Caring for your baby or toddler’s skin can sometimes be a headache, although the principles are fairly simple: don’t wash or handle too much, let the skin breathe and protect if necessary. Here’s how to care for your baby or toddler’s skin with the best tips from a specialist and the product developer of the Moi Forest skincare range, Maria Varon.
Often we don’t realise how important the skin is. The skin of a small child protects the delicate body and helps the child to perceive their environment through their sense of touch. Especially in the early stages of life, skin contact from parents is important and supports a child’s development. Caress and cuddle your child and treat the sensitive skin gently.
In children’s skin, cell renewal is faster than in adults and the skin repairs itself efficiently and usually adapts quite well to changing conditions. However, because the soft and smooth skin of a young child is very thin, it can sometimes react to the changing seasons for example by becoming dry or irritated.
If a little dryness or roughness occurs, a first-aid treatment can be an organic vegetable oil, such as coconut or olive oil, applied to slightly damp skin after, for example, a bath. If the skin feels dry, you should extend the interval between baths. It is also a good idea not to wash the skin unnecessarily, for example with soap or other products that dissolve the skin’s own oils. Children do not sweat as much as adults, so washing the skin with water when necessary is sufficient.
After bathing, dry your baby’s sensitive skin with a soft towel, patting gently rather than rubbing. It is a good idea to give frequent air baths to the baby’s skin (especially the diaper area) to prevent chafing, and you can apply a little potato flour to the folds of the skin to prevent chafing.
What you put on your child’s sensitive skin matters. Domestic Moomin Baby diapers contain no fragrances, chlorine, dioxin, latex, formaldehyde, phthalates or creams.
Favour organic cotton for clothing and natural cosmetics for skincare.
Children do not sweat as much as adults, so washing the skin with water when necessary is sufficient.
Little one’s irritated skin
The skin of a child living in the north is put to the test in winter. This may manifest itself as atopic dermatitis or irritated skin. Especially in Finland, people suffer a lot from atopic skin. If your child is suffering from a rash, try these tips:
- Add good fats to your diet, for example from avocados
- Introduce a high-quality probiotic supplement
- Moisturise your child’s skin daily
- Dress the little one in full-body pajamas for the night and seal the pounds with socks. This can help the baby’s skin itchiness, thus improving sleep quality and preventing skin scratching on wounds. Wash clothes with eco-labelled, skin-friendly detergents.
- Irritated skin can also be caused by, for example, food allergies, so it’s a good idea to check with your doctor to rule out any allergies. Unfortunately, not all allergies are easy to find, so it’s worth excluding different foods from your diet and seeing if that makes a difference. Even unexpected foods, such as bananas, can cause an allergy.
Good dirt for the skin
There has been an explosion of autoimmune diseases, such as atopy or allergies, especially in the West. The reason is seen* as the humans disconnection from nature that has occurred with urbanisation. When we don’t expose ourselves to enough of nature’s good microbes, our immune systems can get out of balance.
New research* has found that the skin also plays an important role in the immune defence system.
According to the researchers, it would be good for a child to have enough contact with different microbes during the first few years of their life. Instead of cleaning and disinfecting everything in the home, there is no need to be so diligent about cleaning. The immune system of a child aged 0-3 years eagerly gathers information about the environment through the epithelial cells of the skin, gut and respiratory track. These areas contain important sensory tissues that help the body adapt to the new world outside the womb. As the baby starts to crawl and scramble, they touch and taste everything, so that the immune defence system gets training and reinforcement from the microbes in the environment. However, in an environment that is too sterile, this vital exercise is missed.
It is recommended that a young child should go out into the nature at least five times a week to get enough exposure to the microbes.
It is recommended that a young child should go out into the nature at least five times a week to get enough exposure to the microbes. Family walks in the woods or visits to animal farms, taking care of livestock, and burrowing in mud puddles or vegetable gardens all help to strengthen the child’s immune system and possibly prevent the emergence of allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Living in a city, in the middle of a busy day or in winter, getting in touch with nature is not always so easy. This problem was also recognised by researchers at the University of Helsinki and the University of Tampere, who developed a microbial extract in the Finnish ADELE project that makes it possible to get exposure to nature at home. Delipap Oy, the company behind Moomin Baby, has also been involved in the project since its very beginning.
The project resulted in the Reconnecting Nature™ biodiversity powder, which is now available in consumer products and has also been developed into a special cream for young children, Moi Forest Baby Cream. The microbiome extract has been shown to support and strengthen the immune system, with studies showing that just two weeks of use can improve the diversity of the body’s microbiome. Moi Forest Baby Cream has also proven to be an effective soothing product for the skin of young children.
*Read more about the studies https://www.moiforest.com/en/pages/learn
