What Cured My Toddler’s Eczema

Hey everybody! I’m going to take a stab at this whole writing about motherhood thing but before we begin let me start this post off by saying two things. One. I am not a Doctor. In fact, I am in no way, shape or form trained in any way for anything at all medical. So don’t take this post as the Gospel and definitely don’t try anything that makes you feel uneasy without talking to your Doctor first. Two. I think I need to tell you what kind of mom I am.

I am the type of mom that didn’t take a single birthing class because I knew I was going to show up for delivery, get all the drugs and let the doctors do their thing. In fact I joked with my OB that there should be a release form for people like me to say “I’m way less qualified than you are please do whatever you have to do to keep me and the baby alive.” I breastfed my kids and hated every minute of it and finally quit bc I decided happy mom was better for my babies than one stressed 99.9% of her life from low supply and being in boob jail. I vaccinate my kids. I feed them McDonalds. I take them to get antibiotics at the earliest onset of a fever and pray to Jesus that he heals them through the wise pediatricians I rely on.

I also love Doctors and nurses. Like if I could subscribe to an in-home Doctor that made house calls situation I 150% would. My mom is every certification of nurse there is and currently still works in hospital administration. Half of my girlfriends from college are all nurses. I love them and rely on them and text all of them frequently to tell me what to do. I’m not one of these moms that researches topics into all hours of the night on the internet and somehow thinks I’m an expert. So if you are looking for some granola, holistic, out there approach to motherhood, I am not your girl. If you want a real-life experience from a working momma just trying to survive I’m glad you’re here. Pull up a chair and stay awhile.

As I venture into this new world of putting my opinions on motherhood on the web I would like to make it clear that I’m not telling anyone to believe how I believe or do what I do. Rather I’m just sharing my experiences and what has worked for me. And if you don’t like it kindly close this website window and move right along. I have no time for trolls. I have kids to keep alive.

You can still see some of the discoloration on my girl’s sweet legs but no bumps or rashes or sores!

The Cure For Eczema

This might not be the cure for you but it was the cure for us. My youngest girl, Scottie, has struggled with Eczema as long as I can remember. Honestly… I think I suppressed the first months of her life from having a 1 year old and a newborn so literally as long as I can remember she has had Eczema. She has been on every. single. prescription. that they make for Ezcema as well as every cream, ointment and the entire arsenal of coconut oils. I do think that Kopari coconut scrub + coconut balm is worth a try if your little’s eczema is mild because it definitely soothed Scottie’s. It didn’t heal it though. We tried all the prescriptions and the one with steroids were HORRIBLE and made it flare up which lead to a summer of hell. When she was one and a half we started Eucrisa which was great but it just didn’t clear it all up. Finally we found something that worked and for the past 6 months she has been Eczema-free! (She’s 2.5 now)

Eczema Solution #1: Adding a Probiotic to You Kid’s Diet

Eczema (I’m paraphrasing here) is usually indicative of something going on inside the gut. I did a lot of reading and learned that if I wanted to heal Eczema once and for all I had to start from the inside out. We cut dairy and we cut peanuts (which I recommend trying) but that didn’t really work for us. Scottie still had the Eczema with literally eating none of the known food triggers. I even had her allergy tested to see if there were any known food allergies or intolerances. You can read more about a good diet for battling Eczema here. So while that was a bummer since I was looking for a “reason” for her skin issues it did lead me to what REALLY worked for us which was getting Scottie on a daily probiotic. I’m sure I could do more research and get more opinions on the best probiotics but I (naturally) bought the first thing I saw at Target which were these probiotic packets. After I got tired of making sure that she drank all of it I switched to these gummies because my girls love them. I haven’t experienced a change in her eczema with either.

Eczema Solution #2: Mix Raw Honey w/ Lotion & Apply Topically?

A mom in Scottie’s class told me about this and I will forever be grateful. Her daughter was struggling with Eczema too and she had been told about this crazy cure and offered it up saying “I know it sounds weird but it worked for us”. I was at the point in this journey where I would have rubbed ketchup on her body to make the blisters and eczema go away so I was eager to do whatever it took. She told me to take a little Manuka Honey, mix it with lotion and put it on her skin. All I could find was Matcha Green Tea Raw Honey so that is what we used. The exact product is sold out and I’ve searched everywhere for it online. I did find some here but if you can’t find matcha green tea honey in your local whole foods store or co-op then you can mix 1 tsp of matcha green tea and tsp of raw honey to make it. That will literally be the same thing. Also make sure it’s raw honey for the same reasons. Once you have the mixture you need to find a good lotion. I chose this lotion as the carrier because it was what we had been using that seemed to work. You take about the size of a dime of the honey and mix it with a palm-full of the lotion and rub it all over their body at bedtime. It will be sticky but we called it her “mermaid lotion” and immediately put on lightweight jammies and she dealt with it. I’m not kidding you in a matter of days the sores and scabs and rough patches were drastically diminished! We used it every night for about two weeks and then went to every other night and then every three nights until it was gone! I truly think that this topical miracle paired with the probiotic is what cleared up her skin! I’ve also been using this Eczema Honey for flareups and it’s working great!

Everything Else to Try for Eczema

While these probiotic packets and the raw honey were the ultimate solution to my girl’s eczema, here are a few other things that we tried that helped a little. I’m sharing them because they might be your cure!

• Take warm (not hot) baths followed immediately by a soothing lotion. Make sure to pat the skin dry and put on lotion within two minutes to seal in the moisture. You want your lotion to have a high-oil content to lock in the moisture. That is why coconut oil is so good!
• Slather on the lotion all the time to keep the skin moist throughout the day. We loved this lotion.
• Another thing that provided a little bit of relief were these oatmeal bath packets. You can also mix baking soda in the bath-tub to neutralize the skin.
• Use the Think Dirty app to find out what might be irritating your skin. It’s the reason why I started using this bath soap for the girls. I tried several different bath soaps after the probiotic+honey cure and it hasn’t flared up so I don’t think that is necessarily a trigger for Scottie.
• Find a sunscreen that doesn’t irritate their skin. Just say no to spray sunscreens or anything that will dry out their skin. We use this one!

Ok I’m going to write more tomorrow and add some sources and some photos but I wanted to post this tonight for those of you as desperate as I was. I also talk about sleep ideas in a post tomorrow!! Let me know if you have any thoughts, suggestions or if any of this works for you in the comments!!

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