Toddler has exzcema....what is that?

[New_Natural_Mom]

Dr said my almost 3 year old might havethe beginnings of exzcema on his face.  What is that caused by?  Is it just dry skin?  I will google it, but I am sure mamas here have had experience with it.  Is it caused by allergies?  Imbalances?  Dry skin??  We don't vax and eat very well, so not sure how this happened!

[kjbrown92]

it can be from environmental allergies, food allergies or food intolerances. Has he had any other signs of any of those - stuffy nose, allergic shiners, diarrhea/constipation, frequent night waking, night terrors, excessive spit up, etc. etc.?

[New_Natural_Mom]

Sometimes he has excessive night waking, sometimes not.  Definitely constipated - sometimes worse than others.  But I would say a constant state of constipation to some degree.  He rubs his eyes a lot as well.

[svs79]

My 2 year old has been dealing with eczema and constipation also.  The eczema started on her face as a little red spot, which I thought was dry skin.  As it got worse, it moved to the inside of her elbows and knees and made her very itchy.  We have focused on eliminating certain foods to see if that helped.  My chiro told me that dairy and gluten were common triggers for eczema, so we started with those.  I *think* after many months that she is finally rid of the eczema - after we got rid of cow's milk products and some other trigger foods.  We found that some acidic foods like tomato, strawberries and oranges seemed to aggravate her eczema.  We are trying to slowly re-introduce some of these foods to see if she can tolerate them now and at what levels.  We switched her from cow's milk to goat milk and she was able to handle that fine.  We recently started giving her raw cow's milk, and she seemed to handle that fine at first, but has been really struggling with consipation again.  We are doing a gluten free trial right now to see if that will help with the constipation.  We may have to switch back to goat milk if that doesn't help.  My 5 year old niece had a lot of problems with eczema as a toddler, but she seems to be growing out of it now.  I'm hoping something my DD will outgrow also...  Good luck to you!

[svs79]

I thought I would also share this website I found.  This is a really extreme case of eczema and extreme diet changes, but she does have some great information about the causes of eczema and common trigger foods.

http://www.eczema-natural-healing.com/index.html

[smithereens]

We have lots of experience with eczema since our 1 year old developed it several months ago.  It is usually an indication of some sort of immunodeficiency (allergies!).  It is almost gone now, so let me tell you what I've found helps:

1) First and foremost, see if you can get an allergy test done.  There are blood tests, and skin prick tests.  I prefer the skin prick (our kid didn't even cry, so not that bad)...it's more accurate.  Milk and wheat allergies can easily cause eczema, but eggs are a big one for ours. 

2) Probiotics!  Get kid-specific strains.  Try Udo's Choice, Custom Probiotics, or Natrol

3) Fish oil (lots of Omega 3) can help with skin issues majorly.  You can buy it in flavored oil or capsules, too, if there's a gag reflex with plain oil.

4) Ph balance: Check to make sure your bathing products are not overdrying the skin.  Use something simple, we like California Baby for sensitive skin.  Lots of products will say on the back if they are ph-balanced.

5) Nutrition lotion + emollient lotion: We use a calendula cream for its healing/calming effects, let it soak in, then apply a thick emollient such as Alba's Un-Petroleum jelly.  Don't use petroleum-based eczema products...yuck-o!  On rough spots, we use diluted Neem oil, but do your own research on neem and never ingest it.  Olive or coconut oil would work too.

That sums up much of my internet research and successful application of eczema remedies!