Fresh delicate baby skin plus cold dry winter air equals eczema.
Also? Badass hardworking mama skin plus cold dry winter air equals eczema.
Babystar had the scaly skin of eczema the first winter she was alive. I kept it at bay with nightly coconut oil massages.
Last winter was quite mild, and I thought she maybe outgrew it.
But this winter is NO JOKE Y’ALL. I heard one weatherman say that it was colder than Mars. I didn’t fact check that, but it sounds legit. Most of America has been hibernating this winter.
The eczema has been taking over my family.
I will forever remember Christmas Eve Eve* as the night that Babystar woke up at 4am saying, ‘Mama, rub my back.’
The night that Babystar broke out in straight up red bumpy HIVES all over her back and neck and even a little on her chest.
The night that I spent hours researching rashes online and had almost convinced myself that my baby had Scarlet Fever. (I’m pretty sure Louisa May Alcott is responsible for that one.)
I still don’t know why her eczema flared up so badly that night. Maybe one too many baths? We were at my in-laws house in Myrtle Beach. I drove to Target on Christmas Eve morning for a travel humidifier ($29.99) and Seventh Generation Baby Sensitive Skin laundry detergent ($17.19) and a tub of extra virgin coconut oil ($8.99).
We stopped the baths and forced the oil on the baby. She hates it by the way. Once we got home, I tried to find an extremely sensitive lotion that she would tolerate and that would work. I have really dry skin and Princess Buttercup has really sensitive skin, so we had a lot of fancy potions to try.
Do you know what finally worked? Aveda hand relief moisturizing creme. It REALLY calms her skin. And she likes the way it feels. She calls it the ‘nice cream’.
I only had a travel size so I immediately drove to Aveda and bought two full size hand relief cremes ($48).
Her back is getting better but now her hands are flaring up. And she cannot stand the feeling of ‘cream’ on her hands.
(I’ve been tricking her by accidentally getting some on her hands and then ‘wiping it off’ aka rubbing it in. But I think she’s on to me.)
MAYDAY MAYDAY: Does anyone have any eczema advice?
My friend made me a sample of an essential oils cream but it has extra virgin coconut oil as a base. The potion works miracles on my hands, but Babystar screams and runs away if I try to rub any on her eczema.
RAISING BABYSTAR: $26,003.73
(I wrote this before we moved and now we are in Colorado and unpacking and I still don’t have any decent pictures for this post so please enjoy this photo of boxes.)
(Also, her eczema is getting better, though it’s still not gone. She bathes like a person of the Colonial times: rarely and in a tub of lukewarm water.)
BabyCostsMoney 