5 Ways Your Baby’s Skin Is Different Than Yours
Everytime you touch a baby, you cannot but go crazy over the tender softness of its skin. Just how much do the television commercials vouch for the baby softenss a product can bring to your skin! At the same time when it’s your baby, you make sure you are just as careful as possible with its skin. You surely need to know a lot more about how your baby’s skin is different from that of yours and the care it might need.
1. Tanning at beach is not for babies
Aww, babies look so cute with their little sunglasses, the floppy hat, and their beachwear. But the sun doesn’t like them all that much we guess. Babies are quite vulnerable to the damage through sun’s rays when compared to adults. Adults produce a pigment called melanin that protects their sking against DNA damange from UV rays. Babies do not produce melanin like adults do. Therefore, their skin is damaged even while they spend a little time under the sun. The side-effects that you can expect are redness, swelling and pain. In fact, babies must be more protected from suburns than adults because they could be at risk of developing cancers such as melanoma.
2. The sievelike nature of baby’s skin
Unlike in adults where the top layer of the skin called epidermis is tightly attached to the lower layer called dermis, babies don’t have the two layers so close together. Rather there are microscopic seals called hemidesmosomes that occur between them which makes their skin more like a sieve. Also, babies have more fats or steroids under their skin. It makes a baby’s skin more permeable.
3. Babies are more prone to skin irritation than adults
One should always treat a baby’s skin with gentle substances. Harsh stuff could percolate into baby’s skin more easily than an adult’s. Also, a baby’s skin must not be exposed to substances that can dry or irritate them. Chemical sunscreens that block UV rays are just one example. You should use sunscreens that are devoid of such physical blockers such as titanium trioxide, zinc oxide or both.
4. Shifting temperatures
Babies do not have the abilit to regulate their body temperatures as adults do. Babies have fewer sweat glands, and therefore they don’t perspire much. Also, unlike adults whose blood vessels widen in the dermis moviing blood from the core to our skin to let our bodies cool, or when the vessels narrow down to keep us warm, babies can’t do such a thing. Their blood vessles do not function at this level. So you must either ventilate the baby or keep it cool depending on how hot or cold it is.
5. Baby skin has the power to heal
Here’s where baby skin beats us adults – healing. A baby skin grows faster because the fibroblasts help in building new skin quickly. But when there are wounds, you cannot simply leave them to themselves to heal because their immune system might not be on par with yours. This apart, baby’s skin faces more wear and tear than that of adults. Diaper rash is one example. Skin bacteria could cause irritation if they are cleaned after every diaper change. Babies are also susceptible to a yeast called Candida albicans that invades the wounds. Babies could also be vulnerable to dryness, and therefore, they have a higher incidence of eczema. But this condition mostly disappers as they grow up.
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