Expectant
and new parents alike often have lots of questions about baby skin care. Baby
skin care is a ‘hot topic’ and advice can be conflicting – Is water only best
for washing? Are all wash products bad? Should you moisturise babies and with
what? Baby skin care is an area where
advice, even professional advice, is given on opinion and experience rather
than evidence – so what are the facts concerning baby skin care?
All
babies have an immature skin barrier and thus are vulnerable to dry and
irritated skin. It is believed that about 60% of children with atopic eczema
develop it in the first six months of life. According to the National Eczema
Society one in five children in the UK sufferes with eczema. The reasons for developing
eczema are a combination of genetic and environment factors, so if you have
eczema in your family, it may well develop if triggered by a factor in the
environment. Therefore this leads to the question – can atopic eczema be
prevented? The short answer is we don’t know and currently there are studies
looking at if preventative measures can make a difference, the results won’t be
known for a good few years, as babies are being studied into childhood.
However,
we do know that a trigger for eczema developing is dry skin and a vulnerable
skin barrier. So baby skin care should try and prevent dry skin and protect the
skin barrier. Washing is important, detergents (including soap and bubble
baths) should be avoided. Use either water alone or a pH adjusted wash product
especially designed for babies. Dry skin should be treated with a medical
emollient or fragrance-free moisturiser designed for a baby.
New
cotton baby wear designed with a polymer layer of DreamSkin Health (currently
only available at TESCOs) can benefit delicate baby skin. Dream Skin garments
improve moisture retention of the skin; help reduce skin itching and
irritation, are resistance to common irritants and help maintain comfortable
body temperature. To visist F&F's DreamSkin range following the link http://www.clothingattesco.com/baby/dreamskin/icat/dreamskin
By Eczema Expert
