Parents sometimes find a lot of “little white skin” on the baby’s body, the baby has been rubbing around, and sometimes scratching twice, especially at night obviously, look at the skin also did not see any rash, what is going on ah? It turns out that the reason for all this is that the skin is becoming dehydrated and needs moisturizing care!
What are the characteristics of a baby’s skin?
The skin is the first barrier that protects the body from external environmental stimuli and protects the stability of the body’s internal environment. Usually, we use the “brick-wall structure” to compare the barrier structure of the skin. The “bricks” are the keratinocytes of the skin, which play the role of physical protection, and the lipids (i.e. the oil and water secreted by our skin) are the “mortar” in this structure, which play the role of water storage and moisturizing and nourishing the skin. The combination of the two forms a structurally and functionally complete “wall”, which protects our body from the wind and rain.
However, our baby’s entire body is not yet mature, the baby’s skin is also in the process of continuous growth, its keratinocytes (i.e., “bricks”) to be smaller than adults, the thickness of thin than adults (infant skin stratum corneum about 15 layers, adults for 25 layers, the average thickness of infant skin stratum corneum 7, 3um, the average adult for (10,5um); and sebum secretion in the first week after birth is the same as the level of adults, but after that it is in low secretion until the arrival of puberty. Therefore, the baby’s “brick-wall” resistance and water storage and moisturizing ability is a little more fragile than that of adults.
When autumn comes, the humidity of the air is reduced, the skin stratum corneum water content is reduced, the epidermal water loss is also increased, if you ignore the moisturizing moisturizing, baby’s skin may be in a long-term over-dry state, thus appearing rough, dry peeling, and even dermatitis eczema and a series of skin diseases.
Skin care for babies mainly includes proper skin cleansing and the use of emollients, both of which combine to keep the skin in the best health.
How often should my child take a bath? Can I use bath soap? What kind of bathing solution is appropriate?
Here we will understand the child bathing considerations:.
1, bathing method: general shower is more hygienic than the tub, for small babies within 1 year old, the tub is more appropriate, you can wash directly with water, pay attention to clean the face and neck, underarms, the root of the thigh, perianal and scrotum and other parts; after the baby can stand and walk, you can shower.
2, bathing frequency: pay attention to fall compared to summer to reduce the frequency, 2-3 times / week, or according to the baby activity situation appropriate increase or decrease the number of baths.
3, bath water temperature: should not be higher than 37 ℃, between 32-36 ℃ more ideal.
4, bathing time: in 5-10 minutes, infants and toddlers can be appropriately shortened.
5, bathing liquid selection: choose mild bathing liquid without alkaline soap base, especially the addition of moisturizing ingredients of weak acidic or neutral bathing liquid (ideal state pH 5, 5-7, 0), with both hands directly apply the appropriate amount of bathing liquid to the skin surface, and then rinse thoroughly with water to avoid friction; can also be used with emollient ingredients of the soaking bath to improve the skin caused by alkaline ingredients in tap water dryness.
6, after the bath note: gently press the towel to wipe dry skin, avoid friction.
We talked about the structural characteristics of the baby’s skin, in the period from 1 week after birth to before puberty, the baby’s skin sebum secretion has been in the low secretion level, if we just pay attention to the child’s bath and ignore the use of emollients, it will wash away the sebum that is not much and intensify the dry state of the skin. Therefore, we must pay attention to the use of emollients after bathing.
So, how to use emollients?
1, emollient frequency: use at least once a day, and can increase the number of times according to the skin condition.
2, application method: emollients are best applied to the whole body within 5 minutes after the bath, because the application of emollients on wet skin can play a better moisturizing effect; at the same time, be sure to pay attention to the whole body should be used, especially the parts of the skin prone to dryness, such as the extremities can increase the number of times to apply (such as 2-3 times / day).
3, emollient selection: pay attention to the use of hypoallergenic emollients, that is, emollients that do not contain fragrances, dyes, alcohol and allergenic preservatives, which are safer and can reduce the occurrence of skin irritation or contact dermatitis. These hypoallergenic emollients are often referred to as “medical skin care products”, and some of the familiar brands (such as Avène, Stave, Mythril, Winona, Skin Care and Eucerin, etc.) can be chosen according to their own circumstances and preferences.
In addition, the choice of dosage form is also very important and should be based on the degree of dryness of the baby’s skin, the season and the temperature and humidity of the environment, etc. Generally, in autumn and winter, you can choose moisturizing cream, moisturizing cream, while in spring and summer, you can choose moisturizing milk or moisturizing lotion.
In addition, if you are still worried about whether your child is allergic to the emollient you choose, we can do a “little experiment”. Select the plan to use the baby’s emollient applied to the baby’s forearm flexor side, observe for 72 hours to see if there is itching, redness, papules or blisters on the application site, such as the above phenomena can be used without fear, if these phenomena may be the baby allergic to this emollient, it is necessary to change the brand.