Baby Care Tips for New Moms

Taking care of a newborn baby is such a stressful thing to deal with, yet the joy still overcomes the tiredness you may feel. There are tricks and baby care tips you must know to make the burden lighter. These simple baby care tips can help you handle your baby properly while still being a beautiful wife to your husband.

Crying Can Mean Many Things

Specialists once thought that when a baby cries, it means they are experiencing stomach ache. Now, studies have shown that it may also be the cause of acid reflux. Experiencing this is painful for adults, let alone for babies. When your baby does constant screaming, back arching, and spitting up, these may be a sign of acid reflux. It's of utmost importance to go to a pediatrician to know what really causes your baby to cry.

It's Okay to Hold Your Baby

There has always been this rule that you can't hold your baby too much because he or she might get over dependent. Ignore this because you can't spoil a baby just by holding him or her. In fact, babies who are held often are more satisfied because their needs are met right away. They are more likely to have a higher self-esteem while growing up. It's the natural thing to do, so don't hesitate doing it.

Don't Depend On Baby Wipes

Baby wipes are costly and may cause irritations for sensitive bums. Instead of risking your baby's smooth skin, just use a damp cloth. Studies say that breastfed babies don't need baby wipes because their feces and urine are low in acid and bacteria. You can easily clean them off with a damp cloth.

Faster Sterilization

You might think that sterilizing the baby bottles is time-consuming and stressful, but it isn't anymore. Doing it the old-fashion way with an expensive home sterilizer is not the only way to do it anymore. Just toss everything inside your dishwasher, put some soap, and run it on a short and hot cycle.

Babies like Music

Although you might think that babies can't appreciate symphonies and melodies, they can. The sound of soothing instruments and a warm voice can calm your baby down. You can turn on the CD player while on the road and it can even put a baby to sleep.

No Rush for Shoes

You don't really need to put shoes on your toddler's feet until he or she can walk. Socks are the only feet accessory babies need just to prevent their feet from getting dirty. It's more practical to save the money until your baby really needs them.

With a little bit of pediatric help and online research for baby care tips, you can take care of your baby with ease and assurance. Don't make the task harder than it should be so you could enjoy a good night's sleep along with your newborn.


Author,
Kate Q Wills

Using Tap Water to Wash My Baby - Is This Safe?

Is it safe using tap water to wash my baby? This question is quite prevalent among first time mothers of a new born child. If you are also asking this question for yourself then it is a good sign that you are very concerned about the safety of your child, when it comes to using tap water for washing your baby.

To answer your question on using tap water to wash your baby, keep in mind that most tap water nowadays is contaminated with all sorts of things that may be harmful for both young ones and adults. In fact, these chemicals are usually in the form of chemical contaminants and various harmful microorganisms that can cause several health issues.

Consequently, the presence of various contaminants in the tap water has already caused many waterborne diseases. Research has shown that about 65% of adult health problems were traced to contamination in water; while around 85% of health issues in children are water-borne. This is due to the fact that most tap water today is already contaminated with various microorganism that are harmful to humans. This data alone should alert you on the safety of tap water in various uses like drinking, for mixing with baby formula, washing, and showering.

Bear in mind the fact that if tap water can cause various health illnesses and skin problem to adults, just think about how much damage it can do to the very fragile baby with a very weak immune system. You must observe extra precautionary measures when using water to clean and wash your infant by using only filtered or purified water for utmost safety of the child. This may be quite costly on your part; but it will also tend to become more cost-effective in the long run by preventing sicknesses and other water-borne health problems on the child which may usually require more expensive treatment.

But setting the cost aside, what is important is the health of your baby; even it may require you to spend a little bit just to make sure that the child is safe. In this case, it is best to use only purified or filtered water.

D Leveque has built his career installing and servicing water filtration systems and is offering his experience about reliable clean water for everyone. To learn more about these systems including, Reverse Osmosis, water ionizers, well and lake water systems visit Daves website, http://clean-water-store.com

Author,

D Leveque

9 Home Remedies For Baby Eczema

It is a widespread common disease. But in general, babies are more likely to suffer from eczema. And as baby skin is soft and sensitive, it requires more gentle treatment. Thankfully there are quite a few home remedies for baby eczema you can try.

1. Oatmeal baths are recommended by doctors, grandmothers and mothers for the healing power of oatmeal baths. While this bath may be a bit messy, it soothes and clams the dry skin and itchy parts of the body naturally. See the resources below on how to make your own oatmeal bath or buy your own. 

Either way, remember to purchase only organic products.

2. Use a natural aloe Vera lotion several times a day, especially after bathing baby. Reapply as often as need to keep baby's skin from drying out. Avoid any harsh cleansers and make sure baby is getting plenty to drink to moisturize from the inside out as well. Incidentally breastfed babies experience fewer and milder episodes of eczema.

3. As you know that dry skin can be the reason for eczema, so you ought to prevent your baby's skin from drying out. Nevertheless, you ought to not use any scented products, or products that contain alcohol. Kid lotion ought to be no issue, and it ought to be applied around two times a day.

4. Virgin Coconut Oil. One of the many health benefits of virgin coconut oil is the healing properties of the skin. Virgin coconut oil is also an antibacterial which may be especially helpful for those people with very raw eczema conditions who may be prone to infections of the skin. This oil is now widely available in may health food stores and grocery stores.

5. Eczema can also occur as a result of food allergies. If you have a family history of food or environmental allergy, your baby may also be experiencing sensitivities to something in his diet or environment. Check with your baby's health care provider and consider an elimination diet or other measures to track down allergens.

6. Keep bedrooms, living areas free of dust mites (a common eczema causing agent).

7. Avoid scratching at all cost. This is thought about to be the most important system to cure your kid eczema. However, this is not an simple thing to do at all because your kid does not understand that scratching makes things worse. Most children instinctively scratch. So, what you ought to do is to keep your baby's nails short.

8. Some babies experience eczema because they are allergic to detergents, which are found in nearly all personal care, cleaning and laundry products. You may want to investigate using pure soap for all cleaning and laundry as well as bathing for some time to see if your baby's eczema improves.

9. Besides, try not to make use of any strong soaps, or bubble bath which could irritate the baby's skin. After that, apply natural moisturizer in order to lock in water from the bath.

Author,

Charles Zoe

Caring For Your Baby’s Skin

According to Professor Michael Cork, Head of Academic Dermatology at University of Sheffield Medical School and world renowned expert on paediatric eczema and skin care, children’s skin allergies have increased dramatically since the 1950s and now one in five children suffer from eczema.

This has coincided with the rapid rise in baby skincare products.
So how can you protect your child from developing skin irritations or eczema? It all starts with your daily skin care routine – the right routine.

Walk down the aisle of any supermarket, chemist or baby boutique and the choice in skincare is overwhelming. You are inundated with soap, shampoo, moisturising lotions, creams, ointments, bubble bath, bath oil, powders and the list goes on. How do you choose?

For many parents the two most important factors behind their choices in skincare are performance and value for money. But there are points parents need to consider when choosing a product is their baby’s skin.

Check list

How much do you want to spend? Spending more doesn’t necessarily mean a better product.

Do you want to use synthetic or a natural, organic product? All products are potential irritants regardless of whether they are synthetic, natural or organic.

Does your baby have any allergies to peanuts, soy, wheat or milk products? Some products contain these ingredients eg: Sweet Almond Oil, Soybean Oil, Cassein, Peanut Oil, Wheatgerm oil.

Do you have a family history of eczema, asthma or hay fever? The chances of your child having eczema will increase by 30% if you do and 50% to 80% if both parents do.

When you have answered these questions you should have narrowed the field considerably.

Where to now?

Causes of skin irritations

Fragrances - One of the biggest causes of skin irritations in babies is fragrance, they can be either synthetic or natural.
Essential oils – Natural, highly fragrant oils extracted from plants mainly used for its therapeutic properties but these oils are highly potent and can be irritating to a baby’s skin.
Colours – Again natural or synthetic they are both potential irritants. Does baby really need bright pink bubble bath?
Soap and surfactants – are high foaming like bubble bath the higher the foam the more drying they can be to the skin. One common culprit is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. It receives a great deal of bad press but did you know it is actually derived from coconuts (remember what I said about natural and organic products being potential irritants)? Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is commonly used in bath wash and shampoo products for its cleansing action. As it is high foaming it has been associated with skin dryness and skin irritation.
Preservatives – products that combine water and oil need a preservative, without it various bacteria and fungus can pollute the product within months, but again preservatives can be potential skin irritants.

So armed with the correct information, shopping for your baby’s skincare will no longer be a hassle.

LOVE THE SKIN YOU’RE IN

Skin Make –up

Broadly speaking skin is made up of 3 layers, the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous fatty layer. The epidermis is the top layer of skin which holds the stratum corneum and is the barrier to the outside world, the dermis is the middle layer that provides strength and structure and the subcutaneous fatty layer is the bottom layer which insulates the organs from heat and cold.

Differences between Adult and Baby Skin

A baby’s epidermis and stratum corneum isn’t fully developed which makes their skin 5 times thinner than an adults, it has some advantages but mostly disadvantages.

Advantages – a baby’s skin can absorb and hold more water than an adult’s skin

Disadvantages – baby’s skin loses water faster than an adult’s skin. Because their skin can absorb more water it also means they can absorb more potential irritants. When this occurs it can result in dryness, itching, burning, rashes and eczema.

Nadine Hall is an Aromatherapist, Creator of Nature Within, Organic Skincare and Sleepwear for babies and mother of two.

Visit her website: http://www.naturewithin.com.au 

By: Nadine Hall