If you’ve had a child suffer from eczema, even a mild case, it can be incredibly frustrating to helplessly watch them suffer. Today I’m happy to share what we did to help our son’s ezcema. His case was a chronic one. :(
Our youngest son developed severe eczema when he was just two months old. We allowed one round of an oral steroid and half a tube of cortisone cream before learning that his condition was chronic and the drugs, if they were to get rid of the eczema symptoms, would be a permanent part of his life. So would be the terrible side effects of the drugs if we continued to give them to him.
So we chose to stop. We refused to give these life altering drugs to our baby. Eczema has been a part of his life for ten years now. Thankfully, we’ve found some answers and help.
We were learning more about nutrition, drugs, whole body health at that time. Through MUCH trial, error and prayer…we found a few things that helped him. There was NO quick fix because it has been a matter of healing his body from the inside out. Some of the things we did helped immediately (like changing detergents and soaps), but overall healing is STILL taking place five years later. I wish I could tell you otherwise.
I want to share these ideas with you…not because I’m just SURE they’ll help your child. Every child and every eczema case is different. Plus, I’m not a doctor…I’m just a mama.
What We Did To Help Our Son’s Eczema – Without Drugs
Remember, we learned that eczema is not merely a skin issue…there’s much more to it than that. But, here are the best changes we’ve made and the best products we’ve found to help our son Malachi with his eczema symptoms:
- We began eating organic, natural and unprocessed whole foods. You’ll read more about all of this (all over my site), specifically in my Journey to Healthy Eating series. We specifically kept Malachi away from grains and sugar for quite a while to help his immune system and to help with his digestion.
- We found this fragrance and dye free laundry detergent from Shaklee to be the best and only one that would not make his rash worse. Many people have suggested that we make our own detergent, but I have yet to see a homemade detergent without borax as an ingredient, and I’m not convinced that borax is okay for our skin.
- We use only pure coconut soap from Tropical Traditions.
- Lotion in general just doesn’t offer much comfort for Malachi’s dry itchy skin. After each bath we rub him down with BeeSilk Lotion Bar from MadeOn. BeeSilk Lotion Bar is made from three completely pure and natural ingredients. We fully trust this product. Straight coconut oil can also be helpful.
- We started supplementing him with Black Current Seed Oil that we got from our chiropractor. Malachi takes it orally, plus we open up a tab and rub the oil onto his worst sores. This has been a HUGE help for his overall healing (digestive system healing) and I’ll talk more about it in my Journey to Healthy Eating series.
- Speaking of chiropractors, we try to take Malachi in for regular chiropractic adjustments. If his body is in alignment, he does better. Plus, our chiropractor focuses on nutrition, allergies, and needed supplements.
- We limit the baths. The water seems to dry his skin more, so once or twice a week is his limit. Faithfully after a bath, we slather him with BeeSilk Lotion Bar. (Edited to note…we’re now experimenting with bathe him daily, let him have a good long soak, then immediately rub BeeSilk Lotion Bar on his skin. This seems to offer him quite a bit of itchy relief.)
- He wears mostly 100% cotton clothing so his skin can “breathe” better.
- We clean the house either with good old fashioned water and vinegar…or Basic H from Shaklee. We have NO toxic cleaners in our house anymore. Read here about all of the soaps and cleaners we use.
- Allergy testing…and desensitizing. Our chiropractor tested Malachi, then one by one he desensitized him for any allergies that he was showing a sign of. We were surprised that as he got older, different allergies showed up that hadn’t when he was tiny. It never hurts to try again. (P.S. The desensitizing process is super simple and painless…just a little different if you’re used to conventional methods of doctoring. Here’s a link my chiropractor directed me to, explaining more about this process. Not that I completely understand it. But it did help Malachi quite a bit.)
- I can’t say enough about this one: SUNSHINE. We completely avoid sunscreen because it makes Malachi break out terribly. However, the sunshine makes his rash SO much better. Summer is our favorite time of the year. He always feels so much better in the summer when he’s in the sun. We just make sure he’s in the sun long enough to grab some good vitamin D…but not long enough to get a sunburn. We call it the “in the sun…out of the sun…in the sun…out of the sun…” method.
- Our natural doctor helps keeps his liver and kidneys functioning properly so that toxins will be taken out of his body the way they are supposed to, instead of coming out through his skin. Find a natural doctor close to you who looks at the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms!! We could not have helped solve this chronic condition without professional help.
- Prayer, prayer, prayer. God is the ultimate healer and we are so thankful to know that He loves Malachi even more than we do.
Ultimately, we have found that eczema or not…using high quality products in our home for cleaning and eating high quality unprocessed foods is best for all of us! We are so thankful for the changes we’ve made for our family…and for the relief Malachi has found as well!
Now that Malachi is older, his eczema is much better. The worst area is on his legs, and we’re hoping that once the sun starts shining a little more regularly again and he can be out in it…his legs will clear up more. His cheeks are now SO SOFT that I CAN’T stop kissing them. And he just lets me…great little accommodating guy that he is.
If you know of any other great, natural remedies for eczema, please leave a comment letting us know. I’d love for this post and all the comments to be a great resource for parents looking for answers!
P.S. If you’re interested in trying any of the products from Tropical Traditions I mentioned in this post, click here to read about how you can receive a free book from TT about the great benefits of coconut oil. I also highly recommend that you look into BeeSilk Lotion Bar from MadeOn. It truly is a wonderful product and I am so thankful to have access to it!
We have neighbors who are struggling with their son’s eczema. I’m definitely going to point them here. Thanks!
Yes, I have shared this with a friend, whose 11 month old has it on his face.
I heard emu oil can help eczema. Have you ever heard of trying it? I think it is expensive, but I’d be interested to know if it really is effective.
My babies always seem to get some on their legs for months, and then it finally goes away. I never know the cause. I am very careful wih my household stuff, but I might need to check out Shaklees products.
Thank you for pouring yourself into your blog. You are a
blessing to many.
Kris
A couple of us suffer from eczema that is related to food:
dairy
sugar made from anything but fruit (including honey)
oregano
Staying away from those has made all the difference. I’ve also noticed that anti-bacterial soap causes it.
We use Meyer’s laundry detergent and only dish soap, vinegar, and baking soda for cleaning. No perfumes. No anti-bacterial soap in our house.
My daughter only gets eczema now when she makes bad food choices. She’s 14. I get it if I have to take some medicine or some oregano slips in.
We were very fortunate to be able to identify dairy and sugar as the causes for my daughter when she was very small. Date sugar and soy milk were our substitutes.
We used soy milk also when little girl was little until I found out it was horrible for her and so we pretty much substituted with water or coconut milk after that. Thankfully she seems to have grown out of her dairy allergy.
Please try goat milk! More countries use that. America is the only county to consume so much cow milk.
Stress – I notice I wring my hands in uncomfortable situations and then there is a flare ???
GREAT blog, thank you for sharing!
I’m SO glad to hear that you were able to successfully treat Malachi’s eczema without steroids. As a nursing student I have seen firsthand just how terrible the side effects of steroids are…and doctors prescribe them like candy.
Thanks so much for posting this!
Thankfully, I’ve never had a problem with my children experiencing eczema outside of infancy so I don’t have anything helpful to share for that. However, since infantile eczema is really a temporary problem, I’ve found that a great FREE solution is to gently massage expressed breast milk over the affected areas. It naturally moisturizes, but also as it provides a protective coating that you can feel. It doesn’t cure it, of course, but it absolutely minimizes the sores within just a day or so!
I know that foods can be a major cause to excema but our daughter also has environmental allergies and there just isn’t a whole lot you can do about that. She get them from her father. Like you said summer is so much better for us I think the sun really helps. We used to give her flax seed oil and evening primrose oil as well.
my son gets yucky cheeks in the cold so i can sooo not wait until warmer weather!
thanks for the post – my young 4 year old developed a terrible case of it this winter. I also wanted to treat the source, not just the skin. I learned from a friend that her sons eczema was a zinc deficiency… I too am no doctor, and when I mentioned it to my dietitian friend she seemed a bit skeptical… but I give him a multi-vitamin and an additional vitamin that contains an extra kick of zinc and it has helped tremendously. I also give him an acidophiles pill once a day. his skin is still dry and rough, but it is not scaly and bleeding. I will have to look into some of the treatments you have found success with to see if I can help his skin even more.
Hi Jessie,
I was interested in trying Zinc for my 15 month old son who has suffers from eczema due to food allergies. What vitamins do you give to your baby with the extra kick
of zinc?
Thank You,
Lori
Hey Lori!
We used Li’l Critters Gummy Vitamins – we gave him a dose of the regular multi-
vitamin and also a dose of the “Immune C plus Zinc and Echinacea” Here’s
a link for you… hope that helps!
http://www.drugstore.com/templates/brand/default.asp?brand=19468&aid=336064&aparam=little%20critters%20vitamins&scinit1=little%20critters%20vitamins
Cutting back on sugar has helped my skin more than anything else ever has.
Great post!
For my 2 year old baths and lots of them have helped him and then applying lots of http://shikai.com/publications/borageChildrenSkin.htm
The summertime weather also was great for him last year along with lots of swimming in the pool.
He also has asthma and food(dairy,eggs)/environmental allergies and when his asthma acts up so does his skin so we try to keep that under control to help with the eczema.
Thanks for mentioning how much your chiropractor has helped. My husband is a chiropractor and acupuncturist with a focus on allergies. So many people think you only go when your back is hurting and don’t realize all the problems that can occur from not being in alignment. I am so sorry you have had to suffer watching your child suffer. That is the worst thing for a Mommy. Congratulations on all the changes and success!!
Acupuncture fixed my neck when chiropractic, western physicians could not. Totally love that natural therapy! Many centuries of proof too.
Our first child, Amy, broke out with eczema when she was about 2 or 3 months old. We used Elidel for a while, until I found natural methods that worked SO much better WITHOUT the side effects. (I since discovered that Elidel has been linked to childhood leukemia… not good.)
I’m not familiar with Shaklee products, but our family absolutely loves Melaleuca products. I’ve found their bath soaps, laundry detergent, cleaners, and all of their personal and household products to be non-irritant on all of my children’s, and even my husband’s, sensitive skin. Their Renew lotion, which is all natural and unscented, is wonderful. Wish I could have known about coconut oil a few years ago!
I agree with you– it’s SO important to cleanse your home of toxic cleaners and products. They play a huge role in skin irritations, especially eczema.
Thankfully, I’ve been able to keep my other two younger children from having trouble with eczema, although they have had a few break outs. Prevention is always worth any cure!
Kristy @ Homemaker’s Cottage
I was going to say something about melaleuca as well. They are really good products, and the Renew helps with my husband’s psoriasis.
I use the Renew from Melaleuca as well on my little guy’s exema and it helps tremendously on keeping the rash to a minimum. I’ve tried every lotion and oil out there I think and this one works the best for him. We can’t use coconut oil on him as his older sister is (mildly) allergic to coconut and we are not sure yet if he is or not, but why take the chance? We are currently trying to figure out if there is a food allergy that is causing this and trying to eliminate things that might be the culprit.
Thanks for this article!
I wanted to point out that although melaleuca’s lotion (renew) has been good for people with eczema, it DOES have “fragrance” added and is not totally natural. Read the ingredient list on the bottle, you’ll see. BUT, I have heard great things about it…
Just thought I would leave you a note. Good for you for following what you as momma knows is best for your baby(no meds.). Also thought I would let you know that I make my own laundry detergent its just baking soda and a bar of soap(any kind you like). 1 bar soap(melted with enough water to cover) mixed with 2 cups baking soda and 2 gallons of water. Works for us. We try to stay away from as many chemicals as possible because of my ashtma and allergies and sons eczema. God bless
Thanks for posting that. I’d like to try it.
I had horrible eczema growing up. My parents tried everything including the steroids and cortisone creams. Eventually I grow to need stronger and stronger doses, by the time I was in my teens only a few would work and they had really awful side effects so I wouldn’t take them. I don’t think people ever understood how “a little dry skin” could have such an effect on my life but it did.
Luckily by then my mom had discovered coconut oil which I disliked (I was a teen and thought I knew better :-) but it did help as did finding the right detergents and soaps. I too found summers to be the best time, especially when I spent a lot of time in the pool which I though was odd because baths made it worse. Perhaps it was more the sun than the water.
I didn’t ever “grow out of it” but my diet is healthier now and includes a lot more probiotic foods and healthy fats (coconut oil, butter, cod liver oil) and just this past year or two it has finally gotten to the point where it isn’t an issue in my life most of the time – unless I get lax with my diet or lose control of my environment (vacations are typical problem times).
I’m pregnant with my first and have heard that my taking cod liver oil now will lower my babies risk but if he/she does have it, I know we will have to be vigilant about nutrition and the environment – and especially avoiding steroids. It can seem like a never ending battle but be encouraged, small changes do add up and you can beat this!
I have heard that taking probiotics during pregnancy and nursing is supposed to help reduce the chance as well.
Thanks for the tip about the coconut oil. I suffer from very dry skin, which sometimes becomes eczema. Mine appears more environment related than food. My grandmother suffered from it and her dermis was absolutely destroyed by all the steriod creams she was given to treat it. I refuse to use them. I’m always looking for something that might help the dryness. Its odd, because the perfumes and dyes don’t bother me. When I get stuff without them in it, stuff that’s basically straight soap, thats when I have more problems. Interesting how differently the same condition can manifest itself. Thanks for the tip!
I started getting really bad eczema between my fingers about 2 1/2 years ago. I did some research online and began taking Apple Cider Vinegar tablets internally. Within WEEKS it had completely cleared up. I took ACV for a while after it had cleared up just to make sure it was gone. Once since then it has started to come back and I took ACV again for a few days and it was gone. Love love love ACV! :)
Hi,
my husband has this type of eczema- how much do you take (mg)?
YAY! Im glad you have figured things out, and are always searching for ways to make things better for your baby. Anyone who has children knows that any worthwhile parent doesnt want their child to suffer! I am so happy to see a parent that will look for better ways to help their child heal, even with the negative critisizm! GO YOU!
I’m sorry for your son’s condition. When I was a child, I had eczema. It was mostly environmental and emotional related. What helped me the most (and still do) was herbal tea made of nettle. it is also excellent to fight anaemia and to enhance your immune system.
Now I’m over thirty, but my skin is still very sensitive. I make my own laundry detergent. I use Crystal Miller’s recipe (http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm). It uses some borax, but it doesn’t hurt my skin. Of course, you must check if it would be safe for your son.
Catherine
My son has what they refer to as contact dermatitis (a milder form of eczema). He also first got it as an infant. He has a nickel allergy in addition to being allergic to detergents. Thankfully we were able to control it by changing to dye free, purfume free soaps and switching to a specific brand of diapers. I also had to paint all of the snaps on his clothing with clear nail polish to prevent them from touching his skin. We did go through a round of steriods before I discovered the causes. Unfortunatley Dr’s don’t usually bother with finding the cause, they just prescribe a steriod. He is 10 now and only has break outs about 2 times a year. I have to be really careful that he doesn’t wear anyone elses clothes or belts. Belts with metal buckles are a huge problem for us.
Our daughter had severe asthma starting at about 2 yrs old. They put her on Singular and said they would re-evaluate in 6 mths. Well, 6 months later they just said she would have to take it for the rest of her life. We didn’t want her taking medication for life starting at 2 yrs old. We tried just weaning her off of the meds, but that was a nightmare. If she missed one pill she would have breathing issues for days. It was really scary. I started researching asthma and discoverd that raw milk and organic cleansers worked well for asthma. I switched to natural cleaners and found a farm for our milk. Within 6 months we had her med free with no issues. She is now 7 and only has asthma issues when she gets a cold, which is about 1-2 times a year.
Dr’s don’t know everything. Unfortunately most of them have been trained to just prescribe a medication when someone has a problem. I realize they have their place, but they aren’t the only answer all of the time. It’s up to parents to do the research and figure out what is causing their childs condition. It’s usually relate to their environment or diet. Dr’s will look at you like you are crazy for not wanting to medicate your child, but as a mama you have to do what is best for them. And meds aren’t always the answer.
Way to go Laura! Great post!
My littles and I suffer with mild eczema. We find like you have that switching to natural cleansers helps- and anything coconut based. Also, when we cut dairy out- we have all felt better. But that’s just us.
I hope his condition continues to heal- and yes, I think we could all benefit from the summer sun!
“cut dairy out”
That something I wanted to try for a long time. But I’m worried about
having enough calcium… Are yogourt and kefir more easy to digest?
Are they causing less allergic reactions?
I love that our raw grass fed cow milk provides us with such wonderful Vitamin D and other great nutrients, so I haven’t wanted to do away with dairy without an allergy to it. But yes, cultured yogurt and kefir do digest well and cause fewer allergic reacions, plus give your digestive system great healthy bacteria to aid in all sorts of issues!
Pasteurized dairy can cause all kinds of allergic reactions, eczema, you name it. But my etc. My understanding is that RAW dairy does not have that effect.
My family is enjoying a vegan diet- and our pediatrician is completely on board with this. The only thing that you do need to monitor is Calcium and Iron.
This said- the myth that dairy is the best way to get calcium is just that: a myth.
You can find calcium in tons of other foods: beans, peas, broccoli, almonds, fortified breads, cereals and orange juice, soy,rice,and cocunut milks, and even instant oatmeals!
Actually, Golden Grahams cereal has 350 mgs of calcium per serving. That’s good.
I would research any diet changes your family is considering. We researched veganism quite a bit and decided that the pros far out weighed the cons.
Also, I would pray about this- we felt that veganism was an answer to prayer for us.
Many blessings and well wishes in your persuit of better health!
My middle child also had severe eczema starting when he was about a year old. He would claw himself to bleeding while he slept, it was awful. He also had some lung/asthma issues along with the skin problems. We hated the steroids and creams and only used them if absolutely necessary while we were trying to determine the cause. Eventually, after an exhaustive elimination diet, we determined that not only is he lactose intolerant, he is actually allergic to milk protein and it was the cause of ALL of his symptoms. He has been completely clear of all problems since right around the time he turned 2 – he’s almost 4 now! We have substituted rice or almond milk for him due to raw milk being unavailable to us. He is now to the point where he can eat a decent amount of cultured dairy (yogurt, sour cream and some cheese) and it does not bother him at all!
Both of my boys would get severe ear infections after drinking store bought milk 2-3 times in one week….just 2-3 times!!! We even tried store bought goats milk because the lactose and whey are different than cows milk, but even that didn’t work (and it’s soooo rancid!). That’s how we discovered their allergy was to the casein (the milk protein). A couple years ago we tried for a brief time some raw milk from friends who have goats, and it didn’t cause problems at all! Even if they drank it every day. After doing more research, I figured out that it’s the pasturization and homogenization process that changes the structure of the casein to something our bodies can’t even use. Somehow, the culturing process changes the casein back to something useful, because both of my boys can eat the yogurt, cheese and other cultured milk products too. I’ll be praying that you can find some raw milk in your area, because it makes a huge difference.
Laura
I am so grateful for your posts on all of this and that your readers are writing in with what works for them. 2 of my 3 kids have excema as do I. I had it when I was a child but it went away and came back after I had my first babies (twins).
My one son’s allergist recommended doing a lot of bathing which was opposite of what I had always heard and what I was doing forever w/ my son. I still don’t bathe him a lot (2-3X’s/wk like you) but lather him up w/ fragrance free lotion right out of the bath.
I will look into coconut oil/lotion.
I am curious about something if you’re willing to respond to it. I have been researching grass fed beef and switching to the organic milk (I’d like to do raw milk but it’s illegal to sell in my state and I don’t know how I’d go about acquiring it otherwise). Making these changes to the high quality food and cleaning products is so expensive. I really want to know how people afford it.
Granted, I live in MD, close to Baltimore, where the cost of living is high. Perhaps that makes a difference. But, I really want to know how you afford to consistently buy high quality food/cleaning products.
For a family of five, I have been trying to stay within $360/month on groceries. That’s shopping circular sales, Aldi’s, in season produce, making meat stretch, etc.
In making the transition from your couponing days to natural, organic, healthy eating, how did you deal with the “sticker” shock of the cost of healthy eating? I’m finding myself reluctant to make a bunch of changes all at once simply b/c I’m fearful we, as a family, will not be able to do anything else but feed and house ourselves. Any suggestions?
And, one other question about raw milk…is raw milk something you can transport a distance, have it shipped?, freeze? If I went the raw milk route, I really don’t know how to “handle” it…how quickly does it expire? does it come w/ all the cream on top? What do you do w/ that? Perhaps you could write a separate post about raw milk.
Do you order your grass fed beef from a local farmer or through some other provider? May I ask what you pay per lb. of ground beef (grass fed)?
Briana,
Visit http://www.rawmilk.org for info. on raw milk in your state.
Kris
Also wanted to say that in Oregon, we pay more for our organic eggs and dairy than Laura is paying. I think the pricing in the midwest on those things must just be better because of the higher concentration of farmers? Just my guess.
Briana~
Buying organic/whole foods is more expensive. I have found that for a lot of people there are things that could be cut from the grocery bill to make more room for whole foods (like pop or snacks). I have a friend who swears she can’t afford organic food, but when we shop together more than half of her cart is junk food/snacks/pop. There are some coupons out for organic foods, so those help a lot. For our family of 7 we spend about $500/mo. As for the grass fed beef, we buy ours straight from the farmer. We usually purchase a 1/2 cow and that will last us about 6 months. You can even choose how you want everything packaged (more steaks, or more ground beef, or more roasts, etc). It can be a little pricey depending on your source.
Also, for the raw milk. It cannot be shipped. It’s illegal in all states to ship it. I know in our state (Oklahoma) it is illegal to sell at the store, but you can buy it directly from the farm. My farm source is an hour and 20 mins round trip. Some states require you to own the animal. In those states, most people buy a “share” of the cow and then get the milk. We also get our eggs from the same farm. It can be more expensive for raw milk. I currently pay $8/per gallon. So much more than store bought milk, but the taste and quality are well worth it. My kids wont touch store bought milk. It stinks they say. Yes, the milk has cream on top. You can either remove it to another jar and use it for any recipes calling for cream, or you can just mix it in. We usually just mix ours in by shaking the pitcher before we pour a glass. As for shelf life, I have found that our milk lasts about 9-10 days. We get fresh milk every Friday, but I always try to use up any leftovers from the previous week first. It is much different then store bought milk, raw milk doesn’t have a smell really. Unlike store milk that smells awful the day you get it. You will now immediatly if the milk has gone bad, it will stink.
I was SOOO worried about making the switch to raw milk. The media really plays up the scare tactics. I was very cautious at first for fear of making my family sick. Now, 2 years later, I wouldn’t go back to regular milk for anything. Another bonus, it gets rid of seasonal allergies, which our family has always had horrible cases of.
http://www.realmilk.com is a better site to visit. They have a complete list of milk providers by state. Of course there may be others in your state that aren’t on the list. Another good place to ask is your local health food store. They might know of someone in the area. It looks like there are 3 in MD on the list. If you are close to PA you might try there. They have TONS of farms on the list. It might require a little bit of a drive, but would be totally worth it. I know several people who drive an hour 1-way for their milk. Mine is only 40 mins one way. Looks like there is on e in Glen Rock, PA that is only 50 mins away from Baltimore.
Sorry, that was the site I meant to link to. I wrote .org, instead of .com
After being very skeptical about raw milk we have now been buying it for 6 months. My son’s eczema is much better and I can now have milk for the first time in 15 years! I have experienced no lactose problems with raw milk. Luckily we have a local farm within 30 minutes but I do know people who freeze it.
If you read through all the posts in each of these categories:
https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/getting-real-with-food
https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/feeding-the-family
it should answer most of your questions, or hopefully I’ll answer them in future posts!
I have read soooooo much about dairy products causing eczema. That would be my first elimination. My children drink rice milk, no problem.
Thank you for this post! It’s wonderful and has given me some more resources to check out for my little guy with chronic hives. (Hello, coconut oil!) By the way, we are in the middle of testing/treating for allergies alternatively through a chiropractor. I think I know what you’re talking about. A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do!
I have started making my own laundry detergent that Lindsey featured on her site (passionatehomemkaing.com). It does not use Borax in it but rather Baking Soda and Dr. Bronners. I have been completely pleased with it. It might be worth checking it out.
I second that. Although we dont’ have eczema issues, we made the recipe for detergent with dr. bronner’s babymild liquid castile soap, baking soda, salt, water… works great, cheap, easy, and SAFE! Give it a try. Also maybe look into soap nuts, I’ve heard great things about them too but have yet to give those a try.
Thank you so much for this post. I needed the encouragement. I’ll spare you my sob story but my baby will be 3 at the end of the month and it’s not much better. One thing that actually works, at least on her face, is emu oil. I highly recommend it. You can buy it online cheaper than at the health food store.
What I find interesting about your story is that it is only your youngest son who suffers from this awful skin condition. I know other families where it is only one of their children who either have asthma or eczema. I wonder why this happens – what is the trigger for these children?
I have been absolutely fascinated reading your posts about your son’s eczema! My son, age 2, had AWFUL eczema as a baby…we’re talking weeping oozing patches on his face and head as well as patches all over his legs, too. Since he couldn’t stop scratching at his face, for the longest time, he had to wear socks TAPED on his hands because the jammies with the fold-over hand covers didn’t work. It was just about the saddest sight ever. Eventually we discovered that his eczema was at least partially triggered by food and environmental allergies. We’ve removed those allergies from our home, and the eczema has significantly improved. He does still have some nasty patches on his ankles and arms though, and the lotion (and steroids) don’t seem to be taking care of it. I’m definitely going to try some of the things you mentioned. Thanks again for sharing your experience!
We use Goat Milk Soap and that cleared up my sons problems. I order it from http://www.goatmilkstuff.com
We battled extreme eczema with our 2nd and 3rd child. Family would gasp when they would change my daughter because it looked like her skin was being eaten away. My youngest son would have blood all over his sheets after waking. Just horrible!!! We actually began diet intervention because our oldest son is severely autistic. We did a gluten/casein free diet as well as an extensive allergy diet (because he was allergic to EVERYTHING). We had been doing soy shakes from Shaklee for a while because we thought it was such a healthy thing to do. Well, it is unless you are allergic to soy like we found out that our oldest was. So…when our daughter began exhibiting the eczema, we started by getting rid of the soy. Then on advice from the autism specialist we saw, we also started her on probiotics, vit C, and zinc. Within 2 weeks her skin was dramatically different and within a month or so, her skin looked like a baby’s skin should. We did the same with our youngest but he would still have “flare ups”. In his case, we found that strawberries and tomatoes were the culprits and if we stayed away from them, he was fine. We are big fans of addressing immune system issues because it made such a difference in our autistic son’s life. Our philosophy is that you need to figure out why your body is not responding in a typical way (whether it be rash, headaches, diarrhea…). Our Dr. always tried to tell us that it’s normal for kids to have chronic ear infections and rashes. Thankfully, we didn’t buy it and God lead us in a direction that has helped our families health tremendously. Thanks for sharing all your insight about healthy living!
I have eczema break outs from time to time, but over the years I’ve learned how to properly deal with it without using drugs. (using most of the methods you’ve mentioned yourself) The most important thing I could have done for myself was eat healthy fats, and use 100% natural and fragrance oil free soaps.
I get my soap from http://www.thecleanhippie.com
They have many great natural soaps for a decent price. They live my skin feeling clean, but also smooth and hydrated. (Did I mention they also smell awesome?) For when I get out of the shower I use the body butter they offer…and if I get a rash I use their lavender massage oil candle, and it quickly stops itching and clears up. Plus as a company all their packaging and such is recycled, recyclable, or biodegradable. A wonderful plus!
I can also suggest buying a shower head filter! The chemicals in the water leave your skin dry and tight.
I haven’t had a chacne to read all the other comments so please forgive me if there is repeat information but I wanted to share with you what has worked for our little girl. She started getting eczema as a baby in her nooks and crannies. The Arbonne baby lotion took care of it immediately if I remembered to put it on when she got out of the bathtub. As she got older she started getting this horrible bleeding eczema rash on her bottom. We switched her to cloth diapers and cahnged our detergent to Sals Suds and that cleared up her botton. She would still get it in other places until we started the GAPS diet and now a more intense version from www. healingnaturallybybee.com. She never has a breakout now unless we cheat. We also take fermented cod liver oil and I wondered if this migh have a similar effect to sunshine for you sun. Anyway I hope this helps you! God bless you for sharing with us. I’m SO GLAD you DID NOT give your son those awful medicines, God has much better medicine!
Oh yes, I forgot… I’ve read that properlly soaking grains can eliminate eczema, psoriasis etc. I know you try to do this but have you tried not ever letting Malachi eat the non-soaked ones and then seeing if he reacts to them when they are added back?
Great post! I love your blog.
I started suffering from a (I now realize) mild form of eczema a few years back, that mainly affected my hands. I found that taking fish oil (specifically: Nordic Naturals’ DHA capsules) really helped. It took awhile, (a month? Maybe 2 or 3…) to get under control, and when I forget to take them for more than a couple of weeks it flares back up again and I double-dose for awhile to get it back under control. Fortunately extra fish oil doesn’t seem to have any ill effects on me… once it’s under control, I take two capsules a day and it stays healed.
I tried taking a less expensive fish oil (Nordic Naturals are spendy!), but the generic brands and Costco’s brand just left me with itchy, oily skin (especially on my scalp) and did nothing for the eczema.
The best place to find it that I’ve found is appleadayandbeyond.com; they give free shipping for orders over $75. Amazon’s prices occasionally come close. Appleadayandbeyond must have a matter transporter or something, though, because it usually arrives within 48 hours of my order.
I saw a few other ideas here that I want to try as well, next time I forget and it flares up…
As I am dealing with Chiropractic treatment method, I think this natural treatment method can solve all problem with nervous system. In my experience I found it is successful in almost every case.
Hi- dont know that I have ever commented before but come different times to your site for recipes esp.
I too have a child with Eczema… and one with Asthma. Both have been allergy tested and so far nothing has showed up. I still wonder if they could have a food sensitivity but not actually allergic??? One thing out allergy dr. told us was to let her bath 45 min. a day in salt water. I thought less baths but the salt he said was the help. I do think it has helped some. Thanks for your post- I too hesitate with hydrocortisone creme and only use it or benadry when she is very miserable.
Best wishes as you care for your children. I too know how frustrating it is to want to make the best descion or them but not be sure what it is. How often do you use coconut oil- about how much – can you use too much?
THANKS SO MUCH….
You can use coconut oil as often as you need it and in whatever amounts you need it in. It is pretty much the purest, best oil out there and OH so good for us on so many levels.
I have a brother in law who suffered terribly from eczema. He has recently been taking the vitamin D3 sold through beeyoutiful.com and has seen a very dramatic improvement. He is in his late 20’s and has tried a lot over the years since his case and your son’s sound similar I thought I’d mention it. He is curious if it will keep working similarly through the summer, though typically in the summer he doesn’t suffer quite as much for some reason.
Thanks again for sharing your story, Laura. You are obviously helping so many people! God is so good, isn’t HE? BTW Great to see you this morning!
I, too, swear by Shaklee for my son’s eczema. It is the only laundry stuff (even among “green” brands) that I can reliably trust to not cause a flare up of his eczema. Add that with a switch to organic milk and his eczema was largely under control. As I replace more processed foods with more whole and organic foods, I see even further improvements. We just got back from a family vacation which always meant a flare up of the eczema, but not this time. Maybe he won’t have to suffer his whole life, but I know I cannot slack off. I have to remain vigilant.
While our situation has not been nearly as severe as yours (and God love you for sticking to your guns and finding solutions that work for your family!), it has been a struggle to figure out what works. I never pursued a medical solution and after reading your story, I’m glad. I just knew that if I kept trying that I would find the right combination that would fix everything.
Thank you for sharing your story!
Thanks for sharing this Laura! So, glad you have found healthy natural ways for dealing with Malachi’s problems! We have had great success with our chiropractor/nutritionist in diagnosing some digestive issues my daughter has. Our chiro does something very similar to what you are describing is done with Malachi. I’m always excited when I hear other people have done the same thing and had great results. We’ve seen nothing, but incredible responses from the addition of regular chiropractic adjustments and nutrition testing for our entire family. Thanks again for sharing this!
Thank you so much for your blog and sharing your experience with your son’s escema! Although I don’t have escema, I do have a very severe case of psoriasis that has covered my entire body(98% of my body)for 2 years now! I have had psoriasis for 20 years that has always been bad but just in the last 2 years it has gotten so severe that I have been hospitalized 6 times(30 days at a time)in 2009! As someone who is suffering even on medications, I am so glad that you decided to treat your son without medications! I have been on steriod creams for so long that it is impossible for me to loss weight and my skin is so paper thin that a fall a month ago on the knes has caused major problems! I am medicated now by some very heavy internal and experimental drugs! After experiencing the aweful side effects from the medication, my husband and I have decided to go organic/green! Thanks so much for the things you post and the time you devote to this blog! Your blog has been a great source of info for me in the last few days! Thanks to all of the people that have posted some great information also!
My oldest son has very mild eczema, mostly on the backs of his knees, and sometimes inside his elbows. This might sound totally weird, but breast milk rubbed on topically soothes his spots right away – almost as drastically as cortisone. I know that not everyone has that available , but I bet some of your readers have a handy supply! :)
I really appreciate this post. My three year old has had eczema since a month old and I’ve had it all my life as well. We were looking at baby pictures lately and saw the red rashy cheeks shiny with lotion. I’ve also been on the steroids off and on all those years. It can be really tempting to use them on her when she’s having a bad outbreak. And that’s what I’ve resorted to lately. But once again I am trying to go with the oatmeal and Dr. Bronner’s soap and coconut oil for her. Some of her problem is linked to food allergies, which we avoid completely.
The thing is, I know from experience that she will probably have this the rest of her life.
Question about sugar, cause I’ve never heard of that before. Do you find that your son does better on the sucanat and rapadura? Or did all sugar bother him? I’m trying to talk myself into switching to the unrefined sugars, but the sticker shock is stopping me.
This so such a great post and so encouraging to see how you have helped your child, NATURALLY! We have 6 children, 3 of which who have had severe eczema – it is a life controlling disease. I will post a link from my blog to yours. Thanks for the encouragment as we struggle thru this horrible skin condition that no one seems to understand.
We fight eczema at our house too. DD Audrey, now 3 1/2, has had it for about two years. At its worst, it covered her arms and most of her legs. She would scratch herself bloody, and often woke up during the night in misery. I’ve been seeing an amazing nutritionist/naturopath for over 13 years, but it even took him a while to help us figure out what was going on. Her main sensitivity was to citrus, and I had been using a natural citrus-based detergent. We cut out gluten, dairy, soy, corn, yeast, egg, salicylates, nightshades, and latex foods before she finally cleared up. Coconut oil rubbed on her skin made it worse, and most natural oils and lotions contained things she was sensitive to. The only thing that consistently worked lotion-wise, was pure lanolin, which she hated the smell and stickiness of. I have no idea where her terrible sensitivities to all those foods came from, I only knew I had to help her get well, and that drugs weren’t the answer.
We’re also working on her gut with probiotics and bone broths, in the hope that her sensitivity will lessen. Interestingly, she seemed to finally turn the corner when I got some water kefir grains and began giving her water kefir to drink, in spite of the fact that we’d been giving her an expensive probiotic for months! The probiotic strains in the water kefir seemed to work better.
Today, she has soft, clear arms and legs. There is one spot on her wrist and one on the inside of her elbow that flare if I get lax on her food restrictions. We plan to do some desensitization with our naturopath, now that she’s doing better.
Hi Sara,
I have a 1 yr old that suffers from eczema, due to food allergies.
I have been giving him Culturelle probiotics for about a month and half now. I was intersted in trying the water kefir. Do you buy your own Kefir grains? Can you share info on where you purchase, how to mix, how much to give, etc. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Lori
Hi Lori,
My water kefir grains are very prolific, and I have been able to sell
my many extras. Email me at coloradowkg [at] gmail.com, and I can
give you more info, including the websites I found on the subject.
It’s really been a pretty low-key approach. I just give her a sippy cup
or two of it a day, but it does seem to help. Look forward to hearing
from you!
Thank you so much for posting about this! As a 25 year old, I struggle with eczema on my right hand. It is continually spreading. I had used a steroid cream on it for a while to keep it under control, but have really wanted to go off it, since I know they are SO bad for you. Your post has really encouraged me to try other natural remedies.
Honestly, I had not even really considered going “scent-free” on my soaps and detergents. I love fun smells! However, your post really opened my eyes to things that are probably harming my hand!
My eczema definitely is worse in cold weather and primarily whenever I slip up and eat something I am allergic to (gluten, dairy, chocolate)!!! I am in the beginning stages of working to heal my body from the inside out through real foods and good probiotics.
Thanks again!
Wow. My daughter (3 months) just developed eczema. I took her to the doctor yesterday and she told me to try certain creams and ointments. They all have mineral oil and other petrochemicals in them, so I left the store empty handed. She recommended hydrocortisone and said the last option is STEROID CREAM (?!?!?). I have experience with steroid cream-it gives me vertigo and makes me hug the floor like a maniac. So…thanks. We may have a long road ahead, it seems.
My four kids all had extreme eczema and they seem to be the general opposite of the norm here. They all did better in winter than summer, but we live in Memphis, and our winters are damp and not too cold. They all seemed to be very sensitive to grass, so one run across the yard barefoot would cause cracks to start that would last literally all summer long. Sweating also drove them nuts. I think the sun did help, but only if they were cool – in a pool or sprinkler. But not a pool with lots of chlorine, like a public pool. Home pools with chlorine or bromine systems were usually much better. Last year we put a salt chlorinator on our pool and that seemed to help. They all did much better with more, rather than less, bathing, but no soap at all, and water temp was very impt – it needed to be almost cool. Hot water would cause them to itch like crazy. And the minute they got out of the tub we smeared them head to toe with skin creme, w/o really drying them off. Early on we used a product called Elta which was really just vaseline thinned w/ mineral oil. Later we found that Eucerin creme (not lotion) worked well. The Walmart knock-off was even better as it was not so thick. When my oldest was at his very worst at about 2 years old, the only relief he got was sitting in cool bath water, sometimes for an hour or more at a time.
Thank you for your wonderful posts! I am struggling with an autoimmune inflammation disorder and liver issues right now that is causing me to have a horrible itching & break-outs all over my body. We are just starting to go down the road of an elimination diet and buying more organically/green. It makes me very nervous that the doctor has prescribed me oral and topical steroids to get it under control, but I am suffering so much I don’t know what else to do. I am hoping to implement some of the ideas on this board and get off of these steroids! God Bless you for your faithfulness in sharing your stories that are helping so many others!
We’ve had a similar struggle. My son had terrible eczema as a child and the doctors were quite to rx medicine without giving me much other info. We’ve limited baths, bought quality halotion/soaps, wash our home with very limited products (vinegar, water, soap only).
And like you, limit sugar and artificial ingredients. I also keep his dairy intake moderate, and make sure he gets enough from the omega-3 and citrus categories (like oranges, wild salmon, flaxseed, walnuts, etc)
I’m glad you were able to help him without steroids! You’ll be helping him in a host of areas. Just think of how much better his lungs, skin, heart, and other systems will be working because of your attention to healthy changes. :)
I feel as though I am reading OUR story here! Oh my. We went through almost the identical situation when our son was a few months old and developed Eczema. It just kept getting worse and worse and no one could help us. The allergist just kept increasing his dose of steroids until he became so weak and sick and was put in the hospital. It was there that we knew that things had to change and we had him weaned off immediately! Skin creams burned, food tests were inconclusive and we kept trying a food elimination diet. The only things he was eating were chicken, peas and rice for months because so much seemed to make him worse.
God is the ultimate healer and we prayed so hard for so long to find relief. He was covered with rashes, itching and bleeding and unable to sleep. We eliminated cleaners, he never uses soap or shampoo and we really started going green and eating whole foods too. He was better but not enough. We were told about Belly Boost probiotics for kids and we knew we needed to at least try and they have been our MIRACLE. He began to clear up rather quickly and our family and friends were shocked. We were shocked! He continued taking them and got better and better and has hardly had any traces of Eczema for a whole year now. He can eat all kinds of foods and looks and feels great. What a blessing.
I really believe a lot of issues must come from the gut and digestion. I really believe that probiotics are amazing because we have seen it! It’s at least worth a shot for others :) Oh and we can’t use coconut due to allergies but we do use olive oil in/after the bath and you are right, it is an amazing natural moisturizer!!! Great post!!! and Great job to you for keeping an open mind to help your child too!!
Where could I get Belly Boost probiotics? Is it by this brand, Vidazorb?
Thank you, Laura, for sharing about this. I can only imagine what you’ve been through since Malachi was born – no wonder you can’t stop kissing those sweet cheeks!
My kids and I are three weeks into the GAPS diet in order to try to get to the root of some of our skin issues. We’re not dealing with anything to the extent that you have, but I believe that anytime there’s eczema/ringworm/athlete’s foot/etc, it shows that something’s not right inside your body. So, like many other commenters, we’re working to address healing of the gut and boosting the immune system so that we have healthier skin. My eczema hasn’t disappeared yet, but skin is a major detox organ, so I wasn’t expecting it to clear immediately. However, I have seen some other unexpected great things happen to my health already which have been very encouraging (more energy, lost my sugar cravings, less acne, no PMS, and my normal “acceptable” body odor has even gone – I keep smelling to check and it’s just not there – I’ve even stopped wearing deodorant!)
I would highly recommend that anyone struggling with eczema at least read the GAPS book – I was able to get it through my library. Then you can decide if your family matches up to the symptoms and if your guts and immune systems need to be rebooted. It’s supposed to help asthma as well. And i never thought my sugar cravings were a problem (I mean, I was feeding them w/ freshly ground wheat and wholesome sweeteners after all!), but now I realize that even those wholesome treats were feeding the bad bacteria in my body. Knowledge is power. Now that I’ve learned some of these things, it doesn’t seem hard to deny ourselves for a while in order to bring about healing to our bodies – by God’s grace.
Blessings on your continued journey of healing with Malachi!
Laura, about the Black Current Seed Oil – is it a capsule that Malachi has to swallow? I’m not sure how we’d do that. Thankfully Daniel “outgrew” his eczema and really has very few problems with it now. Laela’s is terrible, though – especially on the backs of her knees, which look positively horrible. We’re going to see an allergist for her, because I’m becoming convinced that eczema is caused 90% by food allergies. I was very interested to read what you guys have done for Malachi!
I am a new visitor to your site, and I was backreading today. Our son had bad eczema as an infant. While at church one day, a missionary’s wife told me about something her chiropractor gave her daughter to cure her eczema. It is OmegaCo-3 by Apex Energetics. I was hesitant because it is Fish oil, and I didn’t know how I would get it into my baby. It was very pleasant tasting…slightly orange…and my son never turned away. In a week, his face was cleared up, and his entire body was soft and smooth to the touch.
My neighbor has cancer, and the chemo she takes ruins her nails and skin. I am giving her some to try, and I will let you know if this provides her some relief as well.
And before signing off….I LOVE this site. We are into our 2nd month of all organic, and I’m always searching for guidance in our quest.
I found your site off another eczema blog and just wanted to say thank you for your post. We have just begun doing many of the things you mentioned are praying it works. Watching your baby suffer from eczema can leave you feeling so defeated, so it’s nice to know that others know what you’re going through.
Great tips on dealing with infant eczema! A another important factor in dealing with baby eczema is protecting the baby from scratching their skin. This can lead to bleeding, infection, and scarring. Using scratch protection clothing, such as Sock Monkeys Clothing (www.sockmonkeysclothing.com) can be extremely helpful. It is also made of breathable, soft organic cotton, which is the best fabric for eczema. Please check out our website and let us know your thoughts.
We wish peace and comfort to all those out there dealing with eczema!
My infant has terrible eczema- I’ve found that using Maggie’s Soap Nuts as a laundry detergent is helpful – and also applying emu oil salve to his skin- and pro-biotics internally.
I’m glad to say that I’ve been doing most of those points above! I was an acute eczema sufferer and thank GOD for my mother-in-law and my husband for supporting and helping me to be better.
What I found about myself is that I can’t eat spicy (hot) food and seafood (except for fish). Because as soon as I eat those, I’ll get rashes almost immediately. Prawns especially make the rashes itchier.
Hope that helps :)
My 6 yo. daughter has eczema as well. I’ve done quite a bit of research in the last few years and discovered that there are several types of eczema and they don’t all respond to the same treatments. Last winter my daughter got very sick and didn’t eat anything for several days. Her eczema cleared up completely. Well other than not feeding her (Lol!) I knew we needed to explore the possibility of being allergic to some foods. After doing research on this, I discovered that dairy products, citrus, strawberries, and wheat are all trigger foods when it comes to eczema.
We stopped giving her milk to drink (which was 3 times a day or more), limited the rest of her dairy intake along with the other foods I mentioned other than wheat and she improved greatly. I have not completely eliminated everything from her diet, just because it’s very difficult to do. But by limiting it, it’s not as bad as it used to be.
I also discovered that people who suffer from eczema are possibly difficient in zinc and vitamin D (you mentioned about the sun making it better). We live up north, so during the winter of course it is worse. I now break open a vitamin D tablet twice a day and place it on the affected area, along with Balmex! Yes, diaper cream is mostly zinc. Like I said, it is an individual thing, what worked for my daughter, may not work for your son, but it’s worth a try.
I can always tell when she has had a lot of foods that she’s not supposed to eat. Eggs are included in the list of dairy as well. She cannot eat eggs straight. Things that have eggs in them don’t seem to affect her quite as much, I guess because of the smaller amount. I would love to hear what other people have discovered as well. If you do decide to take your son off of eggs and dairy, I would love some help with breakfast recipes. We are just about out of ideas!! Sorry this is so long. I hope some of the ideas help.
My mom use to make a bath with dry nettle leaves for eczema. She would gather the leaves in a cloth diaper, and soak it in a tub. The water would turn black. We would just sit in there for 30 minutes several times a week. We didn’t need to soap up just soak. We would do it around every 6 months. None of us had very many skin conditions in my family.
Hello, thank you for all of your great information, I was reading the book The Maker’s Diet and he suggested that pure cedar oil rubbed on eczema would help, I have been doing that on my 7yr old daughter and it seems to work. I am so glad to have an alternative to the steroid cream that the doctor prescribed and would rarely work.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and learning – they are invaluable! Just to offer another resource for soaps, lotion bars, etc. that are free of harsh and harmful chemicals – and lots of great information, we love Bubble and Bee http://www.bubbleandbee.com. Everyone in our family has their own lotion stick which really helps with eczema and dry patches of skin. We have also had great luck with their body washes, lip balm, shampoo, soaps, and lotion bars.
For moms who are breastfeeding: there is limited research that suggests if MOM takes a fish oil supplement, it can help ease the breastfed baby’s eczema. May be worth a try!
Thank you for sharing what helped your sweet Malachi! I have a bad case of eczema, and well try some of your methods to see if it helps. Did you know that 90% of the cases of eczema have either mersa or strep in them? If you fill a bath tub with 40 gallons of water and 1/2 of bleach it dries it up and clears it out. The bleach is weak enough that you can put your face in. You also can go sit in a chlorinated pool for 30 min. and that works also. It really seems to be helping my eczema.
you mentioned putting water & bleach in a bathtub is that to clean the tub? Or is that to have someone w/eczema to soak in?
The reearchers have found that 1 tsp per gallon (or scant half cup per bathtub full) of water really helps heal eczema…esp infected skin.
My daughters eczema gets worse with chlorine pools. Salt water pools are best for her.
Very interesting! My husband had eczema as a child. They gave him drugs which got rid of it, but it reappeared when he was in college (and he discovered the original drugs which got rid of it the first time had been discontinued/were no longer made).
We have since discovered that his eczema is triggered by eggs…if he avoids them he’s fine, and any time he eats them he breaks out immediately. Once we cut out the eggs, the other stuff (detergents, dies, etc.) didn’t matter…it was just gone (except when he would accidentally eat eggs–they’re in so much it’s hard to avoid them sometimes). I’d love to hear more about allergy desensitizing. What did they do when you had that done?
Just wanted to share one more thing–an odd thing which happened before we discovered the egg allergy. Someone on NPR was talking about how they got rid of their eczema my eating really hot salsa or other really hot spicy food every day. My husband tried this and though his eczema didn’t go away, it went from constantly itching so bad he’d scratch his arms raw, to just mildly itchy now and then with occasional flair ups where it would get worse (probably right after he ate something with eggs, which we didn’t know were the problem then).
Thanks for this! We too tried NAET and it completely got rid of my sons eczema. My other son had horrible ear infections and got treated for milk and hasn’t had one since. I really don’t “get it” but it works! :)
I have been following your blog, trying your recipes, and reading replies to your posts for several weeks. I just wanted to say thanks for the great ideas you share about cooking from scratch, etc. I am learning a lot and love trying your yummy recipes!
I just learned today about your son’s eczema. My 10 month old has eczema as well, and reading about your son’s condition at infancy reminded me of my Sawyer’s battle. It. Was. Horrible. We too got a prescription after trying other things first (eliminating dairy and eggs in my own diet, switching to dye-free, fragrance-free detergents and soaps). It was a topical steroid salve, and although it worked okay, it was SO harshly scented that it made him and me sick!
How I am currently keeping it under control: bath once a week in Aveeno oatmeal baby packets, occasional bath with Dove sensitive skin body wash, low dairy/egg intake for me, either Gentle Naturals Baby Eczema Cream or Aquaphor or Aveeno Active Naturals lotion right out of the bath and daily as needed. I also give him a vitamin D supplement per his pediatrician.
I’ll try giving him more sunshine, what a great idea! I love your other ideas, too, and plan to try several. Thanks!!!
I skimmed over your information, but will go back and read it more thoroughly later. Very busy right now, but did want to see what brought you success. My sons eczema isn’t as bad as your sons, but it was bad enough that he’d want me to rub ointment on it for like 30 at a time, because it “tickled” and I tried to discourage scratching so much. I didn’t want to use the steroid the dr gave us, so I looked into his diet. We had already started using perfume free and dye free detergent, we use the original dove bar, which seems to be better than what we used to use on him. But the eczema was still there. On Monday Sept 6th, I removed milk and peanut butter from his diet and I haven’t seen him scratch at all this week. I am going to switch from vaseline to coconut oil. My daughter has been telling me all the benefits of coconut oil (she uses it in her hair).
My son’s eczema seems to get better in the Summer as well. I thought the chlorine in the pool would irritate it, but his skin actually clears up in the Summer time. Go figure! Thank you for your post! I love when people share information that works for them.
Angie
My daughter has eczema and she is 4 1/2. She’s had it since she was 1 1/2. I tried removing milk from her diet and it helped only slightly. I would have to say the best thing for her (and I know everyone is different) seems to be yogurt. The yogurt with the live cultures in it has actually stopped her from breaking out as long as she eats it. She eats a 4 oz cup of it (i try to get the kind with the least amount of sugar in it) everyday and when she stops eating it for a couple of days she starts breaking out again. I hope this helps : )
I read your post but not all the comments. I wanted to chime in a few things I found helpful for my daughter whose eczema started about the same time as your son’s. I was breastfeeding and removed the top allergens from my diet. We gave her the oral antibiotics and steroids once to clear up her skin a bit. We found out she has severe allergies to milk, eggs, nuts and dogs, so we avoid that. Her allergist was a fan of daily bathing in lukewarm water with salt added for no longer than 10 minutes. We use no soap on her and slather on melted shea butter immediately after taking her out of the water–no drying off. We tried coconut oil, but she got a rash from it. We also learned that her skin cannot tolerate polyester–she would get rashes from the carpet. So we live in a house with hard floors and she wears cotton only. Her eczema was pretty much gone by the age of 3. Sometimes now she’ll get rashes from the seams of her clothing, but it’s usually when she wears denim. Oh, and I also use a laundry detergent with no perfumes or dyes and always do a second rinse. We also use no fabric softener.
I really enjoy your blog.
Dear sister,
my daughter also suffer from ezcema :(.
I cried when i see her suffered so much!
now,it is so hard to think of what food to give her as she cant eat anything with gluten,and egg,milk,cheese..?!
but i used to feed her so many bread at breakfast!
Sister, beside coconut oil(which im also using:) )
u can try sesame oil,sunflower oil as well.
And I agree with you and support you!!
“And please no matter what your opinion is about drugs, can you please not leave a comment chewing us out because we didn’t give them to our son. I’ve had enough criticism about our choices to last…forever. Thanks.”
That is YOUR son and nobody can point finger at you not giving drug to them as u believe this is bad for him.Nobody loves him as you do.
If other people want to give drug to their own son even knowing that all drug is toxic substances and carried side effect,go ahead.
May Jesus heal our child and all glory to Him alone:)
I have dealt with eczema most of my life…until I discovered that I was allergic to dairy. Now, as long as I stay away from dairy (a little cheese doesn’t hurt), my skin stays clear. My cousin and her son experienced the same thing. Through more research, we discovered that ezcema often goes hand in hand with a dairy allergy (with no other symptoms of the allergy really…a little cough or ticklish throat if I eat to much ice cream or drink milk)
In the winter, my skin can become a little irritated because of the dry air, but sweet almond oil takes care of that quickly. I’ll have to try coconut oil too!
My daughter has eczema problems and there are definitely food sensitivites (gluten, corn, any sweeteneres except honey and sucanat among other things here and there). We’ve tried lots of different things and hopefully soon we can do the allergy clearing. One thing that I have done recently that has helped immensely is increasing the fats in her diet. We have always done cod liver oil or fish oil for the omega 3s and DHA/EPA, which help a lot. Increasing the overall fats, though, have been wonderful for all of us (including a significant improvement in my cracked hands and heels).
Here are some of the ways I’ve added fats: I stir coconut oil and/or butter in everything I can (cooked vegetables, chili, oatmeal, etc.). Homemade ‘bon bons’ with melted coconut oil, toasted coconut shreds, roasted nuts, carob powder, stevia, small amount of honey, and some salt – put in a blender and process until smooth, then pour into ice cube trays and put into the fridge to harden. I can try to give proportions, but it’s more of a ‘wing it’ recipe. They are not really sweet – I would prefer to not have honey at all – but she’ll eat them! I make a kind of smoothie with either carob/cocoa/maca powder or berries and coconut oil, butter, stevia, and salt. I can give proportions for that: 2 T coconut oil, 2 T butter, 2 tsp of carob or cocoa or maca (or a combination of those – maca and carob are naturally sweeter with no bitterness and make for a nicer flavor), 1/2 tsp stevia powder (I use powdered stevia leaf – it is a green powder, not white), and a pinch of Celtic (or other very good) sea salt (I’d like to increase to 1/8 tsp salt to get the good minerals in her….). Put this into a blender, then add 1/2 cup (or so) of hot water and blend on lowest setting until the oils are melted and the other ingredients are well amalgamated. I like this warm, my daughter sometimes likes it warm. If you leave it out it will gradually firm up into a pudding consistency, which is fun to eat.
Well, that is a long and kind of crammed comment! Hopefully it makes some sense!!
Have you tried hazelwood necklace or ointment? Quite a few mom’s know have tried it with thier kids who have eczema and it has worked. Hazelaid.com has them for a good price.
I have 2 daughters with eczema. I had the worst eating habits when I was pregnant with them (and nursing them as well). My oldest and youngest children do not have eczema and I ate much healthier when pregnant and nursing them. I really do feel that it has something to do with how I ate.
I am now working on healing myself from a horrible food poisoning incident just over a year ago. I just haven’t been normal since. I found a protocol for systemic yeast and leaky gut syndrome from Herbal Legacy. If you have systemic yeast it created holes in your digestive system, allowing undigested food to enter your blood. This creates allergies to many foods and causes so many of the illnesses we suffer from these days. This protocol is meant to kill of the yeast and then heal the gut.
IF your son is suffering from eczema because of this condition, this could help him. It is just herbs that you take while eating foods that won’t irritate and make it impossible to heal. I am currently doing the protocol and have seen a great difference in myself. I am not sure how it would go over with a child because it isn’t yummy and fun, but it might be worth looking at.
Here is the URL to the article with the protocol: http://articles.herballegacy.com/natural-protocol-for-systemic-yeast-overgrowth-and-leaky-gut-syndrome/
I also searched leaky gut syndrome and researched it a bit just to know more about it.
I hope that you are able to find a way to relieve his eczema!
My daughter developed a mild case of eczema two years ago.
What worked for us:
Oil of Olay fragrance free/dye free soap
Lubriderm and Eucerin lotion after every bath/shower
Super quick showers (she was 7, so she could handle this on her own)
Absolutely no perfume or fragrance of any kind
A prescription cortisone ointment for the sores-we rubbed on the medicine and then the lotion to lock it in.
I am so happy to say that her eczema did not flare up this winter. Her hands got very dry…but we kept them hydrated and ended up catching them before they bled.
I know these things are not organic, but they worked for us.
I would cry when I looked at her hands and sores and realize how painful they were for her. All you want to do is make it better for them. Praying your little guy will be healed of his condition soon!
I have a request, please share what the brand name of the Black Current Seed Oil is. Thank you, in advance. I’d like to purchase some for my 2 children who have similar skin issue, the other 4 don’t have a problem with their skin.
We get this through our chiropractor, but the brand is Standard Process: http://www.standardprocess.com/display/router.aspx
thanks for sharing that info., I checked the site.
No Dr. came up,so I’ll have to call tomorrow when they are open.
I have 5 children and my 2 year old has had horrible eczema since she was born. It has been one of the hardest things my husband and I have been thru. She actually started a whole food protocol from standardprocess to clean her liver and other organs and then really broke out into empetigo. We thought she had chicken pox at first! Our poor tiny little girl was scratching her arms and body completely raw! I would wake up in the middle of the night to find her scratching with blood all over. I begged God to help her and felt so helpless! All of the medical drs said she just had chicken pox. Finally, Dr Jo Cahill, a chiropractor in Stockton,IL told us about cleansing her insides. We are still struggling to find and afford everything organic, but she does do so much better when away from preservatives,sugar, and dairy(still not sure about the dairy). It is still hard, because it’s not a fast fix. I’ve also realized that myself and my 2 oldest have very rough bumps all over our skin. Is that another form of eczema? I get so confused and overwhelmed sometimes. My mother and father in law continue to criticize and give her processed foods. It’s so hard to keep a 2 yr old from sugar and junk food when it’s everywhere:) I could so use some Christian support with this:)
I absolutely feel your pain – we’ve walked the same path and it’s painful. I hate watching my son suffer. And yes, there’s junk food all around – it’s hard to avoid. Hang in there! God is faithful!
Laura,
I suffer from eczema, have since I was a child. It’s been great for the past 3 years until about a month ago. Long story short, started researching and read on bulkherbstore.com that a paste of raw honey and cinnamon cures eczema. Have you heard this? I noticed a significant difference after one night. I put it on my fingers before bed and the next morning I was shocked! I’ve tried so many things through the years from emu oil to Burt’s Bees hand salve. Hope this helps!
My two year old has VERY bad eczema and we’ve tried a ton of different
things on him. Nothing works natural or RX. I’m interested in how you
do the honey and the proportions. I’m not completely sure how I’d get
it to work on a two year old but with the bloody sheets I’m willing
to give just about anything a try!
wish i knew how to contact this person because i’d love to know where she’s at and how is her 2, probably 3 yr old now. :( I relate having a 3 yr old in a similar spot. we are doing GAPS to hopefully solve it. I will keep you in prayer as the Lord reminds me.
Thank you for your post. I am loving your website and starting to slowly transition my family to a more natural way of living.
The symptoms of your son’s eczema are much like those that my 8 year old son suffers and up until now the only solution the doctors have given him are the steroids and creams. I will certainly be trying some of the things that you mentioned. We also have an issue with sunblock and have steered clear of any and all types.
I am so grateful to have found your site. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this post. My 7 month old struggles with eczema and I get so overwhelmed sometimes wanting to just “fix” it for him. This post gave me hope! Thanks again.
Hello, My son who is now 14 months old has been suffering with VERY SERVER ECZEMA on his whole body since birth. We’ve tried so many moisturizers, creams, steroids, oils, oral meds changing of detergents..etc you name it. Majority of days and nights he doesn’t get relief from scratching. Its so sad to see him scratch til he bleeds. We been to the doctor several of times also the dermatologist and their NOTHING no one can do. I am so in need of help!. He cant sleep most nights due to this irritating eczema. I’m so tired of reading and trusting these #1 eczema creams. We spent so much money on different creams for our poor little guy. Its SAD! I need help. I’m willing to try whatever i haven’t tried. Please HELP.I just cant stress enough how much im stressed out about this eczema. He only wears cotton onesis everyday because he raises his pants up and scratch his legs,Sometimes i dress him in pants because i get so tired of seeing him in onesis all the time and when im driving i have to drive with one hand in the back holding his pants down so he wont scratch and bleed. He even takes his socks off his hands to scratch. I don’t no what else to do to keep him from scratching. I have to double the socks on his little hands. Its frustrating. I pray every night that God will Heal my baby from this miserable skin condition. Many nights he’s up all through the night No sleep from scratching all day and night. I pray something will eventually start to work for him, Also i am willing to try some of the above suggestions. I would appreciate any comments and suggestions. Thanks!
I am so, so sorry you’re going through this. This has been our story with our son. He is finally doing better now – you may want to read this post to learn more about what worked for him: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/getting-to-the-root-cause-of-eczema-what-worked-for-malachi
My youngest has issues similar to your son. I hope by this point things are better.
My daughters both had issues from just after they were born. Exclusively breastfed for 6 months the skin problems seemed to get even worse when they were introduced to food after 6 months.
We chose allergy testing at 7 months after an elimination diet for me (breast-feeding) and her did not give us results. We found that among other things she was allergic to white potatoes. This was not something I would have thought of and was consuming when we tried the elimination diet.
After we had results, the whole family went on her restrictive diet. Others ate different things outside the home but I followed it with her until she quit breastfeeding just before turning two.
We still deal with flareups but if she does not come into contact with her triggers she does well.
I use Avocado Oil for my sons skin, JoJoba Oil is another good one, got it at the local nutrition center.
Hi,
I haven’t had time to read through all the comments people have left, so maybe this has been suggested before, but just thought I would suggest that vitamin D might be a big help to your son since you said he does so much better with sunshine. Vitamin D helps for many body functions. Most of us don’t get enough of it. You sound like a brave and determined mama! Good job!
Thanks for posting this. We will be trying some of what you have tried in your home.
I haven’t read all of the comments posted so maybe someone has mentioned this already. I developed eczema in my late 30’s that put me in the hospital. It turned out to be an allergic reaction to lanolin. I had started taking a D3 supplement since my levels were low one month prior to be hospitalized. I had also noticed dairy seemed to make my itching worse. (The federal government requires vitamin D3 be added to all milk that does not naturally have enough which is usually everything except whole milk.) D3 is created by exposing lanolin from sheep’s wool to a UV light. It took me a year to figure all this out so even though I have stopped taking D3 supplements and am avoiding any dairy products with D3 I still have mild to moderate eczema. It’s as if the allergy even though eliminated has left my skin hyper-sensitive to everything and it has been a year since I started avoiding D3. I am hoping that through different types of cleanses my skin will return to normal. So long story short lanolin, not milk, may be a culprit for some eczema suffers. My dermatologist was perfectly content with me slathering steriod cream all over my body but I wasn’t. She also told me that most people who have eczema will never really know what causes it and didn’t understand my obsessive determination to find the cause. Therefore, I applaud you trying to control your son’s eczema naturally and will pray for you and your son as soon as I submit this comment.
Hi Laura,
So sorry if you have already answered this elsewhere on the site, but what DID you feed Malachi when you were avoiding grains and sugars at first?
My 9mo has had eczema pretty much since birth, and it is now getting way worse since he’s been on solids and has learned how to scratch. He’s still nursing so I’m going to try to switch to a bland whole foods diet too and slowly introduce the common trigger foods to see if I can figure out what causes his reactions. But I just need to know what should we be eating at first?!??!
Mostly, I kept nursing him very often – more often than I did my others as they were turning one and then two years old. And I focused on giving him lots of veggies. Sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas. Frozen peas were his favorite finger food. :)
Hi Laura. I just wanted to let you know that I have many health issues including eczema. The doctors have found that I am allergic to corn in all of it forms. I elimated the corn from my diet and the eczema went away along with many other issues that I had no idea were connected to the corn allergy. Removing corn from my diet was a life saver! God never ment for the corn to be processed and used to the point we have taken it.
I looked at the link for the black current seed oil, but there was no dosage information listed. How did you know how much to give your little one?
Thanks!
I gave my son 4 each day, if I remember right.
Laura, Thank you so much for the information. My daughter who is 8 years old, has had eczema for the last three years. We have tryed the stuff from her doctor and didnt help. Everytime I would try to put the stuff on her she would ran and hide. If I did get it on her skin she would start to cry and scream saying that it burns. I feel better when she would say this. She has it all over her body. She has herself so scratched up that she bleeds. I did use to use Shaklee vitmans, I think it is time to return to useing Shaklee. When you said about only use 100% cotton cloths, is that organic or just any 100% cotton? Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you for sharing this. My daughter is 8 years old and has had eczema for the last three years. It is so bad that she has herself all scratched up from inching. We got the stuff from the doctor and she doesnt like it, she rans and hides when I want to put it on her. When I do get it her on she will start to cry and scream that it burns. I am ready to try something else. We did use Shaklee at one time, I think it is about time we go back to useing it. You said to use 100% cotton cloths is that orangic or just any 100% cotton cloths. Thank again. I will post again later after try the stuff.
Yvonne, which of the Shaklee products did you use, that helped her eczema?
we are about to give Shaklee a try, 4 yr can’t swallow pills yet but the 18 yr old can
I have stooped the steroid creams myself, I don’t see them helping or being worth it. Plus I want to get to root of the problem and not medicate it any longer. I am looking into changing my daughters diet and making some other changes. We have been taking a omega oil 3,6,9 oil on a daily basis too.
The link to the desensitizing procedure didn’t work. Do you have another? I have some friends who have talked about this with great results, so I’m very interested in hearing what it is and how it works.
I’m not sure what’s going on with that link. I wonder if they changed their site or if it is just temporarily not working for some reason.
Thanks so much for sharing your story….
My son recovered fully from extreme and chronic eczema in 4 weeks on the leaky gut diet.
Here is a link to my site where I tell the story:
http://www.domesticdiva.ca/blog/healing-eczema/
I will also be sharing exactly how we did it on a FREE teleseminar that will be recorded this week and remain available on my website.
Warmly,
Sherry
Thx everyone for your help my 2 yr old has the same issues all of u have discussed how common is it for children to grow out of it
I use this stuff from http://www.radsoap.com that works amazing on my childs eczema the products is called TOKE EXTREME! its a local family company that we love!
I want to say I love your blog! Both my children have eczema and I’ve tried so many things over the years. They are both teenagers now and have begun using Irish Eyes by Lorena body lotion to help relieve their symptoms as far as the itching and redness goes. I have also reading the GAPS book. I love all the creative ideas on this blog!
Regards,
Ann Marie
I like your blog a lot I am 18 and suffer really bad with my eczema I get it really bad on my legs behind my knees and on my stomach. Which in the summer time is shameful to me because people look at me weird when I am in the pool- like I could infect the water and I feel really bad about myself I hate it and those people so I started not swimming about a year ago because it just got to hard. I really don’t want to have this when I get married it might make my husband leave me it just looks terrible and I don’t want to pass it to my children, and I have a bad problem about not scratching because it satisfies the stupid bumps and it feels so good until they become raw. But I never thought about eating healthier That is the next for me to try if you could give a list of soaps that you used for you son that would be great. thank you
I’ve learned so much by the blog and I appreciate all your advice! I took advice from Ann Marie and ordered a 16oz bottle of Irish Eyes by Lorena and it began to relieve my itchng and patches within days. It’s very affordable too. I’ve also stopped eating sugar as much as possible and have been adding flax seed and hemp seed to my shakes. I’ve seen a huge difference in the appearance of my skin.
Thank you
Sue
I realize I’m chiming in late, but wanted to suggest trying Cetaphil Restoraderm available at walmart/target for eczema. My son is six and has had horrible eczema since a few months of age. We’ve done it all from steroids, immunosuppressant drugs to wet pajamas. Sooo very frustrating and upsetting to see your child miserable and unable to even sleep from the itching. The Cetaphil has a specific protein in it that many kids with eczema are missing. Hope this helps someone. It’s made a world of difference for my son when nothing else did. We still do bleach baths and monitor foods because of allergies, but this has really helped. Also, I think limiting milk has helped even though he never even tested positive for it with the allergy tests.
hi,
my eczema started getting better when I was cutting weight for boxing, ate very natural and clean nd green tea makes me feel little better
but at the same time its always good in the summer
has anyone tried the immunotherapy for eczema?
hi,
my eczema started getting better when I was cutting weight for boxing, ate very natural and clean nd green tea makes me feel little better
but at the same time its always good in the summer
has anyone tried the immunotherapy for eczema?
Hi,
i have had eczema since i was one,
and i can tell you it stinks, i’m twelve.
we have tried EVERYTHING, it doesn’t work.
for three years i was on a none dairy diet,
and for two months i was on a gluten free diet ,and a whole bunch of other diets.
my old doctor pretty much said heres some steroid cream go kill yourself have fun.
My big worry is are my children going to have it?
thanks
I know you are sick of this stuff, but have you ever tried all organic foods AND meat? I found out during the GAPS diet (for my son had bleeding, weeping, constantly itchy eczema, which may have been as bad as yours) I found that people with eczema has a low functioning liver and does not handle all the incoming toxins. Juicing for cleansing, detox baths daily!, using all natural moisturizers like shea butter, coconut oil, taking milk thistle and dandelion leaves (as juice or in a salad or some other way) daily. It’s a lot but between that and using Candex for candida issues, my son’s eczema is virtually gone now for a few months. He almost never itches, never bleeds, never weeps. Be very careful of unfiltered water too (even in the bath). I don’t know if your parents would be up for that, but I would say 100% try it. Research online about the GAPS diet and how it has effects eczema. If you want more info please let me know.
Oh Jill! It is a horrible thing isnt it?!? I really hope you are able to find a new doctor as the one y ou are seeing obviously is treating the symptoms nto the cause. My daughter HAD horrible horrible eczema until we took her to an allergy clinic that actually treats the allergies. (Allergy Associates. LaCrosse WI) it is not local for us but it has been so worth it. look into their methods adn even call to see if they know of anything similar in your area…it has been amazing for us (and for the people who’ve referred us there).
I think for my daughter, it may be a combination of things that causes problems cause now that she’s off things at the same time, its gotten much better. plus she’s taking one drop of the allergens under her tongue a couple of tiems a day to get her body used to the allergens so she doesnt over-react. When we’d had her tested in the at other clinics, even recently, she came back with no allergies except eggs but this clinic found many more but also has some environmental allergies we never suspected.
dont give up hope! praying for you!!!
(and dont worry about your future children…its not often hereditary and its also not something you can predict)
we do eat almost all organic (meas, fruits, ect).
i will try the GAPS diet and tell you how it go’s :) did this get rid of all your sons eczema?
Thank you.
It did for a few weeks, but we stopped the diet. Now it’s a tad red in the arm bends for a while now. Just a bit, NOTHING compared to before. He itches about as a non-eczema person would right before he falls to sleep. Again nothing like the insane non-voluntary firey itch/scratch sensation as before. I think it would go back to complete dismissal if I was still doing a GAPS diet with him, but now we get a lot of grain and more sugar than before. We try to stay close to GAPS (outside of no-grain), but we just got so sick of it AND we are struggling financially.
I stumbled across your website researching the benefits of sunshine. I removed a stainless steel chain I’ve worn for a long time and I feel that helped my eczema condition a good bit. And then I experimented getting a little sunshine each day. And I started taking a multiple vitamin. Like you I want to stay all natural as possible.
I particularly liked you mentioning prayer. I know that prayer works and believe that is a contributing factor to the actions I’ve taken. Thank you for your website & God bless!
Vani cream is a completely hypoallergenic moisturizer than has worked wonders for all 3 of my kids with eczema. You can usually find it at Walgreens or drugstore.com, they also make sunscreen, the only one that didn’t irritate! Also bathe everyday!!!!!! The water actually hydrates the skin, short and sweet and not to hot. As they get older it will get better, it will flare up here and there but definetly better than when they were younger.
You can also mix vani cream with a tube of aquaphor. This is the ultimate moisturizer when the skin is still damp from the bath.
Hope this is helpful, it worked for us. I see you like to use natural things, but both of these products are pretty basic perfume, dye etc free.
I have had a lifetime (60) living with eczema and
Find that vanicream moisturizer and sunscreen
products work very well and do not aggravate
My sensitive skin. When my skin is extremely
Dry I will use aquafor.
I have had a lifetime (60) living with eczema and
Find that vanicream moisturizer and sunscreen
products work very well and do not aggravate
My sensitive skin. When my skin is extremely
Dry I will use aquafor.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It’s so helpful to hear other mom’s experiences. My daughter is turning 6 years old and has struggled with eczema since she was 3 months old. I too went the steroid route – against my better judgement and have finally put my foot down! We recently started taking fish oil daily (it comes in children’s flavored pills). Our Dr. also told us to take dulcamara and pulsatilla pellets (by Boriron). You can find this in any health food store, but i would check with your Dr. first. We also just eliminated gluten from her diet. For her open sores (she scratches like crazy in her sleep ), we are trying calendula ointment. Her eyes are also pretty inflamed – for this we live my acquafore. THis doesn’t cure it- but at least gives her some relief in a safe way. NEVER again will i trust the dermo who tells me it’s safe to use Protopic on her eyes…wasn’t the warning on the box “CANCER CAUSING” enough of a deterrent???
BTW- I too am all for organic, natural foods (minus the bright green ring pop i let my daughter have today in the 2 hour car ride – never said I was perfect). Lastly, vanicream sunscreen is fabulous. Only one that doesn’t irritate her.expensive but worth every penny.
My little guy Malachi has eczema too. I read your blog regularly and found this old post while searching the internet for info on eczema!
We have added probiotic foods to our family’s diet and it seems to have been a helpful factor for his eczema too. We eat a lot of yogurt and water kefir and I want to try milk kefir, buttermilk, sauerkraut, and other things too.
“I’ve had enough criticism about our choices to last…forever.”
This struck a chord with me, and I teared up. We are in the middle of severe eczema with our 7mo daughter. We aren’t using steroids, treating her skin flare ups with natural products (organic sunflower oil and aloe vera currently, as she’s allergic to coconut, olives, and Shea butter), avoiding all top allergens (plus, nightshades, coconut, olives, and beans), and healing her body with supplements and bioset allergy treatments from an acupuncturist.
Friends, family, and even strangers constantly barrage me with criticism and unsolicited advice. It takes such an emotional toll just watching her suffer, doing my absolute best 24hrs a day caring for her skin (and keeping her from tearing it open every chance she gets), praying for her constantly, and then all of my efforts are attacked everywhere I turn. I just wanted to thank you for including that sentence because it makes me feel not so alone.
I know the sun definitely helps my skin. I also keep an Aloe Vera plant in my room. I peel a leaf vertically in half everyday and rub the inside of the leaf on the area that’s irritated. It’s a little messy but dries pretty fast and helps relieves itching. I also use pure organic coconut oil usually right after the Aloe Vera dries. I massage it into my skin for a few minutes until its mostly absorbed. Like you say, it’s different for many people and these remedies only help a bit. But these two natural remedies usually help my skin pretty well. Water definitely irritates it but COLD water or ice also helps a lot. Witch Hazel is an old and simple product that I’ve found a bit helpful as well. Doesn’t irritate my skin, however I’m not sure what effects it might have on a child’s skin.. Diluted vinegar has also helped relieve itching for me however it can burn especially during a breakout. But it helps soften the thick, dry area. I’ve read that drinking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a day can help in various ways internal and external (skin). I haven’t tried it yet but I’m going to give it a shot. I’ll post again if I find it helpful with time. Good luck and I totally respect that you guys choose natural choices as oppose to drugs and other unnatural products. It’s a tough route because so many products are unnatural that it is almost unbearable. So you going out of your way to use only organic products says a lot, rather than taking shortcuts and risking effects of long term uses. Kudos!
I really did enjoy reading this article. My daughter broke out with eczema when she was only 3 weeks old. She had taken her first photos at a photography studio which she was proped up on this block thingy but the photographer covered it with a rug looking cover. About a day or two after the pictures she had rash patches every where. I didnt make a big deal about it because i figured that maybe the rug that she layed on for her pictures may have not be cleaned properly before she was layed on it. I gave her warm baths and rubbed her down with a little baby oil and i made sure to keep her little tusshie and lady area powdered. As time went on it got worss so i took her to see her pediatrician and he couldnt give me any answers. When she was about 8 months my older cousin informed me that it was eczema, her youngest son had eczema so i got a lot of answers from her and i was relieved to have an answer to my main question what is tjis on my babies skin? Of course she has to use triamcinilone acitonide ointment which is pumped with steroids, desonide cream which is pumped with steroids as well and last year she had to use a new medication but i cant remember the name of it but i had to apply it around her mouth because she had yeast growing in the corners of her mouth (the outside only). Shes 6 now and she uses all of these medications less and less every yeat. Oh and let me forget that her pediatrician had her taking pure antihistime orally and i hated that because it kept her sleep all the time. Shes no longer on the antihistimine or using the medication for the mouth yeast. I currently live with my mom and her and her husband smoke inside the house. We all know this only bothers the skin and she begins to scratch very badly until her skin starts to bleed :(. My next step is to invest in an air purifier for her room. I dusty vaccum and wipe down every thing in her room to make sure shes comfortable. Im going to start using pure coconut oil which i heard was great for eczema and jojoba oil. She had eczeme in her scalp which made her hair fall out years ago but it cleared up and now she has a head full of long thick hair due to me keeping her hair clean, grease it and braiding it. I do not put rubberbands on her hair at all. I have been advised to start using organic laundry detergents, foods clothing also. Sorry about all the misspelled words, im using my phone to type this and its hard going back trying to correct everything. I will be sure to post again if i find anything that has helped her out. And to the person that posted this its a great thing you didnt make Malichi take the meds. Im against medication but i didnt know any better with my daughter, it was my first time being a parent so i did what the doctors told me, i went to medical school so i know a great amount now and i am constantly online researching for more answers in order to better help my daughter
Thanks for this article!
i am in the same boat as most of you – hurting as a mom whenever my little one scratches, or tries to, especially those hours before sleeping. i’ve said a lot of prayers and will say more. i would give and try what it takes for her to feel better and at least to bring some relief on her eczema.
btw, i am interested on the disensitizing process but the link isn’t working. anyway, i tried to google online and found Nambudripad’s Allergy Release Technique (NAET). is this what you did?
Yes, sorry about that. Here’s a link that explains it: http://www.naet.com/Patients/whatsnaet.aspx
thanks Laura!
One of my friends gave me this moisturizing skin cream, it preforms miracle’s!!!!!
But, I was lucky her mom worked for this place that went out of biasness!!!! thanks for all you advice.:)
Facial eczema is the worst! Try Made from Earth’s Three Berry Face Serum. I used to have it all over my face, and its the only face serum that when i applied it would take away the eczema. . .face saver
I am now 60 years old and I am having my second episode of extreme excema right now. Like you, the sun does me very good and when the sun is not out, I do the tanning beds and get great result. I also heard that when you have excema, there is more bacteria on the skin then normal so I rub essential oils on my rash. I use cinnamon bark diluted to 1%, cinnamon leaf, ginger, and basil diluted to 3% and found good results with that too. You need to know how to use these before you use them. Cinnamon is very powerful and should be used with extreme care.
A good remedy for skin problems like eczema is ACV dilluted in water (to lessen the stinging), but that only provides relief and doesnt address the real cause. Many people who are suffering with skin disorders and problems like ADD, Insomnia etc. have a compromised immune system/leaky gut, which happens because of poor diet, environmental toxins, stress and so on. Another issue that contributes to these health problems is mercury toxiciy in the body wheter through environmental exposure or mercury fillings. Many people have reported of being symptom free once theyve had their mercury fillings removed. Despite what many people have heard, healing onesself from ezcema or any other autoimmune diseases is possible. The road towards healing though may be long, hard, and very frustrating. The knowledge is there you just have to filter through the nonsense and apply what works for you through trial and error. Here’s a link to get you started.
http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/07/30/how-to-stop-attacking-yourself-9-steps-to-heal-autoimmune-disease/
Hi, I know this is an older post, but I wanted to tell you that borax is not something to be feared. There is a theory that eczema is caused by a fungus, and borax is a strong anti-fungal. In fact, I’ve been using it internally and externally, and it has completely cured my chronic candida, and furthermore, cleared up a rash I’ve had on my chest for YEARS, that was probably caused by candida overgrowth. It is drying on the skin, so I make a supersaturated solution for my skin, but follow up with a coating of pure coconut oil.
If you still don’t trust it, try Pau d’Arco. It’s a bark that has strong anti-fungal properties as well, You can boil the bark in water and spray that on the eczema to see if it helps.
I am LOVING reading your health journey! Ours has always been in the works but we have gotten more serious. Our 2 year old had severe eczema starting at 3 months old. NOTHING I tried helped. Not cutting foods out of my diet, not the stupid steroid cream I tried, not NAET….NOTHING. We met someone who introduced us to Young Living Essential Oils. I can’t speak highly enough about them! We use the lavender to help with his eczema. Lavender mixed with coconut oil, lavender under his tongue, and lots of raw dairy right now to help with the good bacteria in his body. We’re working our way towards kefir also & hopefully soon will be fermenting foods! If you have any questions about the Young Living oils & how they’ve helped us, feel free to email me!
anything that helps me detox and poo regularly, including natural supplements and exercise. avoiding Sweet things and avoiding wheat. Fermented foods are great for the gut, but during a flare up they are very high in histaimine. so treat carefully. Ice water is anti-histamine and brings relief. Keeping dust free because Im allergic to dust mites, and BAMBOO sheets are so cool and relieving/ But the very best, in combination with sunshine, but even better than sunshine is sea water, especailly 90 minutes +. in the sea water.It changes my skin like nothing else. I love org extra vergin coconut oil on the body and also do oil pulling with it every morning to help with toxins.
I hope this gets read by everyone who is suffering from eczema. I truly want to help because my daughter had eczema from infancy and finally after 26 years, she is practically cured (99% clear!). After years of breaking out from more and more foods, she is also finally able to eat those “allergy” foods! The ultimate answer for her was a strict anti-yeast diet plus supplements to support healing of her intestine and proper digestion.
We tried every ointment and lotion, allergy-testing, Ayurvedic treatments, rotation diets, steroids, etc. Two years ago over half of my daughter’s body was covered with eczema, from legs to face. Her naturopathic doctor suggested the GAPS diet and we tried it, along with the BED diet. Her skin did improve, but not even close to 90%.
I then found this website and watched some videos. http://www.drjasonuchida.com/video.html Please watch to understand what is probably the root cause of your eczema or psoriasis. I learned about “leaky gut” long ago, but buried my head in the sand because I dreaded the thought of putting my daughter on a strict no sugar/no starch diet. We went to see Dr. Uchida and he gave us the diet specifics and also 4 different supplements which are essential to killing the yeast and healing the gut, as well as aiding digestion.
You MUST heal from the inside and steroids and ointments DO NOT heal you. I do recommend Aveeno Eczema Therapy Lotion and Champori ointment for temporary relief.
Please feel free to ask me for more details because we’re so thrilled with the results this regimen that I want to help others. We do not benefit in any way from my posting this, nor are we related to this doctor except as a patient. As a parent I understand the suffering involved with eczema. The diet is tough, but WORTH IT.
Email me at [email protected], but please watch at least one of the videos first so I don’t have to repeat what can be learned there.
It’s so amazing to read how supportive you were fpr your child during eczema.
I had eczema on my inner arm fold as a child.
Now I’m experiencing probably mod twenties hormonal skin which grts dry and red. One thing that helps is pire extra virgin olive oil from any store. I lather just a teensy bit on and it helps hydrate it.
Two of my boys have mild eczema. They both respond really well when I give them a quality fish oil supplement. Fermented cod liver oil is even better but quite pricey.
Get your son tested with a real allergist (chiropractors are not qualified for this), and then avoid the allergens that come up in the real test. Eczema is an allergic reaction to something, most of the time food, but sometimes pet dander as well. Getting my son off the dairy and soy eliminated his eczema. When my secnd son started showing signs of allergies (eczema and chronic runny nose), we eliminated dairy for him and now his rash as gone. So simple.
Yep, we did that too and nothing showed up in all those hours of testing. His eczema ended up being a bigger, deep down digestion issue so we have been working with our doctor to get his liver and kidneys functioning properly. We’re so thankful for the progress he’s making!
Update: Our daughter is 100% eczema-free for almost a year now! She is able to eat all of the foods she tested “allergic” to, as well as all foods. We still limit sugars and grains, but even after the holidays this year and eating a lot of treats, she remains eczema-free. The anti-yeast diet and supplements regimen WORKED!! We are happy beyond words after 26 years of suffering. I still have a hard time believing something finally worked after trying dozens of treatments.
It’s a difficult diet, but once you get into its routine, not impossible. Please believe me, this is totally worth the effort. No more catering to or treating the SYMPTOMS–are you willing to do this for the rest of their lives? The anti-yeast regimen may take from a few months to a couple of years, but believe me, it is worth the effort.
My 3 year old has eczema. Which coconut oil product from Tropical Traditions would you recommend to use on her skin?
Thank you
Their gold label oil is the very best, although any of their coconut oils are wonderful for the skin. I also really like their unscented soap bars and use them exclusively on our son with eczema. :)
Hi, great post! I saw that you kept your son away from grains, but I wanted to let you know about my experience in case it’s helpful in any way. I had eczema growing up, and the day I stopped eating wheat or using bath products with wheat in them (unfortunately some mainstream natural bath products contain wheat) is the day I stopped getting eczema. It’s been almost 10 years now.
My 5 yr old daughter broke out in crazy eczema and foderma serum along with coconut oil are the only ones that seem to help and it doesn’t hurt her. We are both very sensitive to scent and this is so mild I hardly notice it
Hi, I just want to share about my daughter who has eczema and by the help of black seed oil she was able to overcome it. She was suffering it for almost 3 months now. When I discover the black seed oil, I try taking it to my child and fortunately after 2 weeks her skin became smooth and firm. the itchiness lessen and everything. Now, we it as supplement and we live a healthy and happy life.
When my son was a baby he had terrible eczema on his cheeks. We tried everything and nothing seemed to be helping. Finally a friend told us to try lavendar essential oil. I put 1-2 drops into a glop of Aveeno and rubbed it on his cheeks 2x/day. It seemed to offer relief immediately. I continued doing this every day for about 2 months, and slowly his eczema went away and never returned. I hope this helps someone! I also now am working with a company that is coming out with products that you can’t get anywhere else in the marketplace – they recently developed a lotion with pre and probiotics. I don’t know if it would help eczema or not, but it does balance your skin, so it seems like a great thing to try! There is a 30-day money back guarantee, too, so you can try it and send back the empty bottle and get your money back if it doesn’t work the way you wanted it to. Here’s a link in case you’d like to learn more – http://nhannan.nerium.com/us/en/shop/1068_US
Hello and thank you for all the great information. I have and have had psoriasis (which is a lot like eczema) for most of my 41 years. And I fine that goats milk body bar soap works great and when I get out from a like warm not hot shower I dab dry and while still wet I add my lotion. I’ve done a lot of research and its not only a skin but a iummune def. I’ve learn to avoid white flour, litum, high stress, but during the non Sumer days there is a health UV B light therapy I do once a week that helps my flare ups. God bless