Skin care for babies, kids and teens - with Dr. Ashvith Shetty

awenest Parent Podcast is brought to you by awenest baby, the 100% plant-based baby care brand.

Kinshuk and Sakshi kick off the show with Dr. Ashvith Shetty, a reputed Dermatologist and Cosmetologist. Dr. Ashvith also gives a mother's perspective on childrens' skin care routines.

Parents worry about every aspect of their kids' wellbeing, skin care being a big part of it. Today we break some myths about skin care with insightful discussions and practical suggestions tailored to Indian parents.

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Transcript

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Welcome to awenest Parent Podcast, your go-to source for all things parenting. Today, we are diving into a topic that's close to every parent's heart, children's skin care. Parents want nothing but the best for their little ones, and that includes ensuring their skin stays healthy, soft and protected. From understanding delicate skin types to choosing the right products free from harsh chemicals, we will cover everything you need to know to keep your child's skin happy and healthy. That too with an awesome guest.

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So grab your favorite beverage, get comfortable and join us as we explore the essentials of nurturing your child's skin with love and care. So first of all to introduce the host panel, I am joined by my friend Sakshi. She is a dedicated media professional. In her previous role as Brand Content and Product Head at Denny Bhaskar, Sakshi was responsible for award-winning creative solutions.

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She is also a mother to a 9-year-old budding writer and an 11-year-old pug. Hi Sakshi, it's great to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for sparing time to help us understand more about skin care. Thank you so much. I think in this age of so much of information overload. We need experts who will guide us better about skin care and about kids and about parenting. So I'm very excited to be part of this episode

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Parenting Podcast. Thank you so much. And to answer all our questions, our guest for the day, Dr. Ashwip Shetty. Thank you for having me. She's a DNB in dermatology. Prior to that, she did her MD in dermatology. So basically, she has done so much in dermatology. So you can, she's also a cosmetology fellow from Bangalore Medical College. She has been practicing medicines for the last 15 years. Currently she stays and works in Mumbai and is a mother to an eight-year-old child. So you get the mother's

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perspective and the doctor's perspective as well. Great, I think that's what we are looking for. So let's get started and we had put some questions to our Instagram followers and to other communities and it seems that everyone is really interested to know more about skin care for babies and children and there has been there is a host of questions. So Dr. Ashwit, there are some questions that we have, there are some questions that parents had, right?

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And we may not be able to take all of that in one go. Let's see how much we can cover and then it would be great to have you again because these skin care questions are you know they just keep coming up. So to get us started, what is the most exciting thing about your field? So what I like about dermatology is it's a very visual field. So what you see, you pick up subtle visual clues.

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A rash might look the same for a lot of people, but the same rash can have like more than 10-20 diagnoses. And you don't need like compared to other fields you don't have to do a lot of blood tests you don't have to do a lot of investigation so basically what you see you know with the subtle visual clues you can diagnose so you don't need anything invasive understood so it's visually it's very different from every other field right because yeah

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you just see right you see what is there maybe a little bit history and then you come to a conclusion and you said you practice in Bombay so where can people find you today? So I practice in Pawai, mainly I am a consultant at Dr. L.H. Firanandani Hospital, Pawai. You must be seeing a lot of patients, so approximately what percentage would be parents and what is their biggest concern about their children? So in my daily practice, I think around 20% of my patients are in the pediatric age group. group and the most common skin concerns I see are eczema, atopic dermatitis, fungal

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infections and acne. Nowadays you know because kids are maturing faster right so around 10-11 they start developing those comedones or blackheads. By 12, a lot of kids get this full-blown acne. So we do see a lot of acne cases also in the children. I wouldn't say small kids but at least around the 10-11 year old age group.

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So, and you're a mother yourself, right? So, how does dermatology and being a mother, I mean, how does that play for you? And how different is it to be a dermatologist? I mean, are you always looking for your kids perfect skin or giving tips?

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How is it?

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So, see, I think being a mother is very overwhelming. Doesn't matter whether you're a dermatologist or any doctor. Maybe the skin part is sorted. I'm not worried that much because I know what to do. But rest everything, if you see, like you rightly said in the initial part, there's so much information, it's like an information overload.

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So other things are very confusing, only the skin part I would say it's sorted, otherwise even I am lost, it's like a constant learning.

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Great, great.

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So what happens, like let's say if you see a scar on Riyansh, would you overreact because because you are a mother or you would under react because you know I know the field it is nothing. No I think see what I feel is kids now they heal very well so even if it's a small rash and all it goes like I know what to apply so it usually settles fast maybe I overreact for fevers maybe something internal but skin I'm generally okay. So you said kids heal very fast and like you know 20% of cases that you see are pediatric cases.

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Does every child need a skincare routine? Is it needed? Tell us more about that. So I wouldn't call it exactly a skincare routine but they need some basic thing to do for their skin. So what I feel is, so if they have a good routine at an early age those habits will continue. It's more like you know hygiene purpose like you know they need a good cleanser or a very mild bath soap to take care of their bath time and all. Then a good moisturizer which is fragrance free. Other than that nothing. Unless this child has sensitive skin, then you need

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something else. And at what age should these kick in? When should people think about skincare routine? So you said skin, there is basic cleansing, soap I'm sure it applies to all age groups. Yeah. But when does let's say a sunscreen kick in or when does a cleanser kick in? See cleanser is almost from birth. So initially you don't use any artificial cleansers or you know like soaps or anything

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until your umbilical cord falls off. That time you are just using giving like a mild sponge bath using clean water. Once the umbilical cord falls off, we introduce baby soaps or baby cleansers which are very very mild, which do not have any fragrance or too many chemicals. Then after, let's say the child is around 3-4 weeks, then slowly you can introduce like a coconut oil massage or a good child-friendly moisturizer.

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That's it. And then, you know, other than that you don't need anything much. Sunscreen will start only after the age of 6 months. That too if your child is getting...see not for your routine, day to day, you know, you take your child out and all. That you don't need sunscreen. The sunscreen will come into the picture only if the child is being out for a longer period of time, like let's say a beach. And even what they advise is, instead of using a sunscreen, preferably use covered clothes.

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So that the area of where you apply sunscreen is less. Face wash and all, see until it is 2 years, you can use the same bath soap or the cleansing soap, whatever you are using for your baby. Once the baby is 2 years old, then you can slowly start using this kid-friendly face washes or face washes meant for sensitive skin. There are a lot of brands now, Setaphil, Aveeno and all, so you can use them. And once the child attains puberty, then your glands grow.

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The child will have oily skin, he'll have acne-prone skin. Then you can shift to adult products or you can shift to this salicylic-based face washes. But not too aggressive, you know, you don't have to do it three, four times in a day. Just wash your face once or twice, that's it.

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So you mentioned about sensitive skin a lot, Dr. Ashwit. How do parents identify if their kid has a sensitive skin?

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What are the symptoms or the checks? So first of all, the child will develop a lot of redness on and off. Second thing, he might develop a rash, like an itchy lesion, or you always feel that the child is uncomfortable,

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is always trying to scratch his body or rub his... like kids can't scratch, right? They can't tell you. Small babies can't talk. So they'll be always rubbing like this. Or if you feel that, you know, child is very often commonly bitten by mosquitoes and you know, the child develops red bumps. So those are the signs of sensitive skin. So then what is the best things to apply for those kids?

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Like imagine a one year old, two year old with a lot of redness or rashes and a lot of itchiness.

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What you can do is initially you can just apply a coconut oil. That's also fine. Like you know, this virgin coconut oil. Not these brand or this Ayurvedic which have very heavy fragrances and all those things. Just plain coconut oil or a mild fragrance free moisturizer meant for sensitive skin. You can do it like twice a day or thrice a day and observe your child for two days.

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If you feel there is no improvement, then you need some medicated ointment, which the dermatologist will prescribe. It will be some anti-inflammatory ointment or a very, very mild steroid ointment. So they have to shift to that as prescribed by their dermatologist. So when you're giving bath also, if you feel your kid has sensitive skin, the bath time should be very short. It should be hardly like five to 10 minutes. Avoid hot showers because the water is falling with full force.

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And avoid tub baths with those bubble baths and all because they are also soapy things so they also irritate the kid's skin. Third thing is, preferably stick to natural fabrics. Don't use synthetic fabrics for your skin. Don't expose them to extremes of temperature. Either it shouldn't be very very hot and suddenly you get them to an AC climate so

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the kid's skin is not able to adjust or you are continuously keeping the kid in a AC environment, that is also very bad. If there is lot of humidity, because of humidity also some kids get itchy. So, you can use one of those dehumidifier fires or this absorb, you get these sachets which actually absorb the moisture and prevent this mold from forming. So, that can be done.

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And even when you are using detergents, right, in kids, what do you say, in the washing machine or something, use something which is meant for kids and you can do an extra cycle so that all the detergent is washed off. And never use a kid's clothing when you buy something new, always wash it first and then

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use it.

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So yeah, you answered my second part. That was my second part, what are the things we have to avoid. So but when kids are very small, then generally parents and even the grandparents put a lot of besan or lot of atta.

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So then those things, should one avoid those things? Yeah, yeah. See, ideally what I realized, they put besan or atta to scrub the skin. They feel that the skin is looking a little bit dark. So they use that to scrub the child's skin or they use it to get rid of the hair, which is actually a very wrong practice.

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You're damaging the skin and it's not going to get rid of the hair. The hair will anyway shed off. So please don't do that. Even if the child has normal skin, please don't do that.

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Right. I think that's what we wanted to hear because we get so many hacks. So thank you for telling us.

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I keep seeing a lot of these recommendations on Instagram. What you should do, home remedies and all of that. But clearly some of them don't work. So, no, see, if it doesn't work, it's okay. It shouldn't cause any harm.

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Harm, yeah, it's harming you.

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Yeah, that is worse. Wow, so you actually gave us a very comprehensive list of how to handle sensitive skin. So that was very helpful. And you also said that, you know, products like laundry and all those can actually go into aggravating

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a sensitive skin if the child has sensitive skin. Also, just tell me this, many kids get diaper rashes, right? Is that also a sign of sensitive skin or diaper rash is just a side effect of using a diaper? It's not a sign of sensitive skin but kids who have sensitive skin are more prone to it. But even kids without sensitive skin can develop diaper rash. So basically what happens is it's not exactly because of the diaper, it's because of a wet diaper.

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So the urine pH when it is wet and you're not changing the diaper, it irritates your skin, there can be overgrowth of fungal or bacterial infection. So that's what causes the rash. And let's say that you're continuously using the diaper, you're not changing the diaper, or you're not giving diaper free time. So all these things can cause a diaper rash. And one more thing you can do to prevent it, generally use the diaper rash cream. People apply very little. I've seen parents take very little and just apply you know very small amounts or something.

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You have to apply generously. It should actually look white. You gave us a very comprehensive list. So of course the things we are using at home also matters right from the detergent to maybe the floor cleaner. All those things matter. But what we directly apply on our face as kids grow up. So is there a kid-friendly face wash that you can recommend because soap is something that's not suddenly cool these days. Right?

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Everyone is applying face washes only.

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See in soaps also there is no harm. You get something known as Zinded Soaps which are soap free cleansers. That is absolutely okay because initially when you had a sensitive skin problem we didn't have face washes or body washes. We had the Zinded Soaps. So it's fine.

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But you also get face washes now. Like you have this like I mentioned Setafil, Lavino, those brands are there. They have face washers for sensitive skin. So the kids can use it after two years.

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After two years, okay.

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Because initially you have the baby soaps only. And the skin is quite clean because they are not playing out. They are always in the house. So you don't need soaps for the face. Even plain water is enough. Yeah.

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I think it's only after they start going to school and playtime around four years. Then you can start using. Then they need. What was the soap you spoke about doctor? In dermatology, there is something known as Zinded soaps. They don't have a foam. After using that soap, you feel as though there is a layer of moisture on your skin which is required. So there are a lot of brands now. So those soaps are absolutely fine. When kids are playing or they are going out, let's say when they are out there swimming, what do kids need to do to take care of themselves

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if they are swimming? Before swimming, first of all, preferably wear a fuller suit. That acts as a physical barrier. So now you get UV rays protecting your clothes also. So that will prevent the sun rays and the chlorine from touching the skin. Whatever area is exposed, you can put either coconut oil, moisturizer or a physical sunscreen.

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So that will act as a barrier. And always use a cap to protect your hair. Once your swimming is done, immediately go and have a shower. So when I say a shower, not just plain water, you have to use a soap to get rid of all the chlorine and the water and whatever other chemicals are there. And apply a moisturizer immediately. And even your hair, you need to have a shower with a shampoo, not just plain water. So that will take care of your skin and if you have any active eczemas or active lesions, then please avoid swimming until it is healed.

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or active lesions, then please avoid swimming until it is healed. So one more question that has come up a lot in our




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