Things That Get Us Through the Night
We are into a really great routine with Bean at night lately. For one thing, he is LOVING his baths. Its the splashing. He loves the splashing. Specifically, he loves splashing me. He has a turtle that floats in his tub and he bats at it until it sinks and/or drowns. In the process, I have to change my clothes about three times. Loads of fun.
After bath time, we get ready for bed. Chris puts on Bean’s jammies and brushes his little, spastic hairs while I get his bottle ready. When I come back upstairs, I take Bean into my bedroom where our rocking chair is and I give him his bottle. While I’m rocking Bean, Chris is getting his humidifier filled and turned on and putting a clean blanket in Bean’s crib. By the time Chris finishes, Bean has usually finished his bottle and has started flopping around, trying to stretch out. That’s my cue to take him into his nursery, kiss him goodnight, and lay him down in his crib.
Wham. Bam. The Beast sleeps.
Lately, there have been 3 new products we have been using at bedtime that have been really fantastic. So fantastic that I thought I should share them.
First, when Bean has a cold, sleeping is always the hardest part. Even when we give him Benedryl throughout the night to help with the coughing, it is still really hard for him to sleep. UNTIL WE FOUND THIS:
This is Vick’s Vapor Rub for Babies. AND ITS AWESOME. I put it on Bean’s little chest under his jammies and (get ready for this…) I put it on his FEET! I know. Crazy, right? It was one of those weird wives tales that I had heard about before (actually, I think I heard about it first by comments some of you left on the blog at some point) and so I thought, “Why not?” We rubbed a little bit on each of Bean’s feet and then stuck them into his footie jammies.
The kid did not wake up ONCE in the night. Not even when his Benedryl wore off. He slept right through that. No coughing, no trouble breathing, no waking up. It was awesome! I don’t know if it would work for everyone, but it is totally worth a try if you’ve got a sick wee one on your hands.
Another little issue Bean fights almost every day is dry skin. Unfortunately, he got his Dad’s skin, which is about two steps away from being dry enough to make into a purse and matching heels. Bean has eczema on his tummy and sides under his arms and our doctor suggested we try Aquaphor because it was thicker than regular lotion. But it didn’t really help him. I was really afraid that our next step would be a prescription.
BUT THEN I FOUND THIS!!
This is Johnson & Johnson’s Vanilla Oatmeal bath wash for Bean. First, it smells heavenly. Sweet and luscious and yummy. But more importantly, the oatmeal is really rich when it lathers on Bean’s skin. When he gets out of the tub, he is soft and smooth. And totally delicious. I just can’t help myself and I nibble on him. Elbows, knees, toes, ears. Nom, nom, nom, nom….
When he gets out of the bath, we then smear him down with THIS AWESOMENESS FROM HEAVEN…
I like this one better than even the vanilla oatmeal body wash. This is baby oil, but its creamy. Hence the name Baby Creamy Oil. I just can’t put my finger on why this is any different than lotion, but it just is. Its like a thick cream, but it isn’t gooey. It goes on like lotion, but leaves your skin super hydrated and smooth. I even use this on my hands now and I smear Chris’ dry, cracked hands with it, too.
Its like awesome in a tube.
Its like a tube of awesomeness.
Its like an awesome tube of…awesome.
Go buy these things. Go buy them all and then sleep peacefully.
24 Comments
Lori @I Can Grow people
We use the Target brand vapor rub–good stuff!
Corinn
I see you have a Porter too! How crazy! It’s not a very common first name at all! How did you guys come up with it? Porter is actually my Grandma’s maiden name, which is how we decided on it 🙂
Caroline
I think reading this has put me to sleep. Zzzzzz…Good night!
Katie
Wait, did I bore you to sleep? Like my college astronomy professor? That’s it. I quit the blog.
mz
maybe u should be careful about using that showerfoam and cream on bean (that’s if his eczema doesn’t go away)?
i have eczema too and using showerform and lotions with fragrance and colour in them make me itch like crazy. My skin doctor recommends Ego QV brand and i have been sticking to it ever since! The first day i used it, my eczema stopped itching.
it looks like this:
http://www.getprice.com.au/Ego-QV-Skin-Lotion-1L-Gpnc_291–41570482.htm
the key to preventing eczema from recurring is simply to keep moisturizing. I used to moisturize 3 times a day and i still do, once or twice a day! 🙂
Nancy
My kiddo is starting to get eczema as well, and the other trick for it is to pat dry after a bath (don’t rub!) then put the lotion on while the skin is still damp. we use eucerin and/or baby aquaphor.
Megan
Thanks for that!
We’ve got the Vapo Rub but never really used it. And I’ve never heard of the feet thing but I’m all about trying a weird wives tail! You never know!
We are currently on day 4 of antibiotics and getting over a virus of pure yuckiness which caused a l/side ear infection.
Ahhh the joys!!
Sarah@crazylovegamblestyle
I am in total shock right now. Like WHAT, REALLY? I am a bit sceptical but am willing to try these products.
I have crazy-bad eczema and have all my life and sadly I passed this lovely gene onto my daughter Ava.
Rule #1 in treatment: No smelly anything.
Rule #2: No soap of any kind
These break both rules!! Shocking. But seriously I believe that you are happy with them so I think I will try it. I do have a question though:
How bad is Bean’s eczema? Is his skin broken & bleeding or just dry?
Katie
He has mild eczema. Its rashy and dry. But now its gone! Craziest thing ever!
Emily
Thank you! My little guy has pretty mild eczema too, and we’ve been bouncing between products to find something that works. We’ve tried the Aquaphor, but it’s just so thick, besides which, the little kiddo tries to eat it. Awesome. I’ll have to get these three today!
Corinn
This post could not have come at a better time! I have really bad eczema, and sadly passed it on to our wee one, Porter. I have been trying out Aveeno, because it’s what I use, but I will try these too! Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to use them!
Corinn
Aveeno for babies that is 🙂
kk
What type of humidfier do you have? I’m curious to see that do you use it everynight or just when the bean is sick?
Katie
Our humidifier is an ongoing argument in my house. We have a cheap $15 Vick’s humidifier. It does get the job done, but I don’t feel like its clean enough. The water just pools up and the carbon from the filter floats in it. I want to spend the $30 or $40 and get a nice one, but Chris is adamantly against that when the one we have works fine. UGH! The argument continues….
But we use it MOST nights. Living in Connecticut in the winter, the air is just really dry. Using it every night (or most nights) keeps Bean’s room from drying out. When he is sick, we use it every night but we put the Vick’s humidifier oil in there so the air is has menthol in it. I should actually have included that in this post, too, because that has been a real saving grace for us.
Nancy
We have the Vick’s Vaporub humidifier too. (Our humidifier though doesn’t have a charcoal filter, so it must be a different model?) They sell these things that you drop into the reservoir and leave in for 30 days before replacing, and it is supposed to keep the water clean and anti-microbial. Anyway, this is something similar: http://www.target.com/Honeywell-Protec-Cleaning-Cartridge/dp/B0002AHW0O/ref=sc_qi_detailbutton
Whitney
I WILL go buy these things!!! Levi has eczema too and I hate it because all of his products are NON SMELLING and I can’t smell the fantasticness that is baby. Well, besides his natural scent. I’m buying these tomorrow. Seriously.
Jenn
I love, love, LOVE the J&J Vanilla and Oatmeal body wash and lotion for myself… I have really dry skin (our water here is super chlorinated) and it works wonders.
The scent is really light, I use it on my boyfriend’s 2 year old as well and it just smells clean. 🙂
Nate's Mom
The next time I’m sick and have a cough, I’m slapping some Vicks Vapor Rub on my feet with socks and will report back if this trick works for adults too. I’m so intrigued…!
Kristin
Thanks for the hint of VapoRub on feet! I’ve had the worst cold this week, so last night I slathered some one my feet before bed and I slept like, well, Bean. : )
Hilary
I use the J & J Vanilla Oatmeal baby wash on my daughter and love it! The smell is nice, but NOT overpowering. I also use Johnson’s Baby Cream which is thick and pink and clears up her dry skin like a dream! She hasn’t had a cold in a while, but we have the Vick’s on hand just in case. All three are great products!
Heidi
I have been lurking on your website for months and I thought I would throw my 2 cents in on this. My daughter has eczema too. Her doctor recommended CeraVe Moisturizing Cream, it doesn’t have any lanolin in it, which she said can be worse for kids with eczema. The first night we put it on her it cleared up almost all of her dry patches. The only place I have been able to find it is at CVS.
By the way, I love your blog, you are hilarious!! My husband thinks I am moron when I start laughing while reading it! Men have no sense of humor!
Zoe
I’m a bit late with this comment, but nevermind. When I was little I had terrible eczema all over, it was so itchy and horrible. My mum saw a dermatologist who told her to do the usual things like get me wearing only cotton and keeping me out of the sun and dirt. Those things made it WAY worse. What finally healed it was wearing synthetics, letting me play in the dirt and exposing the affected area to the sun for a small amount of time each day. Mum still raves about the sun thing in particular. Now obviously, babies have very sensitive skin and we don’t want to give them a head-start on melanomas, so it’s like 5 minutes in the morning sun without sunscreen. That’s it. It might not be something you want to try, but I thought I’d share my story, just in case 🙂 Good luck!
Bhuvana
My baby has eczema too and scratches herself like crazy! I’ve been trying baby Aveeno, baby Aquaphor, and even cortisone cream though I’ve used that sparingly since I’ve heard it can make a baby’s skin thinner. I’ve stayed away from J&J baby products on my pediatrician’s advice, but maybe I’ll try them out if they work for Bean!
Heather in ND
I work at a daycare so I have icky dry hands… I was at The Walmarts tonight (yuck–shoulda gone to Target) and I couldn’t remember what you said was the good one!!! So… instead of getting the creamy oil stuff I got the vanilla oatmeal baby lotion… hopefully it will help out my dry, dry hands… if not Target will be calling my name!!!!