Dry Skin in Babies and What to Do About It

Her cheeks feel like paper and there are flakes on her shins, and you have started wondering what you did wrong.

Nothing. Baby skin is thinner than yours and loses water faster. Cold air, air conditioning, sun and long baths all pull it out.

Most dryness in babies is ordinary and fixable. A smaller share is eczema, which is a different problem, and knowing which you are looking at is the useful first step.

Why it happens

Newborn peeling is not dryness at all. She arrived covered in vernix caseosa, the waxy layer that eased the birth and kept infection out. As it sheds, the skin underneath flakes. It settles within weeks and needs nothing from you.

Dry air is the usual ongoing cause, and in most homes here the air conditioning does more of it than the weather.

Long or hot baths strip her natural oils faster than she replaces them.

Soaps and detergents with strong fragrance, on her or on her clothes.

What it looks like

Scaly patches, rough texture, dull skin, peeling, redness, chapping, or a rash on her face, neck, knees, elbows or ankles.

When it is eczema instead

Eczema itches. That is the clearest divider.

It comes in patches with vaguer edges, usually on the cheeks in small babies and in the elbow and knee creases later. It comes and goes rather than steadily improving, and she will rub or scratch at it.

Plain dryness responds to a moisturiser within days. Eczema needs a doctor and often a prescribed cream, because moisturiser alone will not hold it.

Four things that help

Shorter baths. About 10 minutes. Within that, daily is fine. Warm rather than hot, and pat dry rather than rubbing.

Moisturise while she is still damp. Within a few minutes of the bath. That traps the water already in her skin, which is most of what a moisturiser actually does.

Skip the drying ingredients. Something fragrance-free with a short list. High concentrations of alcohol dry out skin that is already dry, which is reason enough without calling them dangerous.

And plainly: "natural" does not automatically mean gentler. Several botanical extracts are common irritants.

Change the air, not her drink. Babies under 6 months should not be given extra water. Milk covers her fluid needs completely, and water at this age risks water intoxication and displaces nutrition. Water comes in alongside solids at around 6 months, in small amounts.

Dry baby skin is about humidity, bath frequency and moisturiser, not about how much she drinks. If the air conditioning runs all night, that is the thing to change.

Choosing a lotion

Short list, no fragrance.

Mama's Choice Baby Skin Vitamin Lotion uses avocado to hydrate and protect against free radicals, and olive oil for regeneration.

After the bath, over her body. Not her face.

Hypoallergenic, dermatologically tested, no alcohol, parabens or mineral oil.

Patch test first

Anything new goes on a small patch of her arm and waits a day or two before it goes anywhere else. That includes this one.

Bathing her without drying her out

The bath is where most of the dryness is created, and where it is easiest to fix.

Warm, not hot. Test it on the inside of your wrist rather than your hand, which is less sensitive than you think.

Ten minutes is plenty. Longer and the water starts pulling oils out rather than putting anything in.

Plain water is enough for a newborn most days. A mild wash a few times a week does the rest.

Skip the bubble bath. Whatever the packaging says about being gentle, surfactants sitting against her skin for ten minutes are not.

Pat, then moisturise inside three minutes, while she is still slightly damp.

What about oil

Coconut oil, olive oil and almond oil all get recommended for baby skin, and they are not all equivalent.

Oil seals. It does not add water. So oil on dry skin with nothing underneath does less than you expect, and oil over a moisturiser on damp skin does considerably more.

Olive oil specifically has been shown in some work to disrupt the skin barrier in babies rather than support it, so it is not the safe default it is assumed to be. If you want to use an oil, use it over a lotion rather than instead of one.

When to see a doctor

• No better after a week or two of moisturising
• Itchy enough to wake her
• Cracks that weep, bleed, or crust yellow
• Redness spreading, or skin warm to touch
• A rash with a fever, or with her feeding badly