Does your Baby or Toddler Have Eczema? Read More to Find Out What Helped Heal My Son’s Eczema.

Does your baby or toddler have red, dry, cracked, itchy skin? You probably already concluded your child has eczema and you don’t know what to do because nothing works. Just remember, you are not alone. Many parents are dealing with the same exact thing. They try to find the perfect solution to help relieve their child’s itchiness, redness, and pain. 

My first experience dealing with eczema was not with my first or second child, it was with my third. I had no clue what it was until I went to our pediatrician’s office, since my son (an infant at the time) had red patches on his face.  

I was given a prescription for Hydrocortisone Valerate USP 0.2% cream. Our doctor also told me to put Aquaphor healing ointment after I rubbed in the cream. Yes, it did work if I was consistent and kept on applying when needed. However, I was a little reluctant putting a steroid cream on his delicate skin every single day and I really wanted to find out what caused his eczema.

In this case, I began my research online and asked questions to moms I knew who’ve experienced eczema with their child. One day at my dentist’s office, I was talking to a lady working the front desk. I was showing her a picture of my son and I told her about his skin. It only took one conversation for her to explain it all to me.  

That lady and mom that I will forever be grateful for, told me that eczema begins in the gut. What you put in your stomach has a lot to do with it. My son was breastfed, so I had to take a look at my diet and see what foods I ate that was causing his eczema. It took a bit of trial and error to figure it out. It didn’t happen overnight, it did take some time.

I began by eliminating certain foods. Once I started to remove all processed food, sugar, and acidic items out of my diet, I noticed a huge difference in my son’s skin. His face was clearer and his eczema on his shoulders were gone. Not only did I see a contrast in his skin but I saw it in mine too. I didn’t have my occasional breakouts and my skin was clear.

Over time, with the process of elimination, another food item that was causing my son’s eczema was tree nuts. This was noticed from his irritated skin on his face, shoulders, back, and the inner portion of his legs and arms. It ended up being that he had an allergy for tree nuts which is totally different from a peanut allergy. 

What you put inside your body makes an immense difference not only to your skin but to your overall health. I didn’t completely remove my favorite foods out of my diet but I was careful in my consumption. Just doing so made a huge impact on both of our skin.

Some other things that I took in consideration was the shampoo, soap, and cream I used for my son. It took a lot of different products to figure out what I felt safe enough to use on him. My favorite of all was Cetaphil Baby Wash and Shampoo, which I no longer use because I switched to all safer and cleaner products for my family. I now use the Beautycounter Kid’s Shampoo and Body Wash, which I absolutely love! However, they have discontinued the kid’s line. My next purchase for my son will definitely be a cleaner and safer brand. I will keep you posted on that and update this post. For a moisturizer, I use Vaseline or Beautycounter’s Baby Daily Protective Balm. Also, I try to apply it in the affected areas every night before bedtime. It makes a world of a difference when he wakes up in the morning. His skin is not as irritated and red.

Now that my son is three years old, he may still have occasional eczema here and there but not how it was when he was a baby. I noticed that most of it comes from him eating certain foods like chocolate or other sugary items such as ice cream. I don’t completely eliminate the yummy foods for him because we all need a bit of chocolate and ice cream in our life. As long as he doesn’t have an allergy to it, I’m okay with it occasionally.

These are factors that may trigger your child’s eczema: dry skin, climate, stress, infection, allergies, sweat, and irritants. It takes time to figure out the problem using process of elimination. What really helped my son was applying Vaseline or Aquaphor when I noticed a sign of dryness. Even applying the ointment during diaper changes makes a big difference. Also, make sure you use a gentle laundry detergent and even do a second rinse. Do not use any fabric softener sheet in the dryer. The less irritants the better. Another thing I noticed, if my son got good sleep, it helped with his eczema too. 

I am not a professional or a doctor to tell you what may or may not work for your child. This post is about my experience with my son who had and still has occasional eczema. I am hoping my story can benefit you in some way. I have so many more tips to give. If you have any questions or need any advice, feel free to contact me on my contact page. I’d love to hear from you!