Moisturizing Process

The very long moisturizing process is a 24/7 daily, three to five times a day (more if needed) necessity.
The process begins in the morning when you wake up and ends at bedtime, sometimes one more time in the middle of the night if you're extremely uncomfortable. Mommy moisturized you majority of the time, as I am the one who take care of you. On occasions, Daddy will take over.
The process goes like this:diaper changed, cleaned up your diaper area, wiped down your body-head to toes completely with a damp wash rag, used Alba UnPetroleum Jelly on skin first then Cetaphil lotion (only use hydrocortisone cream-1% or baby cornstarch when needed, before the unpetroleum jelly), change out of your pajamas into your play clothes.

After meals, your face and hands are wiped down and moisturized again.
This process sounds easy, right, but it is not, when you rolled, turned, squirm around, kick my hands, push my hands away, and fussy. It is repeated throughout the day, before and after nap time, during diaper change.

Please comment if there's a different way of moisturizing or tips that may be helpful for my little Lina<3 eczema.

Scratchy, Scratchy

These few days, the symptoms of Lina's<3 eczema has gotten worse. You have been scratching when you wake up, when you take a break from playing with your toys, when you are sitting on your potty chair, when your diaper is being change, when you take a shower, when you eat, when you are in Daddy's or Mommy's arms, and before you go to sleep. Scratched your head, scratched your neck, scratched your legs, thighs, ankles, your belly, basically everything! Scratch, scratch. GRRR, "no scratching", "stop scratching", "don't scratch", "please stop scratching", "stop!", those are the words I say to you whenever you are scratching, while taking your hands to distract you from scratching. Lina<3 need to use the Scratch Me Not mitten during the day more often instead of the regular bedtime usage.

Along with the scratching, your skin has become dry, red, and look irritated. Mommy moisturized you all day long. Of course, you get a wiped down with a damped cloth each time before applying moisturizer, that is about three to four times a day. When you are playful (and not scratching too much) during the process of moisturizing your body on Mommy's bed, you roll over and crawl really fast for the headboard so you can do a little dance, and pull yourself up, smile and giggle.

I hope the humidity passes soon, and the cool air comes back, because the humidity is what makes Lina's eczema symptoms worst, and make you scratch more. Lina<3 should not have to deal with this, you should be playing, smiling, laughing, saying "dada", learning new words to say (like "mama"), and having fun.

Terrible A.M.

Lina <3, you had a terrible night last night, early morning and this morning. You had been scratching non stop since the middle of the night. You spent the night in our bed and that did not make you sleep better. Up every hour, scratched, scratched, and did not fall back to sleep easily at all, starting after 12a.m. I even nursed you back to back, hoping you would sleep better but it did not help much. Daddy was up as well trying to soothe you by rubbing your head, massaging your belly and body. It was obvious that you are tired, yet you still wanted to play with Daddy and Mommy. Tried to make you understand that there is playtime and there is sleeping time by having Mommy not be playful with you when it is time to sleep. It is kind of cute when you wake up in the middle of the night and want to play, you would toss and turn and roll over, and bump into Mommy on one side and bump into Daddy on the other side. Daddy and I pretend to be asleep and not indulgence your playfulness when it is time to sleep.

The scratching and itchiness was intense int he middle of the night and this morning. Daddy and I felt so helpless and powerless when it comes to the itchiness that you get. Luckily, we have the Scratch Me Not Mittens which works wonders to stop you from drawing blood from all the scratching. You still scratch even with the mittens on. I constantly tell you "no scratching" as I removed your hand(s) from where you are scratching. Oh what to do, what to do, what to do? HELP!

After cleaning you up  and moisturizing you this morning, you were still scratching and itchy. So we washed you up again, moisturized you again, and changed your clothes, an hour later, which seemed to help a little. We played on Mommy's bed and you were happy, smiling, laughing, and mostly importantly, not scratching! After an hour of playing, you finally wanted to be nursed, and asleep you went and still sleeping for an hour now :) Sleep my baby, and let's have a good afternoon.

A better day...

Today is a better day, the symptoms of her eczema are under control. YAY!! I hope no new mothers have to go through having a baby with eczema. It is so much work, and time consuming, well then again, babies are a lot of work and take up a lot of time. Work that a mother would do without any hesitation; and with all the love, and care in the world.
 
The scratching is under control as well. She still scratches but only before nap time because it is her way of telling me that she is ready to go to sleep. The toys kept her busy. Wearing a long bodysuit, and long pants keeps her from scratching herself. Moisturize, moisturize, and moisturize after each nap, after each diaper change, after each feeding, and after playtime. I am reverting back to moisturizing her 4-5 times a day, hoping that it will help relieve her symptoms.

Besides the moisturizing, Lina <3 did a lot today. She played on the floor, crawled, pulled herself up to standing position, squealed/shriek in excitement, knocked down the building blocks that Mommy built, grabbed her toys and tossed it around, and walked with the walker with assistance from Mommy. She ate well. Ate all her food, mashed up sweet potato, mashed up broccoli, mashed up baby carrots, baby cereal, breast milk and purified water (not all at once, of course). She napped, but always cried, stood up in her crib, and played in her crib before falling asleep. Took a walk up the block to watch the cars go by, and to look at the vegetable gardens in the neighbors' front yards.

Overall, her schedule was diaper change, eat, play, sleep, diaper change, eat, play and sleep. It is a wonderful world she have, all her needs are taken care of.