2 Year Old with Extremely Dry Skin

J.,

My 2 younger daughters both have had extremely dry skin. I pretty much call it eczema, but it is just REALLY dry skin.
Honestly, I have tried everything. Aquaphor and Eucerin ointments are truly the only things that heals it. Lotions do not absorb long enough, and you go through so much of it. Plus, it stings their skin from the fragrance. Try sticking with it for a while, even applying it 3 times a day and after bathing! Good luck! M.

You could try a little 1% hydracortizone (cortizone) cream. I use this on my daughter when she gets little breakouts. Or, try that nipple cream nursing women use on their sore nipples, lansinoh..or something like that. That works great too.

Hi J.. There are some products in Arbonne's baby care line that I know would help your daughter. They are extremely gentle enough to use on newborns and the elderly. I know that sounds weird but it's true. My son is 4 and has had the dry, cracked, rashy looking skin on his cheeks, hands, arms and wrists. Once I started using a few of the products in the baby care line it cleared it right up. Arbonne products do exactly what they say they will do. And most importantly, they are not filled with the cheap ingredients like mineral oil. All ingredients are pure, safe and beneficial.

I eventually started my own Arbonne business after trying this and many of the other products. I'll never buy anything else again. It's a little more pricey then something you'll find in Wal-mart but it's sooo worth it. You can check out the products on my website at Tonstel.myarbonne.com and I also have a myspace account which shows some before and after pictures and I think you'll be amazed at the before and after picture of the baby on there. You can check it out at myspace.com/tonstel. I would be glad to help you. Take care.
T.

Hi J.,

The Renew lotion is a Melaleuca Product.

Our daughter has excema and it works for her. She had it on her eye lids and on her chin & cheeks in her middle school years. Her excema is completely gone on her face. It was throughout her entire body when she was little. But I learned that the excema was from using Tide laundry soap. We stopped using the Tide and her skin went back to normal. The best thing is that if you are a mom or dad & you know how some of us get side tracked and we leave the laundry soap in the washer for a day or more....... Well.....Melaleuca has a laundry soap that eliminates mold & mildew, so all you have to do is throw your wash into the dryer. I've forgot one time for a week. We were out of town. Oops! LOL! But I didn't have to re-wash anything. And if you think about it, you sleep on your sheets & pillow cases, wear clothes that you wash in the stuff. Whatever chemicals are in those laundry soaps, you are breathing in and it is getting absorbed into your skin. Your skin is the largest organ of you body. Children are more susceptible because their pores are larger when they are babies.

To learn more: Please check out our website: http://yourchoice.healthyhometour.com
click on toxins and look up from there.

The softeners that you use also create irritation. They have neurotoxins in them. So be careful with those.

If you're interested in learning more, feel free to call or e-mail me: ____@____.com wishes,

J.

Try taking her to a pediatric dermatologist. IF her skin feels like lizard skin, its probably something else. My son has severe eczema, and even when his skin isn't broken out, it feels rough, like sandpaper, or lizard skin like you say.

Equate Dry Skin Cream is what we use. Warm bath, pat dry, slather on the skin cream, and then put his jammies on. Repeat in the morning, slather on skin cream, put clothes on.

Renew is sold by Melaleuca and can be found on Melaleuca.com. I have had problems with dry, cracked skin on my hands for years and this stuff works great! I have used it on both my kids all over their bodies since they were born and it's cleared up everything from diaper rash to chapped cheeks. Could your laundry detergent be giving her a skin reaction? We switched over to all Melaleuca products and it did wonders for my asthma and allergies. If you have any questions about Melaleuca/Renew, or can't find the info you need online, let me know.

Our daughter has a couple of spots on her legs that tend to get really dry. We use the Vanicream skin cream. It will clear up our daughters dry skin after just a couple of applications. The lotion is also good but the skin cream is a lot thicker. It isn't oily which I like. It was originally developed for people with sensitive skin and is free of all dyes, perfumes, etc. There are also shampoos, soaps, and other products. We but ours at Target. You can also buy it on target.com. Check with your pharmacy too. Pharmacists use it for compounding prescription topical medications.

I have really dry skin too and I use Vanicream lotion and Robathol oil. When I went to the derm, they said to also use it on my 8mth old son. It has been wonderful. The lotion is free of any harsh chemicals (sometimes it gets in his eyes by accident and he has no problems with it). The oil is used during shower or bath. You can eventually use the oil and lotion on rotating days. Our skin is great now. Their website is http://www.psico.com/ . I buy their products at Walmart, Target and Walgreens.

Hi J.! I agree about the Renew from Melaleuca but the downside of that is you have to become a preferred customer and buy a certain amount of their product every month. It is a good way to go if you love their other products or find you can't live without the Renew. HOWEVER.....there are a few other options for you. I FIRMLY believe in healing from the inside out. Fish oils will do just that. Try Nordic Naturals in the strawberry flavor for kids. My son has taken them since he was 2 years old because he is prone to dry skin and they have helped tremendously! Also, you mentioned the lizard type skin....try Evening Primrose Creme from Burt's Bees. It is wonderful for dry, scaly skin and rashes.
Also, cutting out certain foods might help. Sugar is rotten (too bad it is so yummy) but she may have a sensitivity to wheat, dairy or soy. Any food that she may want excessively could be a food she is sensitive to.
Sorry about the long message. Feel free to message me any time and if I find an unopened travel size Renew I will let you know and I can send it to you.
-Anne

Have you tried changing the type of soap you use to cleanse her with? If not try using dove or there use to be a liquid soap in a green bottle called "physoderm or physohex".
try these and not give her a bath but every other day and dry her off very well and my daughter uses a cream called,"therapeutic moisturizing cream for dry skin" you can get it from Walgreens, it is their brand, she uses it on her 18month old and it seems to work. Also when she is really broke out in a rash on her bottom she gets a cream from the doctor called "MAGIC BUTT CREAM" it works great!!!

Hi J.,

Here is a simple all natural alternative for your daughter's skin condition. I's L'bri Pure and Natural skin care. I have friends who have cured their baby’s dry skin (and their own) with our pure aloe vera jelly and body wash. Our products have nothing synthetic in them (all natural, very subtle plant-derived scents). Aloe is the # 1 ingredient in all of our products so everything is extremely hydrating and soothing. Think of what the aloe plant can do for a burn! Even Aveeno products for sensitive skin still contain mineral oil and/or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (both not good for your skin). Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a strong degreaser that dries skin out, it has been known to cause severe inflammation of the dermaepidermal tissue in sensitive skin. It's in almost every over the counter body wash on the market today. I hate to see people needing a pharmaceutical cream when something simple and natural exists that will cure skin problems for children. Aloe is truly nature's pharmacy. My website is www.leahatlbri.lbri.com. Click on testimonials to see how others have benefited from the products. The products are affordable too. A 4 oz bottle of aloe vera is $15, the hand/body lotion is $4.75-24.50 depending on the size, and the 8 oz body wash (it's the same for adults and babies) is $13.00. I hope this helps. Thanks! L. Grant

Has she been allergy tested and not just the test the pediatrtion does but a blood test by an actual allergist that they send out and have done (takes about 2 wks to get back).

Does she ever get little pimple like things on her buttocks (can I say that here)?

I don't mean to be blunt but I'm not the sugar coating type, I have four kids and all had the same problem and everyone said get this cream and that one and give baths 2+ times a day, well nothing works very well and giving all the extra baths can exacerbate the condition and ironically enough my ped said it is impossible to be a food allergy they would be have other symptoms ie. respiratory, etc.

Well.....low and behold 3 of them tested positive for milk that gave no other signs except the lizard rash as I have dutifully named it, and I am not talking mild allergy. The testing scale has 5 levels 1 being trace and 5 being death.

Well all of mine test middle of the 3 level, yet one would think it wasn't that bad and even now my 4 year old will test completely negative if we avoid it for the 6 months between testing and the minute she has milk for even a day she gets her lizard skin back and looks like someone punched her in the nose b/c she gets horrible dark circles.

I have two who tested level 2 on peanut. My 10 yr old just came up positive in the last 6 mo. and she loves peanut butter and it only gives her a mild rash, my 1 yr old who also a low level 2 is just now able to be in the same room with someone eating peanuts or peanut butter. Quite a difference.

Moral of story everyones body reacts differently to different things, someones level 1 might act like a level 5 and someones level 4 might act like a level 1.

I would request a referral to a good allergist and have them do a blood test..not a skin test it is torture and not as accurate. My 4 year old tested neg on milk for skin test and blood test has come back with 98% accuracy. The library has good allergy books that explain the skin correlation and why it isn't always just "dry skin".

Sorry so long, but I get irritated when docs don't look at the bigger picture, they just say oh, it's a "virus" or it's no big deal. How do they know, are they that child or that child's parent. I always say you know your child best not your dr.

Our two-year-old had (has) the exact same thing. We went to a pediatric dermatologist and she told us to do the following: 1) switch to Aveeno Baby extra dry skin wash, 2) only one bath a week, and 3) Aquaphor daily, sometimes twice daily.

We have done all of the above and we have realized a great improvement. The rash still comes and goes, but is not nearly as bad. I know the Aquaphor is oily, but it really works.

I hope this helps!

Our family uses Aveeno Baby Soothing Mouisture Relief (not sure of the exact name) It's for extremely dry skin and eczema. It's great and since it's a cream not a lotion, you don't have to use it as many times a day as you would lotion.
Definitely stick to a cream instead of a lotion.