Info for Eczema Control

I just emailed this info to another crafty blogger for her son with Eczema and I thought to myself, why not share it with everyone. You never know who might read it and it could help them, too! My youngest daughter, Natalia (she'll be 4 years old in November) has Eczema and these are some of the hints that I've gathered to keep her skin under control.

When she was only a few months old, we started out using Betaderm ointment .5% for her body and Cortate .1% for her face as her Dermatologist prescribed. We used that for about 2 years, and it would keep her skin in check as long as we applied it the 2-3 times per day. However, in the process found that it ruined a lot of her clothes as the ointment is a Vaseline based product and leaves a greasy layer on clothes or where ever she was sitting. Not a good thing! lol :) Anyway, I was also rather nervous about using those steroid ointments all the time as they thin the skin, this was when a friend of mine told me about a product that Aveeno makes called 'Extra Moisturizing Cream' that comes in a beige coloured tub with a navy blue cover. It's about 20 oz I would say. Well, holy cow, what wonderful stuff! I use it once a day on her body, sometimes only every 2-3 days and it works wonders. In Canada is cost around $13 for the tub of cream, but it's worth ever penny! Just thought I would mention, if you were interested in trying it out. I haven't used any steroid ointments on her in over a year and don't think I'll ever go back to using them. Natalia's skin used to get so bad it would crack and bleed, it used to make me so sad because I can imagine how much it used to bother her when she was just a little baby. I'm so glad I finally found something that really works for her. Lately, I've also just been using Aveeno moisturizing lotion in a pump bottle and it works great, as well.

We also do the following things as recommended by her Dermatologist:
~Only 100% cotton clothes
~Double rinse clothes in the washer
~No dryer sheets or fabric softener when drying clothes
~Aveeno Shower Oil for her bath. Pat skin dry after done. I only use this when she really has a breakout, though. Otherwise, just Aveeno shower gel. It's gentle for her skin. Goodness, I should have shares in the Aveeno company! lol :) Seriously, I love their products, I hope to God they never go belly up!!!

We've also found a lot of triggers for her that flare up her skin like grass, sand, tomato sauce, oranges (basically anything that's really acidic) Just a hint, when she was a baby I used to rub Vaseline around her mouth before she ate pasta with tomato sauce and that would keep her face from breaking out. Then, just wipe it off after she was done eating.

Anyway, obviously I'm not a doctor, but it's just that I remember how crazy I used to get trying to figure out how to keep my daughter's skin under control and would have loved to get all the info at once, instead of the suffering she went though in the meantime. If any of this works for anyone else, I'll be happy that I shared some info! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!