As anyone with any kind of ailment can understand, we are bombarded with ‘helpful’ advice on how to cure Jasmine’s eczema. We sift through the advice and filter out the really fringe suggestions, though the rest makes it onto our list.
We have a list because dealing with Jasmine’s skin is a gradual process of elimination. We give a good chunk of time to any of the trials allowing us to identify what aids and what exacerbates etc…
Feel free to suggest more! We’re trying to aim as far from pharmaceuticals as possible, so the more natural the better =]
In no particular order:
Wet wraps – See Verdict
Raw shea butter
Epsom Salt bath
Water Softener – See Verdict
Naturopathy – See Verdict
NAET (allergy elimation)
Dermasilk clothing
Neem oil
Detol and baby oil rub
Omega 3 supplement – Testing now!
I wouldn’t use shea butter as it has a nut base. Often our children are allergic to nut proteins.
Definately reccomend wet wraps. National Jewish Medical Center is a great resource for this! They have a video that is terrific. I’ve used wet wrapping for years and still learn form that place!
Plain vaseline or cetaphil is a great moisturizer. Use when skin is very damp but not dripping wet.
RAST tests for allergy in combo with traditional skin testing. I don’t reccomend NAET but that’s just me.
Cotton Comfort (clothing company based in Bath England that makes wonderful wonderful pj’s and other clothing items for babies to adults with eczema. They saved our son’s sleep at this age! Worth every penny!) I like it better than Dermasilk.
Omega 3 fish oils
avoid using food items as moisturizers (example: avocado oils, olive oils, etc.) Our children tend to not have a great skin barrier and those food proteins leach through the skin and cause further allergic reactions.
Hope some of this helps
Thanks for the heads up!
We’ve reached a point where we’re just not sure where to jump next. i will definitely check out the pj company though. I’m not sure how much longer we can all cope with no sleep.
Hi Dan,
Long time no talk, eh? I saw your blog linking from hotmail. I hope everything else is good with you, but sorry to hear your little girl is having skin problems.
As for excema: what nasty stuff. I used to have it for years as a little one and it was vile. I remember the bandaged elbows and knees and the little mittens very clearly! BUT it did get better as I got older so there is hope.
The good stuff for me was a porridge bath (yummy I hear you say). Get 4-5 table spoons porridge oats, tie in muslin (like a bocquet garni) and hold/squish under the tap and then leave in bath water. You can use the muslin wrapped oats to clean skin and wash hair too. Leaves everything nice and soft, and soap free.
Also another thing that is supposed to be good (a friend swears by it for her little girl’s excema, and I’ve also used it on bad nappy rash) is the aloe vera day soothing cream from the body shop. Very mild and has nothing nasty in it (though check for your own purposes).
For me, I’d be careful of the vaseline as the petroleum base base always used to make me itch like mad. First pressed (the non-greasy sort) virgin olive oil always used to be of great help for me, but I’m not sure about the food reactions thing, so would be worth checking.
Good luck and I do hope you find the solution
Tess xx
Hi Tess,
Thanks for your comments! We’re obviously hoping than things will improve as she gets older, but until then we’re kind of fumbling around trying to make her as comfortable as possible.
We’ve use the oat bath method for a while now, we interchange between that and some rock salt. I’ll check out the aloe vera from body shop, we’ve used a couple of brands and we can tell they’re cooling as she gives off little shivers
…It’s also one of the easiest things to massage into her scalp.
We used olive oil on her scalp when she was smaller, primarily to attempt to deal with her cradle cap. It may be worth a shot trying again.
Hope you’re well
hi i suffered from eczema as a baby and child, and the main thing which helped me was using chickpea flour/gram flour as a body scrub. it was my mum’s indian/ayurvedic remedy, it left my skin so soft.
my baby who is 18 weeks has signs of eczema, i keep it under control by using salcura gentle spray. so far so good
I personally went nutso itching with shea butter. The only positive I can say about it is that unlike most moisturizers it didn’t sting and felt good putting on. Just later in the crevices behind my elbows and knees it was so itchy. To finalize my own verdict I noticed a tremendously itchy scalp with shea containing conditioners. Of course that is just me and as you well know everyone has different sensitivities.
I LOVE the wet pj’s (can you believe I was barely told about them at 30 years old). Of course, it was uncomfortable the first couple of nights but then I got used to it and some days when I’m uncomfortable I go ahead and put on the wet pj’s just to be around the house in the daytime, lol. I only use them for like 5-7 day intervals but the first time, I slept on the floor worrying I would soak the mattress, HAH! My poor dry skin soaked it up before the morning time. A wet fabric just feels better against my skin when it’s weepy and can stick and later yank flesh when the clothing shifts. The wetness prevents that.
I’m just glad we can get away without wet wrapping the little tikes now. We didn’t do it for long but I shudder to think if we had too >.<
Here’s some things I use in my routine for eczema, not preventative but help when it’s bad. Although I think we all react differently, and I know the two types of eczema I’ve had react differently to products I’ve tried.
For the itches: In bath water (or on a cloth, diluted) you can use a slosh of apple cider vinegar, and olive oil to moisturize. You smell like a salad, but it’s much cleaner than using oatmeal.
On the eczema patch: Rocky mountain body butter (beeswax and natural ingredients) They also have an pumpkin eczema soap.
Make your own eczema cream: I’ve tried this recipe before and loved it, It’s got some medical test reports in there about the benefits. I did unpasturized honey (I’ve heard manuka is best for healing), unprocessed beeswax and olive oil. Make sure you keep stirring the mixture, my first one I messed up :p http://www.optiderma.com/en/healthy-skin-tips/skin-care-recipes/anti-inflammatory-cream-for-eczema—psoriasis.html
I’ve done NEAT for allergies, It seemed to help with some smaller allergies, but I didn’t finish the treatments. I liked naturopaths approach better. http://www.bastyrcenter.org/content/view/2259/
Goodluck!
oats are certainly messy at bathtime. I think I’ll need to be getting to apple cider vinegar. Thanks for that
We’ve toyed with the idea of making our own salve so thanks for posting a recipe. Lots of exploring to be done methinks.