Winter woes
It’s cold again, here in my little corner of the world. As much as I love winter, with all the wonderful holidays and festivals and rituals, the weather isn’t very kind to the two of us. I get a pretty much constant bloody nose, but my son has it much worse.
His poor skin. It gets pebbly and rough and itches so that he scratches til he bleeds… then here I come with the cream and it stings and he cries and and and… it’s not a very happy scene in this little single parent household.
I had hoped the dermatologist would be more super-heroish, have some miracle cure super duper cream in her arsenal or something. Instead, she loaded me up with over the counter remedies and a prescription steroid cream and told us to grin and bear it.
She did have some good, old-fashioned advice for sensitive, dry, irritated skin this winter, so I thought I would share it with you…
If you have sensitive, rough, dry, itchy skin, here’s what our dermatologist told us to do:
- Wash with Dove soap or Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser
- Moisturize with Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion or, for really bad patches, their Moisturizing Cream (but be prepared, it takes some work to get it to soak in!)
- Wash clothes, towels, and sheets in a fragrance free detergent like All. No more perfumes or dyes, please
- Benadryl to eae the itching if it gets really bad, and hydrocortizone for topical relief…
The Cetaphil website has some great resources to understand your skin, and figure out what care is right for you. Definitely worth signing up for…
Tonight was so sad. The kid was changing into his jammies when I caught sight of his skin. A painful session of moisturizing ensued, which stung because he’d scratched so hard. He cried, I snuggled him and held him, and oh I wished I could take this winter malady away from him. We’ll simply have to keep him slathered until spring comes and melts the irritation away.
And if your hands get unusually chapped and painful, o single mother friends o mine, I do have one secret weapon for you, as well: Porter’s Lotion. Take it from me, a former potter with hands prone to cracking and peeling… this stuff works.
Guess I’ll have to get some humidifiers this weekend; that might help my bloody noses!
Thanks to the Cetaphil website for the image of the cleanser!
Oh, this is so timely for me! My son (8-months) has EXTREMELY dry skin – his little legs look like a cobblestone road and have since the day he was born.
I’ve got a coupon for Walgreen’s to use this weekend and I think I’m going to put it toward buying Cetaphil cleanser and moisturizer for Baby Guy! Thanks!!!
Oh Gina, I’m so sorry you know what I’m talking about. Do make all the changes, use dye and fragrance free laundry detergent, natural fibers, gentle cleansers… Dove soap, the whole nine yards. And if you need something that really works, and you have the patience? Go for the thick cream in the tub as well as the lotion. The cream is annoying but boy, does it work. Let me know how your little guy does with the new skin care regime!
Cetaphil makes one of the few cleansers I can use on my face, most other products make me break out. I use their body lotion on a regular basis, it’s a little more expensive than other lotions, but to me it’s worth the price.