Baby Acne

You just gave birth and you are looking forward to seeing your cute angel, with that cherubic and oh-so-clear face. You got into the nursery and searched for your baby’s name. He is there all right, sleeping and looking like an angel as you expected him to be. You take a closer look and then you saw those tiny zits on his chubby little cheeks. As expected, the first thing you asked your pediatrician was, “what’s that on my baby’s face?”

The zits or spots in your baby’s face are called neonatal or baby acne. Babies can also get acne from the moment of their birth, and they can get acne a few weeks or months after birth. Baby acne usually comes out on the T-zone of the face like the forehead or chin. However, babies can also have acne on their cheeks or at their back.

Baby acne starts by appearing as small dots with a reddish color around them. The baby’s acne breakout can become worse when their skin is exposed to irritants like sweat or their saliva. The milk that babies spit out when burping can also aggravate baby acne. Parents should wash the baby’s clothes with mild detergents because strong fabric soaps leave traces on the baby’s clothes and this can cause skin irritation.

But how can a newborn baby, who has not yet been exposed or had little exposure to his surroundings, get acne? The common answer given by doctors is hormones. Such is the attachment between mother and child that during the last trimester of pregnancy, the mother can pass on her hormones to the baby and this can lead to neonatal acne.

The acne may become unsightly especially on a baby’s face but parents should not apply or do anything to the baby’s face. Others think that scrubbing the baby’s face will solve the acne problem. On the contrary, scrubbing you baby’s face will just irritate the acne and may cause more serious trouble for your baby.

Just keep your baby clean by washing the baby with a mild soap and clean water. It is normal to get worried about your baby’s acne but it is normal and will just disappear after a few weeks, or when the baby reaches four to six months.