Newborn skin and NCT view of world

[Anticyclone]

We have a newborn, and are noticing some chafing that looks a little raw along the inside creases of his upper thighs. What do we need to do to solve this, use some kind of cream?

The thing is we are fresh from NCT classes where it was made clear to us that we should not put any products at all on our baby's skin as it was so sensitive - so we are not sure what to do! Is there a solution between the NCT view and the practical real world?

Is your baby spending a lot of time in one position? Or could the nappy be done up too tight?

Vaseline should help the chafing.

Agree with iK8 some wet wipes burn if you try them on your face or really irritate it at least so at 9 weeks I still try to use cotton wool pads and water when I can and just use wet wipes when out and about. (I also find Johnsons baby lotion stings my skin.)

I think what nct are probably trying to say is you don't need to use all the baby products that are available and if you do you may be doing more harm than good.

If doing nappy free time place baby on changing mat with towel on, lay baby down, then place a flanne over him so just the flannel/ towel get wet and not your face!

Oh and I found weleda do the best products for baby. Much more natural than most and tube/ bottle lasts ages as only need tiny bit

Btw we only ever used water to wash baby until around a year so I think it's fine.

We also used reusable wipes in a camomile solution that is soothing

Pure sunflower oil better than olive oil as olive oil can irritate. Also lansino nipple cream is a great barrier. May be you got the wrong end of the stick with nct, that babies don't need products in the bath and baby oil/lotion etc but creams and oil used topically is different.

Does it look shiny OP?

No doesn't look shiny. Skin is just slightly broken and reddened right on the crease.

Chamomile is amazing for nappy rash, and very gentle. We put it in the bath (tea bag) or use a cooled tea with cotton wool. We also very occasionally used weleda nappy cream when DD was tiny, but for the most part it was water or the chamomile. Never any major nappy rash problems, it always cleared up really quickly whenever there was redness.

Also we used water and cotton pads until DD was several months old, with washable wipes (bamboo I think they are) as backup. I find it's actually easier to get newborn poo off with the cotton pads than with wipes. With wipes it sort of goes everywhere. We use water wipes now she's older as they're more convenient.

I took away from NCT just to use water for washing - not if there's some kind of rash or inflammation. As previous posters have mentioned Bepanthan works well on nappy rash, but if he's just a bit raw in his folds of skin maybe the skin is just chaffing together? I would try applying a little bit of coconut oil / olive oil in the folds first to stop his skin rubbing together.

This is so ridiculous (nct not you OP), I use sudocream on my babies bottom, a johnsons moisturiser on his legs and feet, pampers wipes when changing nappies and bath him in johnsons baby wash and he is absolutely perfectly happy healthy and fine. I too was told water only but I don't feel this would get baby clean enough certainly not after a poo.

It's standard NHS advice to clean new babies with water only - it's not just NCT. Obv if a baby's skin is damaged, you can ask doc, HV or pharmacist.

"Do not use any creams or lotions as they may do more harm than good. The top layer of your baby's skin will peel off over the next few days, leaving perfect skin underneath. Wash your baby with plain water only for at least the first month. "

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/your-baby-after-birth.aspx

We used water wipes generally and olive oil for dry skin on the advice of our midwife

No one uses water second time round! Most second time mums take baby wipes into hospital the second time.

DD2 was born at home, so she never had the cotton wool and water nonsense.

Honestly, I'm sure there isn't an NCT policy on skin care, just a sensible discouragement to take all baby advertising with a pinch of salt.

Babies don't need slathering in barrier cream, but a bit of Sudercrem or sore bits works wonders.

I plan to use water second time around. It was fine the first time. Better than wipes, I thought, which I did try.

DS was super chubby and got a fair bit of chaffing I used to put some sudocream on nappy free for a while then wipe the cream off after about 20 mins. I also used simple baby wash for DS just a tiny bit on a sponge to clean him babies can get wiffy bums and creases and felt that we needed more than water and we used pampers sensitive wipes or asda little angels wipes.

Hi OP, our LO had a similar sounding chafing a few weeks ago (she is now 5 weeks), we changed to bigger nappies and put Sudocream in the creases with a cotton bud. Seems to have cleared it up.
Congratulations :)

I found that the Lansinoh nipple cream worked wonders for any sore bits on my DD.