Tips for taking a 14 month old with eczema, swimming please

[Elf]

Hi, I know this has been discussed before but I just cannot find the post.

We are going on holiday soon and I would love to take DS swimming for his first ever time, the poor boy. His eczema would now probably be termed as mild but he is very itchy and I really don't want to make things worse BUT I remember reading something on mumsnet about other eczema children who swim and I think people smothered them in vaseline or something but I can't remember.

So any tried and tested advice please, thank you very much on behalf of DS, hopefully a new swimmer!

yes we covered ds in vaseline before taking him in the pool when he was little. I remember having a conversation with a woman who ran our local eczema support group, her kids had it really bad and she reckoned that the benefit of being in the water for a long time ( in relation to a bath) outweighed the negative effects of the chlorine.
we don't bother with the vaseline now just make sure we rinse him off and cream him up when we come out.hth!

I have been advised by a dermatologist not to use vaseline. It won't allow the other ointments and creams in and you will need to rub it off which may make the eczema worse. However, bathing your DS in sea water will help your DS eczema a lot!.

If you decide to swim in a swiming pool anyway, get in the pool first, open you eyes under water if you can really feel the chlorine in your eyes is better not to use it, if its fine, just ensure you rinse the chlomnited water and apply LOTS of cream afterwards. He should be OK

we used baby lotion as a barrier cream - shower after then home for proper shower with creams (to much to take otherwisw) and then cream as usual

Ds has had very bad eczema and I avoided taking him swimming for a long time but, bizarrely, swimming once a week seems to help his skin, perhaps becasue it gets a damn good clean in the pool and helps him avoid skin infections. Before he goes in I do make sure his skin is well-moisturised with diprobase and when he comes out he showers for ages then I slap loads more diprobase on. It might be coincidental that his skin is good after swimming, it certainly hasnt made it worse.

My ds also got better after once a week swimming lessons. I think the chlorine kills a lot of the stuff on the skin. I would get one of those all in one swim suits though to prevent scratching.

Wow thanks everyone. I was really worried about the chlorine but now I can relax and look forward to it, that is fantastic. Thanks again. xxxxxxxxx