Dry Skin… Update!

One of my previous posts I talked about my daughters dry skin and what the nurse from the Health Centre thought it could be eczema.  Just a quick recap of the post, the nurse suggested to use Vaseline or Glaxal Base cream.  I did try the Vaseline and thought I was having success with it,  for a few days her skin looked like it was clearing up and than the next day it made a turn for the worse and it seemed to have gotten worse!

I talked to my other half and he wanted me to try using cocoa butter, tried and no change.  I felt like if it didn’t start clearing up I would have to get to the doctor as my girl was starting to scratch her legs on the dry patches so I’m sure they were starting to irritate her.  I than talked to mom – yes mom knows best, well most of the time – and she had a lotion from Melaleuca called Renew.  She’s heard about some success stories with eczema and she uses the lotion and seems to make a difference.  I also thought at this point I really have nothing to loose. 

She’s been using the lotion for almost two (2) weeks now and every day I see a change for the better.  Her face and back is baby soft again and her belly, arms and legs are getting there.  I’m very grateful that my mom suggested this product and hopefully she continues to get better and I see no reason why it wouldn’t.  I also had a comment on my previous post and she mentioned that her children all grew out of it so I am hopeful and very positive that she very well will even if the lotion continues to work. 

What worked for you and your child(ren) with their dry skin or eczema if they had it? Did your child(ren) grow out of it like my other reader did?

Dry Skin for babies

I’ve noticed over the past month, maybe, that my baby girl has a few dry patches on her skin.  They’ve showed up on her thighs, forearms, and belly.  Poor girl but they don’t seem to be bothering her, in other words she’s not scratching them, but, of course, I want to get rid of them in hopes to prevent further problems. 

I’ve tried bathing her every three (3) days instead of every two (2) days and there was no change.  Than I thought maybe it was the scented bath wash. 

I’ve used Aveeno in the past for myself when I was younger for a skin irritation and it worked for me so decided to try it for my daughter.  Found a bath and shampoo wash for babies that was unscented, this seemed to help a little bit but the dry patches were still there.  Next I switched to an unscented lotion, since the Aveeno wash helped a bit I decided to try their lotion.  It seemed to help but, again, only a bit. 

Was using lotion on her every day and always after a bath.  I never rubbed her dry just patted her down and than applied the lotion.  Like I said this did seem to help but not entirely. 

I had an appointment for her four (4) month immunization at the local Health Care Centre.  Like the previous appointment the nurse asked me questions about baby and checked her over.  Thought it would be a great time to get some questions of my own out, I mean who better to ask than the local health centre and nurses that deal with babies on a daily basis.  She did notice the dry patches and said that it is possible that it could be eczema.  Mentioned to talk to her doctor if it gets worse but also told me to try Vaseline brand lotion.  Really I had nothing to lose at this point and I’m thankful that the patches weren’t getting worse.

I had some unscented Vaseline lotion at home.  Since I had some of this Vaseline lotion at home I might as well try it, plus it was unscented.  Nothing like scented lotion to make a skin irritation worse or more irritated.  Have been using this Vaseline since and from the first day I’ve noticed improvement also every day since there has been more improvement.  Her skin is starting to feel baby soft again and I’m so happy the nurse suggested something as simple as Vaseline.  I really didn’t want to use a medicated lotion that would have steroids in it.  Not the ideal stuff to use for a baby in my humble opinion, but if it was necessary I would have. 

The nurse also mentioned that most lotions are “Glaxal” based and if the Vaseline didn’t work that I could purchase a pure Glaxal base to use on the patches.  So something to keep in mind but at least the Vaseline is working and her skin is becoming that baby bottom soft again!

What steps did you do to eliminate such a skin irritation? What lotion worked best for your little one?

Cradle Cap

I don’t even remember seeing the Cradle Cap appear but it did somewhere along the lines.  Cradle Cap is that yellow tinged flaky looking dandruff on a babies scalp.  I thought that it would go away with a bit of time and only because my baby had a little bit of dry, flaky skin when she was born; was told that the dry skin would go away with time. 
Her dry skin did clear up with no problems but than this Cradle Cap appeared.  One day I just decided to try to put some lotion in her hair and massage it a little bit into scalp before her bath time, figured I’ve got nothing to lose.  After her bath, I combed out her hair as usually and it looked to still be there.  The next day I took a peak around and about half of it, if not more, was gone! Her next bath I decided to use a little bit of olive oil; olive oil is really good for your skin and I have heard of some people actually use it as a skin moisturizer when really dry or cracked.  Again, I felt like I had nothing to lose.  Again, the next day it was cleared up. 
I’ve heard of using things like olive, vegetable, or canola oil before bath time.  I also read somewhere that if your babies cradle cap is really bad you can use an anti-dandruff shampoo but only a little and once in a while (not an every bath shampoo), do talk to your child’s paediatrician before using it.  I didn’t mainly because the lotion and olive oil worked really well and have no signs of return.
Whatever you decide to try, do not over wash your baby’s hair you don’t want to dry out their scalp and make the situation worse.  Because washing does dry out the scalp and hair it gave me the idea of massaging her scalp with a bit of lotion.  At first was kind of “scared” to try the oil, thought that it would make her hair to greasy.  This was not the case at all, just use a small amount, read a suggestion about using a cotton ball to dab it onto the scalp to avoid using excessive amounts.  Adding moisture to a dry situation was bound to help! Glad I tried it!
What method did you use? did it work? What other suggestions do you have for parents struggling with this nuisance of a problem?