I have seen quite a few bloggers asking for recommendations on how to help their kids eczema. I have been there. My son had eczema flare ups from infancy. He is now 8 and he hasn’t had a flare up in a few years. We used a combination of cream and diet to get to this place where eczema isn’t an ongoing issue. These are the best ways to combat Eczema.
Best Ways to Combat Eczema
The first time our son was diagnosed with eczema we got the perscription cream. It is without a doubt the quickest way to heal an eczema flare up. The issue is you don’t want to be continually using steroids it as it thins the skin. When he was 6 months to a year the flare ups seemed to be on his face.
When my son was in preschool and kindergarten he started to have flareups again. He hadn’t really had any issues in the toddler stage, but now that he was at school it was an issue again. When he was in school he went through a faze of having flareups on his wrists. He had flare ups on his arms and shoulders too. We really didn’t want to do the prescription cream thing again but wanted to tackle the issue at the source. Our naturopath suggested the following dietary changes.
Diet changes for Eczema
The two things we tried to limit were sugar and cow milk products. We switched to goat milk which he likes and eliminated yogurt. Fruit bottom yogurt seemed to cause flare ups. Every time we thought we had it beat and let him have some again a week later we would see eczema flare up. So we don’t have yogurt in the house anymore. We don’t seem to have the same issue if we use cow milk for cereal but we try to get goat milk back in the house as soon as possible. Many people are more strict about diet for their kids. We found that eliminating dairy and sugary yogurts made the biggest difference for us.
Best Creams for Eczema
If we did have to deal with an eczema flare up because we were weak on the yogurt front or because he was playing in the water table at school, we slapped on the cream.
We tried so many different creams. The colloidal oatmeal, thick body butters and only one came out working as good as the prescription stuff. Polysporin Eczema cream was the one that always worked to cure flare ups. It is the one I recommend over and over as a no fail option. For day we would put a reasonable amount on the dry patches but at night we just slathered it on thick.
First Air Beauty Ultra Repair cream is another option that works well on dry winter skin. I would use this in conjunction with the Polysporin Eczema cream. It absorbs quickly so great for day time application.
Weleda Skin food is something I just started trying out. It is ridiculously moisturizing. It is thick and takes time to soak in. It can leave you feeling a bit greasy until it is fully absorbed. I would recommend this for night time application. There is a Skin Food light. The lighter version is easier to rub in as it is more of a lotion and not as thick. But it still leaves hands a bit greasy until it is fully absorbed. We haven’t tried the skin food line for eczema as my son hasn’t had a flare up in a long time but considering how moisturizing it is (it did wonders for my heels) I wouldn’t hesitate using it liberally. Skin food has Wild Pansy as one of its ingredients which is used to treat acne, impetigo and eczema. Even Caroline Hirons recommends it so you know it is good.
Read More: Best Cream for winter skin
We are lucky that we haven’t had to deal with an eczema flare up in quite a while. But I feel confident that if we did have to deal with eczema again that we have the best ways to combat eczema quickly and effectively.