Olive Oil, Cocoa Butter, Burt's Bees

So, we have been using olive oil and cocoa butter as a moisturizer for the last few days. The olive oil has helped a lot with cradle cap, but none of these things was a very long lasting moisturizer, but what we were using before, Vanicream, seemed to be irritating him. We're still putting Vaseline on after baths, but putting it on all the time makes a big mess. The olive oil made a small mess yesterday when Ben kicked the bottle over. I got a small bottle from Rite Aid that says sweet oil emollient. I have read though that extra virgin olive oil is better.

The cocoa butter seemed to be just as good at moisturizing if not better than the Method Baby lotion that we tried on one of Ben's legs over the weekend. We washed his hair in their shampoo too, and though the shampoo didn't seem to be extremely irritating, it did seem to dry out his head. We probably should have put olive oil on afterward, but we wanted to see what would happen if we just tried the shampoo alone.

I had bought some Burt's Bees products at the drug store the other day. I didn't try them right away, however, because I wanted to call his allergist to see if coconut would likely cause allergy problems since he is allergic to peanuts and cashews. Some people consider coconut to be a nut; others consider it to be a fruit.

Today, though, we got desperate. I had been putting olive oil and cocoa butter on all morning, but when Ben took Jamie out for a little while, in the car on the way back, Ben had removed his cotton gloves and had started scratching his neck until it bled. The allergist called back this morning and said that coconut would probably be okay. So I put on Burt's Bee's Thoroughly Therapeutic with honey and orange. I had wanted to try Burt's Bee's before, but some of their products contain nut oils or wheat, so, if you have food allergies, you have to read their labels carefully.

Burt's Bee's lotion made Ben's skin feel silky smooth. I'm not sure if it also made it a little red, but we had to do something to try and moisturize his skin so he would stop scratching. This product does have a rather strong fragrance. While we are trying to use fragrance free products, I felt that we should try this lotion. Aside from the back of head ( where he likes to scratch and seems to sometimes just do it as a reflex, Ben is not scratching now. I hope that this continues through the night. Ben is also rolling over a lot and reaching for different objects including toys, lotions and Maggie the dog.

My Baby is Like a Sheet Cake Pan

Ben and Jamie are gone for the next few days. This will hopefully give me some time to catch up on a few things, including cleaning.

Vanicream, though not superirritating, does seem to be somewhat irritating. We're going to try and go as chemical-free or as low chemical as possible.

I know that some people dislike using petroleum-based products on their babies, but we're not about to put stuff with nut oils on a kid with with nut allergies. Although almond oil may be okay, we're not sure. He is not allergic to almonds, but we don't want to cause him to develop an almond allergy. I read somewhere that people are less likely to have a problem with almonds than other nuts. Also, he had a terrible reaction to Cetaphil, but that may have been the other chemicals in it rather than the almond oil. I wish we could use Burt's Bees, but a lot of their lotions contain nut oils. Some of their products may be okay, but I'm not sure if coconut would irritate Ben, and that's found in a lot of all natural skin care products. Some people say it's a tree nut. Some say it's not. The whole thing is driving me nuts.

So yesterday we greased Ben up with Vaseline and olive oil and cocoa butter. The allergist said that sometimes simpler is better. If we try one ingredient things for a while, then at least we know what is irritating him.

I need to go shopping. I'm running out of Amy's Organics Gluten-Free things. These things can be a little pricy though if you buy them at a natural store. I'm wondering if Giant Eagle has some gluten-free Amy's.

I'm thinking of trying this shampoo and lotion, which L. recommended. I contacted the company for a list of ingredients, and it seems like the shampoo and lotion might be okay to try on Ben.

I wonder if I should wait until after the dermatologist appointment though. I don't want to put more money down the lotion money pit. On the bright side though, the facial sore likes like it might really be healing.