African british baby boy dry flaky skin.

[enidlowrij]

My sons skin is very dry, flaky and itchy, i dont have anyone to ask advice partners family in nigeria and theres no other mixed race baby in my family so not too sure what to do or expect. Im sure the dry skin is mostly due to swimming, i take him to water babies every friday since he was 9 weeks, hes now 7 months so im pretty sure this has made his skin even more dry. I did use shea moisture oil but made no difference just continued to get worse. So now ive purchased a organic healing balm and organic raw cocoa butter i lathered both on twice today, morning and then at night. Is this okay? My partner said shea butter but i dont like the smell but if thats better than cocoa ill deffo give it a try. Should i put olive oil or argan oil or something in his bath? I have shea moisture black soap but when i use it it dries my skin despite saying its great for dry skin. Thank you.

The skin needs a barrier cream if swimming, I think oilitum do them. Use oilitum in the bath too, there’s a whole range out.
Once you’ve gone the skin back to health then Vaseline moistureiser will usually do fine.

I swear by coconut oil.

Glycerin? Might be worth trying an African grocer or hair and beauty shop.

Thabks everyone i will get a good quality barrier oil for him before he goes into swimmingpool and will put coconut oil on him before bath time. Trying to stay away from products like vasaline because of petrolium and mineral oil ect. I have boight an organic ointment and raw cocoa butter ive been lathering it on morning and night for 4 days now id say its 50% cleared. Im sure if i carry on with the ointment and cocoa butter twice daily and coconut oil before bath and barrier oil before swimming it will be clear by end of month so i can then switch back to shae oil in morning instead of ointment and coco butter because that whole process takes 25 mins. Thanks everyone.

Is it just in patches? Is it eczema rather ham just dry skin? Key spots for eczema in my experience would be behind knees or in elbow creases.
If basic moisturising isn’t working and it’s itchy then I would see GP.
I’d also try washing clothes in different washing powder/no fabric conditioner.

*than, not ham!

I think I'd give the swimming a miss for a month or so. Do you immediately give him a good rinse off when you come out of the pool?

Try Moogoo Milk Wash and their Udder cream moogooskincare.co.uk

My DS is mixed race and has dry skin. Aveeno is brilliant I use the bath and hair wash and then the moisturizer and it's been fab for him!

25 mins to moisturise a 7 month old? How big is he?!

The Aveeno baby moisturiser is amazing. It seems a bit runny, but don't be fooled, it is seriously moisturising.

Sorry i can't recommend anything but i tried a barrier cream on my DS before his swimming lesson and it made his skin really slippery and i had problems keeping hold of him in his lesson. I didn't use it again i just showered him really well afterwards.

Vasaline

My LO is mixed race too and I use coconut oil in the morning and after bath time at night and that does the trick. I like the fact that it's all natural and I found a new one that I really like - Simply Coconuts it's especially for babies. I found others to be quite coarse. Good luck!

Be careful with oils. Many of them can make dry skin worse. In particular aromatic oils or mineral oils like John sons baby oil. I really think you should just stop and go to a doctor/call you HV for advice.

was just coming on to say coconut oil but be careful picking him up after as he will be really slippery....

My friend with a dual heritage baby used shea butter mixed with various things

A doctor can prescribe things you won’t be able to buy , very good idea to get it checked out by a health professional. They can either put your mind at rest because they can actually see the skin or prescribe or recommend something you can buy yourself. I tried a few things before a pharmacist recommended I get my child seen by the doctor, she had eczema and I later found out my washing machine wasn’t rinsing properly as the pipes were blocked with limescake. I think your son will get seen quickly as he is young.

The best cream is Epaderm. Put it on every night after bath and swimming and it will cure the dry skin, I promise.

Epaderm is very good for dry skin.

Another vote for Aveeno here. It is the only thing that works on our very itchy and flaky dc who also swims regularly

I teach swimming in a very multicultural area.

Black skin and hair has very specific needs. On my teaching course it was covered- little things i would never have thought of like swimming tightens afro curls, so if you have a child with fresh corn rows they can tighten to a very painful level when swimming.

Is there no-one you can ask? Anyone at the swimming pool? My parents aften swap tips on what works best for their child. Or if you can find an african/carribean hairdresser or shop.

My kids swim a lot and need to avoid anything petroleum based as this just dries the skin further. They like burts bees and neals yard stuff, and have just discovered petroleum free palmers oil stuff. Worth a try to start but I do think you need to be asking for advice from people with similar heritage as well.

My Nigerian kids have used Vaseline since they were little twice a day after every bath. Gorgeous skin and never dry. But when they were newborns we used olive oil. Barrier cream is v important on black skin whatever one you choose

Oh and I use Vaseline everyday too