May Day!

That title engulfs every meaning of the phrase.

After many weeks of unrelenting cries throughout the day and night, I was willing to do just about anything to get some relief for our third child. She has been suffering from eczema since about two weeks after she was born.

It started out as baby acne.

Then turned into very dry, flaky skin on her cheeks and arms.

I didn't think much of it at first, and would apply Jergen's Ultra Healing lotion after her baths.

But it got worse. So after talking with a phone nurse at around two months old, I was told to make sure I was washing all her things in Dreft or the like, and to get Eucerin lotion because it was hypoallergenic.

Fine.

Done.

I found a great hypoallergenic cream, Exederm, at the grocery and applied it the minute we got home!

And what do you know. It vanished!

For a week.
Then, it came back in a fury.

She was the worst she had ever been by Nolan's birthday.

Red red skin. And would just cry. For what seemed like hours.

I made an appointment with her doctor for the second time in a month.

She was developmentally on cue, but her skin was just terrible.

She was prescribed Hydrocortisone 0.5%

Something, I do not prefer using because it is a steroid... but it seemed to help almost immediately.

But after a while, it just seemed to adapt to whatever it was that i was using. I only bathed her once a week, and slathered her with the hydrocortisone often.

I was tiring of the process for her.
She hated it.
So I started to google natural remedies in the spare moments when she would nap during the day.
I came across an article in a Pediatric Journal that talked about simulating a chlorinated pool by adding 1-2tsp of bleach to her bath. Comments at the end of the article contested the safety of the eyes and getting rid of ALL bacteria {since the body has good bacteris too}.
But I was ready to try something.
Anything.

Later that night I started her bath, and added 2 tsp of bleach to the water.
I swirled the water with my hand and rubbed my fingers together.
It was slippery.
And it certainly smelled like I was sanitizing her little tub, not getting ready to actually wash her.

After a minute I just decided I would dip her in and see what she did. I had the water running in case I needed to rinse her off quickly. But instead, she proceeded to kick as usual. No side effects.
She was enjoying the water, and I was relieved.
I let her soak for about fifteen minutes before patting her dry.
Her skin was red. But it was always red after a bath.
I applied her hydrocortisone as usual and she dozed off to sleep.

The very next day, I saw amazing improvement. It was crazy how clear her skin was within just twelve hours.
I didn't have to apply her hydrocortisone for four days after that either! And that in itself was HUGE.

So needless to say, the bleach baths have become regular in our house. She gets one about every week to week and a half.
And we haven't looked back.
Nadie is actually sleeping four to five hours at night, and is mostly content throughout the day.

It has done wonders for the bags under my eyes!
And more importantly she is a complete joy to be around now.
Honestly.