Skin Care for Premature Infants

Skin care in newborns is crucial, and this is especially true for premature babies. Preemies are more at-risk and sensitive in numerous ways. Vigilant skin care is crucial to keeping them healthy and happy and should continue after you take your baby home from the neonatal intensive care unit. The skin protects the rest of our organs from the outside world, and the skin of preemies is often underdeveloped and literally thinner, with less protective power than the skin of full-term babies.

Bathing and Hygiene

• Healthy skin needs to maintain an appropriate acid/alkaline balance. In order to ensure this, preemies should be bathed with low alkaline soaps (you can check alkaline levels in soaps by reading product labels), as high levels of alkaline can irritate skin and lower acid levels that protect your baby's skin. Preemies should also be bathed only with dye- and fragrance-free products, as these factors can also irritate a baby's skin and reduce protective acids in their skin composition.

  Newborn babies need only be bathed a couple of times a week, as frequent bathing can cause irritation to their already-sensitive skin. Lotions should be used sparingly, as frequent use of lotions can also affect protective abilities in the skin and can lead to improper acid/alkaline balances. If your baby experiences serious skin cracking and dryness, check with your pediatrician for lotion recommendations. Do not use baby wipes on preemies, as these wipes contain perfumes that will irritate her skin; instead, wash the diaper area with warm water, clean cloth and low alkaline soap.

  You and anyone you let around your preemie should be free of contagious infection and should thoroughly wash your hands before holding or touching the baby.

Skin-to-Skin Care

• A fairly new and popular method of care for premature infants is Kangaroo care, also known as skin-to-skin care. In this method, a parent (both the mother and the father may participate) hold the preemie (wearing only a diaper) against the chest and under the shirt a couple of times each day, allowing the baby skin-to-skin contact with the parent and the comfort of a womb or pouch-like environment. This contact can improve a preemie's body temperature and quality of sleep, acting as a calming agent, and improve his breathing. Kangaroo care acts as substitute womb time for a preemie who has not had enough opportunity to develop inside the mother and often helps the baby's skin to become stronger and healthier.