dry and itchy skin

[MBB]

I'm 5 months pregnant and for the last couple of weeks have had incredibly itchy skin on my tummy, chest and thighs. I'd been using Palmers cocoa butter for the whole of my pregnancy and my skin had been softer than ever before, however have now had to stop as the itching was just too bad. I've gone through 2 tubes of baby moisturising cream in the last 3 days but despite this I now have the most revolting dry scaly patches on my sides. I'm seeing the midewife tomorrow but can anyone suggest any wonder remedy - please!!!

MBB, I tried all the creams, had it badly on upper arms, chest and thighs.

In the end I showered twice a day and then put on Boots Medicated talc. (Can get it in Superdrug too) And it worked!!

Because its itchy and dry you presume you need a cream, but that seemed to make mine worse. Definitely try the talc.

Let me know if it helps!

Epaderm, which I've been using on my son's eczema, worked wonders on the dry,scaly patches I developed on my sacrum in early pregnancy. That's my backside to the unaware! Sorry if you're sitting down to lunch. The Body Shops "Olive" body butter is also keeping my tummy itch free, I'm currently 28weeks pregnant, but occasionally I find the smell too strong. Also, Averna (might have that name wrong, can't check as its up in my son's room and he's asleep. We use it in his bath too)Oatmilk bath form Boots in their specialist skin care range helps, and has very little odour!
HTH!

I can sympathise completely - I suffer from terrible itchy arms and legs, usually when I am very hot or stressed. I find the best thing to use is aloe vera lotion. Its a yukky green colour and a bit sticky, but its so lovely and cold. I find it really calms my skin down. Taking an antihistimine is a last resort, but I don't suppose you can take those in pregnancy.

Have you tried E45? Have a friend who found it helpful, especially the bath. She also said baby lotion made her baby worse - something to do with the lanolin in it I think.

Aqueous cream or emulsifying ointment used as soap in the bath? But you'll need to get the itch checked out as there is a rare pregnancy condition called obstetic cholecstasis, which can be bad news. Chances are, you've just got the itches, though!

I don't want to sound alarmist but i read in one of those pregnancy magazine that an expecting mum had had very itchy skin... and whilst she complained about it to the GP, nothing was done (aside from creams, etc) - at the end they discovered that she had a serious liver problem, it did affect her pregnancy... I don't want to scare anyone but if the itching is very serious, maybe worth talking to your GP.

As already mentioned this could be something and nothing but it is definitely worth getting it checked out. I would however suggest your midwife as the first port of call, not your GP. Midwives are the health Professionals for pregnancy, and you dont need to wait for your next appointment. Just call in to see them or phone first to check they are available.

Ask the midwife to do a blood test, I had really bad itching with ds, I told my midwife about it so she arranged for a test to check my liver function, which luckily was ok. The itching stopped soon after, weird!

Thanks very much for the advice. I've just got back from seeing the midwife, who assured me there's nothing to worry about - just a tendancy towards dry skin made worse by hormones and the increased likelihood of stretchmarks, great! She said just to slap on any old moisturiser I liked that stops the itch. I also realised that I had some epaderm from ages ago and that worked a treat last night. Thanks again.

I had cholastasis during my pregnancy (daughter is now 9mths old). One of the classic signs is if the itching spreads to the palms of your hands or the soles of your feet. I managed to keep mine under control using E45 cream/ showergel etc, however the doctors did prescribe piritone for when it got unbearable.

Cholastasis really only provides a danger to the baby around the end of the pregnancy and at birth - generally women with cholastasis are advised to have their babies early - mine was delivered by c-section at 36 weeks - but thankfully she was fine.

I find that applying creams and lotions makes the itching worse, the 2 weeks I didn'tapply, I had no itching. Gone through about 12 brands of creams/ointments from palmers to oilatum, dove to e45 and nothing is working so far. I've been advised to use baby light oil mist instead. Anyone had success with this?

What sort of itching is it BIBIBOO? If your skin seems dry an sensitive and raw then don't try this, but if not, the body shop peppermint leg gel worked for me - it cools the skin, which constricts the capilliaries which can help itching.
Now I know you hate having blood taken but please, if the itching spreads to your palms and feet, or anywhere really that the skin isn't stretching, do go and get LFT's done to rule out Obstetric cholestasis - whilst it is unusual to have it start this early in pregnancy it's not unheard of (but it still isn't dangerous until the end)

Thank Prufrock. The skin isn't raw or scaly, it's just itchy all the time! I'm trying to rub it through clothes instead of scratching so I don't end up breaking the skin. I might try that leg gel from the body shop on my tummy and chest. The itching is sometimes on my butt cheeks too, so mainly my fatty areas - none on palms or soles, so no danger there. Thanks again