Dear Ms Lumsdaine:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the valuable, lifesaving and sanity-saving information you posted on the website. My baby had horrible eczema starting at around 4 months. His cheeks were not only red, but had broken, was crusty, and oozing. I had never seen anything like it. I was desperate for a cure, but nobody I knew (including my ped) had much to tell me. In fact, people told me useless information like stop breastfeeding and use Johnson's baby shampoo on him. Imagine!

Things started to get better when I went on the elimination diet -- his face was less "bumpy" but he still had a bad looking rash. Thanks to referrals from the eczemaparentscircle, I found out about your site, read all the information many times, and removed detergent sources from the house. It was only then that he became completely better. He has been eczema free for almost a year now (touch wood) and I am finally enjoying parenthood without the stress of trying to figure out what's wrong. I never knew how heartbreaking and painful eczema could be -- that's why I am so grateful to you for putting out this important information on the web. It has literally saved my life and my son's life -- I am grateful we are eczema free without the use of steriods or prescription creams. It feels so good to know what was causing his problems!

I did have a question that I'm hoping you can post on your website. My son loves bubbles and of course most bubble solutions have detergent in them. I checked for recipes on the web and tried to make one without success. Most recipes call for Joy diswashing liquid -- a no-no in our house. Do you have any ideas for how to make bubbles? I would love to give my son the fun of playing with bubbles but am not willing to risk exposing him to detergents.

Thanks again and best wishes to you and your dear boy,

A. Chan
San Leandro, California

Response regarding bubbles:
This is what worked for us:

Cal Ben concentrated liquid dish soap (or any other liquid soap you are using)
Glycerin
A tiny bit of Dr. Bronner's castile soap
Water

I wish I could give you proportions. The trouble is that the fat content of soap is slightly different every time, so it's an experiment every time.

Start with a good squeeze of the liquid dish soap, add water (stir with the bubble wand) until you get a consistency kind of like normal bubble liquid. Then add a good dollop of glycerin, stir, and then a tiny bit of the Dr. Bronner's. Dr. Bronner's is just a little oily, and it has the effect of strengthening the bubbles so much that they bounce! Too much Dr. Bronner's makes terrible bubbles. With the Dr. B's, the bubbles are more of a mess, so we blew bubbles in the kitchen or outside.

If you stir the mixture and try the bubbles with your bubble wand, and it doesn't make good bubbles, you have to pretty much just add either soap or glycerin (or water if it's too thick) until it works the way you want. When you find the right balance, the soap bubbles are actually stronger than the ones you buy. If you don't have Dr. Bronner's, just soap, glycerin and water will work, but the bubbles will be less hardy.

We always end up with extra when we do this and put it in the fridge for later.