SandPaper Skin! Ideas...

[Leslier]

My little boy is 3 months old and for the past month his skin feels like sandpaper! I've gone to the doctor and he obviously has excema but nothings working to get rid of it. I bought no perfume, etc. detergent, I put eucerene on every night too. The doctor recommended cortizone occassionally which helps but it's a steroid and I don't want to do that all the time. Does anybody else have experience with this? I EBF do you think I need to maybe omit dairy or something. He had formula when he was first born because he was in the NICU with no reaction but maybe he's sensitive to some food. I'm beginnning to wonder if I need to cut something out of my diet. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[jennsmile]

We have dealt with exzema here as well. Try eliminating diary, it can take 2 weeks or more to get it out of your system. Lukewarm baths with some oil in them, either baby oil/mineral oil/coconut oil/olive oil. Don't know you crunchy you are. I have used mineral oil and it works great. Didn't think to use a more natural oil at the time. But on a baby that young you might. About a TBS per bath. Then lather on the eucerin or try coconut oil.

Jenn

[Leslier]

Thanks so much for the info. I never thought of putting oil in the bath. I do give him a bath every night so I'll try that tonight. Did you find that eliminating dairy did the trick? I think that may be the next step but I loath to do it. I love my cheese!

[Mom2littlemissaudrey]

I have no diet ideas but my dd had eczema when she was 4 months old and we started using Angel Baby Bathwash and lotion and she hasn't had it since! Its definitely a pricey but last a long time and smells super yummey and is all natural. HTH!

[jennsmile]

Actually in the case of my ds it was Cedar allergies, thanks to dad.

But I have read that diary is a common cause of Excema. What ever food you crave is probably the trigger if it food related. We dealt with a throwing up baby till I cut out my peanut butter and bananas. We have been able to since introduce them back in moderation with no problems but I waited till he was over two.

My brother had exzemca when he was little and his dermetologist suggest oil in the bath. It cleared his skin up along with switching to a free and clear detergent.

Jenn

[kezoo]

Mama-I have been there! We called dd a "sandpaper baby", too! Our ped took one look at her and told me to cut dairy (Claire was ebf at the time). So I did, and seriously within 3 days, her skin was gorgeous, soft & perfect again!!! And, as it turns out, she is only sensitive to pasteurized dairy, so I was able to add raw milk back into my diet and she was totally fine. But if I cheated and had say a commercial yogurt, she would start to break out in little patches again... I would seriously cut dairy and see what happens - you may see results in just a few days! In addition, I would NOT give baby a bath EVERY night - water can be very drying. Every other night is fine, unless baby gets dirty & actually needs the bath. And as soon as you get him out of the bath - lotion immediately. Preferably something unscented. We've found a couple that worked nicely - goat's milk lotions & creams (my fave comes from www.windrifthill.com), Neutrogena sensitive skin lotion, Weleda calendula baby oil & lotion and ShiKai Pediatric Borage lotion. Good luck!

[kezoo]

OH, and stop using Eucerin or ANY cream that has mineral oil in it. Mineral oil actually pulls moisture out of the skin over time, which is obviously the reverse of what you want!

[fouradss]

I found with DD that limiting the baths to every other day during the summer, and every third in the winter helped a TON. We just use a washcloth to wash up on the off days. I also use Aveeno Baby (the type for excema). This is the only thing still that works. However, she is starting to outgrow it. We will see how it goes once the cold weather returns.

[sandrc]

my two year old still has patches of sandpaper skin. she has not been diagnosed with excema but she does/did have a milk allergy. i found that burts bees apricot oil worked wonders for it. it made her skin so smooth plus it kept the bugs off of her and it doesn't smell really strong or bad. i use it on my legs too after i shave and it keeps me soft for a long time.

[MamaF]

There are a couple things that i know of:

exzema can be an allergic reaction to food....you could try eliminating things from your diet...just keep in mind that it takes about 10-15days for some things (like dairy) to be completely out of your system and dairy is in a lot of things and goes by different names...

if you have hard water that can make your skin dry (water softner guy told us this after he told us that we really didn't need a softner if we didn't want one)...i had to ask for his prices b/c he was ready to leave after he tested our water

my DH had exzema and we switched where we buy all our laundry, cleaning, bath products...his totally went away (even before we had the water softner guy out)....It's a chemical free company...click on my link below if you want more info.

also you can pm me if you want some sites about allergies and i know of a site that has good lists of what the different names of different items (like dairy)...we have allergies in the familiy and thought DS had allergies, but after being tested he just has intolerances, which basically means i can have a little, but i still have to watch the amount i have with how it affects him...

Hope this helps...poor boy