Oatmeal baths and Eczema

(sorry, this is a little late... it was two days ago)

Today was something else. Lucas had one of his flare ups from his baby eczema. It wasn't bad, it was just getting a little more redness around the creases of his arms, as well as a few bumps of redness on his little tummy. Eventually I decided to give him a little oatmeal bath, after my aunt suggested it. As I was preparing the oatmeal, I found how pleasant it felt on my hands. Just the action of mixing it in with the warm water made my skin feel so much softer and moisturized!

I placed Lucas in the bath and began to place the oatmeal on his skin directly, as well as dumping the rest of it into the bath with him. In order to keep him from dipping his hands in the water and picking up oatmeal and trying to eat it, I gave him a little toy. He found that if he dipped the toy in the water and then put it into his mouth, he could taste the oatmeal! So I watched in amusement as over and over again he dipped the toy into the water and vigorously attempted to fit it into his mouth to eat! He was so precious!

After the bath, my aunt took him to his changing table and spread Balm of Gilead all over his skin. The balm works well for his skin normally. I guess this might have been what put him over eczema-wise. It seems as though after about three or four hours, the rash got so much worse. It covered his entire torso, arms, and neck. I was so shocked. Something had the complete opposite effect that it was supposed to! Luckily I just filled a prescription from a doctor for Lucas's eczema. I put this cream over his body. It's taken a few hours but the redness has gone down quite a bit.

This is just one of those things for me, as a new mother, that is frustrating. I'm positive this is something that I'm going to have to deal with for a long time. The worst part is that Lucas is going to have to deal with it for a long time; possibly for the rest of his life :( We will deal, though, and I'm sure it won't be anything horrendous.