How To Prevent Baby From Getting Dry Skin

Infant Allergies

It seems like more and more babies are struggling with eczema,
or really dry skin. As a mother, I have had to deal with my
child's struggle with really dry skin. Ever since my son's
birth, he has been getting rough, dry patches on his skin. If
you haven't noticed, your baby's skin probably gets drier in the
winter than in the summer. These are just some tips that have
helped my baby's skin stay "soft as a babies butt" all year
round.

Infant Allergies

If your baby's skin is extremely dry, cut down on
baths--depending on how old your baby is. When your baby starts
crawling, you will notice that he gets dirtier. Giving your baby
a bath every other day instead of every day will be sufficient
to keep your baby clean. Too much water can strip moisture from
the skin.

Infant Allergies

Put lotion on within a couple minutes of your baby getting out
of the bath. Because he was just in warm water, your baby's
pores are open and will absorb more moisture. I have noticed
that when I put lotion on right away, my baby's skin just eats
it up. If I add a little more lotion to his skin at this point, my baby's skin seems to stay moist all day long.

Infant Allergies

Use a lotion that is made for sensitive skin. I like using
Huggies extra sensitive lotion. It's fragrance free,
hypoallergenic, and dye free. It really moisturizes and uses
mild gentle ingredients that won't irritate baby's skin.

Use plenty of lotion--really put it on. It may take a minute to
rub it all in, but it's worth it. I have noticed that when I
really do a good job of rubbing the lotion in, my baby's skin
stays soft and the moisture lasts until the next day.

Turn down the heat. The hotter the house is, the drier the air.
If your baby seems cold, add clothes instead of turning up the
heat.

Cut down on the soap. If baby's skin is dry, using a bubble
bath can make it worse. Only use soap on the body parts that
need it, i.e. the diaper area. Also, use a gentle soap.

If your baby's skin is really dry, up his fluid intake. Babies,
as well as adults, get moisture from inside the body.

Add moisture in your baby's room with a humidifier. This will
put moisture in the air and help hydrate your baby's skin.

As always, if your baby's skin is extremely dry go visit your
doctor. But the best medicine is always preventative, so try to
prevent your baby's skin from being dry by following the above
tips.

How To Prevent Baby From Getting Dry Skin

Infant Allergies

Natural Treatment of Baby Eczema - Fewer Bath Products and Better Nutrition May Be the Answer

Infant Allergies

Steroid creams and ointments commonly prescribed for eczema can cause adrenal damage in infants and children

Infant Allergies

Steroid creams and ointments are the most commonly prescribed treatment for eczema, but can have dangerous side effects, especially for infants. Steroids are easily absorbed through the skin, and children can absorb a high percentage of the drugs because their skin is thin and they have more skin in relation to their body size. Even short courses of treatment with steroids can cause damage to the adrenal glands, which regulate the body's hormones.

Infant Allergies

Steroids work by interfering with the chemicals the body uses to signal inflammation. They turn off the inflammation response and cause tiny blood vessels called capillaries to constrict, reducing redness and swelling. Topical steroids also suppress the body's immune system and can lead to an increased susceptibility to fungal or bacterial infections of the skin.

Infant Allergies

Before using a steroid medicine, caregivers should work with a pediatrician to see if the baby's skin condition is caused by a nutritional deficiency, a food allergy, or irritation from soaps or moisturizers.

What causes baby eczema?

According to the National Institutes of Health, eczema affects up to 20% of infants and children in the United States. The rate of eczema has been rising for years, and is highest in industrialized countries. Hundreds of studies have been undertaken, linking eczema to food allergies, atopy (a triad of conditions including allergy, asthma and eczema), heredity (a child is more likely to get eczema if a parent has an atopic condition), household income (the rate of eczema seems to increase with higher income), houses that are too clean (the "hygiene hypothesis"), houses that are too dirty (dust mite allergy), urban upbringing vs. rural upbringing (kids who grow up on farms have the lowest rates of all atopic conditions)... the list goes on and on.

As eczema is a sign of an underlying condition and not an illness, the answer is probably "all of the above." Eczema can be triggered by food allergies, by contact allergies (contact with irritating substances), by nutritional deficiencies, and as a side effect of other diseases like insulin resistance and diabetes. The eczema trigger is different for each person--and may depend a lot on genetics.

Early bathing may irritate newborn skin

Bathing routines and products we take for granted may interfere with the development of healthy infant skin. Babies are born with sterile skin, which is covered by a thick, creamy substance called vernix caseosa. Vernix has antimicrobial and antifungal properties that protect the baby's skin in the womb and after birth, when the baby first comes into contact with bacteria in the outside world. World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for newborn care specify that, to protect the baby, vernix should not be removed for at least six hours. Unfortunately, in modern societies this protective substance is immediately washed off in the hospital, leaving the baby's skin vulnerable to colonization by bacteria and fungi.

Newborn skin is very thin and loses moisture rapidly. It takes a few weeks for infant skin to develop the "acid mantle," a slightly acidic (pH about 5.5) mixture of sebum, sweat and "friendly" bacteria. (By adulthood, skin may be colonized by nearly two hundred different species of bacteria.) Ideally, over the first few weeks of life, a baby's skin is colonized by beneficial bacteria picked up from close contact with the mother and family. These bacteria perform an important function: they keep skin healthy by preventing colonization by disease-causing microorganisms. If this important step is compromised, skin can be colonized by harmful bacteria. The skin of people with eczema tends to carry a high concentration of Staphylococcus aureus, bacteria which cause skin infections, pneumonia, and even Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Excessive bathing, soap, and moisturizer use can interfere with development of healthy skin

Infant skin will naturally develop a healthy acid mantle and strong immune defenses if it's allowed to. But again, bathing routines and products we take for granted, including soaps and moisturizing lotions, can interfere with this process.

Infant skin is so delicate that even exposure to plain water disturbs it enough to dry it out. Soap accelerates this process by raising the skin's pH and removing beneficial oils, resulting in impaired skin protection for hours after bathing.

Fragrance and preservative chemicals in soaps and moisturizers irritate skin further, and can actually affect the way skin develops. What's worse, these chemicals can be absorbed through an infant's skin into the bloodstream, potentially affecting the baby's developing hormonal system.

A healthier way to care for infant skin

Babies' skin doesn't get very dirty for the first few weeks of life, so generally the less it's interfered with, the healthier it will be. Adding a half-teaspoon of lemon juice--to reduce the water's pH and add skin-friendly ascorbic acid--and a teaspoon of sunflower or safflower oil to the bathwater will keep baby clean without harming skin. If a moisturizer is needed, use a fragrance free baby oil containing sunflower or safflower oil, which are excellent moisturizers and have the added benefit of helping to prevent bacterial skin infections.

If your baby's skin does become irritated, bathing with Epsom salts or Dead Sea salts is a safe and clinically proven way to soothe irritated skin. (Epsom salts are not salt at all, but magnesium sulfate, a natural mineral effective for soothing inflamed skin. Dead Sea salts are evaporated mineral salts from the Dead Sea in Israel.)

Some magnesium in an Epsom salts bath is absorbed through the skin and is a safe way to supplement this important mineral, while Dead Sea salts provide a whole range of vitamins and minerals essential for healthy skin, including magnesium, zinc, potassium, copper, and B vitamins. A teaspoon of bath salts is plenty for an infant bath.

For older kids and for gentle cleansing when soap is required, try a natural bar soap or highly diluted castile soap, like Dr. Bronner's.

Nutrition affects infant skin

The nutritional value of the food we eat has changed dramatically over the past several decades. "Factory farming," where fields are sown with the same vegetables year after year, fertilized with petroleum by-products and sprayed heavily with herbicides and insecticides, has reduced levels of key vitamins and minerals in vegetables. Meat and dairy animals are raised on huge feedlots, fed an unnatural diet of grain and animal by-products, and heavily dosed with antibiotics to keep them alive long enough to slaughter.

Eczema is strongly connected with nutrient deficiency, so it's not surprising that a decline in the nutritional value of food would coincide with an increase in rates of eczema.

Baby eczema may be a sign of zinc or magnesium deficiency

Deficiencies of zinc or magnesium are fairly common and cause symptoms which are indistinguishable from other types of eczema. A deficiency of vitamin B6 may result in seborrheic dermatitis, or cradle cap.

When a breast-fed baby develops eczema, the mother's diet is often suspected as the cause. However, the eczema may have nothing to do with food allergy. Breast milk is often low in zinc, and a sign of zinc deficiency is dry, irritated skin. Recent studies suggest that zinc deficiency may be much more common than previously suspected. Low levels of magnesium may also cause eczema-like symptoms by raising the level of histamine in the blood and making the body more sensitive to allergens.

A simple blood test can identify a zinc or magnesium deficiency, and supplementing with the missing mineral may solve the problem. A special kind of zinc can also be applied as a topical cream for absorption through the skin. Caregivers should talk to their pediatrician about correct dosing before giving a baby a vitamin supplement.

Formula-fed babies may also be deficient in vitamins or in essential fatty acids (EFAs) - fats which are essential to healthy development of the brain, nervous system and skin. Some babies may not be able to utilize the vitamins and fats in baby formula, or the formula itself may not provide enough of them. A doctor or knowledgeable nutritionist can help caregivers choose a more appropriate formula or supplement with the necessary vitamins and essential fatty acids-especially zinc, magnesium, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a type of EFA.

Food allergies and eczema

About 30% of infants and children with eczema test do positive for food allergies. A baby or child has a much greater chance of developing food allergies if either of the parents have allergies themselves. The most common allergens include cow's milk, soy, egg, wheat, peanuts and shellfish. In breastfed babies, allergens from foods may pass directly to the child through breast milk. Avoiding these foods while breastfeeding may keep the child from developing eczema or other allergic reactions. The La Leche League website has an excellent page on allergies and breastfeeding.

In formula-fed babies, changing the formula may eliminate the problem. Special, easy-to-digest hydrolyzed formulas (formulas where the proteins are partially broken down) are often recommended for formula-fed babies with food allergies. Adding probiotics or prebiotics - beneficial bacteria that live in the gut and help digest food - to infant diets helps to reduce or prevent both food allergies and other illnesses and has been shown to help relieve eczema, too.

Breastfeeding longer, introducing solid foods late (after 6 months), introducing new foods one at a time, and waiting to introduce allergenic foods until after the baby is about a year old help reduce the risk of allergic reactions. Most babies outgrow early allergies to milk and eggs, although peanut allergy is more likely to persist to adulthood. However, children with food allergies are more likely to develop asthma or other atopic diseases when they grow older. Caregivers should talk to their pediatrician if they suspect a food allergy. A food elimination diet should only be utilized under a doctor's supervision, to limit the risk of nutrient deficiency.

Treating the root cause of eczema, rather than the symptoms, will start your baby on the road to a lifetime of healthy skin.

Natural Treatment of Baby Eczema - Fewer Bath Products and Better Nutrition May Be the Answer

Infant Allergies

Are you allergic to cigarette smoke?

Infant Allergies

It's just a hint of smoke enough to ruin your day? Once lit, the person next to you, is the first thing you think of unpleasant memories of your last meeting with the smoke of tobacco and a runny nose, sneezing and congestion that followed. For some, the response to cigarette smoke is similar to an allergic reaction, they think of "smoke allergies" LED.

Infant Allergies

There are a lot of "smoke allergies" are actually mythsdifficult to adequately treat his condition. This article will tell you if you say, if you "smoke allergies" and what you can do to better protect themselves against diseases associated with passive smoking affected.

Infant Allergies

Myth 1: "allergic to smoke"

Infant Allergies

No one is really allergic to smoke. Many people insist that they are allergic to smoke cigarettes or cigars, but the truth is that I'm allergicother diseases. To understand why, as you can in allergy attack, like when a smoker is the key to understanding how it feels to prevent the symptoms of the future.

Why do I say that there is no such thing as an allergy to smoke, because smoking is not technically an allergen - but it is a nuisance. This small difference explains why most people do not experience relief when taking medication antihistamine allergy after exposure to tobacco smoke. The key to avoidingThe problems caused by cigarette smoking, which determines the type of sensitivity you have and how best to deal with.

Who is vulnerable to "smoke allergies"?
Children and babies Elderly People with a history of allergy (each with allergies, asthma, eczema, etc.) People who smoke high for a long period

Sometimes people who are sensitive to tobacco smoke, even when they encounter a strong allergic symptomsOdors, smells, changes in climate or temperature.

The symptoms of sensitivity to cigarette

For some people, exposure to tobacco smoke causes a list of symptoms:
Sneeze Cough Watery, burning eyes Cold Retronasal Jam Breathlessness Headache

These symptoms occur immediately after exposure to cigarette smoke and last for hours. In addition to these symptoms, people who are in smoke-filled rooms, on a daily basislikely to have constant respiratory infections as sinusitis and bronchitis, as well as the development of wheezing and asthma.

Tobacco smoke

A lit cigarette is able to release more than 4,000 different chemicals in the air (of which 80 are known or suspected carcinogens). Sometimes, to avoid situations where people smoke is almost impossible. Often a family member smoking in rooms or in a public place like a bar or restaurant that allows smoking.Depending on the severity of your reaction, just the smell of smoke on the clothes of someone or in a room where someone had been smoking cause irritation. So even if the avoidance of tobacco smoke is the best way to prevent "smoke allergies" can not be a viable solution.

Basically two types of smoke-sensitive

The best way to treat your "allergy" to smoke, to begin to identify what kind of sensitivity occur. There are two types of smokeSensitivity:
The basis of aggravating allergies Smoke: Your body is weakened by the smoke and begins to react all the bits of pollen, dust and hair, which normally would not be a problem. Vasomotor rhinitis: This is a condition that has exactly the same symptoms as allergic rhinitis (nose allergy), but can not be treated with antihistamine allergy medicine.
Smoking aggravated allergies:
An allergen is a small particle that is builtprotein that the body mistakes for a dangerous invader like a virus or other germs. Tar smoke contains tiny particles of ash (You can see these particles generated in the form of a white cloud from the burning of tobacco). But the ash particles from coal tar are not the same as a true allergen, because they are based on proteins, but a form of carbon.

Instead labeled smoke particles are classified as irritating allergens. Irritants can worsen a lot of discomfort, diseases such asAsthma and allergies, and cause other serious health problems. So, in medical terms, no one can really be allergic to smoke, but can be complicated, the suffering of their existing allergies or other illnesses.

If you have allergies or asthma, smoking can trigger an allergic reaction, because it puts additional pressure on the body and the immune system. Drift cat dander in the air instead, which generally do not have a violent reaction, butwith the addition of tobacco smoke, your body can not handle the allergens. Asthma is dangerous when combined with exposure to tobacco smoke and even mix some 'fatal.

They may be complications, allergies, if the experience:
You know I'm allergic to things like pollen dust mites, pets, mold or dust. You have eczema and food allergies.

Treatment
Avoid situations that you can see where you are exposed to smoke. See an allergistTo optimize existing treatment for allergies, or if you have developed new allergies. Run an air purifier to reduce the number of allergens in the air. Even a small portable air cleaner smoke eater like a house is effective in removing allergens in the bedrooms of family members to smoke.
Vasomotor rhinitis:
Vasomotor rhinitis is a form of irritation and inflammation of the nose and throat and eyes. Seasonal allergies or coveredreferred to as "allergic rhinitis". This condition differs from allergic, because they are not caused by allergens. For this reason, vasomotor rhinitis, sometimes called "non-allergic rhinitis." It causes many symptoms that would be a similar reaction, but is caused by high sensitivity or excessive amounts of blood vessels in the delicate tissue of the breast area. The symptoms occur are caused by the nervous system, such as allergens.

This means that while another person may be able to smoke cigarettes, a person suffering from vasomotor rhinitis are a lot of discomfort with the same amount of experience to tolerate the smoke. So do not over-react when they complain even small amounts of smoke - those are really small affect stronger than those around you.

In addition to cigarette smoke, strong odors are often also cause symptoms or time, so you can see that many aspects of your environment to find the cause> Allergy-like symptoms. Some people even have allergic and vasomotor rhinitis simultaneously.

She is probably a vasomotor rhinitis, if:
They are very sensitive to other factors such as perfume, strong odors, climate change, changes in temperature or spicy foods, even. Walk a little 'hot (or cold) space makes a runny nose or closed, sorry. Antihistamines may relieve symptoms.

Treatment
Avoid situations that manypossible, where your condition can be aggravated. These include smoking, vasomotor rhinitis and some other triggers such as perfume worn, scented candles, etc. Talk to your doctor about treatment options. Some drugs, such as oral decongestants and saline nasal sprays can alleviate. Some drugs that have proven effective antihistamine nasal spray (as opposed to oral antihistamines, in general, no influence on the opposite sidevasomotor rhinitis), anti-drip anticholinergic nasal sprays and nasal spray corticosteroids. Limit exposure to smoke and the smell of smoke, as this is often the cause of many cases of vasomotor rhinitis. Use an air filter to reduce these pollutants from the smoke of a house-eating air.
A note for allergy sufferers:

The inhalation of even small amounts of smoke for a long period of time can actually cause the development of new allergies or even asthma. In young childreninhalation of environmental tobacco smoke increases the risk of developing allergies when they get older. If you live with a smoker, you will probably have more cases of bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections and other respiratory diseases.
The best thing you can do to make your living space a zero-tolerance smoking area. If this is not an option, consider an air purifier as an investment in your health.

Some ofThe symptoms of sinusitis (sinus infection) can be described very similar vasomotor rhinitis and allergic rhinitis in this article. Be sure to visit your doctor to help diagnose her illness, when tobacco smoke is a feeling over time.

Remember: Always be sure to talk with your doctor or allergist about your symptoms and treatment.

Are you allergic to cigarette smoke?

Infant Allergies