Health Care Accessories

Baby and toddler hygiene is very important, and what you teach them at this young age will often stick with them for life. Besides normal bathing and diapering, other infant care includes trimming nails and brushing teeth and gums. A baby's fingernails and toenails grow quickly and need constant care. Trim the baby's fingernails up to twice a week and toenails up to twice a month. To prevent cutting or hurting the skin, only trim the baby's nails when they are sound asleep. Because the nails are so delicate, only use rounded nail scissors to trim each nail in one motion, being careful not to trim too close to the finger itself. Never trim a baby's nails by biting them off. This method puts the baby at a much higher risk of infection.

This makes it very important to start your baby early with good hygiene. Cleaning their gums, and later brushing their teeth, on a regular basis is an excellent start. Bathing them often—especially if your baby has been outside and gotten dirty—helps as well. Allowing baby to watch you perform your hygiene rituals is also a good idea: this could be letting them hang out with you in the bathroom while you wash your face every night, etc.

Whatever you start at an early age will be less of a hassle to implement later. This means that if you clean out your baby’s ears on a daily basis from the time they are newborn on, you will have less resistance when they are 18 months old. By this time, it will just be habit to them, and they won’t mind. If they aren’t accustomed to this type of action, they may resist a lot more.