Chapped Lips

Did you know that chapped lips is caused from dehydration? During the cold and wet times of the year we turn up the heat to keep ourselves warm and cozy. Combined with the cold, windy air, the heat is helping us dry ourselves out.

Painful chapped lips can happen over night. Trust me, completely over night. We awoke with a pitiful little guy whose lips were bleeding from trying to talk.

My little man gets chapped lips quickly.

He is thirsty, quiet literally drying out.

Many people think that we get chapped lips from licking our lips. You see this a lot in children. The truth is, children are responding to being and feeling so dry. The lips are especially vulnerable to our winter conditions.

Replenishing ourselves is super important. Let kids sip on water or diluted Gatorade all day. Rehydrating your body could take a full 24 hours, the same is true with kids. You may have to adjust potty training or potty breaks, but it is important to take in fluids all day.

Then, keep it up!  If your kids are in school, like mine, then you may have to ask the school or the teacher to allow water bottles in the classroom for all the kids. The rules at our school is that the water bottle has to have a sports bottle top and can only contain water.

Some teachers or administrators may balk at the idea. There will be a disruption to the class at the beginning. Every child will want to bring water, but they will calm down.

Are you or your children dealing with chapped lips. I would love to hear your remedies. We are using Lanolin for the first time and it seems to be helping with the painful, cracked, bleeding lips.