From our experience, food allergies and eczema go hand in hand. I always wished I had bought stock in the Aveeno Eczema Cream. Nat’s eczema as a baby and toddler could certainly top the charts on occasion.
I promise those are her scratch marks,….not ours! Trust me when I say, I kept her nails cut. This child would just dig into her skin. I would put socks on her hands and do what I could to keep her from scratching but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. It was awful to see your child in so much pain.
When we found out that it was most likely caused by the milk allergy, I was hopeful it would get better since we had found a formula (Neocate) that was an Amino Acid based formula (and did not contain protein) which she could drink. However, it perhaps got a little better but never completely went away. The only thing that made much difference in her discomfort was the Aveeno Eczema Cream. Trust me, we tried everything from olive oil, oatmeal baths, baking soda, but nothing worked better than the Aveeno Eczema Cream. Couldn’t really believe it worked better than my home remedies (since I’m a big home remedy fan), but it did! It was applied several times a day. Especially after baths!!
I did my homework on this one. Cruised the web, researched and studied all I could find about treating it and how to make it better. She was miserable and I was determined to find a way to ease the pain. Here’s what I recommend on: How to manage Eczema
- Always apply lotions and creams after a bath. The skin absorbs moisture better when it’s slightly damp.
- Don’t rub. Don’t rub the skin with a towel when drying off. Rubbing can wipe away more moisture and also irritate the skin. Patting the skin dry can leave excess moisture to help absorb the cream or lotion better.
- AVOID Steroid creams!! Steroid creams can help but the more they are used, the less effective they become. Therefore, you begin having to apply more and more for the steroid cream to work. Once you stop using it, it’s like the eczema comes back Full Blown! Plus, excessively using a steroid cream can cause damage to the skin. It can thin it out as well.
- Be mindful of clothing fabric. Soft cotton seems to be more comfortable. Avoid wearing anything that would be irritable to the skin.
- USE “FREE” LAUNDRY DETERGENT. Laundry detergents that are free of dyes and perfumes are almost a “Must” when trying to alleviate eczema.
What do you recommend or what has worked best for your child’s eczema? Please leave a comment. Would love to hear from you.
When my youngest son was little (he’s 19 yrs old now) there wasn’t a lot of support for eczema. Thanks for sharing your families experience.
You are so right. We literally at first had no clue what we were dealing with.
It’s good for us to share our experiences so we can cope and treat it ?
Yes!!! If it had not been for support pages and groups, I would have been bald way before my time.
My brother had really BAD eczema and it wasn’t until we went to a naturopath that his symptoms went away! Thank you for sharing this post 🙂
I wish we had naturopaths around here.
This information needs to be shared with more people that are struggling and looking for answers.
This is so helpful because I suffer from eczema, especially in the winter! Thanks for sharing!
My son has eczema and we had to begin using products designed specifically for sensitive skin. It’s improved drastically, but he still ocassionally has a flare up.
Hers is also much better but still use sensitive products too.
Eczema is a painful condition. So many people just reach for prescription creams without looking about what is causing the problem. Food plays a big role in eczema along with stress and external toxins. Great article!
Exactly! Until we were faced with it, we didn’t know that it was food either that could cause it. Getting the food allergies under control really helped a lot.