Are you looking for natural tips for baby eczema? Parents regularly ask me to help babies and toddlers with eczema in my homeopathy practice. Usually what I see is a distressed infant and an exhausted parent. So what can be done to help?
Read on to learn more, including:
- Self-help measures you can start using straight away
- Why you might want to consider treatment from a homeopath for your child with eczema
- an example of a baby whose eczema cleared with homeopathic treatment
The difference between the conventional & homeopathic approach
The conventional approach to a baby with eczema is to prescribe moisturisers and perhaps also steroid creams to apply to relieve the dry and inflamed skin. These may help but often only with continued use.
As a homeopath, I view a skin problem as a sign of an internal imbalance. The problem is much deeper, not just on the skin. I look for the underlying cause for the skin problem and try to rebalance the baby’s system as a whole from within so that there is no longer any reason for the rash to be produced. Creams may be useful to relieve discomfort but are only a short term measure until the internal remedies have got to work.
Baby Luke’s eczema cleared with 2 months of homeopathy
Here as an example is the story of Luke who came to me aged 11 months. His mother often tells friends how his eczema cleared completely within 2 months and has not returned. In her words:
“After a year of visiting the GP about my sons Eczema, using various bath creams, lotions and a steroid cream all prescribed by the doctor I had given up hope that anything would help my son. I was given Gill’s number by a friend. I was desperate to help my son and had never heard of homeopathy. Gill took time to go through many details about Luke. After starting the remedy his back cleared after 1-2 months. It was very stubborn eczema, large round patches on his back, arms and legs. I was amazed that it had cleared, after all the doctor trips, putting hydrocortisone steroid cream on my young son’s skin. I wish I knew about Gill earlier.”
The causes of eczema
Eczema is generally due to a combination of an inherited tendency and an environmental trigger.
There are often others in the family with an atopic (allergic) condition such as eczema, asthma or hay fever.
Parents may well have an instinct for the possible trigger. Factors parents often suggest could be involved in their baby’s eczema include:
- Intolerance of their milk
- Starting solids
- Emotional stress, such as starting nursery
- Parental stress
At your child’s homeopathic consultation, we would explore all these possible causes and start to work on solutions. I often see a rapid reduction in discomfort but homeopathy is not necessarily a quick fix. The goal is to address causes and build overall health for your child so that there will be no need to continue using creams in the longer term. This requires treatment from a professional homeopath and is not something that is likely to respond to self-prescribing. However, alongside that, here are some suggestions for things that you do to start to help straight away.
Natural tips for baby eczema – Self help measures to try straight away
- Washing your baby: wash your child’s skin with water only, avoiding lotions and bubble baths, including those marketed for babies. If you feel soap is really necessary (mud loving toddlers for example), stick to a simple fragrance free soap. There is no need for a daily bath, especially if your child is under 6 months. 2 or 3 times a week is ample and it is better to be removing the natural oils in the skin less often.
- Moisturising the skin: if the skin is very dry, an emollient cream may be soothing in the early stages of treatment. Creams are readily absorbed. Ointments and oils provide a better waterproof barrier and you may find these preferable in areas that tend to get wet (with dribble for example). Beware that these will make your baby rather greasy to hold! Always try a new product on a small area first in case your baby is sensitive to any of the ingredients – no one cream suits everyone. Some of my favourites that you might like to try are stellaria (chickweed) cream, coconut oil, SOS Rescue Cream and Green People baby salve.
- Washing baby’s clothes: choose a simple fragrance free and hypoallergenic laundry detergent and consider using an extra rinse. Avoid fabric conditioners and any other additional products.
- Choosing clothes: pure cotton is the best fabric for a child with eczema and both wool and man-made fibres may increase discomfort. Beware of irritating tags too and cut these out if necessary.
- Soft Toys: soft toys can become very dusty and children with eczema may well be sensitive to house dust mites. Have washable toys only and remember to wash them regularly.
- Keep nails short: children will try to claw at itchy skin at a surprisingly young age, so keep fingernails short to minimise the damage.
All these measures should help manage your child’s eczema but they will probably not take the problem away. For that, you need to look deeper and I have seen excellent results with treatment from a homeopath.
3 key reasons you may wish to consider homeopathy for your baby with eczema
- Creams from the doctor aren’t working well enough or you would prefer not to use them
- You are concerned about the allergic aspects of the condition and are interested in talking about what could be done to help with this
- You want to address the underlying cause of the eczema, not just relieve the symptoms
To learn more
I hope you have found my natural tips for baby eczema useful. If you are interested in the idea of homeopathy for your baby or toddler, I would be pleased to talk to you about your child – book a free exploratory chat or send me an email to ask any further questions.