During the winter months my babies have always tended to have dry skin; we live in a dry environment so that makes matters even worse. Not bathing your baby every day and not using harsh body washes is one way to help prevent their skin from getting too dry, but sometimes the dryness or skin rash will still happen.

One of our first lines of defense is daily organic coconut oil. We love this as it is super moisturizing and great for our babies’ skin; coconut oil is wonderful because it can not only be used for babies, but can be used for many other things around the house. Coconut oil is also easy to find you can either buy online or at most grocery stores.

For eczema, acne, dry skin or chapped lips you can always use breast milk. This is an awesome option as it is both economical and always readily available from a breastfeeding mamma. You can just pump or hand express some milk and put on your baby’s skin. This is only one of the numerous benefits of breast milk.

If you are using cloth diapers, you may also want to try some of your cloth diaper rash creams for extra dry skin. We have always used Yum Bum Butter or CJ’s Butter for our diaper rash cream and we love both. Just grab a bit and massage onto your baby’s dry skin to get it moisturized; on a side note these come in multiple scents and smell fabulous. If you have any extra on your hand you can just rub it right in for baby-soft hands. Our youngest crawls everywhere and refuses to wear socks; this winter the tops of his feet have been red and super dry. A couple of doses of diaper rash cream a day really help keep the dryness at bay. If your baby is dealing with dry feet and will wear socks you can slather on some diaper rash cream and then put socks on them every night for healthier skin.

Kristen Beggs is a breastfeeding, cloth diapering mom of two who lives in dry, Midland, TX.