my hands are so dry!!

I use to have really bad dry hands when I was a nurses aide and back then we did not wear rubber gloves so we were constantly washing our hands. Make sure you are drying them off completely each time and add lotion. Have you tried the new hand gels that kill germs and dries instantly? I have bottles of those in my bathroom and kitchen. That really cuts down on time and your hands getting wet constantly.

my suggestion. stop washing your hands so often. i mean of course your regular washing routine after using the restroom and all that. but you are washing your hands for every little thing, then your washing them too much. that baby is in need of some germs. that is the only way they build up immunities to things. germs are actually good for your baby. i have four children, three are teenagers now. they hardly ever get sick. my friend has a new baby, she is a germ a phobe. her baby is sick all the time. i had a new baby at the same time she did. the day after she was born, my other friend and her 5 year old came to visit me at the hospital and the 5 year old sneezed right in the face of my baby. my husband was mortified, but i was okay, cause i knew it was all right. my toddler is hardly ever sick. ive had to take her to the doctor for one cold, and guess who she was around when she got sick. the germ a phobe moms kid. so i say, stop washing so much. your child will be fine.

My hands were also very dry, because of the work I do. My hands are always in water. What I do is put Vaseline on my hands and than put on a pair of white gloves and go to bed.I do this very night and it keeps my hands nice and soft.

Hi there My2boys! Here's a tip that I got: If you have dry skin on your hands then wash with soap then wet hands again. Pour salt on them then scrub under water. Dry your hands and then put lotion them. from here: http://www.aliya.ae/php/homemade215p1.htm

Cetaphil is a lipid soap which means you don't use water. Clean your hands with it but don't rinse, wipe it off. It costs a bit and there are cheaper store brands but it does the job effectively and you can use it on baby too. It goes a long way too. Believe it or not it is the water you are rinsing your hands in that is making your skin dry. I used it on my son when he was a newborn because he had dry skin so it is very safe.

Personally, I think you should downscale the daily handwashing. However, that's just my opinion. I didn't wash my hands a lot when my son was a baby and he was only sick twice when he was a baby. You should remember that a little bit of germs are good for babies to be exposed to. Germs are basically exercise for your immune system. If you don't get exposed to ANY germs, your immune system will not know how to handle exposure to even the simplest germ. This is one reason that it's not a good idea for babies and children to take antibiotics too often because the immune system doesn't get a chance to learn how to fight bacteria and viruses. We don't wash our hands a lot in our household and we really only get sick about once a year, if that. It's a good idea to wash your hands after going to the bathroom and changing a diaper and before eating, but if you are going to wash your hands that much per day you are going to have dry hands no matter how much lotion, vaseline, shea butter, or cocoa butter you put on them. If you're that concerned about cleanliness, you might consider wearing surgical gloves when you change your babies diapers, etc.

Congrats on the new baby! When you go to bed at night, moisturize your hands really well Be generous, then slip on a pair of cotton gloves and leave on through out the night. When you wake, you will find an improvement in the moisture content in the skin on your hands. If you are up in the night to feed the baby, wash the moisturizer off first perhaps but then reapply when you go back to bed. It really does work but may need to do every night for a few days or more.

Try this home remedy. It is great to use especially in the winter. Also, baby oil is good for dry hands. Warm Oil Hand Treatment: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 drop lavendar essential oil (optional) 2 small plastic bags to fit over hands Warm the oil in the microwave . Add essential oil if you prefer. Rub the oil onto your hands and cover with plastic bags. Wrap a clean towel over the bags and sit for five minutes. Remove bags and rinse hands with warm water. Pat dry and apply lotion. Nice treatment in the winter time especially.

When using lotion, make sure it's one created for dry hands (like vaseline intensive care, or bath & body works has some nice ones with shea butter). I found it helpful to get an old pair of church gloves (ones you don't care about--mine were from 1985), and before bed I'd cover my hands in vaseline, then wear the gloves to bed. Since they're gloves, you can still nurse overnight without a problem (though if you need to change a diaper, be sure to take them off first so you can wash, then reapply the vaseline). Every couple days throw them in the wash, so they don't get too gross (I don't recommend throwing them in with anything you care about; I washed mine with the cleaning rags). If you have a paraffin bath, that may help too, but I've never tried it, so no guarantees there.

I have the same dilemma. I need to put lotion ever so often because it is always looking so dry and stiff. I usually wash my hands to be clean but whenever I do after a few minutes I feel so dry so I need to make an effort to put lotion on it. I make sure both my feet and hands are not dry to make me feel better every day.