dry patches of skin on arms and legs

Bernadette - posted on 08/26/2012

both of my kids get something similar to what you've described and what I've found to work quite well is olive oil in the bath. My second child, in particular, was getting it quite badly and I was using baby oil. One night it was looking so bad that I decided to really go overboard with the oil, and tipped heaps into the bath. Later that night, his legs had broken out in big angry looking red scaly patches. I was telling my mum about it a few days later. My older sister had very bad exzema as a kid (I didn't think this was exzema either, as it looked nothing like hers) so my mum had sought quite of lot of advice on the matter. She said that the doctor had said to her NOT to use baby oil, as it is usually mineral oil which can actually be quite harsh on the skin and aggravates exzema. He recommended olive oil, and she passed on the advice to me. I've found it to be working pretty well. I assume that the regular cooking variety olive oil would be fine, but I've been buying stuff from the pharmacy specifically for use on skin, and it really helps. If it is particularly bad, you can rub it straight onto the skin after the bath too.

Sally - posted on 08/25/2012

There are many kinds of eczema and they all look and act differently. It can be caused by many different things and some unlucky people just have it for no reason. Your irritation eczema might look more like someone else's allergy eczema or your just because eczema might look like someone else's stress eczema or... It makes it really hard to deal with especially on a small baby who can't tell you how he feels. My 2 year old has two different kinds for two different reasons and is allergic to all prescription lotions and most OTC ones. On the bright side I make a little money selling the lotions and creams I had to learn to make for her. :) The only cure for eczema is to figure out what is causing it and make that stop. Until then, the best you can do is control the itching.

Every kind and every person who has it will need a different control. If Aquaphor works for you, keep using it. If not, there are many different products to try. Any thick lotion might help and there are many medicated and herbal lotions that are designed just for it. The only way to find out if it will help you is to try it. If nothing helps, it gets worse, or it starts irritating him see your doctor. They have even more lotions and creams than the store does and can give you some pointers on guesses of what's causing it so you can make it go away on it's own.

Other things that might help are sponge baths instead of soaking (cool water is better than warm) and only using soap (unscented with as few ingredients as possible) when he's sticky or smelly, using unscented laundry soap and/or a second rinse cycle, eliminating common allergens from his diet (If he's nursing, you don't get to eat it either.), and natural fabrics instead of synthetics

Good luck

Anna - posted on 08/25/2012

Our son (now 2.5 yrs) has always suffered with very bad dry skin since he was born. We were given steroid cream and emollient for bath and skin cream by the dr. these meds cleared it up temporarily but each time we used them, it seemed to come back worse. Recently he was itching from head to toe really badly and had dreadful scaly patches in his arms and legs. We ran out of cows milk, and as our daughter (and my hubs) is intolerant to dairy, and has been since 4 wks old, we decided to experiment with our son. We took him off dairy and gave him soya instead for a week and a half, and his skin amazingly has totally cleared up! We were so shocked and wish we'd followed our instincts when he was a baby, and stopped it earlier! Maybe worth a try. Good luck xx

Samantha - posted on 08/24/2012

Always ask the Dr. But it sounds like ecema, and can be treated with eucerin cream from wall mart. If that doesn't help elidal is a rx. My son has this he is now 12 and with natural soaps and lotions it no longer irritates his skin.

Brandi - posted on 08/22/2012

All three of my children had excema. The most important thing is to limit the tempurature of the bath water and the time in the bath. I was also recommended to not put lotion on my children more than once a day. It is important for a baby's skin to learn to moisturize itself. My youngest two had it the worst and got medicated cream from the pediatrican. My youngest had it so bad that we put heavy ointment on his patches covered with gauze and wrapped it with self stick athletic bandages. This way the patches stayed moisturized longer. We changed the bandages daily. Now we use Udderly Smooth Udder Cream on the patches and it helps immensely. I use CeraVe cream on my dry skin with would also be a good alternative.

Kristin - posted on 07/26/2012

Sorry that next to last post was a little unclear. If it continues take him/her to a dermatologist....to get my daughter cleared up at first I needed a perscripton lotion and a barrier cream to protect her skin.

Kristin - posted on 07/26/2012

Yep. My daughter started using it when she was 3 months. Aveeno for eczema has a baby formula too, but it's still a little harsh for my daughter. So I stick w dove.

Kim - posted on 07/26/2012

even for little infants?

Kristin - posted on 07/25/2012

Dove is for adults, but it's the most mild and made for sensitive skin, it works on my daughter well. I went to a peds dermatologist and that was his reccommendations and they work and really helped my daughter

Kim - posted on 07/25/2012

well i use johnsons natural care lotion and head to toe bath soap.
& isn't dove for adults though? & I also use desitin multi purpose ointment, it seems to be getting a little better, not as much as i would want it to be.

Kristin - posted on 07/24/2012

My daughter has eczema...sometimes it doesn't look like anything but dry skin and other times it can be bad. My dermatologist said to limit her water time , short baths and don't use Johnson and Johnson stuff, it's so harsh, and the scents are bad for sensitive skin. He said to use dove sensitive skin, and I also give her a bath once a week in aveeno oatmeal bath. Man it helps. And any pool time...she goes straight to the tub. Lots of lotion, (cerave) no scents and hypo for sensitive skin. My dr said even baby's with skin that is ok shouldn't use that strong scent stuff...hope this helps.

Brittany - posted on 07/23/2012

My daughter has little bumps on her arms and legs. We (including her doctor) thought it was eczema, as it was red at the time. But the redness went away by her next appointment. From that her doctor figured out it was Karitosis Pilaris. It is typically genetic.



This site as a description:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth...





This site has some remedies:

http://www.keratosispilaris.org/parents-...



I like the Apple Cider Vinegar idea. I can't afford any creams, and moisturizers and exfoliating doesn't work.

Elfrieda - posted on 07/22/2012

My son has had this, too, since he was very young. It doesn't look too bad at all, just a bit of rough dry skin on the calf of his left leg. I put coconut oil on it and baby lotion and it seemed to work for a short while, but it always came back. Now he's 2 and still has a bit of rough skin there, but it's not so obvious because he's not all soft and perfect all over the rest of him, what with the skinned knees and tan lines. :) I don't do anything much to it anymore, just when I think of it I put some lotion on. It doesn't seem to be getting worse or better (it's better than when he was a baby, though), maybe it's just how his skin is there. Hopefully it doesn't become too much of a worry for you.