As my second nephew turns 2 this month, I look back at the time I spent at my sister’s place helping her out with postnatal care. My jiju had taken 3 weeks off work so that he could take care of the new mommy, the newborn and the new dada (my first nephew, 8-years-old). And while on this paternal leave, my jiju excelled like I have seen no other man among my relatives!
He did pass on some gems of wisdom about baby care, mommy care, tips about postnatal food (read here) and “The art of letting the mother sleep”!
So here I am, writing about how to keep a baby’s skin soft — more like the instructions my sis used to scream at us that time in all her disheveled glory.
What to do for baby’s soft skin:
- Bath everyday! It is still gonna be years before he learns to bathe by himself or fool his mom by simply throwing water on the walls to pretend he has — but at the moment it’s his parents who get to bath him. And it has to be everyday (unless it’s too cold).
- Maalish Karo! Aah the joy I used to see on my nephew’s face every time the amma used to apply olive oil or mustard oil on his body to give him a thorough massage… it was so cute! Amma decided to bunk for a stretch of three days, during which time I was given the duty of this daily oil massage routine. In just three days, the skin on my hands was glowing and super-soft. Just imagine what it must be doing to a baby’s skin.
- Uptan lagao bhai! My sister would bark this instruction at us once in a week, and my jiju and I would scramble to get the uptan ready. It used to be a mixture of atta, besan, haldi and milk mixed into a thick paste. It would serve as an alternative for soap. My sister’s logic was it’s not good to use chemicals on a baby’s soft skin daily.
- Cotton only! Yes, that was the dress code my little nephew would strictly follow everyday. Even today. The softness of cotton is what a baby’s skin should come in contact with always, my sister used to say. Synthetic or woolens can cause rashes, which is why it should never come in direct contact with a baby’s skin. So her mom-in-law made some really comfy tops and langots out of her old cotton saree (oh the softness of those fabrics was awesome)!
- Don’t touch my baby! Well, there were times when my sis was downright rude to people who would start doing heavy-duty coochi-cooing. Are your hands clean? Go wash your hands and then you can touch my baby’s cheeks — she ACTUALLY said that to an aunty once. She also told one lady off to not kiss her baby because she was wearing lipstick! Jeeta-jagta example of how a mother becomes super protective of her baby. My sister later told me that she stopped being pseudo polite after her baby developed big red pimples after one such coochi-cooing session.
Oh and yes, Pampers brings you the softest ever Pampers Premium Care Pants. Its cotton-like softness is #SoftestForBabySkin and allows it to breathe, thus keeping baby’s skin soft and healthy, and your baby happy.
Refreshingly Random 