6 months till I'm 33

I'm 32 years old, when did this happen? In 6 months time I will be 33. I can't believe it, I still feel like I am too young to be married with a baby. Like I should still be asking my mum's permission to go somewhere or I need to go to school on Monday.






I can't believe how time flies. It feels like yesterday I left School. I feel like Ny and I are still young kids.






I am an adult. I live on my own. I have a husband. I have a beautiful baby. I imagined how all of this was going to be when I was younger and now I am finally here. It's so surreal when I think about it.






Now I picture life when we are retired with grand kids. Although it will be a great time, I hope it doesn't come as fast as this stage in life did!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Let is Snow

Now you are a cleaver Princess

Your ust over a year old and she can already say a list of word. You also don't seem to understand English too well neither, which I am happy about as you will pick up English easy.

Hot
Duck
Daddy
Mamma
Pease
Tanku
Shoe
bebe
Alo
Teet

Letter to an Eleven Month Old

Hello beautiful girl,

10.11.10

How we have come 11 months in the blink of an eye I just don’t know. Our lives have changed so much in so many ways, and yet in some ways they don’t really feel like they’ve changed at all. It’s so hard to explain, but it is what it is.

This has been an incredible month. I’ve felt motherly pride rise up in my so many times in ways and for things I never thought possible. I know you’re not the first baby to go through these things, but you’re my first baby to go through them and they are your firsts.

You walk perfectly now –  We took you to Battersea park and you practically ran for probably a kilometre. When Daddy tried to pick you up you screamed and cried so much we were shocked and eventually put you down – and you were off again.

You are so inquisitive too. You are always searching in things, moving things to look behind them and climbing over things. It’s rather cute watching you stretch up to the handle on your tip toes and I’m secretly glad you don’t reach yet.

You’ve started copying sounds that we make. When we eat you go hmm-hmm just like I do. If I say ‘come’ you say ‘hm’, if I say baby-girl, you say ba-bee. Dad-deee is still your favourite though. You’ve also learned to kiss. It started as an open mouthed leaning towards the mouth, then you started blowing kisses and now you’ve learned to kiss properly and we so love your kisses.

The last week or so has been rough on you as you’ve been ill with colds and coughs.

So there you are, little girl. Superbly cute, clever, chatty and you make me smile every day.

The clinginess has passed a bit and you’re much more easy-going at the moment. Your sleep is better too, still wake like clock work between 11pm and 12am to jump in with us.

You’re a joy to be with and a pleasure to raise. Yes, I have tough days, yes, some nights I could cry for sleep, but all in all, I wouldn’t give you up for the world.This month is full of change, with mummy getting ready to return to work, but I’m pretty certain you’ll take it in your stride, just as you have everything else.

Love you, beautiful.

Don’t grow too much this month.

Mummy

The dreded day

Well that dreded day has arrived.

It's 11am and I have 6 hours until I am officialy joing the rat race once again
I have been trying to find exccuses for not returning to work. I know I don't have to, and Ny would happily look after us, But I like to help. Its part time for Gods aske! why am I moaning. Only 25 hours a week. It's a well paid job too. If we are going to get the 4 bedroom house, with huuuge garden, drive garage and an office for me! then I should go back.
Why do I feel so quilty?. . .
It's not like she will notice I am even gone. Most nights I start at 5pm and home by 7:30pm.

But I will  miss
Dinner time
Bathtime
Story time
Snuggle time
And bedtime . . .

The plan was to take Tula to work with me, but there has been a change of plan. My empoyers no longer want me to bring her to work with me. Selfish cold pepole they are.

4pm I ho I ho, it's off to work I go, I guess . . .





9pm I'm home!! I think now I know what a mummy kangaroo feels when its baby has left its sack... lighter in some ways but heavier in others. And always, always glad to see her baby

One good man = Ny

1. He alsways does what he can to please me, even if he doesn't want to do it.

2. He helped me with all the admin side of things on BN.

3. He hides the fact that he is stressed from me so I will not be affected.

4. He likes going on dates.

5. He appreciates me being able to read him, gauge his mood and pacify him when need be.

6. We laugh together, no matter what.

7. We talk, talk, talk.

8. He puts up with alot of my rubbish.

9. The way he loves Tula makes my heart melt.

10. He is one of the smartest people I know. And respect. And love.

Blurt

Once upon a time I met a frog.
I kissed the frog.
He turned into a Grumpy Prince.
I married him anyway.
We had a baby.
This meant getting pregnant.
Being pregnant is very strange.
I felt an intense urge to blurt this out to everyone.
Having a baby also, oddly, means ACTUALLY having a baby.
I felt the need to blurt this out as well.
I am still blurting.
Welcome to my blurt.

What to do When Insomnia Takes Hold:

1. Listen to radio.

2. Watch good old Divorce court.

3. Check in on your baby more than once an hour.


4. Paint the nails you have been waiting to do for the past Gid knows how may months.

5. Update your blog. If you do not have one, start one.

6. Get to know everyone in your Facebook friends´list by sending them short, sweet messages. Marvel at their photos and smile at their antics and thank God you are friends.

7. Email people you have always wanted to email for the longest time. A simple "hi, I am awake this late and thought of you" will be more than enough.

8. Set your alarm for a time when you should be awake at the latest. Sleep might take hold at any time and you do not want to be caught unaware.

9. Look through photos still in your digital camera.

10. Read that good book you never had time to read through before.

Time Soars

It´s been nearly a 4 months since I last wrote in my blog and I feel guilty... hoo boy do I feel guilty. As guilty as not calling someone when I said I would, not keeping in touch with old friends, and not being able to stick to my diet... those kinds of guilt. I could rationalize that it´s because I´ve been so busy, but then the next logical question would be "with what?. This is because my days follow one after the other in a similar, if frantic pattern.

Wake up.
Feed the baby.
Cahnage nappy.
Wash baby.
Dress baby.
Check emails.
Get washed & dressed.
Play with baby.
Check emails.
Put baby to nap.
Reply to emails.
Walk in the park.
Prepare lunch.
Feed the baby.
Load laundry.
Fold dried laundry.
Play with baby.
Feed the baby.
Change the baby´s nappy.
Sing to baby or watch cbbeeies together.
Change the baby´s nappy.
Make lunch or wash the dishes after lunch.
Hang laundry. Load washer with the next batch.
Feed the baby.
Try to work, answer emails, write in the blog.
Feed the baby. Think about dinner.
Change the baby´s nappy.
Make dinner or wash the dishes.
Check on laundry. Hang laundry.
Feed baby.
Bath baby.
Check emails.
work on website while hubby plays video games.
Sleep.


And.... wash, rinse, repeat. It feels like Groundhog Day with the difference being- believe it or not, the days blend in together because I have a love hate relationship with this routine. It involves spending a lot of time and energy taking care of a little person I care deeply about so, like any mother with child, the experience can be liberating, rewarding, humbling and exasperating, all rolled into one. With this type of schedule, time does not only fly, but soars to limits I cannot imagine.

I wish nappy changes would go quicker and become fewer and further apart in instances from each other. I wish time with hubby would be more frequent and longer. I wish I had more of my time alone with myself... but then immediately think no, I shouldn´t feel this way. After all, it was our decision to love and raise our daughter, and it is a decision we have to see through, otherwise it would not be fair to her or to us as a family unit.

So, I´ll take the busy, routine days. I´ll withstand the nappy changes and the poo smells associated with this task. I´ll accept the interrupted sleep and the eyebags that follow. I´ll take time passing like a speeding locomotive and just pray that I am nimble enough to step out of its way. I will also pray that I get lucky, and that some days will see the fruits of my labour in my little girl´s smile. And then I will realize that time soars, and it is carrying me higher and higher, past all the boundaries that I want to overcome.

And as these tribulations become but specks in the distance, I will only look forward to a new day with new challenges, and hope that time will be on my side once again.

Letter to a One Year Old

Dear Tulá


Happy Birthday little girl! You are a year old! Last year, round about this time, we were waking up from our first sleep – you were nestled in the nook of my arm, where you slept comfortably for months. You had been in this world for less than four hours. My little miracle, my little baby. Brought in to this world, held to my chest, nourished from my body. I am so proud of who you are.

At a year, you’re walking and trying to run. You eat fabulously, and still love broccoli, cauliflower, salmon, tomatoes, cheese. You mimic everything we do – changing the channels on the TV, drinking from your stacking cups. You are trying so hard to talk, you say hot really well, and understand the meaning too!
You have five teeth in your mouth right now, three at the bottom and two at the top and we seem to have handled them coming trough. You have a particular love for mobile phones, wires and remote controls – as many as you can fit in your hand at one time Oh and mustn't forget paper, you Love paper!

You love the ceebbies birthday song and get very excited every time it comes on. You enjoy music and dancing.
So how has this year been? Well, like nothing I could have imagined, really. Wait, let me tell you a story. When I was pregnant, I had a job I really enjoyed doing. I loved the responsibility, When I went on maternity leave, I told my boss I’d be back when you were six months old. I was certain I’d be back at work and back to passionately working. But when April came, I couldn’t do it. I suddenly realised there was no way I was willing to miss a day of your first year. It’s funny how much having you has changed me.

I didn’t know what I was missing in my life before you came along. I know that sounds like a cliché and I cringe a little bit on the inside saying it, but it is true. I remember crying one day because I so badly wanted a baby. Actually, I cried a few times, but I remember one day the most. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until almost a week later.

It’s not like there was a big hole in my life before you were there, but there must have been, and I just didn’t know it. But now… now the thought of you not being in it… well, it’s not possible. You’ll always be in it. There’s a Tulá shaped corner of my heart now.

In that corner I know love different to any love I’ve known before. And pain different to anything tears have caused me before. And fear – terrible, horrible, debilitating fear – of thumps, bangs, things crashing, of driving too fast, of not looking both ways before crossing the road, of too much water in the bath, of walking in the rain too long, being out in the cold, living near a hospital, waiting in it’s waiting room. Anything that could make you hurt, injure you, make you sick.

But that’s a mummy's paranoia. It comes and goes.

I love how much you love me. The way you stretch your arms out to me, hide your face in my neck when you are shy, run to me when you’re uncertain of something or someone. I love how you call out to me. I love that its me you come to when you get hurt, or frightened or afraid. I love the way your such a daddies girl.I love that it’s me you come to when you want comfort, or kisses – yes, I know its all about me, but then, I said I love how much you love me.

Your first birthday party was great (Saturday 23rd October). I wanted it to be extra special, all the trimmings! Mummy and Vanessa planned it for months ahead. You had a a pink number one cake with butterflies and your name in blocks.We hired a hall in Battersea, hired soft play - you love soft play so much. We hired your favourite entertainers too Caterpillar music. I arranged for some of the Butterfly nannies to help too. Vanessa did a fantastic job on decorating the hall in pink, white and lilac, fit for a princess. There were balloons everywhere. Vanessa hand made your party hats, she made all the trimmings, beautiful just like i pictured it. So many people came,Uncle Nelio from Spain, Uncle John, Auntie Dawn, cousin Kelly from Stoke on Trent, Auntie Sussana, cousin Sonia, Auntie Claudette, cousin Tannia, uncle Claston and so many more! You ran around playing with everyone and were a perfect entertainer. When we sang for you, you clapped and danced and shout yaaay!. I will remember your 1st birthday party forever.

I can’t wait to see what this year brings us, my precious child. You are such a pleasure to be with, you are a treasure to me and you make me so proud so often. Words, feelings or emotions can not explain how very much I love you.

Happy birthday baby.

Love Mummy.

I still remember . . .

2 years on & I still remember my Angel baby.

An angel wrote in the book of life, my baby's date of birth. Then whispered as she closed the book "Too beautiful for earth."~

Visit British Mummy Bloggers

She's walking!

If I Should Die…

Dear Tulá,

As I lay back feeding you tonight, watching your eyes grow heavy and your breath deepen while holding my finger tightly, I wondered what you would want to know about me one day, if I were to die. I imagined you sitting on a beach, lost in thought. I imagined your Aunty Lucia coming to you, and I imagined you asking her about me. It made me sad, seeing you there, staring at the stars and the waves as, with your toes digging holes and your fingers massaging the sand as I love to do.

I wondered what she would say; what people would tell you, if I were gone.

I hope that they will tell you how much I loved you. How I carried you in a sling on my chest even when it was hot, so that we could ‘talk’ about everything we saw. How I slept with you in my bed so that I could hear your breathing in the night, and how that calmed me. How I let you crawl around in just your nappies because I loved you pretty little body.

I hope that they will tell you that I wanted you, that I waited for you, dreamed about you and cried for you and that your coming has completed me. I was happy before you, and Daddy and I were good together, but when you came it was as if a girl became a woman. We made you, together, and I built you and I birthed you, but I also birthed me.

I became a woman, And it was because you came to us. You make me feel like everything I have worked for and wanted is here, like I am finally on the right track.

I hope that they will tell you that I was kind, that I cared about others. That I felt sad for children who weren’t loved as much as you, and that I cried sometimes, when the hardship of other people’s lives weighed heavily on me.

I hope they will tell you that I worked hard. I was totally dedicated and committed and when I believed in something, wanted something or focused on something, I was a force worth noting. I took extreme pride in my work. Like my father, I felt that the way you work is a reflection on who you are. I hated disappointing anyone, which sometimes meant I had to do way more than I should have.

I was really hard to offend. I always felt that life was too short to hold a grudge. Forgiving and forgetting isn’t something you do for the other person, but for yourself, so that you can have an uncomplicated life.

As much as I knew everyone has their own opinion and a right to their own opinion, I still struggled to hold my tongue when I thought they were wrong. I wanted them to at least listen to what I had to say, even if they didn’t agree, just as I would listen to them, even if I didn’t agree.Which most of the time I didn't.  I was just so passionate about the things I believed in – perhaps it’s the Portuguese in our blood.

I was once asked what  I feared most, and answered that my biggest fear is that I’ll be forgotten. I fear forgetting and being forgotten. For the record, I also fear abandoned hospitals and zombie children, but fortunately I don’t have much to do with either of those.

I know that the people who loved me would be able to tell you lots of funny stories about me, a few sad ones and a few that you might wish you could have asked me more about yourself.

Fortunately for us, I do believe in heaven, and I believe that one day we will be able to sit and talk together, but in the meantime, my beautiful baby girl, if I should not be around to see you grow, I trust there will be people who can tell you all this and much more, and I trust that they will love you in my stead, so that you will never have to be alone.

I will always be there, 

I promise watching and guiding your every move.

All my love,

Mummy

Freedom of Choice Act

Wow. This makes me wish I followed Politics more. I usually stay out of them. I hate debating it.

If you know me well, you know my stand on abortion. While I would never get one myself, I do not feel like this country should go as far as making them illegal. This doesn't mean I am Pro-Choice or strictly Pro-Life. I just choose not to judge someone for making different decisions than me.

Although this bill, Freedom of Choice Act, makes me want to vomit. It will basically wipe away any restrictions on abortions currently in place. In other words, this will make partial birth abortions legal up to the baby's due date. Yes, you read that correctly. Any women can decide at any point in their pregnancy, even late into their 3rd trimester, to terminate the pregnancy for no apparent reason. It could be something as simple as because the mother changed her mind.

Medical reasons, I can understand, but because a women changed her mind?

This makes me sick. We are no longer talking about a "cluster of cells" or an "embryo." This is an alive, kicking, thriving, heart-beating, capable of living outside of the womb BABY. Yes, people, a BABY. Call it what you want, but if you are 36 weeks pregnant, it is with a baby. Fetus is just a medical term for an unborn BABY.

There are a few other regulations that will also be overturned. There is a website with a lot of information and also a petition you can sign to attempt to stop it.

http://www.fightfoca.com/

Seriously, I do not think that abortions as a whole should be banned but this is absurd! I cannot believe Obama is supporting this. It makes my heart ache.

Those regulations were put into place for a reason.

I am sitting here, staring at my beautiful baby sleeping, in disbelief that this is now going to be legal. I just don't understand how someone can want to terminate a life, which is such a miracle to create, at any point in a pregnancy.

I cannot believe my little girl is almost One !!! Where does the times go

And she's off!

We just got back form Jamaica and all of a sudden your crawling! I was in the bathroom and there you were right behind me. You look too cute, I can't believe your now crawling, your growing up so fast. Seems like only yesturday we brought you home.

8 months already

Dear Tutu,                                                                        

Happy 8 months baby

.

You totaly amaze me.

I am to totaly amazed by you.

We're in Jamaica Negril at the moment, on our first family holiday. You're having so much fun out here, you have so much more room to move around. You have mastered getting up form tummy to on your bottom. Your now every day trying to crawl. We can't leave you alone for a second now, your rolling everywhere.

Your eating and drinking so well, you love your food, especialy Salmon and broccoli.You feed yourself really well and because silly mummy forgot your drinking cup at home you have also learnt to use a straw. Took you a day or so but now your a pro.

Verbally you interchange between da-da-da and ba-ba-ba now, and blow your own raspberries at will and especially at strangers whom pass us, which always causes laughter!

You do funny little things now, and laugh heartily at yourself and us. You giggle when I cough. You run your finger along Daddy’s teeth and laugh. You laugh when we help you walk. You laugh when you see yourself in the mirror banging your hands.

Your favorite rhymes are wheels on the bus, round and round between the three of us, we amuse ourselves with this for hours.e garden, and our new one this little Piggie with your toes that makes you giggle.  

We are all having an amazing fum time in Jamaica. Mummy and Daddy seeing love seeing you so excited about swimming in the paddling pool and seeing all the sesame street characters walk by and say hello to you.

I look forward to seeing how you can amaze me more every day. I look forward to seeing how you grow, how you develop. I look forward to falling in love with you, being awed by you, enamoured by you, overwhelmed and enthralled with you.


I love you more and more each day
sweet baby of mine.


Love Mummy x

Our first family hoilday to Jamaica

Sandals Jamaica, Negril

We have just came from Jamaica.

We stayed at Sandals resort in Negril.

You were an absolute star on the plane, 10 hours and not peek from you. You happily played with us, watched Waybuloo {your favorite cartoon at the moment}We are so proud of you. The air hostesses were amazed that you hadn't cried at all.

We spent two hot weeks in Jamaica.

We were slight worried how you would be with the flight and the weather. But you surprised us,by being brilliant baby.

You grew up a lot in Jamaica, becoming more vocal and moving around much more. Not yet crawling but nearly there. You spend most of your time with your bum in the air trying to get up on your feet. You have had to eat what we ate as the vegetables were slightly  too hard for you. You hate pizza, pasta and even tried a little Jerk chicken which you Loved! The 6 hour time difference didn't affect you neither, you still went to bed by 7pm and woke around 7am. We had a crib in our room, but I wanted you right in the middle of mummy and daddy, just were you belong.
You went swimming for the first time in Jamaica, you really enjoyed the water even the sea

Nameless Friday

Baby, I just put you to sleep sweet girl. I love the way you grab my hand with your two tiny little hands and turn to the side and hold on so very tight while you close your eyes.
You wont let go, Every time I try to let go you reach out for me and gab my hand.
I  love you more than anything in this entire world. x

Houston we have a Tooth!

We woke up today to find this tiny teen white shadow of a tooth today. Bottom left side.
I can not believe your now getting teeth. Seem s just like yesterday I found out I was expecting you!

Sunbathing with Mummy and Aunty

Clubbing it up with Mummy

Babylovesdisco

7 months today

Dear Tulá 

I know I say this every month, but I cannot believe that it’s been seven months.

It’s amazing. It’s miraculous, this whole growth thing.

Let’s see…

A month ago I thought you were mobile. Thinking back, I had no idea. Your now sitting up all alone. I caught you yesterday trying to climb onto you activity toy to help yourself up. You never keep still, your energy amazes me.

You are doing really well with your weaning. Your favourite food so far is smoked salmon, tuna and cauliflower cheese. there’s really not much you don’t like. 

The clingy phase has got much better. I couldn't  really leave you for too long and you would start crying for me. It makes me feel special, but also a little bit tired sometimes. I now can leave you alone for short periods and your happy.

Your always giggling and laughing, especially when we hand you upside down or tickle you. 

You Loving daddy even more now, and showing to become a little bit of a daddy's girl which daddy does love.

You had you first sleep over at Avo's this month too so as mummy and daddy could go and watch a film. Avo said you were brilliant, you kept to your routine and had a fun sleep over.

Well, honey, mummy is going to quickly start making your lunch before you wake up from your very long nap. We were in bed together this morning for you morning nap, Mummy has just woke up and your still out for the count, snoring your little head off. You Love sleeping in our bed and can sleep for hours in there.

I love curling up next to you and holding you close to my heart. I’ll watch you in the moonlight and hold on to these moments, knowing that they pass all too quickly. I’ll wake up in the night and listen for you, for your breathing, just to make sure you’re okay. When you stir I’ll pull you to me, and I’ll take in your baby smell, holding my breath in an attempt to capture your scent forever in my memory.  when you nuzzle in to me, those are the moments that I know your whole being is an extension of my heart.

You are more precious than I ever thought possible.

I love you for always.

Mummy

Johnson & Johnson Recalls Children's Tylenol and Motrin

 I am just so glad we try our best not to give any medicines to Tulá as a rule This is the 2nd recall of Tylenol etc in a year. We don't get that here anyway, but it makes me trust Calpol even less, since they are so similar.

Take a look at this article: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/13/johnson--johnson-recalls-childrens-tylenol-and-motrin.aspx?aid=CD945 

A day out at Vuxhall City Farm

Vauxhall City Farm

Miscarriage Survivor: Almost a year later and I haven't forgotten

I write this today as I was reminded about my miscarriage. Almost year ago, I lost my first baby. The reason I will never know. It's intriguing that, in efforts to be comforted by others, I have been constantly told that the pain will go away eventually. Or when I birth my first child, I will no longer be sad. And the most interesting, I will forget it ever happened once I have children.

It's been almost a year, I have a 6 month old daughter and guess what.... I haven't forgotten. And you know what, I never will. The experience still haunts me, still makes me sad, and still makes me wonder what could have been. I would never wish for this and would never wish for it on anyone else. If it were up to me, this would have never happened.

Things happen for a reason, right? Hmmmm, you all know my feelings on this phrase.

I once was told by a friend how silly she thought it was that a lady she knew had a memorial bench at a cemetary where plaques were placed for family members that died, including a plaque for the miscarriage she had some years earlier. She didn't get it. She didn't understand why you would honor or still want to remember this type of loss. This pain is REAL, this experience is REAL. It cannot be made up, it cannot be forgotten. Even if the pain is dulled by healthy children since born, it still lies there in our hearts.

The one that will always be missing.

My daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I consider her a gift my first baby gave me. It's like he/she said "Here. I cannot be there with you, but she can." I am not thankful I had a miscarriage, I am thankful that my daughter is here with me now and she is a gift from the baby that could have been.

So here it is, almost a year on. A lot has changed in the past year. Scars are the reminders that our past is real. I look forward to what the future brings but I will never forget my lost baby.

Swinging in Ruskin Park

Bubbling TuTu

Tula at 1'oclock club 1o.4.1o

Blowing Rasberrys

Tulá ♥ Singing

David Cameron, Our New Prime Minister

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8675265.stm

Dealing with Eczema

As a child of I  myself suffered for sometime with Eczema. My Mother believes it was emotionally related, if I ever got angry or upset I would flare up raw red in patch's mostly behind the knees and ears. This disappeared as soon as I reached my early teens, didn't have any treatment as far as I remember neither.

Unfortunately my daughter Tulá has also been diagnosed early on in her little life with what they call "baby Eczema". It started as just a few spots here and there, then it kept spreading all over her face, arms, legs and head. Whenever my daughter Tulá, has a bath she develops red blotches all over her body, she also flares up when she gets upset. 

I hate seeing her so sore and irritable. She can't be left alone and naked at all, she will scratch herself till she bleeds. We had to insure her hands were covered with mittens every night before bed, otherwise she would scratch herself during the night. This has also effected her sleeping and her general happiness I believe.
Her legs were all scratched ankle to knee up until 3 weeks ago, when I was determined to battle this illness and make her more comfortable.
We have tried everything, E45, Vaseline, Jojoba oil, Bert Bees, pure refined coco butter, refined Shea butter  Hydrocortisone 1% cream, Elocon  cream and finally Aqueous cream and Cetraben emollient cream.
None of these products seemed to work. We stopped using the Hydrocortisone 1% cream due to the side affects I had  read up on. The butters and Jojba oil were recommended by my brother in- law who's daughter also suffered with Eczema and he found combining the all 3 helped. For a short while we thought it was helping too, it was only making her feel slightly soft for an hour or so then back to the dryness and the serve itchiness if not applied almost every hour. 
We stopped bathing her every evening 4 weeks ago, only top and tailing her day and night and bathing her 3 times a week. We started to use the Aqueous cream as a wash recommend by our GP and the Cetraben emollient cream as her all over moisturiser. Again her skin became much better but still she was uncomfortable and itchy. On Mothers day I actually had to call the doctors due to her excessive itching all day. I then stated to continue using the Aqueous cream as a wash and then combined the Aqueous cream and the Cetraben emollient cream together and hey presto! It's worked! all gone my Princesses is no longer itchy, no longer red and no longer dry and uncomfortable. Just silky baby smooth.
 

 I now generally try and go for natural products, choosing herbs over medication more often than not. But that doesn’t mean conventional medicine is entirely without merit: sometimes, outside help is recommended and required.

While researching help and advice I recently read an article on the web called Against Childhood Eczema, and wanted to share some of the key points from the article by Margaret Cox from the National Eczema Society and Dr Steve Hewitt, a skin specialist for E45

Cox gave an insightful look at eczema from the point of view of the patient (or sufferer, I would have said). Her two main points were that there are a lot of people suffering from eczema – no one is alone in this, and secondly that although the condition is not curable, it is treatable.

According to Cox, one in five children in the UK suffers from eczema, with the numbers having increased three-fold in the last 30 years. Although two-thirds of children will grow out of it, the unlucky final third will suffer into adulthood.

The reasons behind this rise are not specifically known, but among the many potential causes are obsessive cleanliness, sterilisation, bath products containing harmful chemicals, weather extremes, air conditioning and heating, sun exposure, bad diets, lack of moisturisation and hereditary factors. Also, people who are deficient in Filaggrin (filament-associated proteins which bind to keratin fibres in epithelial cells) are more prone to eczema and asthma.

Cox also spoke of the emotional impact of childhood eczema, and the stress that unpredictability about flareups and uncertainty about their duration can cause. The direct impact on children, such as the inability to swim or play outdoors, is emotionally taxing, only made worse by the stigma of other children thinking they’re contagious, and teasing them. (See the National Eczema Society website for free downloadable packs to help teachers and schools understand the condition.)

Dr Hewitt, meanwhile, stated that most GPs typically only spent a few days focusing on eczema in their medical training. This is a frighteningly inadequate when you consider that around a third of the patients they will see suffer from some level of eczema. Most GPs also seem unaware that most prescribed emollients can be quite harmful to the skin.

Dr Hewitt also spoke about the commonality of infant eczema becoming childhood asthma, and leading to adult rhinitis.

The Against Childhood Eczema (ACE) campaign suggest five steps for parents of children suffering eczema to follow:


1. Bathing – Daily bathing can cause a child’s skin to dry out. Only bathe babies twice or three times a week for the first six months, the rest of the time just topping and tailing them. When you are bathing them, make sure to use fragrance-free bath oil and avoid bubble baths to help ward off irritation.
2. Emolient – Simple, non-cosmetic moisturisers that soothe and help relieve dry and itchy skin should be liberally applied, especially at night when skin is most metabolically active, causing it to heal better.

3. Massage – Emolient application can be distressing, especially during flareups, so try to make it as relaxing and enjoyable as possible, letting toddlers watch a DVD or sing songs to keep them calm. Always apply the emollient downwards (along the hair, rather than against it).
4. Frequency – Dermatologists suggest a ‘complete emollient regime’ for treating dry skin. Use a soap substitute and a leave-on emollient two to three times a day, even when the eczema is under control.
5. Comfort – Create a calm atmosphere when applying creams. Don’t be stressed or worried as this will add to your child’s stress and worry, and cause the flareups to be worse.

I will leave you for now with the NICE guidelines for childhood eczema.