Motherhood has ruined my hands, help!

[JackieBrambles]

They are so dry, red raw and the skin is cracked in between the fingers. I think it's the more frequent hand washing after changing Ds (11 months), cleaning him/his high chair after meals and other cleaning, although I wear rubber gloves as much as I can!

Anyone have any good hand wash / cream recommendations? My Keihls hand cream stings because my hands are so raw :-/

Elizabeth Arden 8 hour hand cream is very good when you have a problem brought on by a lot of hand washing. Some people don't like the smell but it really does work.

Body shop hemp hand cream works brilliantly for me, but the smell is vile IMO (although DM loves it, so maybe it's just me!). I only have to use it once a day now as it keeps my skin so soft.

If they are actually cracked & painful you may be better off with something a bit more clinical like E45. Maybe get some cotton gloves, lather on loads just before bed & put the gloves on? Do you have a non during hand soap - might be worth changing that as well.

this is a great handcream.

I feel your pain.

I second the Body Shop hemp hand cream, it's magic. Can turn my witches claws back to normal in days. The only trouble I find is remembering to apply it. I try to leave tubes of it everywhere (buy it when it's a BOGOF) but even if I do remember, with a 10 month old's nappy/high chair and a 3 year old who still needs help to wipe after using the loo I seem to be washing my hands constantly.

I read somewhere that applying hand cream before putting on rubber gloves to do the washing up is great for hands. Something to do with the heat of the water.

I third(?) Bodyshop hemp hand cream if it's just very dry skin. I used to work with animals and the combination of that and caring for Ds left my hands wrecked.
I've been using it since Christmas and its made a big difference.

If it is more eczema/psoriasis like I recommend dermol cream as a handwash and e45 as a moisturiser. With a mild steroid for the patches.

Thank you so much everyone, this is brilliant.

I agree the body shop hemp stuff is great (I have a tube and love the smell but my DH loathes it!) but it's not cutting it at the moment so I think I'll try to get some E45 steroid stuff and the Eucerin cream too.

I'll look into the dermol hand wash too, maybe the one I've got is too harsh.

Anyone know where I can get cotton gloves for nighttime?

Thanks again

Agree with Body Shop Hemp cream but even stronger is Crbtree and Evelyn Gardeners hand cream....££££ but my mother swears by it

I've seen the cotton gloves in both Boots and the Body Shop.

I get dermol on prescription for DSs eczema - it is a moisturiser. But the gp said that if his skin got very dry I can use it as a soap substitute in the bath.

I use aveeno hand cream all through the day and weleda skin food at night.
keeps my eczema at bay and skin soft.

Since having kids my hands completely crack up in the winter. I've tried everything mentioned above and the only thing that has worked is Flexitol handcream (and occasional use of a steroid cream for eczma patches). I also switched to latex-free rubber gloves six months ago and have noticed a huge difference. I never thought I had a latex allergy, but somehow the latex gloves were making my hands really sting after washing up.

Clarins handcream does the job for me. It is expensive, but I think they currently have a two for £25 at the minute ( which is clearly not cheap either).

I only ever use Dr Bronner's soap for handwashing, and I do that as infrequently as possible. I'm past nappy stage now, though, which makes things easier. Always always wear gloves for housework.

I use olive oil and sea salt for a scrubby softening clean but you can't do that if they are cracked.

Rarely use handcream but have several L'Occitane ones about (freebies from magazines) and they are lovely when I remember to use them.

Plain old silcocks base was perfect when I was at the same stage. Dr recommended it for cradle cap but it worked wonders on my hands.

Another vote for Body Shop hemp hand cream, but also look at the soap you're using - I avoid anything that doesn't say "moisturising" on the bottle!

What worked for me was

1. no liquid soap- go back to an old fashioned plain bar to wash (if I use liquid soap I get sore dry patch where it hits my hand)
2. diprobase (sp?) cream from chemist - cheap and used for eczema too) (pongy hand creams too much if totally red and sore)
3. wear gloves , rubber etc, leather ones when outside in cold (mr muscle green window liquid stings like hell on sore hands) Hope they are better soon.

I had exactly the same and the thing that worked really well and quickly for me was over-the-counter emollient cream called Ultrabase. it is not expensive and much more effective than e45 in my experience. other thing I use more as a preventative is clarins hand and nail cream - far more costly but definitely helps keep my hands soft. winter weather is always aggravating to my skin too - roll on spring and summer!

I find the L'Occitane Shea Butter one works best for me. I try to remember to use it after washing but slather loads on before going to sleep.

I used to get sore skin on my hands in winter - like red rawish patches - and then my sister made me a tin of almost pure beeswax. That was awesome and made my skin so much better.

Aveeno is good, and the Crabtree and Evelyn one I agree is great.

Lansinoh. Seriously. Purified lanolin is the best moisturising barrier cream you can get.

Lansinoh? Woo hoo! I have a practically unused tube of that upstairs crap hands but nipples of steel ha ha!

Diprobase is good, and if you get the pump action one you can leave it by a sink.
I would be careful with the steroid creams as they can thin the skin, they will still sting on broken skin too. They did help with my eczema but it was so tempting to use them every time my hands got worse.

The soap bars made a huge difference to my excessive (but necessary, I thought) handwashing. I replaced the liquid handsoap and tried to stop washing my hands as much and not use sanitising gel. I figured that wiping off stuff e.g.baby food was better than washing it off in the end.

Second the Lansinoh! And also using cotton gloves at night.
3week old DS2 is making my pom phlox excema run riot on my hands