Everyone wants a baby to have smooth, soft skin and look playful. However, sometimes our expectations don’t meet up. Their skin tends to dry up since they aren’t capable enough to keep them moist, and less humidity also develops the tendency.

A humidifier increases humidity level, which reduces the tendency to dry up the baby’s skin. Besides, humidifiers indirectly hydrate the skin and keep the skin smooth.

Benefits of a Humidifier for Baby

Humidifier has tons of benefits for baby which can release your headache. Let’s take a look at the reasons why a humidifier is suitable for a baby…

Deactivated the airborne: Babies often get sick because of their weak immune systems. Therefore, airborne viruses could easily infect the baby and get them sick. These viruses fly comfortably from one place to another in the dry air. But when the air is moist enough, it combines with the airborne and makes them heavy. Heavy airborne can’t fly, and they fall.

Improve dry skin: Baby skin isn’t capable enough to preserve them moist. Thus, their skin gets roughened fast. During winter or in dry air, they face this problem very severely. Since humidifiers supply extra moisture and make the indoor weather comfortable, they ultimately treat dry skin.

Prevent static shock: Everyone wants to take care of their baby. However, less humidity causes static shock. Besides, parents need to touch their baby several times for various purposes. The static shock is annoying for the babies, and it can wake them up from a sound sleep. If you increase the humidity by a humidifier or any source, you can prevent the static shock.

Avoid the cold: Cold is harmful to babies and young children. Dry air can’t preserve the heat. So if you want to keep the house warm, you can increase the humidity level because humidity can maintain the heat. It also saves your utility bill.

Prevent cold symptoms: The FDA and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) don’t allow OTC (Over-The-Counter) medicine for under two-year-old babies. Since you can’t provide OTC medicine to your baby to treat cold-related symptoms, you can use a humidifier; it will help relieve the illness.

For better sleep: Sound sleep is vital for babies. But in winter, issues like crack skin, itchy nose irritate them, and they can’t sleep soundly. The humidifier prevents all these and makes sure your baby is sound asleep.

Prevents Snoring: Snoring is caused due to the buildup of mucus. Mucus creates an obstacle while passing the air through the nasal, and warm fluid can loosen the mucus and clear the nasal. In general, cold weather is the main reason for snoring. Here, the humidifier provides the ultimate solution for it.

Soothes Dry Lips: Newborn or young baby usually has chapped lips. If you want to cure your baby’s dry lip, then you can use a humidifier. Since babies’ skin is sensitive, their lips lose moisturizer. Humidifiers provide extra moisture and fix this issue. For soothes, dry lips, use baby-safe balm, olive oil.

Best Types of Humidifiers for your Baby

After looking above the beneficial side of a humidifier now, you can understand why a humidifier is so helpful for babies. It helps babies to stay healthy and joyful. There are various types of humidifiers: Cool Mist, Warm Mist, Ultrasonic, Evaporative, and Vaporizers. Every type has amazing features with also a few downsides. With regard to the positive and negative aspects, each type gives the best service for a specific purpose. Below, I will discuss some best types of humidifiers for your baby.

Warm Mist Humidifier

A warm-mist humidifier should be the first choice for rapid action. It supplies the mist as well as provides warm moisture, which is more effective in increasing room temperature. This humidifier uses heat to boil water and turn the water into mist. So, the mist is warmer than other humidifiers. For this reason, a warm mist humidifier is essential in dry air and cold area. A warm mist humidifier helps to eliminate nasal congestion rapidly. Since it boils the water, it also kills bacteria and other viruses and avoids spreading through the air.

Though warm mist humidifier has benefits, it could be a hazard for babies. Because these humidifiers use heat to boil water, the mist is also warm. So, if baby close to it, they could burn their skin. For your baby’s safety, place the humidifier out of the baby’s reach.

Cool Mist Humidifier

A cool-mist humidifier is safe for babies, and it has no element that can harm babies like a warm mist humidifier. The coverage of the cool mist humidifier is more than the other humidifiers.

A common problem of humidifiers is noise, and a continuous sound could cause sleep disturbance for your baby. Here, a cool-mist humidifier can be helpful since it makes mist but with less noise than the warm mist humidifier.

The problem with the cool mist humidifier is mold and other minerals that deposit on the filter. These deposits spread bad odor as well as bacteria. To avoid this situation, you can use distilled water or frequently clean the filter and other parts where mold and minerals can deposit. Also, change the filter after a certain period.

Ultrasonic Humidifiers

Evaporative Humidifier and Ultrasonic Humidifier both are Cool-Mist Humidifiers. But the procedure of producing mist is different.

Evaporative Humidifier used most common and conventional method; it has a fan and filter. The filter absorbs the water, and the fan blows the air at high speed.

Ultrasonic Humidifier uses vibration to create water vapor, and it doesn’t need any filter because it uses vibration with a thin ceramic diaphragm. Since it doesn’t use a filter, you don’t need to clean the filter, and the probability of depositing mold and minerals is low. However, the Ultrasonic Humidifiers are more expensive.

FAQ

Where is the best place to put a humidifier in the baby’s room?

Try to select a place where the humidifier can disperse the moist perfectly. Also, keep in mind that you don’t get optimal if you set the humidifier far. If you set the humidifier too close, it can get to your baby. For this reason, don’t set too close or so far. So, try to select 3 to 4 feet away from your baby bed.

Can I use a humidifier for 24 hours?

A humidifier is beneficial for dry air and winter, as well as many other advantages. Therefore, this is a common query. The answer entirely depends on the situation. If you live in a dry air area, you should keep in mind that the comfortable humidity level is about 30% to 50%. Or, if you live in a cold place, the ideal range is 40% to 60%. If you want to remain in the range continuously, run the humidifier for 24 hours. Remember, above or below the range can cause various problems.

When should I clean my humidifier?

If you don’t clean your humidifier, it can cause allergies, asthma, etc. It also spreads an unpleasant smell and is harmful to babies, pets, and other family members. So, it would be best if you cleaned it every week. For the humidifier with a wick filter, clean it with vinegar, bleach, or hydrogen peroxide. If you’re using tap water, clean the filter with bleach or hydrogen peroxide because bleach and hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria and mold. Or, if you’re using distilled water, rinse the tank and filter with lukewarm water.