Ever heard of “baby acne”?  Your beautiful newborn baby’s face erupts in a teenage like  acne break out just at the time you want to show him/her off to all your friends and relatives.  This wasn’t in the instruction manual…

For G. it was a bit different.  His skin condition was eczema.  It started off with a bit behind his ears, then his cheeks, then in the folds of his pudge – you know, the chub on baby’s legs and arms.  Then the crease of his neck. It was time to go to the doctor when the eczema on his neck began to weep and the  eczema on his cheeks got infected (eew).  You’re probably shaking your head thinking, silly woman should have taken him to the doctor sooner, but the time line for this was only over about a week or so.  So, just when we were proudly showing off our new boy to the world, he was staring up at people with a beautiful smile across his scabby face.  Baby acne would have been an improvement to his skin condition.  Actually, the smile on G.’s face is what people always remember.  He had a smile that was contagious and would brighten people’s day and he still does!

How we treated G.’s eczema:

The bad, acute out break on his face and neck were treated with antibiotic cream and cortisone ointment, but we needed a long term non medical solution for the rest of his body.

We were told to bathe him every night and while his skin was still damp, we were to apply a moisturizer.  The challenge was to find the right cream.  Our poor little guinea pig.  Some creams made him scream as they irritated his eczema cracked skin others made his itching worse.  So after going through numerous “for sensitive skin” potions, my mum told us about a cream that transformed bath/lotion time from stress and frustration (and for G., discomfort and irritation) to soothing, calm relaxation.  My mum’s friend’s daughter (don’t you love word of mouth!) has eczema and found relief in the Body Shop’s Hemp Cream.  Wow, what a difference.  So after soaking in a bath of warm water G was slagered (my Mum’s word – I think I prefer slathered) in hemp cream while his skin was still damp.  This ritual went on for a few years and the distinct smell of this cream will always make me smile and think of wee G.