skin care for AA baby

All newborns peel. You just notice it more on AA babies. We used and organic natural soap for her hair and body. We only bathed her once every other week unless she needed more. Burt's Bees Apricot oil works well on Drihan's skin or Cetaphil.

When we picked up our daughter, she was already almost 4 months old. The foster mom was using the Arbonne (home sales product) baby line on MariElla. She bathed her and washed her hair every night with the body wash and put the Arbonne baby oil on her. (Advice given to her by her pediatrician and an AA friend). Apparently she was very, very peely as a newborn and it did the trick. Her skin was/is beautiful! We tried backing away from the daily bathing. We also tried the Huggies Shea Butter wash and lotion and Aveeno baby wash and lotion, because they are cheaper. I really like both, but we found daily bathing with the Arbonne baby line works the best for our daughter. When we don't do that, her exzema and baby acne comes back and her skin just doesn't look and feel healthy. From everything I've read, though, it's not a good idea to bathe daily. It's just what seems to work on our daughter right now. We also put lotion in her hair, but it's still frizzy. I just bought some Sunsilk De-Frizz to see if that helps. I think it's a never ending process and trial and error. Good luck! MelissaP.S. We did order some Carol's Daughter products, but someone on the yahoo group (which was already mentioned) said that you should probably wait until your baby is a year to use any of those products. We are waiting for a little bit, just to be safe.

I've cared for two AA babies this is what works for them: (they were older so keep that in mind) Aveeno wash for bathing, I wash them as often as needed and have never had a problem when I use Aveeno-I don't use baby aveeno because it has a lot of perfume in it. I use the non-scented stuff in the adult body wash section that has oatmeal in it. I have had issues with the bar soap Pediatricians will tell you to use or any other wash I have tried. For after bath I like olive oil in the hair/scalp, and Aquaphor for winter and dry patches (I swear by it!) Cetaphil works great for summer time when it is humid out. If you are in a dry climate I recommend Aquaphor.My son's (well hopefully anyway :) he's still our foster son) former foster mom put baby oil in his hair to make him smell like a baby. That way his skin isn't agrivated and he smells like a yummy baby. With our first AA foster baby I had to use Dreft for bedding and clothing with baby in our home he does fine with regular detergent. If you can find Shea Butter without a lot of perfume, additives, or scents it is the best. We could get as much of this as we wanted in the Caribbean. I found a supplier who gets it from West Africa. Its pricey and hard to find so I use it for my hands and only in the winter. Keep in mind my babies had skin problems, the first severe exzema (sp?) the second mild . Other posters suggested she may just have normal newborn skin. Congrats on the new baby!

How funny, my ped said to use Head & Shoulders but I thought he was CRAZY!! It did seem to work though...just happy my dr wasn't nuts!

I would suggest not using soap at all, our son started out with skin that was really peally. (not a real word)Anyway, he ended up having moderate to severe excema. We have seen a specialist for that and his asthma/allergies.But to make a long story short, if you have to use soap use White Dove UNSENTED soap, and you might not want to use baby lotions. Use either Ecerin, or Vanicream. I would suggest Vanicream its about the same price but even though its over the counter most pharmaist have to order it.It has done wonders for his dry skin. Also if he does develop excema DO NOT USE CORTIZONE!! A lot of well meaning people both Caucasion and African American told us to do this. DO NOT, talk to your doctor and get a sythetic steriod cream like Elidel it will do a better job and doesn't carry near the risk as actually steriod like cortizone cream for an infant/toddler.

Bathing daily (for older babies) is recommended for excema by our ped. allergist. Also since her food allergies have been identified she hasn't had an outbreak. For her hair I use Dr. Bronners Castille Soap (all plant based) once a week. I just bought a leave in conditioner from Carol's Daughter and have been making my own hair butter with 100% unrefined african shea butter and adding jajoba oil and vit.E to it. As for Elidel, read up on the cancer sit. surrounding that. We won't use it and they gave us Cultivate instead if it got severe. But like I said, she hasn't had an outbreak since she was 6 mo. and had her allergies determined. Luckily we just found out she outgrew the soy allergy so that is a big help especially with her being vegetarian. Also, we use cloth diapers unless she is sleeping or we are out and about. Then we use Seventh Generation brand which has no chlorine, dyes, perfumes or chemicals. Of course that may be more than you want to go with, but it was just a suggestion if she has rashes in her diaper area.

Hello!You may want to check out the Yahoo! group Transracial Adoption and Placement. We have lots of hair/skin care conversations there too. Because I was there pre-adoption, I got to research before we came home, and still, we were not prepared. We knew that AA skin can be much drier than CC skin, but we didn't anticipate the lizard-like skin Jack had when we were just using regular baby lotion.We now use Burt's Bees Buttermilk Lotion. We are fine using soap - Gerber Giggles n Grins for sensitive skin. We've had luck with California Baby products as well, but the BBB is less expensive. We do wash Jack's hair (every night now, thanks to bananas and yogurt), with the Giggles n Grins baby shampoo. :hippie:

I am no expert on skin and hair care. I was really worried about it before I got my daughter but I have to say that I think she may just have really good skin because it has not been a problem. However, here is what I was told by a nurse who also believes in using as many natural products as possible (okay, it is my mom). Most commercial lotions (vaseline, eucerin, etc) are mineral based. In general, minerals are not good for the skin. They give a temporary fix but then you need it again and again. It can cause problems with pores or with the skins ability to create as much moisture as it should. The skin needs to have a moisturizer that is closer to the natural skin -- so ideally you would want an animal based lotion. However, most people are unwilling to put something like lard on their skin -- completely understandable. So what has been suggested to me to do is get a lotion that is plant based not mineral based. This, in general, means that you are heading to a natural food store instead of walmart to get the lotion. Look at the ingredients and make sure the first 3-5 items are not a mineral type thing but rather a plant thing. I use Shikai Dry Skin Therapy for Children. It is more expensive but I use less of it -- I tend to moisturize her after each bath (every 2-3 days) unless she starts to look ashy (and her face every day if she is having a runny nose and we are using a lot of kleenex). I don't know how much of that is the lotion versus her natural skin since I started using this almost immediately after arriving home (she was 21 months when she arrived home). The other thing that you want to watch for in the ingredients list is alcohol. As most people know alcohol will dry out the skin. However, alcohol is what is used to bind any fragrance to the lotion. So you are most likely looking for a fragrance free lotion. I have yet to find a lotion that has no alcohol but you want that to be listed near the end of the ingredients list. Of course, this is the general knowledge I have for the average child. I don't know anything about more difficult skin issues. I have just ordered a bunch of Carol's Daughter products because so many people have suggested them to me. The website looked good so I thought I would give it a try. I have not had to deal with infant skin so I have no particular advice on that. Best of luck,Samantha

We have heard from an old black friend is supposed to use petroleum jelly on the skin instead of lotions. Does your doctor have any suggestions beyond that? I also recommend going to the table on this site interracial families. I am a member because we are in the midst of an interracial adoption, and talk about these things all the time. You'll get a lot of ideas from them! _______________________________ [url=http://www.dealsbell.com/store/benefitcosmetics.com/]benefitcosmetics.com coupon code[/url]

We try to use more natural products on the kids. We like Alba Un-Petroleum Jelly instead of Vaseline, thought it does cost more. I have definitely used Vaseline, in a pinch, but reading about it kinda freaks me out. The article below also gives a simple recipe on how to make your own. [url=http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-living/articles/85911.aspx]How to Make Non-Petroleum Jelly — Better for the Environment and for You[/url]

Our ped said the same thing...and it's worked wonderfully for Peanut. His skin elsewhere has been fine...baby lotion is all he needs so far. But the Head and Shoulders works really well for his dry scalp followed by a little tea tree oil. I also recommend the yahoo skin-hair group...we get a lot of good advice there.

Hi, Just wanted to share some all natural hair / skin products that I have found and used with great success... These whipped body butters by Kiara made with shea butter are great (made by an adoptive mom as adoption fundraiser so goes to good cause as well!!) [url=http://curlyiscuter.com/hairskin.html]Curly is Cuter - Other Items[/url] Have also used Vanicream on my child with eczema

We use an unscented Aveeno body wash on the little guy and then Aveeno lotion. Seems to work just fine.

Infants and children of all ages a great children with mild soap Doy soap, which is the most retail stores. The smell of olive oil and a lovely post. It is also available in lovely shape, which really enhance the bathing experience of any child. It has been proposed by the same company, so Johnson and Johnson soap and I must say, it is a quality on the market today, the child's best soap, although I do not recognize that the company can be increased by the same understanding.___________________[url=http://www.arcsoft.com/topics/mpeg/mpg-converter.html]mpg converter[/url]

Vienna peely when we brought her home, too, but I found Burt's Bees apricot baby oil. It does help to her body. You can also add it to her a bath or just rub on her skin. I also use Huggie's butter bath and then only bathe her twice a week. I also got huggie shea butter lotion, I put her head. ___________________ [url=http://www.iphonelox.com/]unlocker[/url]