How to Care for Your Baby's Skin in Winter

A baby's first winters often come with questions such as: Why are their cheeks red? Is their skin peeling? Do they need a special product? Cold weather, wind and central heating put skin that is still learning to protect itself to the test: our baby's skin.

Understanding how a baby's skin works and how it reacts to winter is the first step we need to take to care for it properly. Today, we're telling you how to care for your baby's skin in winter.

Baby skin

Our babies' skin is different from adult skin at an anatomical and functional level. It is immature skin that is still growing and developing:

• It is thinner, with less thickness, which makes it easier for external agents to penetrate.
• It contains a lower amount of lipids, so the skin finds it harder to stay hydrated.
• The pH is higher, which makes irritation and the development of possible infections more likely.
• The skin microbiota is different.

Cold weather and baby skin

During winter, several factors occur that negatively affect the skin:

• Cold and wind cause vasoconstriction and reduce skin oxygenation.
• Dry environments made stuffy by the use of heating
• Sudden temperature changes between indoor and outdoor environments.

These factors disrupt the skin barrier, causing it to lose water; therefore, it becomes dehydrated. This, together with the low concentration of lipids present in babies' skin, leads to symptoms such as:

• Itching
• Redness
• Tightness
• Burning, stinging

• Irritation
• Flaking

In addition, an impaired skin barrier is a weakened barrier that will not perform its protective function and will be more susceptible to the entry of microorganisms and other agents.

How to protect your baby's skin in winter

Little ones' skin is more vulnerable, so the main aim of their skincare routine should be to strengthen the skin barrier to prevent dehydration and damage from external aggressors. To do this:

Gentle, suitable cleansing

Managing cleansing is crucial; high temperatures or a bath that is too long will cause the skin barrier to lose water, so we should limit bath time and temperature, choosing short baths with lukewarm water.

It is also important to choose a gentle cleanser. For this reason, we recommendA-Derma Exomega Aceite Limpiador Emoliente.

Do not forget that friction weakens the skin barrier and causes irritation, so we should pat the skin dry.

Daily hydration

If cleansing properly is essential, repairing the skin with daily hydration is vital. We will focus on using emollient, humectant and soothing active ingredients which, when applied after bathing, repair and strengthen the skin barrier.

La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP-M bálsamo corporal is the perfect balm to use from the very first day of life. It nourishes and restores the skin's barrier function, soothes it instantly and relieves itching.

We will apply it to slightly damp skin to encourage penetration and absorption.

Protection against the cold

We should not only care for the skin in our cleansing and hygiene routine, we should also provide extra protection with Dexeryl crema emoliente facial, which creates a protective film that prevents water loss and protects the skin against external aggressors, allowing it to function properly and stay healthy.

Looking after the environment

Maintaining a humid environment is important. A dry, cold environment can weaken the skin's protective barrier, causing it to lose its natural moisture and leading to dehydration, tightness and itching... Using a humidifier to add moisture to the air can be very helpful.