Homemade Oatmeal Bath (like Aveeno)

Many, many folks have been buying Aveeno Oatmeal Bath over the years for all kinds of skin irritations. I'm one of those folks. Both of my sons, who are now both grown, have a terrible reaction to Poison Oak. (Just to quickly describe the extent of his allergic reaction, my oldest was in the hospital with his most recent encounter.) But when they were younger, an oatmeal bath was one of the steps we could depend upon to bring instant & soothing relief.

Needless to say, they've learned to steer clear of the offending plants, and now that they are both married,...

My younger son with his wife & daughter.

 and out of the house, 

My oldest son with his wife & son.

I no longer find it necessary to make sure we have a stash of  'Oatmeal Bath' under the bathroom sink.

Until now....


Gavin, just 2, playing with leaves this past Fall.

Meet Gavin, my third grandson. (AKA: "Pun'-kin") He is now quickly approaching his third birthday, but is not yet speaking. He was premature, which in and of itself keeps him in a continuous state of playing catch-up. His doctors, therapists & specialists all give him room for being slightly behind in certain things: size and development. But then at age 8 months he was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome. (Yet another possible size & developmental threat) All this to explain why he wasn't talking yet. So for a while there you could find him at any given time, laying on his back, wiggling around like he was dancing. We couldn't ask him what's going on. We just thought he was playing or being silly, and it actually looked pretty cute. Then we started noticing his skin. A trip to the doctor confirmed it. Eczema.

Arrgh! Yet another health concern for the little guy. Not life-threatening. Just annoying.  It pretty much makes him miserable & itchy all over. (ie...the floor dancing!) The usual advice given by doctors: keep the skin hydrated. Put lotion or cream on him constantly. Don't let the skin dry out as this adds to the itchiness, irritation & discomfort. Only problem with that is he has extremely sensitive skin, like his Mommy. Just about anything that touches the skin can cause redness, possible welts and general irritation.

Enter: Super-Grammy! (In my mind) Complete with quilted cape & horn-rimmed glasses!

Assignment: Find something for Gavins skin that is not irritating! (Something cheap, too?)

After a little bit of 'surfing' (Yes, the internet....although instead of an awesome surf-board, I may only be the embarrassed owner of a boogie-board. And instead of standing, I may be lying on my stomach, paddling with my arms...wearing my jean skirt & sandals....but you get the idea, right?) I found a few things.

Thing One: Olive Oil is the best thing for your skin. It's natural. It causes no reaction, whatsoever. It hydrates the skin. It's already in my cupboard. It isn't harmful if swallowed! The biggest bonus: Gavin absolutely loves massages! So I take some oil in a small bowl or squeeze bottle, lay Gavin on a towel (so as not to get oil on the carpet or my bedspread) wearing just his diaper, and he gets a head-to-toe Olive Oil massage! He just lays there and enjoys every minute of it. I just keep adding more oil as it gets absorbed into the skin. When that area seems slick enough, I move on to the next section. He especially loves when I do his feet & his head/neck/ear area.

Thing Two: I remembered using oatmeal bath for my sons to relieve itching... and found out it works for eczema, too! Actually it works for almost any skin irritation. Turns out that oatmeal has an anti-itch property (*avenanthramides ~ see below). This also helps with the 'need-to-itch' associated with chicken pox, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes or 'itch' associated with bug bites such as mosquitoes or chiggers.

How-To Make: Use regular oatmeal from the grocery store. Just make sure it's not instant. Use your blender or food processor to grind the oats as small as possible. (You'll want a powder. To test if the grind is small enough, stir a spoonful into a glass of water, it should make the water look milky.) Store in an air-tight container. If you don't have a way to grind the oats, you can purchase oat flour. It won't be as cheap as grinding the oats yourself, but still should be much cheaper than buying the 'Oatmeal Bath' packets.

How-To Use: Add to warm bath: 1/3 cup for infants, 1 cup for adults. Soak for 15 to 20 minutes. Pat dry, don't rub!

Oatmeal baths contain 100 % Colloidal Oatmeal. The word "col·loid (k l oid) n. 1. Chemistry. a. A system in which finely divided particles, which are approximately 10 to 10,000 angstroms in size, are dispersed within a continuous medium in a manner that prevents them from being filtered easily or settled rapidly." In other words: finely ground, like powder, making the water milky. No large oatmeal pieces floating in the water. So don't be fooled into buying the Oatmeal Bath for that reason.

* Check out these two websites for all the scientific jargon related to this topic: http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Avenanthramides or   http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/584277.html .