Hellobee

I’ve never in my life dealt with sensitive skin. I have pretty average skin that can withstand any clothing texture, detergent, or lotion with no issues. I have the occasional acne problem and I tend to burn way before I tan, but I don’t have to put much thought into the products I use on my skin on a day-to-day basis. So, when I realized that my child has sensitive skin that showed some pretty intense reactions to things like detergent and time in the sun, I knew I had some learning to do!

Jackson’s skin is definitely not in the extreme range of skin sensitivity, but it’s sensitive enough that there was a definite learning curve for me. He has keratosis pilaris (a.k.a. “chicken skin,” that annoying skin condition where you get tiny bumps all along the back of your arms and legs) that flares up without some precautions, gets insane (and scary!) rashes if we don’t use the right laundry detergent, and flushes like crazy after more than about 5 minutes spent in the sun (regardless of how much sunscreen he’s wearing). I’m not claiming to be any sort of expert on sensitive skin – I’ll admit that I haven’t done a ton of research (mostly a lot of trial and error!) and Jackson’s skin is definitely towards the “less sensitive” side of the spectrum. However, I wanted to share what works for us right now, because it was overwhelming for me to figure how how to handle this new challenge, and we’ve fallen into a routine that keeps his skin happy and keeps me from worrying about him!

1. Water, water, water! – Jackson’s entire body gets flushed and red after just a few minutes in the heat (and we live in Texas so we have lots of heat very often!) and the only way we know how to combat this is pushing water at every chance we get. These straw cups are our absolute favorite and he loves them too, so he’s more likely to drink more water if we have these on hand. We love that there is a weight at the bottom of the straw, so even if he tilts the cup back he can still get water. We’ve tried other weighted straw cups, but none work quite as well as this one – I think we need to buy one in every color!

2. Pamper’s Sensitive Wipes – After an awful, painful rash from using Huggies wipes (for just one diaper change!), we switched to Pampers Sensitive and never looked back. These have never irritated his skin, so we haven’t ever branched out to anything else – this works for us and I’m not risking trying anything different!

3. Aquaphor – This stuff is the best, ever. Jackson’s cheeks get incredibly chapped in the winter and we have to put this on multiple times a day to keep his skin moisturized. This is the only thing we’ve found that really works to keep the chapped skin away, so we slather it on religiously 2 or 3 times a day in the fall and winter months. We’ve also used it on diaper rash from time to time, but I tend to reach for it for his face more often than his bum. For diaper rash, I always reach for…

4. Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Diaper Ointment – We have been lucky not to deal with a lot of diaper rash, but I think it’s largely due to being incredibly careful and proactive about taking care of it before it gets bad. This stuff has been a huge help with that. I’m not exaggerating when I say that every single time Jackson starts to get diaper rash, I rub some of this on and it’s gone by the next diaper change. I will never use any other diaper ointment again.

5. Eucerin Lotion – This is the only tried and true method for keeping Jackson’s keratosis pilaris at bay. We notice that if we don’t slather it all over his body every night after his bath, his arms and legs quickly get much rougher and bumpier. As long as we’re good about using this lotion nightly, his skin stays looking great!

6. Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Shampoo & Body Wash – We’ve tried a few other shampoo/body washes for Jackson, but keep coming back to this one. It smells fantastic, is very gentle, and doesn’t irritate his skin at all, even though it is scented. We have learned, though, to not actually use it on his body every night. He gets a bath most nights, but usually all we wash is his hair – for the most part, we let the leftover suds from his hair and the water from the bath do the cleaning on his body. That keeps his skin much happier, so we’ve switched to only soaping him up a couple of times a week.

7. Purex Free & Clear Laundry Detergent – This is the only laundry detergent we’ve used so far that has not had any adverse affect on Jackson’s skin. We used Mrs. Meyers for a long time, but every once in a while I noticed a light rash on his torso that went away within 24-48 hours, and I haven’t seen it since we switched over. We had one very unfortunate incident with Tide Laundry Pods where he got an insane, super scary rash all over his body and we almost ended up in the emergency room. Never again!

8. Babyganics Sunscreen – We rub Jack down with this every time he’s going to be in the sun for more than a couple of minutes at a time. He’s gotten to be very patient with sitting and waiting for me to put it on (and knows that sunscreen application is almost always followed by something fun like swimming or the park!), and he’s never had a sunburn so we’re happy!

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So, that’s what we use! Like I said, I’m no expert and am still learning daily about what I can do to best take care of his skin, but this routine works well for us so far.

Anyone have any other tips for dealing with sensitive skin? I’d love to hear ’em!