newborn scratches face pretty badly

[bumbly]

even though i cut his nails

will those nasty scabs leave a scar? unfortunately he keeps scratching the scabs...and he is covered in baby acne -

not a pretty sight at all

also noticed he has got blackheads - will those disappear?

argh!!!

I also found socks over the hands good if you don't have scratchmitts (found they stayed on better). DS scratched like anything but you wouldn't know it now.

i always put socks on my sons hands when first born as they did stay on much better than mitts

Have you tried gently using a nailfile after cutting them so they aren't as sharp, worked for me.

I found emery boards to smooth the nails were better than scissors, I always left sharp edges. Could never get scratch mitts to stay on myself, but I'm sure they're great if you can!

Spots etc will all clear up, newborns skin can be all over the place I recall and it DOES get better.

Sounds awful, but I found biting dd's nails was better than using scissors - doesn't leave such hard edges, so she didn't scratch herself so badly. While their nails are still so soft, biting is much easier than faffing around with scissors.

i use socks, about the only scratch mitts i found that stayed on were Tesco's 3 ors for 75p.

New guidelines are not to cut/file a babies nails for 3 weeks after birth as it can damage the nail bed

you can rub a little vitamin e from a gel capsule onto the scratches bumbly.

nail file great idea

the new guidelines are complete news to me - thnaks for sharing info!!!!!!!!!!!

oops think i have aleady damaged nail bed then

you and me both bumbly.

Next sell babygros with built in scratch mitts that you roll down over the hands and they can't come off (or they did 2 years ago when my newborn did this).

Newborn's skin is much like that of an acne ridden teenager. That will clear up to reveal peacch soft munchable skin v soon, bumbly

As for the scratches, both DSs looked like they had done 12 rounds with a litter of kittens for the first 3 months of their lives. I sed to nibble their nails off and keep them as short as poss.

Scratch mitts are of, but they have a habit of getting pulled off (espcially on my DS2, who has a hand deformity, they never fitted properly!)

Agree with WWB re biting being easiest. I still do this to dd's nails now (15months). Do it when lo is feeding and distracted.

john lewis and Jojo also do that kind of babygro

you can still get the mittened babygros for the premmie and newborn sizes tho a pair of socks is equally good especially if you have a sucker

Their skin goes from perfection to spot ridden and back again very frequently as hormones settle down.

ds1 looked like Mr Blobby shortly after birth - pink with yellow spots! Cleared up by about 3 weeks' old as far as I remember. Scratch mitts work brilliantly.