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Keep your newborn’s skin Baby Soft (and yours too!)

Leslie from Casa De Kooky has popped in to explain how looking after newborn skin can be easy as 1,2,3 for grown ups too.

Becoming a mummy is undoubtedly the best thing that ever happened to me. From the moment I was handed a tiny little wrinkly bundle of baby, all wrapped up and looking bewildered (him, not me) (actually, probably both!), I knew I was in for the most exciting chapter of my life yet.

I can’t lie though, it was (and is) one of the most daunting too! Suddenly having complete responsibility for another little human being is a pretty big deal! All through pregnancy you have midwives and doctors on hand checking you out and taking care of your bump – once bump becomes baby you can suddenly feel very alone!

Every day brings new decisions to make, new judgement calls to judge, new questions to ponder. It’s all worth it though, especially in those peaceful hours spent aimlessly gazing at your beautiful new baby.

One of the most frightening parts for me was how tiny he was.  How fragile. Despite being ten days overdue, he was just under 7lbs, and so skinny!  Getting him dressed the first time was not easy! He was fidgety and I was useless – it took me ages to wrestle him into his first (tiny!) super soft bamboo sleepsuit. He really was a wrinkly little thing too, the nurses said it was because he’d ‘overcooked’!  His skin was so soft though, so perfect.  In hospital, I was advised not to use any products at all for nappy changes – just cotton wool and warm water as even special baby products would be overpowering to his wrinkly little bottom!

After we’d been home a couple of weeks though, the wrinkles smoothed out, and I gave in to baby wipes – warm water & cotton wool aren’t exactly low maintenance when you’re out and about with a tiny baby! I always made sure to use a natural barrier cream in between changes though – having read up on the horror stories of nappy rash caused by wee irritating that super sensitive baby skin!

Bath time was a learning curve too – we’d been gifted a proper baby bath, which I think we used once! It resulted in a soaked mummy, a wet floor, and a grumpy baby!  We soon switched to joint bath time, where he would lie on my chest and gurgle contentedly.  It was a much better arrangement!

Of course sharing the tub with a tiny baby meant I had to be extra careful about what I was putting in my bath! I’ve always been a fan of natural, organic formulas, but I was very wary not to use anything overly scented or fancy.  I opted for special baby formulations, and was pleased to find it did my own skin the world of good as well! It felt softer than ever, and I was saving money in the process – brilliant!

Now Dylan is three, it’s very rare that we share a bath – mostly because there’s no room for me anymore with the amount of toys he has to have in there!  It’s still a fun time we enjoy together though, and I have kept up the habit of pinching his toiletries!

Basically, I’ve learned the secret to having baby soft skin, is to use baby products!  They are formulated to be gentle and nourishing, so obviously that can only be a good thing for us grown ups too!  So, even when he’s a teenager pinching his daddy’s aftershave, I’ll still be buying baby oil to use in my own bath!

 

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