my daughter has eczema and since birth she has had a bad problem with scratching her hair uncontrollably,mainly when she gets sleepy. But I do notice her doing it through out the day. What do you recommend? Moms with kids that has eczema what do you recommend?
Highly recommend California Baby Super Sensitive Hair and Body Wash. It's a little pricey but highly concentrated so you only use a small amount. I have tried some of the others mentioned and liked California Baby best. Good luck.
Arbonne's ABC Baby Hair and Body wash. I would be happy to send you a sample to try. Private message me for a free sample.
Kay
IMO Head and Shoulders should be the LAST thing to put on a child and especially a baby.
With eczema there is something that is causing the inflammation and you need to figure out what that is. With my daughter, who had severe eczema, it was eggs, soy, wheat/gluten, dairy/casein that caused it. We started to use the Sensaria Natural Bodycare products and it went away. She was better off in the tub with the body wash and could play for an hour if she wanted to, and she did. I became a representative for Sensaria as the results were astounding. www.sensaria.com/J. and a one-year guarantee on all of the products.
You need to avoid all sodium laurel sulfates, petroleums, dyes, synthetic perfumes as they will all irritate the skin, thus making eczema worse.
Try an elimination diet - remove anything that contains dairy /soy in it. Switch to neocate.com if you are using formula. This is a very common allergan for little ones. Be very careful with ALL vaccines. This is where my daughter developed her allergies from. Get The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears as it lists the ingredients for each shot and the pros and cons for getting them. Another good book to help understand more on this is Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders, by Dr. Kenneth Bock
At eighteen months, my daughter finally had some allergy testing done and we found out eggs, soy, corn were her problems at the time so I stopped all shots as most of them have egg in them and not one nurse could guarantee me which ones didn't. If I had only taken the 20 minutes to read the package inserts for each one. The best testing to do is IGg and IgE blood tests.
Some of my moms have had great success with our ABC Baby WASH & SHAMPOO. I myself have been using lately because my hormones have been causing me to sweat at the back of my neck with every "hot flash"!
(http://www.arbonne.com/products/baby/wash.asp)
After viewing you can contact me by going to my website or calling.
D.
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www.beautifulfreedom.myarbonne.com
Hi There!
I see a lot of great ideas with products, but only one suggestion regarding food allergies. This is most likely the cause of the eczema. Have your baby tested for allergies. Soy is a big one and Wheat as well. My daughter has allergies to wheat, soy, peanuts...and a few more. When I feed her more protien, I see a big difference in her skin. She will always break out on her wrists and behind her knees. She has an itchy head as well. She loves mac n cheese, so I have switched to a rice noodle, and give her special bread.
Check into the food allergy's that your daughter might have and make those changes. I bet you see a difference in the eczema.
Take care!
Hi,
My daughter also has eczema, but we've kept her breakout-free for the past year with Shaklee products. Shaklee is the #1 natural nutrition company in the U.S., they've been around for 54yrs and have a trusted reputation for safe, high quality, and effective products. We use the Shakleebaby Gentle Wash for her hair and body and the Soothing Lotion after her baths. The whole baby line is free from any toxins, contain natural ingredients, and are 76-99% organic. We also use Shaklee's Get Clean line of non-toxic cleaning and laundry products, and give her the Mighty Smart omega-3 chews. You can check out these products and more at www.greennutrition.info and register to win $200 in free Get Clean products at www.freegreenproducts.info. Let me know if you have any questions.
Free and clear shampoo-conditioner. i also use vani cream for after bath moisturizer. it helped my 5yr old with his eczema. these products were recommended by his allergist.
I still use Aveeno fragrance free wash for my son's skin and hair and he is 2. You could try combing some baby oil or mineral oil into her scalp a few times a week to moisturize it really well--it works well with cradle cap or flakes on babies and, while oily, might make her feel better.
My first baby had eczema like that. I switched soaps and the change was like night and day. I stopped using shampoo at all and started using an all natural soap/shampoo bar. It was gone within a week and weve been using natural products on him ( and his two brothers) ever since. I use soap from www.sunnysoap.info, which is a small, Mom owned company, and you order through email and pay with paypall. But they have a TON of choices as far as scents, etc. I don't know what you are using now, but it might be worth a try...
Weleda wash with Callendula worked wonders on my little guy!
California Baby, hands down.
There is a baby Aveeno (dark blue bottle) that works well on my daughter. She has terrible eczema, to the point that it has become a bacterial infection twice (before I found the Aveeno). But what I really thinks makes the most difference is moisturizing her at in the morning and in the evening, everytime after she takes a bath or goes swimming with Cetaphil.
The doctor never explained to me how much moisturizer you need to use. Finally the nurse said, "you need to make her shine and she should be slippery".
I know this sounds crazy, but just use a natural perfume free shampoo and use Vaseline on all her eczema spots. Everyone has it (I think) and it works wonders on eczema. For her scalp, just part her hair and apply it directly to the spot. It won't take long. Good luck!
The moms who suggested you find the root of the eczema are spot on. Products only cover up the problem, and lets face it, if you find it on the store shelves its full of dyes, perfumes, sulfates, nitrates and other junk that is terrible for skin.
Your daughter likely has a food sensitivity. Eczema is a fungus that lives in the colon and presents itself on the skin. You need to figure out what is feeding that fungus. Its typically regular food sensitivities, dairy, soy, nuts, wheat/gluten. Once you eliminate the problem, the eczema will clear up. Also introduce a probiotic, which will fight the fungus and bad bacteria in her body and replace it with good. The boys like the chewable ones, Target has some in the vitamin isle, or you can find them online or in vitamin stores. The chewable ones are strawberry wafers and are actually quite good.
Diet modifications, acidophilus probiotic will do wonders. Products may cover the problem for a short time but you need to fix the problem from the inside.
There are alot of toxins in personal care products (even those for babies/kids). In addition to the long term effects there can also be immediate reactions/irritations. We've converted our homes to all non-toxic products and my daughter uses Koala Pals Hair Wash.
I love Aveeno products!
N.,
I recommend Shaklee's organic baby products. You can find them at http://www.shaklee.net/healthforlife.
good luck and God bless.
Victoria
I started using Head and Shoulders on my daughter when she was about 2. Up until then I used baby shampoos, but then I realized that if you have a kid with a ton of hair, baby shampoo doesn't cut it. You may want to check with your dermatologist, but Head and Shoulders worked for my daughter. Now that she is older and doesn't have eczema so much anymore (granted, we moisturize like crazy, which does help), we use Aveda Dry Remedy shampoo and conditioner. Works great!
Arbonne products! They are botanically based, pure, safe and beneficial. You can't go wrong. They are the best! Also, they have products for eczema as your child grows older too. Hope that helps!
L. Yeager, Independent Consultant
Arbonne International
We use Aveeno baby...
I really like Nature's baby organics. My daughter has had eczema since she was born, now 3 years old and Nature's baby works the best for her and that is becasue it is purely organic and natural. no fragrance and coloring and toxic additivies. I hope this helps. :)
http://www.summerforkids.com/NATURE-S-BABY-ORGANIC-SHAMPO...
California Baby is a really good brand. I buy it at Target and you can also buy it online.
We use veeno fragrance free wash cream body & hair wash.
However, as one poster said, many personal care products have tons of "junk" in them that may irritate her eczema more. So read labels, and do some searching on the internet. I think the NY Times did an article on shampoo, or try googling "shampoo dish detergent" -- some studies have actually shown that regular dish detergent is just as good as shampoo with way less nasty stuff in it.
Goats milk soap (real soap, made with sodium hydroxide & oils) is supposed to be good for eczema. You could try that, followed by a diluted vinegar rinse to close the hair follicles. Just be sure to put a cloth over the baby's face/eyes to avoid getting any in the baby's eyes.
Or, try an oatmeal bath. Grind up oatmeal fine with your coffee or herb grinder, and put it in a sachet or linen bag & tie close (so you don't have to clean as much out of the tub!). Then, immerse in the hot water for a few minutes, until the temp lowers enough for baby. You can probably just get by with that for most bathings and skip soap/shampoo altogether. Oatmeal baths are supposed to be good for eczema and poison ivy & similar itchiness (why do you think Aveeno adds it to some their products? :).
Edited to add:
It's probably a really good idea to switch your family's laundry detergent, particularly for the baby's laundry, to scent free, dye free detergent. We use & love Charlies Soap. And skip the fabric softener--for people with eczema, there are a lot of irritating dyes, fragrances & chemicals in most laundry detergents, even the stuff marketed "free and clear," which is why, after doing a lot of research, we switched to Charlies.
For people with eczema, a good moisturizer is really important after bathing ...but I'm not sure what would work for the scalp. Maybe try Cetaphil cream or Cera Ve cream, just a very tiny dab rubbed into the scalp?
If it continues, you should probably see about getting a referral to a pediatric allergist.....
my son had really bad cradle cap. i only use gentle completely natural soap and bubble bath. burts bees and say yes to carrots bubble bath and shampoo is great but it was california baby calendula cream that got rid of his cradle cap. that stuff is great!
aveeno oatmeal shampoo and lotion worked wonders for my little boy :)
My 3 yo daughter has food allergies and eczema. Her eczema is moderate due to her environmental allergies. But they go crazy whenever she eats wheat. Since I have had food and environmental allergies all my life, I suspected early on that she had allergies too. When we started introducing solids to her, whenever she would eat anything with wheat in it, she would get a really bad blistering rash on her vagina. By the time she was a year and a half, we noticed the eczema on the backs of her elbows and knees. I took her to get blood tested then. The blood test showed allergies to wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts and walnuts. At age 2 I took her for her first back scratch test. The only allergy that showed up was to cashews. We did the elimination/reintroduction diet with all the foods she was allergic to. Soy, dairy, and eggs in moderation showed no allergic reaction. All the others showed big time reactions. At age she showed no environmental allergic reactions.
From age 1 both my kids have been taking organic, gluten free, allergy friendly multivitamins and childrens probiotics. I believe they do help.
At her 3 yo re test she showed an allergic reaction to cashews, almonds, dog, and live oak trees. We did the diet elimination/reintroduction again and still wheat aggravates her eczema.
Now add on all of my food allergies and issues and you can see that going out to eat is a crazy thing for us. Lots of questions for the wait staff or chef.
Anyhow finally getting to your question...we use shampoo made by Original Sprout. They have a whole line of kids care products. Most we can't use because it contains almond oil, but we use the Miracle Detangler (which truly works like a charm on my daughters rats nest and long hair) and the shampoo. The products smell great and are mostly allergen friendly. It does cost quite a bit more than store bought stuff, but I know that the 12 oz bottle of detangler lasts me about 6 months since you only need a little bit. I wish the shampoo lathered better though. I end up using almost a handful to get a decent lather in my daughters long hair. She hasn't had any reaction to the products, so for us it is worth the cost to not have to hear her cry at night because of the itching.
Like others have said, get your daughter tested for food and environmental allergies. Ask for the IgE, IgA and IgG tests when you get the blood test done. That will give the best all around idea of what your daughter is allergic to since it measures both immediate/short term and long term reactions.
I just had my tests redone using all 3 tests. I had the basic IgE test done about a year ago and it showed NONE of my known allergies...NONE! Even the anaphylactic ones didn't show up! But with all 3 tests, all of my known allergies showed up, and even ones that I didn't know about like dairy and wheat. I always suspected I was intolerant to these categories because of digestive issues I would have after eating them, but all my tests didn't show an allergy to them. But all my other tests were just the basic IgE test which only measures immediate/short term reactions.
Once you figure out what she is allergic to, that helps to eliminate the problem. But with both my daughter and I, with every new product or food that comes our way, it's a trial and error thing. I have read EVERY label of EVERYTHING that comes into our house. Cleaning supplies, bedding, food, grooming supplies, sunscreen, herbs and supplements, medicines, immunizations, etc.
Anyhow, sorry for going on and on here. I just hate to see my kids or other kids suffer with allergies.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
S.
My son who is 5 has suffered from eczema and food allergies since he was 2 months old. We have tried just about every soap/shampoo and lotion known to man. The two that worked the best for us are the California Baby Sensitive as well as Burts Bees Baby Bee Buttermilk Lotion. Both can be found at Target in the baby section. Good luck to you... I know how difficult this can be.
