DD has chicken pox and dry skin - how to treat

[Bozza]

DD is five months old and has had chicken pox since last Friday. She is definitely past the worst and most of her blisters have scabbed but she still has a few open blisters. But her skin is getting quite dry, particularly behind her knees (a usual problem area for her) and in her groin (she has also had diarohea).

I have been using calamine lotion for the itching but don't think that is too bad. Is there anything I can to to help. Its not easy to apply lotions because of fear of knocking off the scabs.

Is there an oil spray you could use maybe? Or would emolient cream in her bath work? Hope she's better soon.

poor old DD.
dd has occasional outbreaks of eczema/heatrash. it might be too heavy for your dd, but at her age we were definitely using diproBase, an emollient cream, unscented etc, to moisturise v dry spots such as back of knees etc. you can put it in bathwater too.
i don't think you need a prescription, but pharmacist will advise. perhaps it's not advised for chicken pox in which case apologies...
I can remember calamine lotion itching like mad when i had chickenpox and sunburn when i was tiny!

Try Aveeno Oatmeal Bath, it is wonderful!!!

Hi Bozza
I really think calamine lotion is the best. My dd was about 18 months when he got them and boy oh boy did he have them bad. I don't think there was a place he didn't get them. Try applying the calamine with a small sponge, this way it is applied more easily and you sort of sploge it on rather than trying to apply an even coat. This way you can make a little game out of application. It does seem to run everywhere but if it means no scars who cares about a bit of mess.I stuck with it until the end as I found it really dried them out and when the scabs fell off it was dry underneath and the marks just dissappeared.By the way I know this sounds terrible but while he was at home I left off the nappy because it rubbed the spots near the groin, this obviously isn't an option for you at the moment with the diarhea but might help once it's cleared. You can always work on the dry skin areas later, just stop those horrid scars.
Good Luck
Softie

Thanks everyone for the advice - I will see what I can get hold of.

Softie - I think you are right about the nappy off and have been trying to do it as much as possible. Although she has diarhea its not that much different to normal due to her being fully breastfed still.

sorry if someone has already mentioend this, but you can get calamine in an aqueous cream base, which was much better for us as it stayed on longer & is quite moisturising.

ooh, you poor thing. when ds had it, we used rhus tox cream (a homeopathic remedy). worked a treat. we are lucky and have a helios pharmacy where we live but i think you cld probably get this cream from a health shop?

have you tried aloe vera gel? we used it when dd had chickenpox. she has quite dry skin. it helped loads with stopping itching (she had almost none) and the spots cleared up very quickly. we bought it from our chemists that does lots of alternative stuff too. i think it's marvellous stuff.