“What is the main cause of baby eczema?” asked every frazzled mum cradling her newborn, whose flawless baby skin has started breaking out in angry, red, itchy bumps.
You see, as moms – whether we’re a first-time newbie mom or a platinum 4-times seasoned mom – the first time we encounter eczema on our baby, our first response is to question our ability to mom.
“It is food-related.”
“Is it because she’s reacting to the broccoli I ate for dinner?”
“Must be the 100% brown sugar Boba tea I drank while he was napping…”
“Could it be she’s allergic to the 100% organic maple syrup from Canada that I used for my pancakes this morning?”
The questions never end, but one thing is constant – moms will always blame themselves when things go wrong. But why? Because we have unrealistic expectations. Cue: Beautiful postpartum mom that looks like she just popped the baby out and bounced right back to shape, bonding with her equally gorgeous baby.
And when we look at ourselves in the mirror – panda eyes, postpartum bulge, nursing dress with a damp patch cos our nursing bra soaked through the night – the last thing we want to see on our 100% perfect baby is – eczema.
“WHY!!! What happened to your pweety face!?” “Why does my baby have eczema?!” Ok stahp.
Possible causes of baby eczema
Chill out. 1 in 4 babies have the tendency to develop eczema and/or sensitive skin. Some of them are genetic, oops, didn’t mean to make you blame yourself even more, but hey it could be your hubby’s side, who knows teehee! The rest are usually – newsflash – unsuitable products or food allergies.
So there you go, if you’re wondering why your baby is having these red and itchy spots, you can easily narrow it down to a few things:
- Genetic – if you or your spouse has history of eczema, chances are your cutiepie would too, sorry!
- Unsuitable products – you’ve been giving your baby hour-long bubble baths and that’s showing up on her skin right now – STOP IT!
- Food allergies – this can be either baby’s sensitivity to the formula she’s having or if she’s breastfed, it could be mummy’s diet although this is way less common than #2.
Most common cause of baby eczema – Unsuitable products
Today, let’s talk about the most common cause and what to do about it – unsuitable products – because that accounts for more than 70% of cases and it’s the easiest to isolate. If you’re a first-time mom, read carefully.
What to do if my baby has eczema?!?!?! Stop panicking. Jangan stress ok.
Stop using products on your baby. Simple. It’s literally just that. Yes, I’m selling baby skincare but that’s not the point. The point is, and it really is that simple, baby’s skin does best without ANY products on it. In fact, when babies are born, they have this waxy coating on them – guess what, apples are not the only ones that come with wax!
This wax is Vernix Caseosa, the following is lifted off NCBI, a white, creamy, naturally-occurring biofilm covering the skin of the fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy. Vernix coating on the neonatal skin protects the newborn skin and facilitates extra-uterine adaptation of skin in the first postnatal week if not washed away after birth.
In short, it’s good stuph. Just use water to bathe your newborn. Prevention is easier than cure, if you start off with just water, your baby’s skin will do absolutely fine.
Awww, just look at that!
Treat baby eczema – Use only water for baths!
“Only water?”
For how long you ask? For as long as you can. I used only water on my firstborn until she was 3. She’s now 9 and her skin is pretty much perfect now, she used to have hypersensitive skin. Her eczema inspired me to formulate products meant for sensitive skin and baby eczema.
“Clean mehhhhhhhhhhhh?????????”
Yes, I hear you. And my answer is, YES – of course, unless your newborn was grovelling in the public playground that your neighbours’ dog poops at – your newborn isn’t dirty. I stand corrected – your newborn is clean.
Your in-laws carry her 24/7. Your OCD hubby sanitizes her toys 100 times a day. You blast her crib sheets and clothes in the washing machine at boiling-temperature. If anything, her environment is sterile.
Well, if you’re still unconvinced, let me include a shameless plug here – please use Jo Lauren’s range of skincare and bath products!
It’s formulated for sensitive skin babies and stubborn mummies, whom refuse to use only water on their babies. With Jo Lauren, the likelihood of it irritating baby’s skin is minimized. Just check out our 5* reviews from our lovable moms!
The proof is in the pudding – my 4 kids have good skin – even though my 2 girls had hypersensitive skin and battled with serious eczema when they were babies, they both have perfect skin now. I was able to isolate the main cause of baby eczema, formulate something that really heals the skin barrier, and I hope the same for your babies!
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