Help me sort my hands out!

Are you properly hydrated? 35ml fluid/kg body weight/day as a minimum, possibly even more as you're breastfeeding. Limit caffeine. What's your diet like? Multivitamin may help too!

I used to have dreadful contact dermatitis. Some things that have helped:

Nothing with lanolin (it was in camillosan when I was breastfeeding- oh dear!)

Aveeno is good.

Wear silk lined leather gloves NOT wool.

Buy thin cotton gloves to wear under rubber gloves.

Citrus is a bugger so cut down that sort of fruit

Never ever use fairy liquid

Try not to let your hands go too quickly from warm to hot and vice versa

Watch out for scented soaps and don't use soap on your hands too much.

Prescription emollients made my hands worse. Betnovate was fine.

Stress made it flare.

My dd has suffered with chronic eczema on her hands since she was 2ish. She will literally rub them through all layers of epidermis and down to flesh.

She now takes a therapeutic chemo med because it got so bad.

You need a decent steroid cream for starters, plaster it on at night. Leave it thick. Don't rub in. Cover with cotton or bamboo gloves (get dds from amazon). Ignore the instructions on the packet that say max 3 days. Dds consultant says use it every day until you are completely clear then use a decent emollient (hydromol has some sort of ingredient issue sonwe are currently using imuderm) and again plaster on thick and then put gloves on as often as you can through the day.

Get rid of any cleaning products that contain alcohol or bleach or strong floral tones, too many chemicals that dry out the skin. Same with cleansers etc.

Avoid any sort of sanitisers

Swap rubber gloves for powder free nitrile ones, the powder is a common trigger.

Speak to your GP, chances are you have an infection in the skin so get antibiotics amd don't let them fob you off. If you are really suffering asknfor a dermatology referral. It might take 18 months but but get the ball rolling.

As a ward nurse, my hands used to be horrendous - I had no choice but to be continuously washing them (if you follow infection control procedures to the letter). I found putting thick vaseline/petroleum jelly on my hands, at bedtime very helpful.

My hands are just like this, I think from hand washing and wet hands outside (the kids love water play). My DM gave the best (if sticky) advice - put nipple balm on your hands like cream. OH has similar and tends to put disposable gloves on top to keep cream on, but I don't tend to bother, I just sleep with it on. Keep it by the bed and you can reapply after nappy changes. Hope they get better soon, it's so uncomfortable!

Mine got so sore when my DC were younger. Water is the enemy! So my husband used to do all their bathing. I would use wipes for nappy changing (not cotton wool and water) and try to minimise washing hands to when necessary. (Not easy with little ones) Poor you. Miracle cream for me was hemp cream from the body shop. And also I bought a big tub of shea butter from Amazon. It's super soothing and healing.

Sorry to hear this OP. It’s horrid when you need to wash your hands so much and they’re cracked and sore. I slather my hands in the Norwegian formula at bedtime, the one that isn’t quick dry. It’s got a red lid. It’s the only hand cream that works for me. Also wear leather gloves when it’s cold as woollen ones just don’t keep my hands protected from the cold wind. Good luck.

Second working hands. Also udder cream!

You need to get a box of surgical gloves & wear thin cotton gloves inside. (The latex) gloves can cause a problem too !
Avoid touching ALL household products & keep hands dry
Get to GP & get cortisone cream
Change washing up liquid, & washing pods, avoid softener altogether, bath soap should be as natural as possible.

Also my dc has terrible eczema. Dermatologist suggested a protopic cream . I can't remember the name as recently ran out - touch wood they've not needed any yet as its on order..but that was also good.

Could you see a Dermatologist? We ended up paying private for dc as nhs was a long wait and they were suffering badly. Was £265 iirc for 45 min

I swear by coconut oil

Use a cuticle oil. Game changer for me.

Use olive oil or shea butter soap instead of those chemical liquid "soaps" and gels

Coconut oil makes a good emollient.

Cotton gloves inside the washing up gloves

I think it was called hemp from bodyshop is great.

Or ' working hands' cream from Tesco etc is good dh uses that.

I'd stop using soap or shower gel to wash with and just use the emollient cream to wash your body with, (I use epiderm, but it'll be basically the same as dermol) . Wash you hair over the side of the bath wearing disposable gloves. Any household jobs that you have to do where your hands would get wet or come into contact with soap or cleaning products or you'd need to wash them afterwards wear gloves. Keep them as dry as possible for a few weeks

Also what really helped me was to slather my hands with epiderm ointment (rather than the cream) before bed and put cotton gloves on over it. I find the ointment stings less than the cream when it's really bad. And soothes any itching much better.

Try wearing disposable gloves in the daytime to save on the post nappy change hand washer, just to give your hands a break, also latex free rubber gloves.

Body Shop hemp cream is great during the day, I also swear by O’keefes working hands at night once under control. You may need to do the cotton gloves and Flexitol first though, I only use this on my feet. I have psoriasis on my hands, winter is tough but O’keefes working hands is a life saver for me.

Biggest break will come from reducing hand washing of course. Get onto Amazon and stock up, most of this stuff is fairly inexpensive.

I suffer terribly with my hands in the winter, it was particularly bad in the nappy years. The only thing that has helped is O’keefes working hands, (I tried absolutely everything…) applied liberally at night it just about keeps my hands from cracking in the cold weather

like others life long eczema on hands/ wrists and with a flare up it’s miserable .
betnovate - prescribed by GP works wonders to get on top of it.
then lashings of emollient
also find Okeefes working hands good
also experience of not tolerating many brands finding them too watery or they sting.
it really can take hold and linger-

Could it be the rubber gloves? Try latex free gloves and see if that helps. Also Fairy washing up liquid is actually really harsh. I had to use surcare but not sure if they still do it.

Eumovate cream from the pharmacy and cetraban cream are the only things that keep my hands in check.

Bepanthan!!! For baby and for you - if baby doesn't need it at changes just wash your hands in cold/ lukewarm water, dry by patting and then gently rub in some Bepanthan. Absolutely amazing stuff 👍🏼 Make sure you get the one for babies not tattoos (unless baby has tattoos obvs 😉🤣) Good luck OP, it's excruciatingly painful 💐

Hemp hand cream from Body Shop came to my rescue when everything else failed.
would most definitely recommend trying it. It isn’t the most amazing smelling one but within a week it had healed sores between my fingers I had had for months.

My hands used to have deep cracks and would often bleed, until I read it could be the chemicals in pump soaps. I switched to bars of soap (pears) and it cleared right up and they’ve been fine ever since! Very occasionally they get sore when it’s very cold - I think the cold water from the taps does it. But never the deep cuts anymore.
I’d tried all sorts of emollients (my hands never felt properly clean) and hand creams and all they did was make them more sore.

I've tried all sorts of creams, lotions and emollients.

The only thing that doesn't set mine off, believe it or not, turned out to be cheap Vaseline lotion.

This one. Not the others.

Tiny squirt after every wash.

Edit to add name because my image, of a bottle of lotion, is under review ????

Vaseline essential Healing. The yellow one.

Forgot to add - I was told it was contact dermatitis! It flairs when I’m washing my hands a lot.

CCS cracked heel cream works a treat on my very dry hands and torn cuticles. I found out quite by chance when too much came out of the tube when I was doing my feet and I rubbed the excess into my hands.

Doing it last thing at night when you're not going to wash them for a few hours is best, it has plenty of time to soak in then.