Nolan's sufferered from eczema since he was a tiny baby, with his problem spot behind his knees, particularly on the right side. He'd scratch through his little jeans, his face screwed up in pained concentration, and I tried a million and three natural remedies before I took him to the doctor and got a prescription for cortisone cream.

The cream cleared the eczema up almost overnight, but in the past few weeks it had started to flare up again. Reluctant to overuse a remedy that can have potential side effects, I researched online and found that Aveeno Colloidal Oat satchets had worked for a number of people. I was particularly interested because the water here is so hard it is crunchy, and I figured it was at least worth a shot.

It appears to do the trick. The redness at the back of Nolan's knees faded quickly after two baths with the stuff, and he didn't feel the need to furiously itch his legs before I put his pyjamas on. The only problem? The stuff is expensive. At almost $7.00 a package, it's pretty prohibitive for longterm use by the chronic eczema baby.

So I found this website today that provides instructions on how to make your own colloidal oatmeal. Basically, colloidal is a fancy term for "finely ground" and it's something you can easily make at home for much less than seven bucks. I am going to try it and hope it's as effective.