Treatment of folds for a newborn: what to lubricate and wipe the skin with, what oil

A newborn baby is very vulnerable, its delicate skin is a real gateway for infection. In order for the baby to grow healthy and strong, parents must pay great attention to hygiene. One of the most important daily hygiene activities is the treatment of skin folds that every baby has.

Children in their first year of life have many folds on their skin.

Causes of skin problems

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Infants in the first year of life are at risk for a variety of skin problems, because at this age their immune system is not yet perfect, and any contamination can lead to infection. The most common causes of skin problems in infants under one year of age are:

Improper implementation of hygiene measures;
Failure to comply with daily hygiene rules;
Parents’ ignorance of what to apply to the newborn’s folds;
Poor nutrition of the child and the presence of a large number of allergens in his daily food;
Constant wearing of synthetic clothing by the baby;
Rare change of bed linen in a child's bed.

Pediatricians also say that infants very often have problems due to unsuitable disposable diapers. Diapers should fit well; They need to be changed as they become dirty, but at least 8-10 times a day. From time to time, you need to give your baby the opportunity to spend a little time without a diaper; air baths are the best way to prevent diaper rash and any other skin diseases. It is also an important means of hardening the baby. It is best to carry out air baths before bathing, when the child is actively awake. The approximate duration of the procedure is at least half an hour. In summer, during the waking period, you can replace diapers with disposable diapers.

Alys who are prone to allergies often suffer from diaper rash

Interesting. In children under the first year of life, skin problems often arise due to a variety of allergic reactions and individual intolerance to certain nutritional components. In this case, the nursing mother should reconsider her diet. If the child is bottle-fed, you need to change the milk formula to a hypoallergenic one.

What causes baby's skin problems?

The most common causes of skin problems:

the rough fabric from which children's clothes or bedding are made causes abrasions on the skin;
the baby was in a wet diaper for a long time;
folds after bathing are poorly dried;
the child is dressed very warmly for a walk, as a result he regularly sweats, this causes prickly heat;
the material from which the diaper is made provokes allergic reactions.

Why process folds?

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Parents often do not know how to smear the folds of a newborn and why it should be done at all. However, the importance of this daily hygiene procedure cannot be underestimated. It is necessary to treat problem areas in order to:

Avoid diaper rash;
Do not allow the delicate baby skin to dry out;
Notice in time the onset of an allergic reaction or any irritation;
Clean the baby's skin from dirt and sweat.

Usually, breastfed or bottle-fed infants tolerate this procedure well.

Diaper rash

If diaper rash occurs, you can consult your pediatrician. He will tell you how to lubricate the folds of newborns when this problem occurs. Diaper rash usually appears if the skin does not breathe for a long time (for example, the baby’s diaper has not been changed for a long time). This leads to redness of the skin folds and causes the baby to feel severe discomfort.

Overdrying

In winter and autumn, when steam heating batteries operate at home, the air in city apartments can be very dry. This leads to drying out of the baby's skin. Dry skin can crack, and various infections can easily enter the body through microcracks. Treating folds with a moisturizer will help quickly cope with this problem and improve the protective functions of the baby’s skin. As moisturizers, you can use a variety of oils and creams intended for babies in their first year of life.

Moisturizers will help prevent dryness

Caring for the umbilical wound

On average, a newborn's umbilical wound heals in about one and a half to two weeks. During this period, it is not recommended to use cotton pads and swabs to avoid small fibers getting into the still unhealed wound.

If you do not treat the wound, it may become inflamed. Before the remainder of the umbilical cord falls off, it must be treated with an antiseptic solution. This could be hydrogen peroxide or chlorhexidine. Treatment must be carried out daily.

What can you use to lubricate folds?

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To perform your daily toilet, you can use a variety of cosmetics, for example:

Moisturizing oils;
Powders;
Creams.

For newborns, processing clutches will not take much time if everything is done according to the rules. Any product should be used in strict accordance with the instructions attached to it. It is strictly forbidden to use cosmetics intended for children over one year old - they are not suitable for the delicate skin of infants.

Oil

Parents and children's doctors often argue about which oil to wipe the folds of a newborn. There are many products on sale that vary in price and composition. Natural oils based on plant components create a thin protective film on children's skin, protecting it from the penetration of dangerous pathogens.

Cream

If parents don’t know what to use to wipe the newborn’s folds, you can choose the good old baby cream. It has a good moisturizing effect and protects vulnerable areas from drying out, irritation, and redness. You should not buy expensive creams, since their action is similar to that of the domestic “Children’s” cream.

Powder

When asked how to treat a newborn’s skin, many pediatricians answer that the best remedy is talcum powder. It absorbs moisture well, rolling into lumps, and does not cause allergic reactions. This product is suitable for daily use. You can use the powder several times a day, every time you change a disposable diaper.

Powder should be chosen without fragrances or artificial flavors. These components in the composition significantly increase the cost of the cosmetic product and can cause severe allergic reactions in the baby. Lumps of powder remaining on the baby's skin should be carefully removed with a napkin so that they do not cause discomfort to the baby.

Processing folds

To keep your baby's skin healthy, you need to bathe him daily, and in hot weather you can do this twice a day. When bathing a newborn, you should not overuse soap (it is optimal to use it once a week). It is better to replace baby soap with milder detergents.

After taking a bath, dry your baby's body with a soft towel or diaper, while avoiding friction, which can cause damage to the skin. Then examine all folds for irritation, diaper rash, allergic reactions, powder and oil residues. Examine the folds on the neck, as the most vulnerable place, pay attention to the place behind the ears, palms, fingers, elbows, armpits, legs, inguinal, buttock folds and the genitals of the newborn - redness often occurs there.

This is best done not only after an evening swim, but also in the morning.

After examination, treatment of the newborn’s folds is necessary, which can be done by various means:

The folds are sprinkled with baby powder or, as our ancestors did, with starch.
Lubricate with special oil, sold in children's stores and pharmacies. Boiled vegetable oil or Vaseline oil will also work;
Many people use baby cream for preventive purposes.

What baby folds look like (Photo)

Preference should be given to what is most relevant to a specific problem. For example, if the baby's skin is dry, you will need oil to moisturize it, and if the folds become wet, it is better to sprinkle them and dry them. You should not use both oil and powder at the same time; this can provoke an inflammatory process, since when they are mixed, lumps are formed, which contribute to diaper rash and irritation.

In order to treat the folds of a newborn with oil, you need to moisten a cotton pad and lubricate them sequentially from top to bottom. Pay special attention to your baby's neck, armpits and groin.
For deep skin folds, it is best to use baby powder; the oil in this case can contribute to diaper rash.
The cream is used when the child has pronounced dry skin, but in order to avoid diaper rash, it is not recommended to apply it directly to the folds. Cream and oil should not be applied directly to the baby’s skin, since a large amount of it can create a film on the surface of the body and negatively affect its condition. Mom must first apply a little cream to her hands, distribute between her palms and then treat the folds.

Air baths are necessary for the health of a newborn's skin. Do not rush to dress your baby immediately after bathing and treating the skin; give him time to lie down without clothes and a diaper.

How to treat wrinkles after bathing

According to Komarovsky, a child under one year old should bathe daily. After bathing, toileting the skin, including the perineum and buttocks, is mandatory. The child is taken out of the bath, dried and the skin is carefully examined. The folds are carefully blotted and treated with any suitable means.

After the bath, just pat the baby dry with a towel, no need to rub too hard

To treat the skin, you can use any baby oils. Johnson's baby oil gives good results. After the hygiene procedure, the same product can be used for massage.

When asked what is the best way to lubricate the folds of newborns, grandmothers often answer that there are many folk remedies for treating the skin without the use of industrially produced preparations. However, any folk remedies should be used only after consultation with a pediatrician. You should not use boiled vegetable oil for hygiene procedures, as it is unsterile and does not have a beneficial effect on the skin.

Why do newborns have skin problems?

After birth, there are many folds on the baby’s body. These are natural folds of the skin, which gradually straighten out as they grow. Milk often flows into them after regurgitation, leaving traces of feces. Often, irritation begins when wearing wet diapers for a long time, due to lack of air circulation.

The greatest attention should be paid to the area on the neck, behind the ears, armpits and inguinal folds. The pellets can irritate the spaces between the fingers and the creases of the child's elbows.

Diaper dermatitis or diaper rash often bothers the baby and complicates its care. The main causes of redness and rash:

overheating when wrapped;
poor quality diaper materials;
fragrances in laundry detergents;
liquid feces;
use of clothing made of synthetic fabric.

Among the most common skin problems in newborns are the following complications:

Diaper rash due to urine, feces, or liquid getting into the folds after bathing. The red areas are itchy and painful, and there may be small cracks and wounds.
Heat rash . Appears in the form of a small rash without pus, which is concentrated only on areas of the skin that overheat (back, neck, buttocks).
Pyoderma . The cause of the disease is the activity of streptococcal bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus. It often occurs when immunity declines, due to poor care of the newborn’s skin, and requires treatment under the supervision of a doctor.
Allergic dermatitis . The problem is increasingly being diagnosed in children in the first year of life. The reason is the use of cosmetics with added dyes, flavors or fragrances.

Many skin problems look similar and have the same symptoms. Therefore, if a rash or redness appears in the folds, it is better to consult a doctor.

Today we looked at how to properly care for the folds of a newborn baby and listed the basic products for treating the skin. To reduce irritation, you need to leave your baby without a diaper more often and buy clothes made from natural cotton. What oils or folk recipes have you used for your baby’s hygiene?

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How to properly wipe the folds of a newborn

You need to perform hygiene procedures and care for your baby correctly. The folds are carefully blotted, the main thing is not to rub them so as not to cause irritation. At the end, excess cosmetic product is removed with a napkin or cotton pad.

Groin area

The folds in the groin area are carefully straightened, then carefully blotted and a small amount of cream or oil is applied. After this, the baby needs to spend a little time without a disposable diaper - take an air bath.

Attention! It is necessary to examine the groin area of boys and girls after each change of a disposable diaper. Diaper rash is especially common in this area because the skin under the diaper can sweat a lot.

Neck

To clean the neck folds, you need to carefully lift the baby’s chin and wipe the skin where it is wrinkled. If the baby is stubborn and does not want to raise his head, you can do it together: one person gently holds the baby’s head, the second person processes each skin fold and cleans the neck.

Other

Any other problem areas are carefully wiped with a cotton pad soaked in the product. The powder is carefully poured from the tube, spreading over the surface of the skin in an even, even layer. After lubrication, excess is removed (no need to wipe with a towel), and the child is put on new clean clothes (or swaddled).

The treatment should be carried out after discharge from the hospital every day, morning and evening, as well as after each diaper change for the baby. If you do not neglect these basic rules, you can avoid serious skin diseases: eczema, diaper rash, irritation. For processing, you need to choose only those products that are intended for children in the first year of life - they do not contain preservatives and other harmful substances that are often present in adult cosmetics.

Why you need to take care of folds

Hygiene for a newborn baby involves daily care of the entire body, and not just the navel and diaper area. Even when you bathe your baby every day, natural discharge accumulates in his folds, even behind his ears. In addition, if the baby burps while lying down, milk may flow onto the neck and ears. Parents of thin children usually believe that such problems do not concern them, but in fact, even they have folds.

Accordingly, even in the tiniest folds, in the groin, behind the ears, any pollution tends to accumulate, because the baby is not moving yet, and the discharge cannot be ventilated or accidentally wiped off with clothes. And the accumulation of contaminants leads to irritation of the baby’s delicate skin. And then, like a snowball, the problems only grow. It is to avoid these that it is extremely important to keep the folds clean.

Other causes of irritation in folds

As a rule, hygiene of skin folds consists of daily inspection of them and wiping them with a damp cotton swab. Then the skin is wiped dry and lubricated with oil.

But often irritations still arise. And this happens for one of the following reasons:

Clothes for the baby are not chosen in the best way: internal seams, too hard fabric, synthetic fibers - all this can cause irritation on the skin, including in the folds.
Failure to promptly change diapers or clothes in hot weather.
After bathing, the folds remained damp.
The baby is regularly dressed too warmly for the weather.

Obviously, baby skin care is about avoiding such mistakes.