My DS hands are red & cracking - what do I do???

[WellThisIsShit]

That’s it really, my DS is 9yrs old and his hands are red & cracking from all the washing with harsh soaps and gels.

He cried when I tried to soothe by applying e45 tonight when I saw how bad they’d got.

I ended up having to wash it off and put cold flannels on both sides where the redness is... he was in pain and really upset until his hands air dried and I managed to distract.

What do I do??? He needs to wash his hands and if he goes outside to school or anywhere else they all have stringent rules about washing hands and applying alcoholic hand gel multiple times a day... argh?!

What if he just can’t do it?

Am kicking self as if I’d caught it a day or so ago i could have moisturized and stopped it getting this bad....

(Just to make things worse I’m in a vulnerable group as I’m a single mum who has cancer... )

Body shop have a hemp hand cream which is great for this. When working in NHS I was told not to use alcohol gel on cracked hands but to moisturise as cracked skin harbours infection.

We have switched to aqueous cream for DDS to wash hands with but I'm unsure as to whether it's effective 😳

Is your GP doing telephone appointments (usually I'd say try to see a GP if they are as bad as you describe but understand given your circumstances and what is going it might not be possible). He might need a steroid cream or a greasy ointment. My GP prescribed hydromol ointment which is working well for me at the moment-I don't know if you get that without prescription. You can buy hydrocortisone steroid cream otc. Technically it's for over 10s, if he had had it before I would say just buy some but since it's new it would probably be better to speak to a health care professional.

Vaseline at night, I have to do mine most nights

Hand cream on through out the day but really slather it on before bed.

Mine were bleeding and stinging 2 nights ago and after doing the above they are almost back to normal.

My DDs hands were the same.
We're using oilatum in her bath and as a moisturiser and it's cleared up quickly.

This happened to DS1 a while back. I got some child farm moisturiser and it really helped

theflushedzebra not really to do with sore hands, but okay..

I was answering this by the OP: "Or should I keep him off school on Monday if his hands haven’t healed? I’m worried about how much cracks in the skin will raise the chances of him getting the virus, and then me...........I can’t say it anywhere else because I have to be so up beat and calm but, oh God I’m so, so scared." But okay....

Fair few of our kids have now brought hand cream in for after hand washing as they were all suffering with this. I bought some little travel pots and I've been decanting some emollient for them to take in.

If you don't have cotton gloves he can wear overnight after applying whatever hand cream you end up using... you can slip a pair of clean socks over his hands just before he goes to bed!