Hygiene plays a crucial component of a baby's overall care. Practicing a good hygiene is extremely important to keep your baby happy and healthy all the time.

Eight essential hygiene rules for your baby. Here are eight simple good hygiene practices to adopt when you have a baby.

  • Washing your hands with a good antibacterial soap is essential for removing harmful bacteria and germs that cause colds, flu, diarrhea and other infections. Be sure to dry your hands properly and wash your hand towels regularly. It's especially important to wash your hands before feeding your baby, after handling raw food, after changing a nappy or going to the toilet yourself, after touching pets, after touching anything dirty such as dirty nappies, rubbish or food waste.
  • You don't need to clean the house every day from top to bottom with disinfectant, you just need to pay particular attention to the surfaces that are most likely to harbour germs and bacteria. Focus on the areas that have a lot of contact with food, bodies and hands, such as bathrooms, kitchen benches, tables, crockery, cutlery and glassware. You need to be cleaning these properly. Use hot water with detergent for crockery, cutlery and glasses, while kitchens and bathrooms will need a thorough clean with a good disinfectant. Pay particular attention to taps, toilet seats, benches and door handles. Dry surfaces as well if they are not in a well-ventilated area with natural light.
  • Babies love to put things into their mouths, and toys are often the closest thing to hand. Be sure to regularly give your child's toys a clean with a good disinfectant. Wipe hard plastic toys down and make sure you rinse them thoroughly or put plush toys through the washing machine.
  • A good bath is essential for keeping your baby clean and tidy, but you need to make sure you are not over-washing as this is damaging to your baby's sensitive skin. In the first year of your baby's life a full bath is necessary only two or three times a week. Check out our step-by-step guide to bathing your baby.
  • These are three areas that need some special attention. Always keep your baby's nails well-trimmed so that they can't scratch themselves — the best time to trim them is when your baby is asleep. Be sure to use baby-sized nail clippers and not to cut the nails too short as these will hurt your baby.
  • Only wash the outside of your baby's ears, never the inside, and never insert cotton wool buds into your baby's ears. If your baby is unhappy and touching their ears repeatedly, this could be a sign of infection — be sure to get this looked at by a medical professional.
  • Clean any dried mucous from your baby's nose, as this can cause difficulty breathing. Use a damp wash cloth to gently remove the dried mucous. A nasal syringe may be needed to help remove excess mucous, but consult your baby's health practitioner before using one of these.
  • Be sure to keep your baby's eyes clear of any dried mucous. Use damp cotton wool to gently clean their eyes and seek medical attention if you notice your baby's eyes are irritated.

5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays

Category: Trusted advice from pregnancy to preschool
5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays

Cleaning is the last thing anyone feels like doing over the holidays, but it doesn’t have to be a full-day project if you follow these smart cleaning tips.

The post 5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays appeared first on Living and Loving written by Xanet Scheepers .


5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays

Cleaning is the last thing anyone feels like doing over the holidays, but it doesn’t have to be a full-day project if you follow these smart cleaning tips.

The post 5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays appeared first on Living and Loving written by Xanet Scheepers .

5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays

Your in-laws are coming over, so is your neat freak sister, and who can forget granny with her white glove ready to test for dust at any possible moment? That’s right – it’s the holidays and your house needs to pass the family inspection for cleanliness.

During the festive season, you may be hosting family and friends at your house. “With this comes the responsibility of having a clean home – and that’s the last thing you probably feel like doing during your holiday break,” says Shakil Ahmad, brand manager for home cleaning brand Chemico.

ALSO SEE: 5 mistakes people make when cleaning their home

It’s important to avoid the panic and clean smart. “By doing this you can cut your cleaning time, have a clean home and still enjoy your holiday,” says Shakil.

Shakil suggests the following smart cleaning tips for the holidays:

1. No shoes in the house

With the warmer weather this shouldn’t be a problem, and by adhering to this, less dirt and dust will be trudged into your home, which means less mopping, vacuuming and sweeping. Specify a location in the house where your family can leave their shoes.

2. Clean as you go

If you see a scatter cushion on the floor, pick it up – one less thing to do later. If that sandwich you had for lunch left a few crumbs on the counter, don’t wait until they fall on the floor so you will have to get out the broom, quickly scoop them up and do a wipe down.

3. Use cleaning products that have multiple uses

There is no need to keep walking back and forth for different cleaning products when one product can do multiple jobs. Chemico’s Liqui Cleen can be used in almost every room in the house on a variety of surfaces, making cleaning easier and quicker.

ALSO SEE: Spring-cleaning hacks for the top 4 germ hotspots in your home

4. When cleaning up toys, use a dustpan

Sweep small toys into a clean dustpan, which is much quicker than picking them up with your hands and you will be able to get them all at once.

5. Enlist the help of your family

Your children’s rooms are their domains, so they need to make sure that their beds are made, and that nothing is lying on the floor. Do a quick inspection every morning, and give a small reward for a job well done – much easier than having to do it all yourself, and you are teaching valuable skills at the same time.

The post 5 tips for smart cleaning over the holidays appeared first on Living and Loving written by Xanet Scheepers .


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