Are You Doing The Right Thing With Your Baby’s Skin

90% of babies are prone to some or the other form of skin issues. Thanks to the polluted air, impure water and other external harmful environmental factors. Baby skin is very sensitive and delicate. Children up to age 5 are more prone to skin infections and allergies as compared to adults since they lack the required immunity to fight against these odds.

BabyChakra in collaboration with Curatio conducted a survey with close to 300 Moms with children across various age groups  starting from newborn to 4 plus years to understand the various trends in skin care routine and what influences parents to make informed choices when it comes to buying the right baby care  products.

The survey revealed some amazing facts. While a substantial number of skin issues trigger from as simple as mosquito bites, a lot of them are also due to reaction to baby care products. Although these numbers might look small, what is important to note is that these numbers are the root cause for the big figure of 90% that speaks for the volume of babies that are prone to skin issues. Majority of these skin issues are symptomatic with scratching being the most common symptom.

Are we taking the right care?

Hygiene plays a very important role in managing a baby skin as much as genetics. When we asked our moms to help us with their child’s regular skin care routine, we got to know that more than half of the children are given a bath once a day while a little less than half shampoo twice a week. Most of the babies within 12 months of age are given massage once a day either before bath or bed and are moisturized regularly at least once a day.

Massaging trends are seen to vary with age. Our survey revealed that massaging is more prevalent in babies up to 12 months of age. Mothers massage babies more than once a day and are more regular in the first year after birth while this reduces to an occasional massage once the baby crosses the first year milestone. Moisturizing on the other hand pretty much remained the same in terms of numbers across age groups with a slight drop in frequency in older kids. Shampooing trends also vary across age groups. While shampooing in small babies is frequent, this trend sets into a pattern of shampooing a few days a week as the child grows.

While all these numbers look brilliant when it comes to having a routine care in place, what is it that still keeps the figure for skin issues so high?

Using the right products

India baby care market is witnessing a growing trend over the past few decades owing to increasing births and rising awareness to baby care routine and products. Further this market is now making efforts to innovate and introduce more nature and environmental friendly safe and gentle products for baby skin. Soap, moisturizer and massage oil tops the list of baby skin care products when we talk about consumption. Parents as huge as 46% stalk these products every month, 56% suppliers being chemists or medical shops.

Majority of the parents look for product ingredients before buying these products indicating the prevailing cautiousness among parents. Yet babies end up with rashes, allergies, reactions and irritations.

What should we improve?

While parents take all measures to ensure they buy the right products for their baby, yet, about 55% parents end up at doctor’s clinic with baby skin issues. That’s when they switch to dermatologically tested, doctor recommended products that work best on sensitive baby skin.

While some babies do great with usual organic and natural products, others fair well with hypoallergenic, tried and tested products only.

Apart from baby care products, baby allergies  and skin issues are related to many other factors including food and dairy products, air or water borne allergens, genetics, so on and so forth. The key is to being proactive in reacting and being alert and cautious about giving the right attention at the right time and prevent the issue from flaring. While the market is flooded with plethora of baby care products, it is essential to give a closer look at your baby’s skin regularly while evaluating and choosing the product that suits your child the best. Skin is the largest organ of our body and any skin issue if neglected can aggravate and harm the organs. Opt for safe than being sorry!