Dry skin on 3 week old, leave it or put something on it?

[WideWebWitch]

Well, here I am with the first few baby related questions Dd is 3 weeks old and has flaky dry skin patches on her legs and hands. Is there anything I can put on it or is it best left alone? She has only been bathed in plain water so far so it shouldn't be soap or anything irritating it. Can I use oil of some kind? Sorry if this is a dense question, it's been 6 years and my memory of babies is dim! (I have skimmed through the mumsnet book but haven't found anything on this) It's not really terrible and isn't bothering her, I'd just like to massage her really! TIA

try almond oil
neal's yard do an organic one if you're that way inclined or 1.99 from the chemist for a 'culinary standard' one

We used almond oil also. Speaking of, does anyone know when almond oil has gone bad? We still have it from last year, but I don't know if I can use it now and in the next few months on a newborn or if I need to bin it.

sniff it.
If you have kept the lid on tight it should be OK
if it doesn't smell manky and still looks clear then use it

Ok - thanks!

www
if you have3 no histoery of nut allergies you should be fine

LOL about older generation and there selective memories

we used olive oil, it worked very well - tho' ds did smell a bit like a salad!

Aqueous cream about £2.00 for a massive tub from Boots is one of the mildest emollients for newborn skin and used by dermatologists. i am using it for 4 week old ds, not as good as oils for massage but does still work.

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Twiglett

my midwife advised olive oil, we only needed it for 2 days, so unless you use it regularly anyway only buy a small bottle.

sbernow - LOL at baby being impossible to pick up - have visions of her shooting from hand to hand like the Chuckle Brothers!

sobernow - the clinic woman said to avoid nut-based oil - so almond oil is to be avoided? Just checking. . .

ha, my natural mean tendencies led me to get cheapo olive oil! ds was quite slippery and hard to pick up afterwards, not to mention with rather a glistening sheen about him... ahh, happy memories...

Do you know, I wondered about olive oil but was a bit embarrassed to ask in case you all fell about laughing at the ridiculousness of the idea! I've only got extra virgin though so will pick up ordinary cheapo one later today. at salad smelling baby and greased up slippery one. Thanks everyone.

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I will admit, here and now, that dp slopped on ordinary mineral baby oil the sort home-birthy breast-feeding organic-eating mummies like me run a mile from. And it worked brilliantly

Just seen this. Yes to Olive oil! I did use baby oil at first but then discovered how many nasty-sounding chemicals it contains.

But www - I also found that increasing the humidity level helped a lot - probably more than the oil. If there's a radiator in your dd's room, put some washing on it!

robinw - surely not probiotics at this age? dd didn't seem to tolerate them at all until at least 9 months (she was breastfed and apparently that may have had something to do with it though).

Baby oil is a mineral oil (ie made out of....rocks/coal/oil etc) and we were told to use a veg oil so we used olive oil, but moved to wheatgerm oil on advise as it is full of Vit E! Soon after we put about 20 drops of lavender in to the bottle of wheatgerm oil and massaged DD before bed (after bath) each night until she was about 3! Now (she's 6)she uses aqueous cream after her bath and she has lovely skin.

Enjoy the massaging