Bleach Baths

About 20% of people have the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (aka Staph) colonized on their skin at any given time.  However, staph is colonized on about 90% of people with eczema.  After a few bouts of staph infections, Rapunzel's dr. had us introduce bleach baths into her skincare regimen.  We started by just doing one every couple of weeks.  She kept getting staph infections, usually in the form of folliculitis.  Then we moved to once a week.  Staph infections kept on coming.  Even at twice a week, she was still getting them, though they were much more spread out.  After her severe infection in February, her allergist had us increase them to three times a week.  She hasn't had an infection since then.  That's not to say she won't get another, but I'm happy to have the results we've gotten so far.

When we prepare her bleach bath, we simply add 1/2 c. Clorox Regular Bleach to a full tub of water.  She soaks for 5-10 minutes.  Then we drain the water and she rinses off in the shower.  After that we continue her usual skincare of moisturizing and wrapping.

I feel like there have been times when I've mentioned bleach baths and people are horrified that I would do that to my daughter.  But it's not like I'm bathing her in straight bleach.  It's very diluted and actually quite similar to a public chlorinated swimming pool.  It's true that too much bleach can actually be drying to the skin, so it's not recommended to do them this often, unless there has been recurrent infections.