Here’s why and how to look after very young skin.
Skin is skin, right? And if your baby was born at full term, you probably thought that her skin was pretty much like the rest of most of her organs: fully formed, and ready to take on the outside world. In fact, while it does act as your baby’s first line of defence (protecting her from harsh temperatures, microbes and infections), your baby’s skin is different from your adult skin. Dermatologists now know that a baby’s skin as a whole actually continues to develop outside the womb, and specifically the skin’s ability to act as a water barrier continues to develop after birth for the first year of life.
FROM A WET WORLD…
The world inside the womb is a wet one. When in utero, your baby was surrounded by amniotic fluid, and her skin prepared to protect her from that by forming a waxy substance, called vernix, to cover and insulate her. Some vernix will still be on her at birth – and you needn’t be in a rush to wash it off, by the way. Vernix has been found to contain antimicrobial substances (effective against group B strep and E.coli bacteria) similar to the immune-boosting, protective substances found in breast milk, so leaving the vernix layer on to absorb into the skin and delaying a baby’s first bath for a day or two is a good post-birth option.
… TO THE DRY OUTSIDE
After birth, your baby’s skin has to adjust to a brand-new, relatively dry environment. Baby skin is structurally different to adult skin. The cells are smaller and the collagen fibres thinner. It contains fewer natural moisturising factors, fewer lipids and less melanin than adult skin, which also makes it lose water faster. Baby skin also has a higher pH than adult skin, leaving the skin barrier less mature and more prone to dryness than that of adult skin.
An infant’s skin is able to absorb more water than adult skin, but it also loses that water at a faster rate, says dermatologist Dr Rakesh Newaj (go to dermatologistjohannesburg.com). “The ratio of the skin’s surface area to the body weight of the baby exposed to an external environment is high,” he explains. “There is more heat exchange and water loss by conduction, convection and evaporation.”
As a baby’s immune system is still developing, she also has a greater chance of developing skin irritations and infections. Her skin is more vulnerable to the environment than adult skin. If not properly cared for, the skin becomes susceptible to diseases such as nappy rash, atopic dermatitis and other skin infections. This is why baby skin needs special care.
For all these reasons, says Dr Newaj, “of course it is essential to maintain a skin barrier. The skin barrier helps regulate the baby’s body temperature, maintain her water balance and also protect the internal organs from the sun and pollution from the environment, as well as microorganism invasion.”
You can help protect your baby’s skin by minimising water loss. That’s achieved by giving Baby enough fluids, cleansing any dirt off with appropriate products, and keeping the skin hydrated using moisturisers and barrier creams that, as their name suggests, form a protective barrier between porous baby skin and the harsh environment outside of it, keeping water in and the bad stuff out.
PRODUCTS AREN’T ALL ALIKE
Avoid using adult skincare products on your baby for a start, says Dr Newaj. Creams that are too harsh for a baby’s delicate skin tend to have a warning on them. ”Also avoid antibacterial or sterilising solutions, as well as creams that contain retinol, or chlorhexidine solutions. Exfoliant scrubs are, of course, a no-no.”
GO SIMPLE
“The best is not to have perfumes, alcohol or strong detergents in creams,” Dr Newaj says. Alternative, natural skincare remedies are popular, precisely because additives cause concern for many parents. But bear in mind that products that are “natural” are also not necessarily ideal for babies.
It is important to look for products that carry international or regulatory endorsements if you are looking at using natural and organic products. Make sure the brands are certified.
There are proven safe preservatives that have been recommended for usage by global regulatory bodies, and any water-based product must have preservatives in it to prevent spoiling. The other option is to skip all artificial cleansers and just use water instead of soap. It’s the simplest, isn’t it? But water is not a good cleanser on its own. In fact, it dries out skin. Although water does hydrate the skin, the effect is temporary, lasting only about 30 seconds. Once the water evaporates, the skin begins to dry. Dirt particles on your baby’s skin are usually fatsoluble and so need to be removed by surfactants, which are agents that lower the tension between the skin and the water used to wash the skin. Water alone is less likely to “pick up” the dirt off the skin and carry it off.
As soap tends to strip all natural oils off the skin and dry it out even further, using water together with a creambased wash product for the first six weeks works well.
“Of course, products made specifically for babies are great. Creams that are occlusive, containing ceramides or aquaporins, are excellent,” Dr Newaj says. Lastly, do not keep your baby in the bath for very long periods of time: “This causes the natural moisturising factors to dissolve, and the skin becomes drier,” Dr Newaj says. “Moisturise soon after a bath, as this seals in the humidity and keeps the skin moisturised for longer. Also do not bath your baby too often like, several times a day, as this causes loss in the natural moisturising factors.”