What we do for Excema
23 February 2010My 5 year old has had patches of Excema since she was a little over a year. We have finally figured out what works for us and these are the things we do.
1. Hardly bathe her. Sounds gross I know but she is little. We sometimes just sponge bath and stick her head in and wash her hair. Hot water is bad for it. Sitting in the tub too long is hard on her. Also, if we wash her hair and she sits in the shampoo/conditioner in the water it irritates it. My sister also gave me some shampoo with tea tree oil in it that seems to work well.
2. Make our own laundry detergent and use vinegar for fabric softener. I kind of tweaked a few recipes and I make our own powder detergent. We shred, on the cheese grater, 3 bars of ivory soap. We then add 1 box of Arm and Hammer Super Washing soda and the same amount of Borax. Borax has more in the box than the washing soda does so I just measure it out. Just mix together and use. They suggest using one large spoonful but I use 2 since our loads are so large. Also, I just slop some vinegar into the rinse cycle. Probably a few tablespoons. Sams has very cheap vinegar. Much cheaper than buying dryer sheets or fabric softener. This works well.
3. The only 2 lotions that work well is Cerave (locals..I can only find this at Drug Emporium) and Eucerin. These were both recommended by determatologists that my family has visited. We took their word for it and it is right. I don’t really prefer one of these over another one.
4. No fleece or polyester clothing touching her bad spots. Fleece irriates it immediately and so does polyester. Cotton or knits, “breathing” fabrics is all that works well.
Hope this helps!
Stacy
