Baby's First Holi: Tips and Precautions for Safe Celebrations From An Expert

My boy was just 4 months when his first holi hit the calendar. As a new mum I was very happy to celebrate the festival of colors with my angel, meanwhile, my mind was full of anxiousness as to what is safe for a newborn and how shall I proceed with the preparations? Hopefully, by the end of the day, everything went well with beautiful pictures in our scrapbook. So this holi, I am sharing a few thoughts that may help mums to deal merrily with Holi fears.

How To Celebrate First Holi With Your New Born Baby?

What You Should Do If Celebrating First Holi With Your Baby? In young babies from the age of 0 to 1 year, it is very crucial to be cautious with colors and water during Holi. In such infancy, the age of the baby majorly decides how she will be a part of your festive day. Sometimes under 6 months a baby will be excited to see you madly wrapped in colors or to the contrary, they may act too naive to recognize parents and feel lost and irritated. Thus the best way is to judge your baby's mood and plan the day accordingly.

• If your baby is not comfortable, plan a party at home with familiar faces only. Simply get together with no high noises

• If your baby is friendly and goes easy with clamor, you can try hands-on outdoor party

• Feeling lucky? ask help from grandparents/ friends, who can babysit and don't mind staying clean on holi

Tips To Celebrate The Festival, Safely With Your Infants

• Never forget to keep your baby comfortable and happy. Feed her well and make her sleep to stay good through the day

• Holi colors are agent of irritation for sensitive skin. So prefer homemade colors or buy genuine organic colors for your baby. Personal tip: Use haldi, kumkum, sandalwood or kesar tilak to mark color on tiny foreheads

[Explore: Effects of Holi Colour on Your Child's Skin]

• Flower petals are always a delight to play holi with. Keep a basket full of petals and ask the guests to shower them on your baby

• Apply moisturiser or simply petroleum jelly over exposed skin of infants. This will keep them safe from colors

• Pull on full sleeve clothes and socks to avoid any direct contact of colors on your baby's skin

Holi Precautions To Be Taken With Infants And Toddlers

There are simple tricks that can help in preventing any undesirable things during holi celebrations with babies

• Avoid leaving your baby unattended. As there are some unavoidable dangers around like water pools, buckets, hard colors and bhang filled food

• Staying indoors with infants during holi is much preferable. Use pure colors and avoid water splashes with Pichkaris to keep your baby free from chilly wetness

• Small get-togethers with familiar faces can add fun to the festivities for you and baby, both. The known faces tend to keep babies comfortable than non familiar ones

• If you are going out to have a gala time, don't forget to carry an umbrella. This will keep the splashes and water balloons away from baby

• Avoid direct contact with the baby with colors. You can politely ask guests to use flower over colors for the little face

• High music,noisy screams are difficult for a baby to accept as fun themes, so stay calm and enjoy hard

Things To Keep In Mind: Expert Overview

Here are some important tips recommended by our expert Paediatrician, Dr. Janardhan Reddy, that you need to keep in mind. 

1. The baby's skin is sensitive. Colors may irritate the skin. So you can apply a layer of coconut oil or moisturizer so as to protect the skin.

2. See that the kid wears full-sleeved clothing. Preferably cotton fabric

3. Colours, when spilled into the eyes may cause irritation, redness, and watery eyes. So, we need to guard their eyes with sunglasses. Please see that colours do not get on to the face of the kid. When colors are spilled into the eyes then we should immediately rinse the eyes with clean water.

4 . Energetic celebration may make the child prone to dehydration. Keep the child hydrated and keep them under shade when the celebration is happening outdoors. 

5. Synthetic colours may contain harmful chemicals, heavy metals and toxins. They may irritate the skin and eyes respiratory system. Hence it's better to use natural organic colours. 

6. Please be mindful of giving too many sweets/unhealthy foods to the child on the eve of the celebration. 

7. If the baby has sensitive skin or any allergic conditions. Then it may be in the best interest of the baby to avoid colours altogether. 

8. Alternatives like dressing in colourful clothes, using flowers, soft petals, and playing soft music can help the baby enjoy the occasion and also protect the skin. 

Hoping these simple yet important steps will help you make this holi as an notable day. Don't force the festivities on babies, they are delicate to handle and too silly to understand the cultural ways.

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