ezcema and natural treatments

[nukuspot]

DD has some eczema patches that come and go. But there is a bad one behind one knee that's been there for months. Recently it got super red and peely (it looks terrible but DD doesn't seem to notice it) and I brought her to the ped. The Dr. said to use an antibiotic ointment (bactroban) on it because she cultured it and it came back with some strange bacteria. She said it got a secondary infection. So I'm grudgingly doing the bactroban (we usually don't use allopathic meds) but don't want to go down the hydrocortisone route after that. But this needs to get better so she doesn't get another secondary infection!

I moisturize it every day with California Baby or Weleda calendula or sensitive skin lotions. I give her probiotics. We recently (both of us) stopped dairy to see if it was a food sensitivity (but it doesn't seem to have helped). I am gluten free. DD eats non gluten-free oatmeal sometimes but no other gluten containing things. Could it be another food? Or what causes this? Any other ideas for treatment or prevention?

[lilmom]

Have you tried getting it into direct sunlight? I know that's difficult this time of year. But it really, really helps my DS's eczema. We also determined that he gets very bad eczema on his back when he eats eggs. No eggs, no more eczema. So you might keep trying eliminating different foods. Also make sure that area does not get overheated. That really helps!

Oh yeah, and you might already be doing this too..he takes a bath almost every day, *but* we make sure he's in and out of there. If he is in the bath for too long, it really dries him out and the eczema gets worse if he is having a breakout of it.

[tankgirl136]

As some one who has suffered from eczema my whole life. First bathe your LO less frequently if possible. Use REAL soap, no detergent based products. Skip some of the lotions he could be allergic, try pure olive oil instead. Simple tends to be best with eczema, if you use too much at a time, you might never figure out what LO is reacting to. Good luck.

[Frankie'sMom]

Jojoba oil is the best thing for eczema i have come across. A really good one is Heather Lorraine golden jojoba oil. I think you can probably get it online or at any health food store/food co-op.

[candelaria80]

My little one got the same patches on her leg, we used coconut oil and it really worked. It took about a week to clear up. I still put it on after her bath (I bathe her every other day) and they haven't shown up again. Good luck!

[AndtheStars]

Raw organic shea butter has been a lifesaver for DS's ezcema. They sell big tubs of it on Amazon for a reasonable price. DH has started to use it for his work-chapped hands too.

[mntnmom]

Whatever you do, keep it simple and change one thing at a time. Also, it might not have just one cause. Getting rid of DS's allergy triggers has made his eczema manageable. But especially when the air is dry, we still have to moisturize his skin religiously.

[neonalee]

Originally Posted by mntnmom

Whatever you do, keep it simple and change one thing at a time. Also, it might not have just one cause. Getting rid of DS's allergy triggers has made his eczema manageable. But especially when the air is dry, we still have to moisturize his skin religiously.

I have no direct experience myself, but 1 male friend with it very bad, and 1 friend + her 2 daughters with it. The female friend makes (used to?) her own all natural soap with chamomile. I forget the other ingredients, but that was one of the important ones. For awhile I sold that soap to the male friend, who said it was the best thing he'd ever used. So I vote for natural soap and changing 1 thing at a time.

[Michigan Mama]

I need to try some of these ideas for my son. Anything that has alcohol in it really makes him cry.

[Toolip]

We just started using coconut oil... fingers crossed. We've tried many different things topically, the only thing that ever produced noticeable results was steroids. He also gets a lot of secondary bacterial infections so hopefully the coconut oil will help with that.
The problem is that you really have to deal with the underlying allergy that is causing it. Ours seems to be dust mites, at least that's what came up as the biggest allergy when we did testing. They're really hard to control around here

[kfillmore]

I have had excema my whole life (although now i mostly control with no wheat)

I never agree with oily things on excema!! It ALWAYS made it worse for me and very itchy!

I found things like-clay poultice, vinegar wash, tee tree oil wash, baking soda wash the best.

[nukuspot]

Wow---It's really looking noticeably better with the use of the Bactroban. I guess it was a secondary infection on top of the eczema. Poor baby. She must have had that secondary infection for months, and I didn't know that it was even a possibility. I thought it was just the eczema getting worse. I feel like a BAD mama.

After we do the 10 days of the antibiotic ointment I will start on coconut oil. I've used it on her in the past but not recently. I surely have it around as we all cook and bake with it every day. I also am interested in the poster that talked about shea butter. Can you tell me more about shea butter and use for babies?

[lotus.blossom]

My guy was recently diagnosed with eczema so all these ideas are helpful. One idea I got from a friend the other day is to give him flax oil. She said it really helped clear up her son.

I think ours cropped up after a very bad virus and a lot of fever reducers that had artificial colors in it. So we are being careful about that as well as corn, eggs, dairy, wheat....all the usual suspects. He is really clearing up from that.

[ASusan]

Originally Posted by kfillmore

I have had excema my whole life (although now i mostly control with no wheat)

I never agree with oily things on excema!! It ALWAYS made it worse for me and very itchy!

I found things like-clay poultice, vinegar wash, tee tree oil wash, baking soda wash the best.

We struggled with this when DS was a young infant. Tried tons of natural oils. Never helped. What did help - in addition to getting offending foods out of the diet - was a THICK cream lotion, like Eucerin or Cetaphil in a tub. It says on and soaks in. Nope, not natural. But none of the natural things worked.

We use California baby once a week; other than that, just water in the bath.
You can put a few drops of TTO in the bath to help combat secondary infections. We DO use steroid cream sparingly when things are so itchy that they're scratched open.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Heath and Healing

[SandyMom]

Coconut oil is all we were ever able to use topically.
Internally, this stuff really helped a lot - Skin Dr. Formula Helped to not itch so broken skin could heal.it cleared up eventually and didn't return.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by nukuspot

I moisturize it every day with California Baby or Weleda calendula or sensitive skin lotions. I give her probiotics. We recently (both of us) stopped dairy to see if it was a food sensitivity (but it doesn't seem to have helped). I am gluten free. DD eats non gluten-free oatmeal sometimes but no other gluten containing things. Could it be another food? Or what causes this? Any other ideas for treatment or prevention?

Yes, it could be any food, ANY food. So maybe it's not gluten or dairy. There's plenty of other foods to check. Just about anything she eats (or you, if you are still nursing).

Eucerin Calming Creme helps us, but it does have oat in it, if she's sensitive to that.

[lily7]

Yes it can be any food, and in my experience there is no magic cream to solve it. You need to find a trigger. Anything: food, molds, fabrics, laudnry detergents, etc.
For my DS1 it was tomatoes, my DS2 is bananas and still working on what else, but eliminating bananas already made his skin look 90% better.

[elmh23]

Different things work for different people when it comes to eczema. Here's the break down in my family:

Me-
Staying away from all store bought soap. I used to do okay with Dove, but recently that has caused problems. I know use a goat milk soap with added oats that I bought off of ebay from a lady who makes all her own soaps the old fashioned (complicated) way. I also can only use one lotion without hives.

I can only use one detergent on my laundry. Tide Free. Anything else causes severe eczema.

DD-
Staying away from soy. Any large amount of soy protien means nasty eczema (and other issues.) She can have a small amount of soy sauce every now and then and is fine.

She recently started reacting to Dove soap as well, so is now using the goat and oats one.

DS-
Staying inside or covered up when juniper is in bloom.

Not sure what else because his back is currently broken out and I can't figure it out.


As far has how to treat it, what works for us is LOTS of baths with oatmeal powder added. For a lot of people, frequent baths makes it worse, but for us it helps, maybe because of where we live? And then I apply petroleum jelly afterwards. The pj isn't my first choice, but it really seals in the moisture from the bath, which my kids need.

So basically, you need to find your trigger. Dairy takes a full 4-5 weeks to get out of your system, so it might be your trigger afterall, you just need to wait it out.