6 Natural Remedies for Childhood Eczema

6 Natural Remedies for Childhood Eczema

​Eczema and other itchy, crusty rashes can make a kid’s life pretty miserable. It’s hard to watch your little one always scratching, especially if their skin gets so bad that it cracks and bleeds, or gets red and irritated with infection.

​Often a pediatric dermatologist will have little to offer parents other than a topical steroid cream such as hydrocortisone. This may stop a flare up in the moment, but it doesn't fix the root cause of the issue.

​Many parents get tired of the cycle of eczema flares, topical steroid creams, symptom relief, then right back into another flare-up, and worry about how topical steroids will affect their children in the long run.

Ending the cycle of eczema flares requires taking a look at what may be causing the rash to break out in the first place, in addition to offering relief for symptoms in the moment. Fortunately, naturopathic medicine can offer a great deal of help for children dealing with this itchy, painful condition.

---

1. Identify food allergies

Eczema and many other skin conditions in kids are often the result of an allergy to a food. To really get rid of the rashes, you have to identify the cause and get rid of it. Some common triggers for atopic dermatitis include gluten, dairy, corn, soy, egg. But some kids can also be allergic to odd foods - cashews or mangos, for example (which both happen to be in the same family as poison oak!). 

There are many ways to identify a food allergy: observation and elimination, a specific elimination diet, or food allergy testing. A qualified practitioner with experience in childhood food allergies can help you determine what foods to eliminate and order and interpret labs.

2. Heal a leaky gut

Leaky gut and food allergies often go hand in hand. While the irritation and inflammation triggered by a food allergy can lead to leaky gut, leaky gut can also lead to an increased number of food sensitivities. It’s important that you have your child assessed for this complex issue by a competent practitioner experienced in childhood digestive issues.

3. Add in a high-quality probiotic

In a 2001 study, infants and toddlers that were supplemented with lactobacillus probiotics from birth through age two had a 50% reduction in their rate of eczema compared to a control group. This effect was especially seen in children who were delivered by c-section, a procedure that leads to decreased gut colonization in newborns (babies that are delivered vaginally get exposed to lots of beneficial bacteria during the birthing process). Probiotics may be given alone, but should be used as part of an overall program of balancing your child’s gut health and immune response.

4. An anti - inflammatory diet

This is a great overall approach to decreasing the severity and intensity of eczema flares. An anti-inflammatory diet generally emphasizes lots of fresh organic fruits and vegetables, grass-fed meat, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats such as coconut and olive oil. At the same time the anti-inflammatory diet reduces or eliminates sugar, grains, fried food, and dairy products.

Changes such as these can have a huge effect on your child’s health - not just by significantly improving their nutritional status, but also by reducing the overall tendency of their immune system to over-react to foods and environmental allergens. The anti-inflammatory diet is very soothing and supporting to the hyper-sensitive kid!

---

5. Avoid over washing

Excessively hot bathing, too-frequent bathing, and excessive washing with soap can all dry out the skin and exacerbate an eczema rash. You can reduce this effect by bathing and washing with soap just once per day (other than the hands, of course) and keeping the temperature of bath or shower water comfortably warm, but not too hot.

6. Offer topical relief

All these changes in diet and lifestyle can sometimes take weeks or even months to take their full effect. What can you do to help your child feel better in the mean time?

   - Oatmeal bath: Oatmeal is naturally soothing and anti-itch. To create an oatmeal bath, place ground oatmeal in a clean sock or cheese cloth and place under running water as you fill a bath and let your child soak for 20-30 minutes.
    - Apple cider vinegar: This can be applied to a cotton ball and gently dabbed over the affected areas for mild itch relief.

In addition there are many medicinal herbs that can both get rid of bacterial infection in broken rashy skin and in speed up the skin's healing process. These herbs can be made into salves or infused into oils and applied directly to eczema patches. 

While it can be a tricky condition to treat, there are many ways that a holistic doctor or nutritionist can help your child’s eczema symptoms, and help you break the steroid cycle. For further information check out my article on leaky gut here.