Treat Baby Eczema

Time Magazine published an article that states that “adding a small amount of household bleach to a child’s bathwater can dramatically reduce the itching, rashes and discomfort caused by eczema.” Wow… who would have known that the very thing we wash our dirty whites in can help bring your child some much needed relief from eczema. But not only does it help with baby eczema, it can also help with preventing staph infections due to the strong bactericidal properties.

Warning! Remember to be careful with Bleach around your young ones because most bleaches are hazardous if ingested or inhaled. Also consult your child pediatrician before attemping to treat your child’s eczema with any form of eczema treatments.

I was truly skeptical of this bleach bath treatment at first but the more I researched on the topic, the more credible the claims came to be.  First of all these studies were performed on patients with moderate to extreme cases of eczema. The range of these patient were from 6 months to 17 years of age. At the end of these studies, scientist were able to come up with a simple basic plan that would allow patients with moderate to extreme case of eczema to take advantage of bleach baths. Here is a plan as follows:

• Bleach Bath should be taken twice a week.
• Add 1/2 cup of bleach for every 40 gallons (U.S) of water.
• Immerse limbs and torsos, leaving the neck and head above water, for five to 10 minutes. Do not swallow the bath water!
• Pat body dry. Do not rub yourself dry due to the risk of scatching open sores which can lead to nasty infections.
• Apply a heavy coat of moisturizer on to skin.

Very simple plan that can produce very effect results.

Now if you are into more natural treatments as I am, a known and common substitute for bleach is lemon. You can find a list of using lemon as an alternative here.

Referenced Time Article: Study: Baths with Bleach Help Kids’ Eczema

I strongly suggest that if any parent is contemplating about allowing your child to use protopic ointment to treat their baby eczema, Please Consider The Risk!

First off this protopic ointment was not created for children under the age of 2. Secondly, to even consider using this eczema cream you have had to try almost all the available eczema treatment on the market because Protopic Ointment and its competitor Elidel Cream are considered the very last treatment you should try when all other treatments have failed. There is good reasoning behind this. Let considered the side effects:

- Viral infections: Protopic Ointment may increase the chance of getting chicken pox, shingles, skin warts, or other viral infections.

- Skin irritation: Protopic Ointment’s most common side effects are stinging, soreness, a burning feeling, or itching of the skin where you apply the ointment.

- Headache and flu-like symptoms.

- Increased chance of developing skin cancer and lymphoma.

Just looking at the last possible side effect will tell you why Protopic Ointment should be considered the last choice for eczema treatment. Protopic ointment is another form of treatment that puts you and your child’s health as risk for temporary relief. I believe this is another reason why the FDA puts its highest black box warning on this product. And like its counterpart, Elidel Cream, there are still unknown long term effects for using Protopic Ointment.

But I truly believe parents shouldn’t get this far down the eczema treatment line. There are more cases and more research that comes out and points to more natural treatments to treat baby eczema. For starters, read my post about moisturizing your babies skin with the correct moisturizer here.

Before using the ever so popular Elidel Cream to treat your child’s eczema, be sure to educate yourself on what it is and what are some of the side effects of using it. So here is a quick run down…

First off, Elidel Cream is a very popular and widely used prescription cream for people above the age of 2 for treating mild to moderate cases of eczema. The Elidel Cream is classified as an immunomodulator which suppresses the body’s immune system to treat eczema symptoms such as itchiness, redness and cracked skin.

Elidel is said to be steroid-free and has many other benefits such as:
-Can be applied anywhere on the skin-including the face, neck, and around the eyes.
-Doesn’t cause thinning of the skin, stretch marks, skin discolorationk and spider veins.
-Odor-free, non greasy cream that is the skin can absorb quickly and easily.

These are definitely great benefits but there are always two side to every prescription. In 2006 the FDA (Food and Drug Adminstrations) gave the Elidel Cream its highest and strongest warning, the big bad black box warning. A Black Box Warning issued by the FDA usually indicates that the perscribe drug carriess a significant risk of serious or even life-threating effects.

To start off here is a list of side effects Elidel list on there own website:
- warmth or burning when applied
- headaches
- sore throat and cough
- viral skin infections.

Now Here is a short list of possible side effects that Elidel Cream presents that may have earned it The Black Box Label.
- Skin cancer
- lymphoma
- long term safely is unknown.

There are mixed reviews on Elidel Cream and I’m certainly not a parent who is willing to risk my child’s health on  these side effects. I encourage parents to educate themselves on alternative ways of treatment as doctors and researchers say that Elidel Cream should be a very last option of treating baby ezema.

When I discovered that I was going to become a parent, I did what a lot of first time mothers do at the local grocery or book store, which is buy some parenting books and magazines. The very first parenting magazine I’ve read was, Parenting Magazine. I have to give them credit that they do offer a lot of great articles that have helped me and possibly millions of other first time mothers tackle some of the uncertainty of having your first child. They continue to be leaders in their industry but I do have some uncertainty on how long can they last at the top.

This uncertainty of mine appeared when I picked up the latest parenting magazine to see what were the latest parenting trends or hot topics. First off, one of they hottest trends and topics is what I like to call the Natural Movement aka “Going Green”. Due to a surging number of baby product recalls due to hazardous ingredients found in them, the idea go going green has picked up even more steam. When I opened up thr current parenting magazine issue, all I found was the same articles about dealing with divorce, stress, improving your sex life, looking hot, and other interesting subject, but nothing on the red hot going green or buying natural baby products movement. Granted they did have an issues in the past where they featured the “going green” concept. So I decided to visit there website to see if they had some useful articles about these hot topic and in particular natural treatments for baby eczema. And to my surprise, they had very little. But what they did have was a great article about treating your child’s eczema which I’ve found to be very informative. You can very this article here.

I haven’t lost all faith in Parenting Magazine, but I am of disappointed to see them publish some of same content each month.

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Dry skin is very common in baby eczema and is the leading cause for itchiness. This itchiness leads to scratching, which leads to open sores, which then can lead to nasty infections. I can speak from experience that you do

not want your child to get a skin infection. It can be one of the most scariest, heart wrenching, and stressful experience you and your child can go through. Just the thought of seeing your child deal with the pain and the uncertainly of whether they can recover from this conditions should bring chills to your body.

This situation can be prevented by simply by keeping your baby’s skin moisturized. Using just moisturizing lotions may not be suffice to keep their skin adequately hydrated. Baby creams or ointments that help keep the skin lubricated may be needed instead. Creams and ointments are more dense than lotions and create a lubricating layer over the skin, thus preventing the loss of moisture. My child’s skin reacted much better with natural

creams than it did with the manufacture popular creams. I’ve also learned that moisturizing my child’s skin after a bath was the best time to apply.

There are a multitude of great creams available on the market. I personally prefer the California Baby Line.

But if you don’t, just be sure you follow my recommendations on selecting a baby cream. Also reread my post about the dangerous ingredients found in baby products.

Lastly, in order for this treatment to work, you should moisturize your child’s skin every day and apply it all over the body for maximum effect. Please refrain from over applying the cream. It can get messy and you can end up having baby cream or ointment stains all over your furniture.

Should you have any question please feel free to leave me a comment or even better, talk to your child’s pediatrician. Happy Parenting!

To continue with the Video series, here is a video about keeping track of your baby’s diet. Enjoy!

I created this short insightful video to explain a useful tip to treating your baby’s eczema. I really love the song track on this video. Enjoy!

Moisturizing you baby’s skin is probably the most important step in combating the effects of eczema. Moisturizing helps heal cracked and dry skin, helps prevent itching which can lead to scratching and infection, and lastly it can give the needed vitamins damaged skin needs to heal itself. Please also be aware that not all moisturizers are created equal. Different moisturizers have different benefits. Find the best one that suit your child’s skin. I strongly suggest you look into the various natural moisturizers that are available. Please consult your doctor or child’s pediatrician before using any type of moisturizers to treat baby eczema.

And yes I do recommend using the California Baby Line because it has worked for my child’s skin. If you are interested in purchasing California Baby Products, Click on my affiliate link…. California Baby Cream

Beating a bad case of baby eczema is more than just beating the itching and irritation of the skin. Its also about saving your child from emotional distress and building their confidence. From my experience I have been teased for having some type of “weird looking” rash on my arms when I was a child. And while the statement of “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me” has some merit too it, I still felt the sting and pain of the words that these kids sang about my arm. Some may argue that this type of verbal abuse made me stronger or help me develop “tough skin” but in essence it made me more self conscious of myself and promoted the idea that I wasn’t pretty enough for people to like me. As an adult I can now look back and laugh at the situation, but as a child, I thought I was cursed with this baby eczema disease and wanted to clam up and hide. As a parent, I don’t want my child to experience this pain. I fully understand that I can’t protect my child from every verbal harassment, but I now know how I can help her with minimize the stinging effect from the harsh words she may receive from other kids about her eczema.

The first step a parent should take is focusing on find a treatment that provides maximum relief. When there is less itch, there is less irritation and less likely the appearance of your child’s eczema will get worst.

When your child becomes more aware of their condition, do your best on educating them on what baby eczema is. You don’t have to get real scientific with them, but do tell them that it’s not contagious and that a lot of other kids have it. It is said about 10 – 25% of children have this skin condition, so they are not alone.

My last advise is not to make having eczema a big deal. I’ve seen and heard many parents allow their child’s eczema run their lives. These parents would limit their children’s activity or constantly use it as an excuse to keep their children from playing with other kids, swimming in pools, or playing on a play ground set. I know that some of these parents are looking out for the health of their child, but they are also robbing them of life experiences and turning their child’s eczema into a life limiting crutch.

This video is probably the most informative video I have seen on the topic of babies with eczema. It truly reminded me of my experience of taking my child to a health professional. Enjoy!