Thursday, July 19, 2012

Things You Won't Find In the Baby Books: Neck Stench Edition

Always put a bib on your baby when you feed him or her lest your baby develops the rarely mentioned, not uncommon neck stench.

My baby went through a phase of growth where she had multiple chins and no neck. Milk would get trapped in those chin folds and become impossible to completely remove. That milk, nestled in the warm rolls of skin ripens into cheese.

Disgusting, but true.

"Why don't you just bathe your baby?"

This seems like the obvious answer, but trust me, it's not.

When this was happening, my daughter was getting a bath in the morning (because I don't feel fresh unless I have a morning shower and I couldn't help thinking she felt the same way) and a bath before bed to settle her down.

I couldn't get into all of those folds with the washcloth and soap, despite rigorous scrubbing.

The only thing that slightly alleviated it was using powder on her, which I didn't want to do because I read in the baby books that Talc was bad for their little lungs. However the baby books had no answer for neck stench issues.

I thought about all the babies who were powdered and perfectly healthy. Then I got a whiff of the distasteful, Limburger-esque scent emanating from her neck and I dusted her.

The only thing that cured the smell was waiting a month and a half for my baby to grow a neck.

But it was a long smelly month and a half.

So, use all of those cute bibs people will give you when your baby is born, and maybe buy a few more.

And don't be ashamed if this happens to you. After talking to a few more moms, this is another baby thing that is more common than people let on.

and Mommy loves me, but not my stinky neck!



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