Tips for moisturising your baby’s eczema skin

Through the years of battling with my little one’s eczema I have learnt the difficult lesson of just how important it is to keep eczema skin nourished, hydrated and moisturised. It’s so easy in amongst our busy days to forget to moisturise our little one’s skin and all our hard work of finding suitable products and running around to see pharmacists, doctors and specialists goes out the window.

Scratching only makes eczema worse so here are some tips on moisturising your little one’s eczema skin which hopefully will help you get you on top of managing eczema.

bathing and showering

A regular bath or shower is really important because it removes any debris or irritants that can cause an eczema flare up.

There are three important eczema details to remember with your little one in the bath

• make sure the water is only lukewarm – warmer water can irritate and dry out eczema skin
• don’t spend too long in the bath – 10 minutes is ideal – extra time in the bath can start to dehydrate your little one’s skin
• use a product in the bath which can add moisture to your little one’s skin.

after the bath

There is so much to think about when you’re getting your eczema baby out of the bath, but front of mind should be how quickly you can get moisturiser onto their skin. Pat your little one dry (don’t rub because this can be harsh on their skin and remove any natural oils) and then ideally you have about three minutes to cover them generously in moisturiser while their skin is still damp.

• ointments, creams and lotions

The goal of moisturising your eczema baby’s skin with ointments, creams and lotions is to create a barrier between moistened skin and the environment.

– Ointments leave a layer on the skin and often feel a bit greasy – this is because they are very effective at trapping moisture on eczema skin.

– Creams are lighter than ointments so the barrier they leave on the skin isn’t as thick.

– Lotions are the mildest form of moisturising for eczema and since they are mostly made up of water evaporate quite quickly and don’t keep a barrier on the skin to keep it moisturised.

• how and when to moisturise

The most important time to moisturise your eczema baby is straight after the bath as this is when you have the opportunity to lock in the most moisture. The best way to put moisturiser on your eczema baby’s skin is to stroke it downward on the skin, it might take a few minutes for the moisturiser to completely absorb. If your doctor has prescribed steroid creams or ointments you should apply these first and then the moisturiser.

However moisturising only after bathtime is usually not enough for eczema babies. It’s important to reapply moisturiser throughout the day – usually before dressing your eczema baby in the morning and before their midday nap or somewhere in the middle of the day.

This blog post was brought to you and your baby by Julia and the Itchy Baby Co. team X.

Disclaimer: Information provided is of a general nature only, and you should always consult your medical professional.