What We Did To Help Our Son’s Eczema – Without Drugs
By(If you’ve been reading through my Journey to Healthy Eating series, some of this information will be a repeat for you. I’m just wanting to make sure any new people know what I’m talking about!) Also, this is a really long post…I had a lot to say. ;)
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If you’ve had a child suffer from eczema, even a mild case, it can be incredibly frustrating to helplessly watch them suffer.
Our youngest son, now five, 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.
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.
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.
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. IF we use lotion, we use this fragrance free lotion from Tropical Traditions. We’ve found that straight coconut oil works much much better.
- 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 coconut oil.
- 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.
- 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 five, his eczema is SO 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.
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!
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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 :)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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).
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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! :)
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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!!!
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