Building a daily emollient routine

We know that applying an emollient four times a day, each and every day, is time consuming - and your child won't necessarily find it that enjoyable! However, trying to build emollient application into your daily routine (and that of your child) can help to make it a regular habit. Why not think of fixed points in time during the day when you could put on your child's emollient, for example:

Did you know?

People who use their emollient effectively (remember that's frequently and regularly, and lots of it!) are often able to control their eczema with just emollients alone. They don't need a topical steroid or other treatments. So it's worth giving emollients a go as they can give you good results.

Before your child gets dressed in the morning
Just after lunch (although you may need to make special arrangements with your child's nursery or school)
When they get home from nursery or school
After their night-time bath or before they get into their pyjamas

To help you encourage your child to accept and embrace their emollient routine, we've created some special tools in our zones. There are Splat-o-meters so children can splat a chart for each time they have put on their emollient. There's also a How are you doing today? chart for them to record how they feel each day, and how their skin is too. Younger children can pick a smiley face that matches how they feel, and older children can tell us more about how they are feeling.

We hope that with the help of our charts, you and your child will be able to see that applying their emollient every day really does work. Just look at the Month in my skin chart to see a daily record of how they felt, how their skin was and how often they put on their emollient. You can even print out the chart and take it with you when you go to your next appointment with your child’s doctor or nurse to show them how you’ve been getting on.

Using topical steroids with confidence » « Ointments, creams, lotions and gels