P07 Recommendation and practices on infant skin care among health workers in Nigeria.

Abstract

The relative immaturity of the infant skin barrier makes it susceptible to penetration of allergens and microbes. As a first step to investigating the effects of products and care practices on infant skin, there is a need to identify common early life practices on the skin. To determine the skin care practices and products recommended and used for infants following delivery by health care workers. An online survey among 109 health care workers in maternity and neonatal units across 50 health institutions in Nigeria. Predominant skin care practices include cleaning of the vernix caseosa (VC) immediately after birth (68.2%), while olive oil was used to clean the VC (86.4%). Most respondents (76.1%) bathed the baby within 24 hours of birth and natural products/ oil were mostly used to moisturise the skin in the first few days of life (48.6%). Recommendations include natural oils for skin moisturisation in 94.5% of respondents. Preferred natural oils include shea butter (54.1%), olive oil (49.5%) and coconut oil (45.9%). Recommendations of skin products and practices were based on professional guidelines (60.6%) and personal experience (35.8%). Natural products are preferred for infant skin care among Nigerian healthcare workers. Olive oil has been previously reported to be detrimental to the skin barrier. There is a need for further investigation into identified products for infant skin health.