When will baby acne go away?

Bub developed neonatal acne at 3 weeks. They were red, rough patches of skin that were worst around the cheeks and looked so angry! The patches would disappear and reappear on different parts of bub’s face, and sometimes affect the entire face! It lingered on for five weeks and only went away when she was 8 weeks old. I don't have a photo of bub's acne, but here's a picture most similar to what bub had  from healthline.com:

Image credit: https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/baby-acne

Bub had a rash that appeared similar.

I scoured many websites that basically all said the same thing- neonatal acne is a reaction of the baby’s skin to maternal hormones and usually go away on their own. Read: basically, there was nothing much you can do. 

In online forums, I read about the experiences of other mummies and found that they were very varied. Some  cases of neonatal acne cleared within days, while others took weeks.

Here’s what I learnt when dealing with bub’s acne:

1. Keep moisturising. Bub tended to have dry skin, especially on her face. I tried out a few moisturisers and eventually found Sebamed baby facial cream to be the best. It is a thicker, richer moisturiser that feels light on the skin. Generally, look for creams rather than lotions if you want a thicker formulation. If your baby’s skin isn’t so dry, a facial lotion may do the job.
2. Keep the face clean with cool water. I’d wipe bub’s face in the morning and evening with cool, boiled water, moisturising both times after. Lots of mummies talk about wiping or applying breast milk on the skin, but I didn’t because I found that it left a sticky residue. 
3. Have slightly cooler baths with mild soap. Warm water tended to dry bub’s skin, so I bathed her in slightly cooler water while making sure the temperature was still comfortable enough for a bath.  I like cetaphil baby wash as it washes both hair and body, is  mild, and has nearly no smell.
4. Move baby to a cooler room. Heat and sweat made the acne worse. I’d keep the fan on and on  particularly hot days turn on the AC. Electricity bill was noticeably more expensive that month. Ouch.
5. Don’t try out weird things you read about on the internet. I read about some people putting diaper rash creams on the acne. Another even wiped the baby’s face with urine at the beckoning of her mother-in-law. Yuck!! Urine itself may be sterile, but not when it comes into contact with the skin of the genital and perineum area where lots of bacteria thrive!
6. Be patient and ride it out. This is the most important. There really was no magic ointment or dietary change on my part that made the acne go away overnight. A good moisturiser is important to keep the skin barrier healthy, but didn’t “heal” the acne per se. Neonatal acne really is a self-limiting condition. In bub’s case, it took an excruciatingly long 5 weeks to resolve. Even though I was wrecked with worry and tried all sorts of things, the only thing I really needed to do was to let the acne run its course (and of course basic skincare like keeping skin clean and moisturised). Some lucky babies clear up within days but we were not so fortunate.

Links to products I use:

Sebamed baby facial moisturiser

https://shope.ee/5AGOgIgDwn

Cetaphil baby gentle wash and shampoo:

https://shope.ee/3pl15vrnwg

Cetaphil baby Daily Lotion:

https://shope.ee/q7PWUWgNc