Your newborn baby is perfect. In your eyes, no other child has ever been born cuter. What you may not have known is that the rashes, the dry skin, and the acne, are all normal for your newborn. Your baby has fluctuating hormones and all of the skin conditions can be attributed to fluctuating hormones in your newborn.
You might notice that your child's skin is dry. They have just spent the last 9 months or so living in fluid and now they are out in the world. Try a little baby oil on their arms and legs, but remember that a little flaky skin isn't really bothering your newborn.
Cradle Cap or Seborrhea can be distressing to some parents. Sometimes cradle cap can be significant, and cradle cap is caused by hormonal fluctuations as well. Cradle cap makes the eye brow skin and scalp get dry and flaky in patches. Cradle cap or seborrhea is similar to dandruff in adults and can be treated the same way with anti-dandruff shampoos (used much less frequently: maybe once or twice a week). Another old-fashioned way to deal with cradle cap is to massage a little vegetable oil into your baby's scalp and then GENTLY lift the scales up with an old toothbrush. It is very important to remember that although the cradle cap may really bother you, your child could care less about cradle cap.
If your infant's dry skin is more significant, they may have some baby eczema. Eczema consists of dry, scaly patches on the skin and there are several things you can do as a parent to help your baby deal with eczema.
Avoid perfumes, bubble baths and any products that contain fragrance when bathing your child. Use fragrance free products such as moisturizing dove soap when giving your baby a bath.
Keep your infant's skin moist. Massage fragrance free baby oil or lotion into your baby's skin. Consider using a humidifier in your baby's room to keep their skin soft and moisturized.
If your child's eczema is significant, consider using as little detergent or fragrance as possible throughout your home. Detergents break down already sensitive skin and your baby will benefit if you too use less detergents because they are in almost constant contact with your skin and clothes.
If your newborn continues to have significant eczema despite your best efforts, ask for a referral to a dermatologist who will know the most up to date treatments for baby eczema.
Baby acne is yet another skin condition that can be disturbing to new parents. Baby acne is exactly what it sounds like, it is acne due to, yes, you guessed it, hormonal fluctuations. Your baby may have significant white dots all along their nose and cheeks, and your baby may develop acne anywhere and everywhere on their body.
When your young child has acne, this is not the time to get out the acne medications. The acids used in acne medications will hurt your baby's skin and there is no need to treat baby acne. Remember, the baby acne might bother you, but your baby doesn't care. Baby acne goes away on it's own by eight weeks of life.
Do NOT treat baby acne with any lotions or creams, you will only make baby acne worse. The period between four and eight weeks will be the worst for baby acne.
Dry skin, cradle cap, eczema and acne are all part of a newborn's first couple of months. The most important thing to remember is that very little is bothering your baby and in general these conditions are cosmetic and part of life. Keep your infant moisturized, look for trouble spots that seem to get worse and don't use any products that contain fragrances on your newborn baby. If the conditions seem out of control, call your pediatrician.
Melissa Nykorchuk is the primary writer for http://www.parentingtricks.blogspot.com and writes for a number of websites about parenting and pregnancy related topics.
