Body care routine for your child

Keeping clean as a form of personal hygiene is the most important reason to care for the body. Everyone needs to keep clean, especially children.

Everyday, children come in contact with millions of germs and viruses outside and these can linger on the body and in most cases make them sick. The same thing happens with adults. It is important to begin the process of personal hygiene early enough.

According to Folayemi Omolara Adeyanju, founder, Lhara Meraki Naturals, body care routines such as taking a bath and moisturising can help prevent kids and their caregivers from falling ill. Body care routines also help children feel good about their appearance and keeps the organ, skin, healthy.

While noting that it is important for kids to have a routine, the public health expert said, “everyone follows a routine whether we know it or not. If you bathe your baby daily, that is a routine. The body care routine for children is quite simple. The first step is to cleanse; to remove dirt and bacteria on the body, then you moisturize in order to retain and maintain moisture in the children’s skin.

“While one may decide to halt the routine at moisturizing, you can also take it a step further by applying a sunscreen for adequate sun protection for an even stronger skin barrier. Nowadays, moisturisers have a sun protective effect.”

The mum of two said that parents should carry out research about the products they want to use on their children in order to make the best choice for their skin and health. It’s best to educate children about the benefits that body care routines offer them so they are brought up with the right understanding of how their bodies should be cared for.

On the right kind of products fit for kids, Adeyanju said, “the best kind are gentle, edible or nature-based products. A lot of products on the shelves of supermarkets and stores contain strong, harsh chemicals that can irritate the skin. In the mother’s womb the chances of anything irritating the baby’s skin are very low but once born, the skin becomes sensitised due to product use and the pressure of application. This is why it is best to use products that restore and maintain the skin’s moisture content, contain safe chemical ingredients and do not irritate the child’s skin.

Products such as plant oils, herbs and products made with high amounts of these natural ingredients will not cause skin diseases, bleaching and burns but products with harsh chemicals such as fragrance, triclosan, hydroquinone and corticosteroids will deteriorate the health of the skin.

Parents should also make the experience of cleaning their bodies fun. Set up items that are playful and cute in the bathroom so they do not mind being in that room to take a bath. Parents can take it up a notch by ensuring that they only buy and use products that are safe and natural for their kid’s skin.

Take baths in the mornings and evenings after the day’s activities; morning baths should be gentle and less vigorous. Teach your child to rub gently with a soft washcloth or sponge instead of scrubbing too hard as well.

Adeyanju added that as a child grows up, let them be aware of the need to care for their bodies so when they begin to do their own routines without the parents’ assistance they are doing it from a place of love for their skin which must be kept clean, motourised and protected.