Showing posts with label Cleanliness. Show all posts

Safe Bathing Practices for Babies: A Parent's Guide

Safe Bathing Practices for Babies:

Understanding Infant Skin:

Sensitive Skin: Babies have delicate and sensitive skin that requires gentle care.
Natural Oils: Newborn babies have a protective layer of natural oils on their skin, which should be preserved during bathing.
Avoid Harsh Chemicals: Using harsh soaps or detergents can strip the skin of its natural oils and lead to dryness and irritation.

Bathing Frequency:

Daily Bathing: While daily bathing is often recommended, it's not necessary for all babies. Some parents may find that less frequent bathing is sufficient, especially if their baby has sensitive skin.
Sponge Baths: For newborns or babies with umbilical cord stumps, sponge baths may be preferred until the cord has healed.

Water Temperature:

Lukewarm Water: The water temperature should be lukewarm, around 100°F (38°C). Test the water with your elbow before putting your baby in.
Avoiding Burns: Be cautious of hot water, as babies' skin is sensitive and can be easily burned.

Products and Supplies:

Gentle Products: Use mild, fragrance-free baby products, such as soap, shampoo, and lotion.
Soft Towels: Opt for soft, absorbent towels that won't irritate your baby's skin.
Baby Bath Tub or Sink: A baby bath tub or the sink can be used for bathing, but ensure the surface is non-slip.

Additional Tips:

Support and Safety: Always support your baby's head and neck while bathing. Never leave your baby alone in the bathtub, even for a moment.
Routine: Establishing a consistent bathing routine can help your baby feel secure and relaxed.
Bonding Opportunity: Bathing can be a wonderful opportunity for bonding with your baby. Talk to them, sing songs, or simply enjoy the quiet time together.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure a safe and enjoyable bathing experience for your baby while protecting their delicate skin. Remember, every baby is different, so it's important to listen to your pediatrician's advice and adjust your bathing routine as needed.

Tips for bathing your little one:

Do not leave the child alone:

To maintain the safety of the child, we offer you this golden rule, which is not to leave the child alone in the bathroom while taking a bath, while preparing all the things you need to be within your reach.

Do not leave the child alone for a phone call or open the door, if it is very important, you should take the child with you and wrap him in a towel so that he is not exposed to the cold.

Filling the bathtub since before:

You must ensure that the child is not present while filling the tub to take a bath, as the water temperature may suddenly change to cold water or hot water, as this may affect the child.

It is recommended to prepare the bathtub before taking the baby and prepare the basic things needed for bathing.

Water temperature test:

Before putting your child in the bathtub, you should test the temperature of the water by placing the palm of the hand or the elbow.

When the child feels comfortable and calm, you should introduce him.

Maintain a safe water level:

Did you know that the level of water that is more than one compass deep is sufficient for a small child to drown, so it is recommended to fill the bathtub to his waist no more than this so that the child does not lose his balance inside the tub.

When bathing a child, it is recommended that he be seated to prevent him from falling.

Do not overuse soap:

If you are adding a lot of soap to add bubbles to the water in order to make your child happy, this is something that is advised to be avoided.

Continuous use of soap and such products may cause dryness of your child's skin, so the use of these materials is limited to only once or twice a week, because excessive use of them causes rashes on the skin of the young child.

Children's bathroom:

Your child soils his diaper many times a day, so changing it is something above necessary and should never be neglected in doing it. This process will be repeated hundreds of times throughout your little one's childhood, which may make you nervous at first. Even if changing the diaper seems very easy to you, there are rules in applying it that you must respect and learn to do by heart, in order to avoid all possible problems and ensure the best change for your child.

Taking care of your baby's intimate areas:

After every change, the child needs you to take care of his personal hygiene perfectly, with great kindness and sophistication! Urine and excrement are very acidic on a baby's sensitive skin and if left for a long time in contact with it, they can cause your baby to become irritated, reddened and can result in the presence of fungus!

Prepare all the tools you need to give your child the best bath before you take off his clothes, as the temperature drops quickly in children of this age. Set aside diapers and slings, bath gloves and a small bowl filled with warm soapy water. If you find red areas on your baby's buttocks, get a soothing ointment from the pharmacy.

After removing your little one's dirty nappy, proceed to the personal hygiene process with care and caution. Start by cleaning the dirt that remained on his skin with a blanget. After that, wear shower gloves and wipe with a towel soaked in warm water on his buttocks and intimate areas, and make sure to clean the folds in it as well. You must make sure that no urine remains between these folds because it can cause irritation and redness. You can put eosin on your child's skin and then let it dry in the open air to treat this redness.

For the boy:

Never attempt to retract the foreskin (the thin, loose, hairless skin rich in muscle fibers covering part of the head of the penis). Wash the penis with a cloth and clean water without using soap.

For the girl:

Always start cleaning from the vulva to the anus, not the other way around! Wipe well with gloves all the folds (those in the thigh, the labia majora and even the minor).

Child use of the potty:

Potty training is a source of hope and fear in the hearts of mothers at the same time, just the thought that you will not change more diapers and will not have to bear the burden of buying them, it sure makes you feel happy and excited, but the more you remember what you may suffer Until you reach this moment, fear may creep into your heart and fears may begin to control you, as you think about the hardship that you will face in potty training your child. But know, my dear, that it is worth it, and the result in the end will make you forget any hardship you have gone through.

Keep in mind that the use of the potty differs from one child to another. For example, girls differ from boys, and the age differs from another, in addition to many other factors that may accelerate or delay your child's use of the potty. But in the end, mothers often go through the same stages when training to use the potty, so it is the same for all mothers from the beginning and the decision to start training the child to use it, going through the difficulties that the mother faces and leading to her success in training him to use the potty.

Stages of training a child to use the potty:

Here are the stages of potty training:

1- The beginning:

Is your child ready? You start asking yourself questions as you prepare to make the decision, is he ready to give up nappies, and is he old enough to start going to the bathroom on his own

2- Decision making:

This is the stage of making a decision, and actually starting to train your child to use the potty, you have prepared well by preparing the potty, and enticing him with treats if he uses it.

3- Feeling angry at failure in training:

In this locality, you may decide to spend time at home, and if you work, you may request a vacation from your work of up to three days so that you can sit with your child at home so that he does not wear diapers and limit his options to eliminate his need to use the potty. You focus on giving him water and juices to urge him to relieve himself. After all, your child often urinates his pants. Then you feel angry like all mothers at this stage. But remember that you have to be patient and endure hardship in order to succeed.

4- Feeling confused:

At this point, you may feel confused, you have prepared and prepared everything according to what other mothers have advised you or according to what you have read in a book or article, but surprisingly, your child does not want to use a potty. Rather, it comes to the point that after your attempts to sit on it and wait for you for about half an hour, for example, or more, and your feeling that he does not want to relieve himself and then keep him away from the potty, your child may decide to urinate on the floor. You may then be confused and make him wear diapers again.

5- Feeling confused:

At this point, you are always wondering if you can now have a baby without a nappy on. And you start to bring up the option of only going back to diapers for a while. And do you think that going back to using diapers for your son will lead to losing the progress that you have made with your child? In fact, things are never measured like this. You may need your son to return to wearing a diaper in certain circumstances, such as sleeping times, and there are no consequences for this matter, as it is normal.

6- Perseverance

At this stage, mothers usually continue to do everything they can to accustom the child to using the potty continuously. Never rush him to continue using the potty and accept it without nervousness. Do not give up the idea of the potty at this time or go back to using the diaper. Just continue to accustom the child to the potty without despair.

7- Granting rewards:

Your child has already been able to use the potty times and times that he also does not resort to using it, at this stage you have to encourage him every time he uses the potty and give him the rewards that he loves and express your gratitude to him with different words of encouragement and applause.

8- Feeling happy as a result of progress:

At this point the child is finally able to use the potty. You will feel very happy with this achievement

9- Success

You and your child will definitely succeed in this, and your child will get used to continuing to use the potty and will not accept using the nappy again. Remember that you have to go through the stages of confusion, anger, and each of the above in order to be able to feel the happiness of the stage of success in the end.

Hand sanitizers for children:

Hand sanitizers for children are great alternatives to the antibacterial soap that parents often use to quickly clean their children's hands.

However, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States has expressed concern that these chemicals may increase bacterial resistance to infection when children use them excessively, and pose poisoning risks to children who ingest them.

Harmful effects of hand sanitizer for children:

The harms of hand sanitizers for children are as follows:

Weakened immune system:

Babies develop immunity from drinking breast milk and from exposure to environmental pathogens. Memory T cells are white blood cells that “remind” the immune system of previously encountered pathogens and help it fight them. Hence, the hand sanitizer that completely eliminates bacteria can weaken the child’s immune system at a later time and prevent its formation of memory cells, which weakens its fight against diseases.

Poisoning:

One of the most dangerous dangers that hand sanitizers may cause to children is the risk of poisoning, due to their great attraction to beautiful colors and distinctive boxes. Hand sanitizers contain a large percentage of alcohol, which sometimes reaches 90%, which can cause, if children swallow them, some side effects such as: dizziness, headache, and in extreme cases, they may damage the brain.

sensitivity:

The Centers for Disease Control warns that the overuse of hand sanitizers for children is linked to the development of allergies. This problem is a misguided immune reaction to harmless substances, which often occurs when the skin is overexposed to the same substances, which weakens the immune system and therefore reacts strangely to all substances as if they are dangerous.

some advices:

Parents should avoid excessive use of hand sanitizers for children every time they touch a new surface, and their toys should not be washed daily or even cleaned in these materials.

Hand sanitizers for children work effectively when parents use them to prevent infection, such as when visiting another sick child, and should never be used after eating or when touching dirt, i.e. after playing.

Nappy disposal:

There is no doubt that raising children is not an easy task, as your child grows up day by day, he needs more patience, and one of the most difficult tasks that any mother goes through is the stage of accustoming the child to get rid of the diaper and toilet training.

Steps to get rid of the nappy:

In this article, here are the steps that you must follow to make the task of taking off the nappy easier.

1- Determine the appropriate time to start training your child to take off the diaper:

We often hear about the experiences of mothers who trained their children to use the potty or potty and take off the diaper before the end of the child’s first year, but studies have shown that there is no need to pressure the child at an early age just because your neighbor’s son is a genius and succeeded in using the potty at a young age, but you can start Training your child from the age of one and a half years to the age of 3 years, and children usually begin to dispense with the diaper and enter the bathroom from the age of two to 3 years.

2- Providing the tools that the child needs for this stage:

The potty, take your child to choose the shape of his favorite potty to encourage him to sit on it.
A small toilet seat to help the child reach the toilet seat.
Underwear training shorts that look like regular shorts but contain absorbent fabric.
Cotton underwear so as not to cause infections or skin allergies.
A child-friendly toilet seat, to make it easier for your child to sit on the bathroom base.
Cartoon films and stories about training to take off the diaper and use the toilet, as children learn by example more than any other means.

3- Make sure that your child is mentally and physically ready to take off the diaper:

Do not take the step of giving up the diaper after making sure that your child is able to communicate verbally to communicate his feelings such as hunger and thirst or picking up his favorite toy, in addition to his ability to feel upset when his diaper is dirty and begins to indicate his desire to change it or to make movements indicating his desire to urinate.

Relying on himself to get up and down on chairs and tables and trying to open things on his own, in addition to being prepared physically and mentally. It is necessary to take into account his psychological needs while choosing the appropriate time to train him, and taking into account staying away from times of his illness or cold weather so that this experience passes completely easily.

4- Never use a nappy again:

With the passage of time after your child responds to potty training and using the potty, do not put the nappy on him again, so that he does not use it again.

Give the child a small reward whenever he can go to the bathroom on his own.

Things to consider when choosing the right diaper for a child:

Measurement:

The measurement depends on the weight of the child, and the appropriate weight for each measurement is written on the diaper, and it is possible to try more than one size, whether larger or smaller, to find out the most suitable for your child.

Diaper Thickness:

The thickness of good quality diapers is less, so as not to bother the child and not to take up space in the clothes.

Absorbency and texture:

The absorption power must be high, and this can be known from the green color inside the diaper, which means that the absorption power is good, in addition to the mother’s experiences.

Rubber sides:

The sides must be comfortable and not disturb the child in terms of design and material used, and they must also be tight and not cause leakage without harming the child.

Adhesive:

It is important that the adhesive is strong to seal the nappy, and good quality is characterized by its adhesive that does not come off easily.

Tips for the mother during the period of teaching her child to clean himself after the bathroom:

Talking about the importance of cleaning and encouraging learning is the right start to finish training optimally.
Patience, perseverance and persistence are the key to success in the education period.
Taking into account the privacy of the child and his motor skills, it will be the chapter in reaching the desired results.
The creation of appropriate conditions, the use of appropriate tools, and the correct preparation pave the way for the passage of this period in the best way and in the shortest possible period.
A child learning to clean himself does not mean the end of his supervision, so he must be constantly checked for cleanliness, as your child may succeed many times and may fail if he is tense, or if he suffers from a digestive condition such as diarrhea or a health emergency.

During infancy, the child enters into more and less enjoyable experiences, such as the experience of cleaning himself after using the bathroom. Make sure that it is a period of great importance, like other educational processes.

How to teach a child to clean himself after a bath:

Mothers always ask about how I teach my child to clean himself immediately after the bathroom. It is natural for the child to start cleaning himself after using the bathroom after mastering the use of the potty or the toilet completely and permanently, so that you can teach the child to wash the stool, but before starting the training process it is necessary to Consider several points:

Use appropriate tissue paper materials that fit your child's skin and the size of his hands.
Explain the appropriate technique to the child several times before starting the practical application.
You should not rely on the child completely even after mastering the form of the process, you will always have to check that it is completed properly.

Education process outside the bathroom:

But if your child loves to learn and usually shows enthusiasm for learning new things; It will facilitate the next stages for you, and here it is preferable to start the education process outside the bathroom, beginning in the period of its preparation, which is as follows:

Teach the child to fold the napkin, and repeat the process several times.
Train the child to wipe any sticky material - playdough, for example - on a plastic slide, and make sure that the slide is clean after wiping, and then fold the handkerchief if any amount of paste remains on the slide, to re-wipe it.
You can train him on a suitable size doll if possible as a start for this stage.
You can also train the child outside the bathroom at times other than defecation, or by pretending that he did the defecation process, so the phase of wiping out will not be a very strange process.

Practical application of cleaning after using the bathroom:

After the above, you can now start the practical application stage of cleaning after using the bathroom, and when your child tells you that he has finished the exit process as usual, you have several important steps to follow, the beginning may be more difficult than expected:

Be patient.
Encourage your child that he will do something good.
Provide him with a sufficient amount of tissues and make him fold them as you taught him previously. This will encourage him, as he will start with something he has learned previously.
Explain the technique to him before starting it, and let him wipe from front to back.
Watch the process carefully, and if he needs a little help, that's okay for a start, but he prefers to finish the process on his own.
If the child gets a napkin too dirty, give him a new napkin and let him repeat the process.
When he finishes the process, make sure the stool outlet is clean.
Don't forget to encourage him for the important achievement, and he did a great job.
Remind him during the day that he has done well, and that he can always repeat it.

Difficulties that need patience to overcome:

Remember here that things are not always easy, and it may be difficult for some children and easier for others, and some of them may succeed from the first or second attempt, and it may take weeks and months for others, taking into account your child’s privacy and encouraging him in any case so that he can finish the task.

In the event that you are one of the societies that prefer cleaning by rinsing with water without wiping, you can follow the same steps, but it may take longer time, more skills, and perhaps an older age. In both cases, make sure that the process ends before your child enters school, where you will not be present. No matter what help he might get in school.

When does the child start going to the bathroom:

Children differ among themselves in the age required to request entry to the bathroom, and the periods in which parents begin to teach their children to request to use the toilet and to clean themselves after entering the bathroom differ.

It is possible that the difference in the periods of the child entering the bathroom extends to health organizations around the world, as training the child begins in the United States between two to three and a half years, or teaching the child the bathroom at the age of 4 years, which is a very late period according to international standards, as some countries begin The other is from the age of one and a half years, but even at the age of three years, for example, most children do not have the motor skills that allow the child to clean himself without help.

At what age can a child clean himself after using the bathroom?

There is no fixed age that you can apply to all children, as it may differ from one child to another, even in the same family, but most studies indicate the need to start teaching the child to use the toilet or potty, and then teach him the methods of cleaning himself after going out at the age between three and four, provided that This happens in the appropriate way, and that the training period is as smooth and gentle as learning any other skill.

It is also preferable to complete it before the child enters school, and this period must be under careful observation and supervision of the parents so that the child can master it completely. Therefore, we will talk about the things that parents should take into account before starting the process of training the child to clean himself after the bathroom:

Talk to your child about the reason for wiping - the process of cleaning - and that what you are doing is a good and healthy deed.
Set realistic expectations for results and do not compare children in this area, as each child has different motor skills.
Expect to take your time, be patient, and stay calm. Nothing gets in the way of mastering a skill more than the stress of a training period.
Dirt slipping on a child's underwear is not the end of the world! You can eventually switch it easily, as it is a stage of training.