To wonder how the duck do I wash his hair?

[PuzzledOfPuzzledom]

Toddler DS has eczema, have been referred to hospital and dermatologist has said that among other things he should have baths twice a day using an emollient bath oil. All good, fingers crossed it’ll help, but....

I’m probably being thick but when am I supposed to wash his hair given that if I wash it in the water with bath oil in it ends up all greasy and the shampoo washes the oil off his skin. They’ve said it’s important to pat his skin dry and leave the oil on it as much as possible.

I thought about running a second bath in the evening after the one with emollient in so I can wash his hair in clean water but again that would wash the oil off. Do I bath him in plain water first and wash his hair then run a fresh bath with the bath oil in? That seems like a massive hassle to take him out of the bath, try to stop him charging around the house naked and soaking wet while I wait for a new bath to run. I can’t take him out of the bath and wash his hair in the sink because, well, he’s a toddler and that ends up with tears, water everywhere, and me snapping at DH that it’s his bloody turn tomorrow.

Can any other mums whose DC have eczema tell me what you do? Thanks in advance.

I used to lie on the training board with my legs on the cooker whilst my Mam washed my hair in the sink.

Not for dry skin - after I stopped wanting my Mam to wash me in the bath / shower but before I could manage to wash my own long hair. I LOVED it!

Both of mine have eczema. we wash hair once a week, with plain water. we also keep their hair short. Older one (5 years old) reacts badly to soap, we haven't tried doap on the 1 year old. also try to avoid vlothing and bedding with polyester, pure cotton is the only thing that mine can wear

we slso only bath once a week, but use a wet flannel daily. Mine react to being bathed too often (but we don't use oliatum)

Bathing daily does seem odd advice for eczema

the advice has changed the last few years. it's bathing more often but short cool bath&moisturising that's often recommended now.

as with all exzema treatments, it's trial & error. you need to find what works for you

You could put him in the bath with the oil, take him out and wrap a large towel around him, lean him over the side of the bath and wash his hair over the bath, with jugs of water if you don't have a showerhead?

You're meant to add the oilatum to the water before you get into the bath, so you can't wash his hair in plain water then add the emoliient---it won't work properly for his skin.

What you can do, though, is wash his hair in a plain water bath every few days, preferably with no detergents or shampoos as they will affect his skin--then apply a lot of baby oil or 50:50 ointment all over him, once he's out of the bath and dry.

If you keep his hair short then you can use aqueous cream to wash it, I think, but do check on this. It will leave it somewhat greasy but the hair will be clean, at least.

A friend of mine who has awful eczema uses baby oil in the bath, and uses a handful of baby oil to wash his hair. He has very short hair, and yes, it feels oily but it's lovely and clean and soft. His bath is permanently oily.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm going to try out the ideas you suggested and hopefully one of them will work for us.

I do try not to wash his hair all the time, but like kaytee87 mentioned, sometimes it's necessary if food gets smooshed into his hair. Plus, he actually likes having his hair washed and tells me to get the shampoo if I say it's time to get out of the bath before his hair has been washed.

nightfall1983, we tried aqueous cream as a soap substitute but I think he may be sensitive to one of the ingredients as it made his skin more itchy. I haven't tried any other ones yet but will ask about it at our next appointment.

I did think it was odd to be told to bath him more often as for the last year the GP and HVs have been telling me we need to bath as a little as possible to avoid making his skin more dry. It was advised by the dermatologist though who I would guess probably has more expertise about this or more experience of seeing what works for different people. So far the twice a day baths with emollient in do seem to be helping, so fingers crossed it's the right thing for him at the moment.

Thanks again everyone, mumsnet never lets me down. :-)

I wash dd hair in clean bath then I add the emollient to the water. We have an Olaf shower cap I got out of Poundland which I then put on her hair and it stops it from getting greasy.

We’ve had contradictory advice about bathing over the last few years with our DS. Sometimes they say not to bathe/shower him too often - we’re doing every other night at the moment. Previous healthcare people have said it’s best to do it every day so that the dead/dirty/old skin gets washed away. So I think maybe try both ways and see what’s best for your DC!