In their great love for their new-born baby mothers tend to gather a huge collection of baby skin products for different purpose. (Maybe it is the pressure from the companies of skin products that give small samples of the products!)

If the baby gets skin problems many parents suspect the type of diaper or washing powder to be the problem. Today it is easy to choose a product which is environmentally friendly. That cut the risk of problems.

Lift up the arms and the chin and unfold all the layers of folds to be rinsed in lukewarm water.

image Wallpaperup

Wash with water every time you change the baby.

My number one advice is: use water and dry the skin thoroughly. The by-products in the stools are so strong due to the contents of digestive enzymes because the thin new baby skin is so easily damaged. To put a layer of cream on a skin which is not totally cleansed is only going to  worsen the situation and hurt.

If the skin on the bottom is very red, but intact a thin layer of a barrier cream will do good. Choose one with suitable for babies. It is advisable to avoid chemical content in products used for babies. That’s why water is a wonderful thing.

If the skin in the bottom area has become ulcerous no cream should be put on. Instead I recommend to use pieces of linen cloths that has been boiled and you put it on when they are still humid and lukewarm on the cleansed skin. You throw it away when changing the next diaper. Continue with new pieces of cloths as long as the skin is ulcerous. The humid cloth dries out the ulcer and heal it up quickly.

Hygiene tissues ready from the shop is good to have with you on picnics, but at home for daily use it will not get the skin clean and maybe even be hurtful.

A choice of the wet tissues

Some babies are growing at such a fast rate the first months that all the urine and stools can be hard for the parents to manage. The skin can react by getting more permanent damaged in the diaper area.

A good and essential investment before the birth is a huge pile of square cotton cloths. In London a shop assistant told me they are called “convenient cloths”. In Danish “stofble”. The material is so thin and soft that they are imminent for drying up all those baby folds. They are available in all sorts of colours and patterns so you can have them for the different purposes. They can be used also with a teddy bear to help the toddler come over the loss of a pacifier in a transitional period.

convenient cloth/ stofble

When the water treatment is not helping enough to restore an even surface on the skin it could easily be due to a fungal infection. It is not dangerous, but it looks rather bad, red and swollen. It has to be treated with a cream meant for fungus. Don’t stop the treatment until it has  disappeared. That means at least ten days.

If you are hurting while breastfeeding have a look into the mouth of the baby. If there is a thick white and yellow layer on the tongue and sore hurting nibbles you let your home doctor have a look and prescribe a treatment  for fungal infection.

The fungus thrives in darkness and in humid conditions. The bottom and the mouth !

• So use lots of  water
• Dry thoroughly
• Give the skin a chance to be exposed to air in a nice and warm room temperature.

I will urge you not to worry about these things or reproach yourself. Just handle it and keep up your joy for the baby. Smile to him and put your words to his expressions and moods because your baby can only understand what is going on with the help from his parents or primary persons in his life.

Sculpture of a mother and her infant child by G.C.Freund 1863

Use all the time of diaper changing and cleaning to develop a deep relationship to the baby and get the most out of every little situation. The only exception is the night where you are perfectly allowed to lower the standard a bit because nights are for sleeping as much possible.

From a Coast in the Eastern part of Denmark