Lip balm protects tissue-irritated skin
We've got a twofer on lip balm hacks!
Megan's smart workaround during cold season:
My 2-year-old caught the inevitable winter cold and had a very runny nose. Despite my best efforts using premium tissues and warm wet washcloths to keep his face relatively snot-free without irritating his skin, his nose, upper lip, and cheeks still chapped. He hated having lotion applied to his face so I gave him his very own tube of lip balm (orange-flavored) and let him go to town covering the lower half of his face with it. I clearly labeled the lip balm as his and kept it near the tissues. After each nose-wipe he got to use his lip balm and he loved it. His chapped skin cleared overnight and as a bonus, he smelled like oranges!
And Catherine found lip balm works well as "thumb balm," too:
My eight-month-old son sucks his thumb, and he's not picky about left or right. (His twin sister prefers a binky.) But now that it's winter and the air is dry, his thumbs are getting chapped and cracked. I slathered them with baby moisturizer but of course he sucked it all off right away. So then I slathered them with unflavoured lip balm. It's made for lips, which are often wet, right? So it's waxy enough to withstand repeated sucks. The chapping has healed and he can suck without causing further damage.
(or any Amazon link at Parent Hacks), you throw some change into our tip jar without any extra steps or cost to you. Thank you!
When my twins were little, their doctor recommended Aquaphor http://www.eucerinus.com/products/hb_aho.html for my son's chapped little thumb, because it's completely safe for babies. One of the nurses mentioned she uses it as lip balm. I tried it, and it cleared up my baby's thumb, and it's the best lip balm I've ever used. I guess I turned this hack inside out!
Posted by: Sandy | 10 January 2009 at 08:25 AM
another product for the chapped thumb is nipple cream - I had a tube leftover and the tube says it's safe for babies to ingest - cleared up the chapping immediately!
Posted by: Pam | 10 January 2009 at 10:39 AM
Vaseline! My husband, baby, and I use it to clear up red noses, lips, anything! And if you look at the ingredients to aquaphor, it's mostly petroleum. Hmmm...
Posted by: Stephanie Pearson | 10 January 2009 at 05:03 PM
I realize Megan's two year old hated lotion, but Neutrogena Norwegian Formula body lotion is the only lotion I've tried that ALWAYS works. At least for me, my wife, and our two year old daughter. The stuff comes in a big bottle and costs 2x the other lotions, but well worth it in my experience.
Posted by: Jon @ DadTrek | 11 January 2009 at 08:54 PM
I went to Target a few months ago searching for lotion for my daughter's chapped thumbs (because she too sucks them). Every lotion I looked at Aquaphor, Eucerin, etc said to call the poison center if it was ingested. It certainly wasn't something I wanted to put on my daughter's thumb for her to suck off. So I went home and found the Baby Faces stick from Gerber that we had left from when she was little. It recommends using it on lips and didn't have a warning about ingesting so we've been using it.
Posted by: Caroline | 13 January 2009 at 08:27 AM
I have sensitive skin on my face and some creams can burn, that could be why the kids don't like it. Flavored chapstick is a great idea. I have been using lanolin (leftover from breastfeeding) for my chapped lips and I now put it around my sons mouth. Works great and it's ok if he ingests some of it.
Posted by: Noonie | 13 January 2009 at 01:09 PM
I love Badger Balm's "Sleep Balm" for this purpose. It soothes and protects raw skin, and has a wonderful calming (not medicine) smell. They also have a version with a milder scent for kids, but the adult version is strong enough to penetrate stuffy noses, kinda like Vicks Vapor Rub, except not icky.
My nephew called it his "sleepy time medicine" and even when he wasn't sick, I sometimes put a little on his nose or temples for a calming effect.
Posted by: Kyotocutie | 11 October 2009 at 09:17 PM