Skin Care for Pregnancy, Mum and Baby

Mum Zone's resident Skin Care Expert Sally of Hot Mama Distribution is available to answer some of your questions about settling your baby and more.

Topics include: Preventing and reducing stretch marks, skin care safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding, protect your baby from harmful ingredients, specific skin care concerns during pregnancy, your skin when pregnant, hormonal acne, reclaiming your pre baby body through skin care, nipple care while breastfeeding, swollen, aching legs and feet, solutions for all skin types including sensitive skin, phthalates and baby skin care, eczema and extreme dry skin concerns, general question regarding your skin, your body and your baby.

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Reader's Question

My 14 month old has really dry palms and I'm not sure why. The rest of her skin is fine, just her palms are the problem. She sucks her fingers while she is sleeping (no dummy) so I'm not sure if some drool could be contributing to it. Should I be concerned? What would be the best thing to put on it, bearing in mind that she puts her hands in her mouth a lot? Thanks for your help.

Sally's Response

Firstly as always, if you think the problem is serious, or caused by a dermatological bacteria concern then you should seek the opinion of your GP immediately, particularly if it is causing discomfort to your baby.

At first glance based on what you have explained, it is highly likely to be the sucking on finger 'drool' is causing the problem. When we put intense periods of moisture and the dryness anywhere on our skin, it can cause flaking and cracking in its most serious form.

I would suggest that you should try putting some cotton mittens/gloves on her at nighttime as this will be when the sucking will be most intense, but you will need to replace the sucking (which is likely her soothing pattern) with something else that will assist her to comfort herself. Such as a small, very soft little blanket that she can rub along the side of her cheek. This may take a little time for her to get used to as you are changing her own sleeping habit of sucking at nighttime, but just be patient. You can of course alternatively use a dummy if this is going to replace completely the sucking motion, however this will be harder to change again in the future if you want her to stop using a dummy. The blanket will last much longer!

You can also pop a little Vaseline on the palms before the gloves/mittens are put on at night, this will assist in moving that drying quickly, and leave the skin soft during the day as well. We should all actually do this at night time, Vaseline on the hands with cotton gloves at night is fabulous for keeping soft, young looking hands... if only we could all be bothered with gloves at night as adults.

If the dry palms are not causing your little one any concern or discomfort however, you need to weigh up the change in sleeping habits (and the patience this will require) vs. the time it will take her to stop sucking her fingers at night. This will stop in time, so it just depends how bad the drying in and how much of a concern it is for both you and for her.

I hope this helps and again, please see your doctor if you feel the dryness could be caused by anything more serious. But the gloves will at least rule out the sucking as the culprit in the first place and she may find the change in having something on her hands easy to adjust to. The beauty of doing this, is that it takes about 21 days to change a habit or pattern, so after about month you should be able to remove the gloves and the sucking should also have stopped.

Warmly,
Sally

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The opinions expressed on these pages are of a general nature and are by no means a substitute for professional advice. Therefore neither Mum Zone or Sally Wheat of Hot Mama Distribution are liable for any actions pertaining to the use of the supplied information.