Should the newborn's private area be cleaned with salt water?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi An - Pediatrician - Neonatologist - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Ha Long International Hospital

1. Why should baby's private area be cleaned?

Many parents, because they are busy, often let their children wear diapers all day or rarely check their children's diapers often. However, urine and feces contain many acids and harmful bacteria, so wearing diapers a lot and taking care of careful hygiene can cause children to get gynecological infections, causing certain effects on health. Children's health:
Inflammation of the intimate area can make children uncomfortable, crying due to itching, red, painful skin. Children with vaginal infections may refuse to eat, affecting development. If not treated carefully, it can affect your baby's future obstetric problems. To prevent children from encountering these situations, parents should prevent them by:
Limit children's exposure to infectious factors. Change your baby's diaper often (about every 2-3 hours). Limit the use of diapers for the baby when not necessary and wear cool clothes for the baby. Have a reasonable diet to increase your baby's resistance. Wash your hands thoroughly before cleaning the baby's private area and wash from front to back.

2. Should the intimate area be cleaned with physiological saline?

Many mothers, when they see that their child's private area is red, itchy, and has a smelly discharge, they often clean the girl's private area with physiological saline or green tea leaves, betel leaves, adult hygiene solutions. .. In which many people think that physiological saline is the safest because they are often used in medicine to infuse fluids, wash infections, and abscesses in the body.
However, physiological saline has antibacterial and alkaline properties while the baby's vaginal pH is inclined to neutral, so using saline to clean the private area for girls is also easy to make the vaginal pH environment worse. imbalance. As for green tea leaves, betel leaves are all types of leaves with high antibacterial properties in Eastern medicine, but not all cases of bacterial and fungal infections can be applied. In addition, with the current state of the polluted environment, finding clean leaves without pesticides, buying them and then mixing them with the correct cooking ratio is also a dilemma for many parents. . A newborn's skin is too fragile to experiment with such potentially risky methods. Adult hygiene solutions have a pH, strong antiseptic properties that are not suitable for the pH of a girl's private area. If used, it can change the pH environment and make the inflammation worse.

3. How to properly clean the newborn's private area

3.1. Choosing the right vaginal hygiene solution Parents can choose a cleaning solution for their children based on the following criteria:
Choose a specialized product for girls. Choose products that are safe, non-irritating. Products with natural ingredients, organically grown ingredients. The product is odorless and colorless. Products must be clinically tested, and the factory meets GMP standards. For babies, there are also specialized products for babies under 1 year old on the market. Parents just need to mix the solution into warm water to bathe the whole body and clean the baby's private area. Then rinse with clean water and dry with a clean towel.
3.2. How to properly clean a newborn's intimate area For a girl, use a wet cotton swab or cotton cloth without soap and water to gently wipe all folds (including the edges of the vagina) and in an outward-inward direction, from top to bottom (vulva to anus). For boys, clean the penis with a cotton swab or wet cotton cloth without soap and clean the penis as well as the tip of the glans. Manipulation should be gentle, not too strong and avoid lifting the foreskin when the baby is not yet 4 months old. In case the baby's skin is red and irritated, use an ointment or cleanser to soothe the cuticles on the bottom. Parents should give their babies high-quality diapers to protect their baby's skin in the most sensitive areas of the body.
MORE: 5 things mothers need to know to protect their daughters from gynecological inflammation
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