Can I take a baby with eczema swimming?

[Hermya321]

Hi,

Sorry if this sounds a bit redundant but my LO has just been diagnosed with eczema which we've just started treatment for (not severe). I've been asked if we'd like to go swimming but as I've just been told he's got this would it be wise for me to take him into a pool full of chlorine?

Thanks

What treatment are you using?

I haven't found swimming has made my ds's skin any worse, I just rinse him off in the shower and then cover him in his usual emollient (hydromol) after.

If it's the odd patch of eczema I'd probably go, but when My Ds2 was having a bad flare up, swimming did it no favours at all.

What Rita says is right, shower him well afterwards and take his cream with you.

I took the decision with mine just to take them.

They need to learn to swim.

I don't think it made their skin any worse.

Put cream on first (it helps protect the skin while in the pool), shower straight after, cream on again after that.

My DS has quite bad eczema but he does have swimming lessons every week -I think its too important a life skill to stop him. I just rinse him and cover him in his lotions. If we do go more than once a week he does look like he has burns and I do feel bad, I find covering him in cream before he swims makes his reacdtion less severe.

They've started us off with oilatem (sorry if thats spelt wrong).

Right then, thanks for that I'll just take him and rinse him very well and cake him up afterwards and see how he goes.

If he's really little though, be careful about covering him in cream too much - it makes them really slippery to hold onto!

It's true it does make them very slippery, like a bar of soap . I always used one of those UV swimsuits. Makes the baby easier to hold on to!

I coated mine in emollient beforehand, then put a wetsuit on him so he wasn't too slippy. Splashabout have some great ones for this, which also double as uv suits for the summer.

Good rinse and more cream after, never seemed to make it any worse

X post nobody :)

Hmmmm this may turn into a very quick dip swim.

Thank you for your advice though!!

Swimming is actually good for eczema, as in chlorine kills the staph bacteria on the skin. The guideline from my girl's doc is 15 minutes, alternate day. Make sure to run to the shower (like a mad mom!), rinse off, shower, moisturize proper. My girl's skin improved after swim, usually we do that when she's like itchy all over.

Cheers,
Mei of EczemaBlues.com