About Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘baby hygiene’

With all the decisions new parents have to make you wouldn’t think diapers would be such a tough one, yet it is one that parents routinely struggle with: cloth or disposable diapers? This article lays out the pros and cons of both to help you make the right decision for you and your family.

Disposable Diaper Pros

• Disposable diapers are extremely convenient, no doubt about it. It makes changing your infant a quick and easy process. When you’re shopping and you have to change a messy cloth diaper, you don’t get to just drop it in the garbage, you have to haul it around with you.

• - Disposable diapers seem to fit better. The adjustable adhesive fasteners make it easy to fit any size or shape baby. This is not always so with a cloth diaper which always seems to stretch out once you have it on your child and certainly more so once it’s been soiled.

Disposable Diaper Cons

• - Disposable diapers are petroleum-based products, which means they’re just downright awful for the environment. Carbon emissions are created in the manufacturing of disposable diapers, fuel is used in the transportation from manufacturer to store and diapers don’t biodegrade but sit in landfills for decades.

• - Disposable diapers also contain a number of chemicals, which may harm an infant’s sensitive skin.

• - Disposable diapers are more expensive than cloth diapers even if you have a diaper service.

Cloth Diaper Pros

• - Cloth diapers can be environmentally sound, particularly if you purchase organic cotton diapers. And while cloth diapers have to be laundered, which does contaminate the water supply and use water, they can be washed with biodegradable detergent. This makes them more environmentally friendly than disposable. However, if you have a diaper service then you’ll also have to weigh in the fact that delivery is contributing to greenhouse gases.

• - Cloth diapers, if they’re organic cloth diapers, don’t have harmful chemicals which means they’re not going to be as likely to irritate your baby’s skin.

• - Cloth diapers don’t fill landfills since they’re reusable.

• - Cloth diapers are generally less expensive than disposable.

Cloth Diaper Cons

• - They’re inconvenient, particularly for moms on the go.

• - They don’t necessarily fit as well, though some cloth diapers being manufactured today do have a better fit and fastening system than the old rectangle and diaper pin method.

• - If cloth diapers are not organic, then the cotton used to make them is grown and harvested with pesticides, chemical fertilizers and other environmentally harmful chemicals.

Disposable diapers are more convenient, though more expensive but they are generally an environmentally unfriendly practice. There are some more natural disposable diapers but for many they leave a lot to be desired. Cloth diapers, if they’re organic, are the most environmentally sound practice. The downside is they’re inconvenient. Ultimately, the decision to buy disposable or cloth must meet your personal beliefs as well as your lifestyle and family needs.

The key to good nail care is keeping finger and toe nails short. This helps keep them clean, prevents your baby from scratching himself or others and prevents nails from breaking and tearing.

Newborn babies’ nails are very fragile, so resist cutting them for the first few weeks. If they are very long, a pair of scratch mitts will keep her from scratching her face. After a few weeks, you can start using baby scissors with round ends or special clippers. Avoid cutting too close to the quick.

Remember to check older children’s toenails regularly – small children’s nails grow very fast, and unless they are in open-toed shoes in summer, we may not see much of their feet, so be sure to have a look at bath time and check whether trimming is in order. Ill-fitting shoes can cause all sorts of problems for growing feet, including growing toenails, so be sure to have your children’s shoe size measured regularly.

Remember that most children dislike the feeling of having their nails cut, or may be afraid of scissors, so a good time to try and do this is when they are asleep. Keeping a pair of scissors handy (in the car, for example, for when you take a long journey and your baby or toddler might have a nap).

Parents  of young children are kept busy looking after their children’s myriad needs. In all this, the hair often gets neglected. Proper hair care, even at this age, is important for your child. It will also help to make hair care a habit with your child as he grows up.

Here are some tips to help you care for your children’s hair:

• Always keep your child’s scalp clean; this is important even if your baby has no hair yet.
• Wash your child’s hair every few days; due to their scanty growth, it is not necessary to wash your baby’s hair everyday.
• Gently ease out any tangles in your baby’s hair before washing it.
• Be gentle and exercise caution. Do not exert pressure on the baby’s soft spot on the scalp.
• Use a gentle baby shampoo that will not hurt the baby’s eyes.
• Many children may find the process of having their hair washed distressing. Speak to your child gently and in comforting tones. Encourage your child to enjoy having the hair washed.
• ‘Cradle cap,’ a condition marked by red or flaky skin on the scalp, is prevalent amongst young children. It can be controlled by regularly washing the scalp with a gentle shampoo; your doctor may prescribe a cortisone cream.
• Remember: It is a myth that shaving off an infant’s hair helps it grow thicker and better.