The moment your bundle of joy steps into your life, your primary focus becomes keeping your newborn baby safe and healthy. It is your understanding to worry about your baby’s well being and if your baby skin appears dry or starts peeling in the weeks of birth, and then it might cause your lot of worries. But, do you ever have thought about why does your newborn baby skin peel off or dry? A newborn’s appearance including their skin can change a lot within the first week of life. Your baby’s hair can change colors and their complexion might get either darker or lighter.
Before leaving the hospital or within the days of coming back to your home, your newborn baby’s skin may also being flaking or dry or can peel off naturally. This is completely normal for newborns as peeling can occur on any part of the body like the hands, soles of the feet and the ankles. The newborn is covered in various fluids and this may include amniotic fluid, blood, and vernix. The more is the vernix a baby has on their skin, the less they may peel. In either case, some dryness and peeling after birth are normal, as the skin flaking will go away on its own and does not usually needs special care.
Causes of dryness or peeling of Newborn baby skin
There may be two major reasons that can cause your newborn baby skin dry or peel off naturally after you bring your baby back to home from the hospital:
In some cases, peeling or dry skin can be caused by the skin condition called eczema or atopic dermatitis. This can cause dry, red, and itchy patched on your baby skin and this condition is rare in the period immediately after the baby is born but may develop later in infancy.
Peeling and dryness can also be caused by the genetic condition which is called ichthyosis and this skin condition causes scaly, itchy skin and skin shedding. Your doctor may diagnose your baby with this condition based upon your family's medical history and the physical examination.
Treatment for Dry skin of the newborn baby
Although the skin peeling is normal in newborn baby after birth, therefore you should not worry much about this infant skin cracking or becoming overly dry in certain areas. Instead, you must follow the certain treatment to cure and make your newborn baby feel better as:
Keeping your baby as hydrated as possible also helps in reducing dry skin. Therefore babies must drink the optimum amount of water to avoid dry skin or peeling issues.
Baby cream and lotions extra soft smoothens the baby's skin and helps to soothe the irritated skin. Creams and lotions can be very conveniently applied to the baby's dry skin.
- Protect newborn baby from cold air
You must also make sure that your newborn baby skin is not exposed much to the cold or wind when outdoors, so put some socks or mittens over your baby’s hands and feet to protect them from cold air.
Because the newborn baby skin is quite sensitive, therefore it is important to avoid harsh chemicals that can cause your baby skin with too much irritation.
If the air in your house is too dry, then use a cool mist humidifier to raise the moisture level in your home. A humidifier also helps to relieve eczema and dry skin.
(Also, read - How to choose a baby bath & and skin care products)
Conclusion
There is no way to prevent your newborn baby skin from peeling after birth and the amount of time it takes to shed the outer layer of the skin may also vary from baby to baby. Therefore, you must keep your baby’s skin hydrated to help to reduce the dry patches and cracking.
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