A Brief Overview of Baby Acne
It might come as a surprise to some, but acne can affect up to 20% of newborn babies. In most cases it isn’t severe, and the cuteness of babies often distracts from it. But as a parent you can’t help to not be concerned about what it might do to your baby’s skin.
Are there lasting effects? Does it mean your child is more likely to suffer with acne in the long term? What, if anything, can you do about it?
The problem is that when it comes to babies, especially newborns, the majority of treatment options are just not going to be an option. Anything medicated or with more severe ingredients just cannot be used on the delicate skin of an infant.
At these early stages of life, the skin is still in very early development stages. It takes months and years to fully develop and as a parent you have to do everything possible to care for and protect your baby’s skin.
While there aren’t specific baby acne product to use, you can make certain choices about types of cleansing products to avoid. In this article you’ll find out exactly why babies suffer from acne, and what to do about it when it happens.
Facts About Baby Acne
Let’s make one thing clear: acne in babies is different from acne for any other age group in terms of gender, severity and treatments.
Baby acne appears to be gender-biased, because male infants are more affected by it than the females. Typically, babies are attacked by acne at the age of about 3 weeks, some get it at the age of about three months and some babies even suffer it right from the time of delivery.
Normally, the type of acne found in newborns is not severe. It includes the outbreak of pimples, papules or pustules, blackheads & whiteheads. Generally, all acne lesions in infants are mostly pus-filled. Acne mostly appears on the face and scalp of the baby but can appear on other body parts as well.
Best Practices for Baby Acne Treatment
I know it can be pretty tempting for parents to do whatever they can to clear their baby’s delicate skin off acne. But baby acne doesn’t need to be treated so anxiously.
Why? Because, normally, these lesions fade away by themselves within a period of about four months. And in rare cases, it might last a few months or a year. They don’t cause any pain to your baby either.
But what’s important though is to take good care of your baby’s skin in the meantime.
Following are some very important tips to keep in mind when your baby is suffering from acne:
1. Keep the Baby’s Face Clean
Your baby’s skin has to deal with a lot of stuff over the course of the day, whether it’s dirt from the pillow case, or bacteria from toys or people’s lips.
To cope with this situation, gently wash your baby’s face with any good quality mild baby soap, at least once in a day.
But be moderate, and don’t over wash.
2. Avoid Excessive Oil
It is highly recommended to avoid any creams or lotions that can clog the skin pores. Unless the skin of baby becomes very dry, try to use baby moisturizing washes instead of lotions.
3. Say Good-bye to Makeup
Never stuff your baby’s face with makeup. This happens for real when people want to picture their baby but there’s a hideous blemish on the baby’s face. So, they end up hiding it with makeup. You may get a better picture, but your baby may have to suffer from more acne because of this.
If the pimple is really ruining the picture, you can always use photoshop or any other picture editor that lets you easily hide skin blemishes.
4. Keep Harsh Chemicals off Your Baby’s Skin
Try to keep your baby as far from benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid and other strong acne treatments as you can. They may work well for over the counter acne treatments for adults, but he delicate baby skin is too sensitive to be able to tolerate them.
5. Be Patient and Talk to an Expert
One of the best pieces of advice, specially for parents, is to not lose your temper and don’t try to stuff your baby’s face with unwanted and potentially harmful products. Rest assured that your baby’s acne will most probably fade away by the time.
If you’re still not satisfied, and you feel that acne of your baby is getting severe, consult with a dermatologist or a child specialist.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve made it this far from the beginning of this blog post, it might already be clear to you that I’ve discussed more of “general skin care” than any kind of “treatment” for baby acne.
And this is the true essence of this blog post: Baby acne doesn’t need to be aggressively treated. Take good care of your baby’s skin and that is all (mostly) what you need. And most importantly, never hesitate to talk to an expert.
