Vaseline Bath

One thing that seems to be helping Ben's skin is Vaseline baths. When I first read about the idea on the Internet, it seemed crazy, but my husband wanted to try it.

The other day, however, Ben's skin was so red and inflamed that anything seemed worth a shot. So, we did it.

It didn't cure Ben's eczema, but it really helped to restore some of the hydration to Ben's skin. We bathed him again in Vaseline last night.

Actually, what we've been doing is a bath in Aveeno Baby Bath. The Aveeno lotions don't seem to help, but the oat baths do seem to soothe.

Ben's allergist recommended using all fragrance free products on him. This has made shopping for shampoo, for example, to be challenging. We've decided to try this shampoo, which I ordered from the Internet the other day: http://www.exederm.com/baby-eczema-shampoo.html.

Ben has such extremely sensitive skin that he is irritated by both herbal remedies (not sure which herbs are the culprit, however) and harsh chemicals. A lot of over-the-counter lotions and creams contain potentially irritating chemicals or nut oils. Apparently, hypoallergenic just means that the general public would not be sensitive to a product, but Ben is not the general public.

I am learning so much about allergies and eczema. Before, I only had a vague idea of what eczema even was, and now, I am reading and learning and hoping to relieve Ben's super-irritated skin.

We just upped the dose of children's Zyrtec, which was prescribed for Ben in March. So, hopefully, this will help.

If you are also an eczema and allergy sufferer, what worked for you?