# ECZEMA CREAM FOR TODDLER



## new2candles (Mar 11, 2010)

Hey, newbie here!  I am looking for a recipe to make eczema cream for my three year old.  She is scratching herself raw despite the salve the dr prescribed.  Please help me to help her...  Any recipes or formulas would be great.  Thanks so much

 8)  8)  8)  8)


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## ChrissyB (Mar 11, 2010)

Hmm I don't know. I'd be wary of anything with any fragrance oils or essential oils as that can exacerbate a condition like excema.
I would try just plain shea butter.


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## Lindy (Mar 11, 2010)

If you make a body butter with Shea, Mango, Cocoa Butters plus Lanolin (unless she is allergic) and then add some soft oils along with a little corn starch you'll find it works nicely in relieving the symptoms.  DO NOT use EO's or FO's on a child that young.....


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## Hazel (Mar 11, 2010)

I've heard evening primrose oil and avocado oil is helpful for some people.


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## carebear (Mar 11, 2010)

She could be allergic to just about anything.  Especially if her skin is raw.

I'd go very simple - some nice olive oil, perhaps.  and of course no commercial soap - or maybe no soap at all.  but absolutley no commercial soap.

For her laundry, find a brand like All that has no enzymes in it.  My kids are allergic to Ttide and Whisk.

Oh - and straight shea butter made my son itch like MAD.  Everyone is so different.  That's why I said some straight olive oil.


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## Healinya (Mar 11, 2010)

I'm sure you have heard this already from your doctor but I'm saying it anyway lol... It could be a food allergy. Jojoba is the closest to our skin's sebum, other plain oils like mentioned could be fine, also. It's a guessing game at first.

In addition to Carebears opinion on the laundry detergent - I agree completely and also suggest washing her clothes seperate from the families for now.

Good luck


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## lauramw71 (Mar 11, 2010)

My 9 year old has exzema on his neck and behind his ears.  I got the lotion with evening primrose oil from wsp.  I didn't scent it, and have been putting it there and it's REALLY helping!  It's been about 4 days of using it now and his neck is really clearing up.  That part of his skin wasn't bad, it was darker than the rest of him and kind of scaly looking.  (He said all his friends kept asking him why he was always dirty    ).  Behind his ears has made some improvement, but not as much as his neck.  You might want to try that?

Hope that helps!


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## mandolyn (Mar 13, 2010)

A co-worker's grandbaby had the same problem. They bought my unscented, non-colored goat's milk soap & it cleared up.


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## ChrissyB (Mar 13, 2010)

Carebear, I've heard that people that are allergic to latex are allergic to shea butter also. Is that the same for your son? I know he has nut allergies, so is shea considered a nut?
I'm sorry if I gave out any misinformation, I was just thinking the gentlest product I know.
I use straight shea butter as a hand balm and any cuts or grazes that I have heal up very quickly.
But I am not allergic.


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## Hazel (Mar 13, 2010)

I know this comment was directed at carebear but I have a mild allergy to latex. Shea has some natural latex in it and if people are sensitive to latex it is possible for them to have a reaction.

From personal experience, I can use shea butter. However, if I forget and use shea butter and then put on latex gloves, the reaction is much worse and I end up with an itchy and stinging rash. 

It really depends on your sensitivity. I've switched over to vinyl gloves and now I don't have any problems.


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## carebear (Mar 14, 2010)

Chrissy, I don't think that was misinformation.  My sister uses straight shea on her daughter's legs without incident - I guess it's yet another instance of "everyone is different"!

No, he's not allergic to latex, nor to shea it seems as we use it in blends.  It might be the sticky nature of shea that he has a problems with - I'm not really sure.  

I love straight shea on hands.  In fact if any of you are ever fortunate enough to follow in my footsteps and wash your hands with lye heavy soap, a good layer of shea will fix you up in record time.  Also great for your nose when you have that rawness from a cold (yes, go right inside with the stuff - it's also got anti-inflammatory properties that might reduce congestion).  I could go on and on.  But I digress.  So we don't NOT use shea, just not straight on patches of eczema.

Is shea considered a nut?  Gee I don't know.  Frankly the whole nut thing confuses me.  he's allergic to 3 of the 9 they tested him for so we just avoid all nuts (all "normal" tree nuts).  And since his sister is also allergic to 3 kinds some of which are different I just cannot keep them safe.


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## ChrissyB (Mar 14, 2010)

Geez that must be so hard. Just about everything in the supermarket has "processed with or near nuts" on it's label.I can't imagine how batty that must drive you.
I have a friend and her son is allergic to peanuts but can eat nutella (which is made from hazelnuts), that's weird isn't it?
I think of shea as coming from a nut, but I guess it's a different type of nut.
It's enought to drive you nuts!!


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## carebear (Mar 15, 2010)

girl, you clearly ARE nuts


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## Healinya (Mar 15, 2010)

You must go through a lot of unused epipens, huh? That would drive me nuts lol.


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## Deb (Mar 15, 2010)

just as a random one to throw in...excema is often related to gluten sensitivity and celiac. Might be worth keeping in mind (but is an utter pain in the hinney to test)


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## Lindy (Mar 16, 2010)

I don't know if Shea is a nut, but Mango is.  If you're allergic to Cashews then you are likely to be allergic to Mango as it's in the same family....


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## carebear (Mar 16, 2010)

I wish I could remember which nuts my kids are allergic to.  Probably not cashews since mangos are not an issue for any of us.

When they were little I'd give them fresh mangoes while sitting in the tub!


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## Lindy (Mar 16, 2010)

How fun!  Allergies are so strange - my Mom has a really bad allergy to Latex, but she is fine with Shea.....


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## CravingCrafty (Mar 16, 2010)

*Eczema*

I have a 2 year old that has had BAD eczema since she was born. It is a chore to keep it to a minimum! She uses a unscented lotion that I made with Shea (it does not bother her) and no preservatives. I have to keep it in the fridge and warm it up with my hands before I apply. Using this seems to keep it reduces down by at least 60%. Really what works the best is if she breaks out in a really bad case of it, usually through the coldest and dryest months. I make her a oatmeal bath. This REALLY REALLY helps. All I do is take regular oats and put them in a food processor. Grind Grind Grind........Grind a little more and then run it through a sieve. Kind of like sifting flour. What you will have left is a really fine powder. It will be similar to Aveeno Oatmeal Bath if you have ever purchased it you will remember how crazy expensive it is. but this one has nothing but oatmeal no preservatives. Anyhow let her soak in a bath with that in it. Dont use soap on her those nights. That should help a lot!!!!!!!!!! I look forward to hearing the outcome!  :wink:


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## ChrissyB (Mar 17, 2010)

To me, a mango is the taste of summer~
There is nothing better than sitting there eating a mango with the juice dripping down your arm and on your chin. Carebear I can see why you'd give it to the kids while in the tub!! They are soooo messy but so worth it!


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## madpiano (Mar 18, 2010)

the trouble is, Ecxzema is kind of a range of things and everyone is different. Some is stress related, it could be an allergy to something eaten, something in the air or something in the washing powder. It could be just dry skin, it coud be an infection it could be fungal. I have a feeling that docs like to classify any itchy skin reaction as exczema and be done with it, especially in the under 5s. 

I know what helped my daughter, but it may not work on your kids at all. My daughter's exczema got worse, every time we used any form of heavy oils or anything oily actually, no matter if animal, vegetable or mineral oil based. Even oil baths were driving her nuts and made her condition worse. We used a combination of Aloe Gel and anti-histamines (in stick and tablet form) and it cleared up. 

She was fine with most washing powders (with or without enzymes, there was never a difference), just one or two made her itch, I guess allergic to the perfume-combo. Milk, Wheat, Lanolin all made no difference, she doesn't like nuts, so never tried them. Her condition is related to Hayfever though. During the worst Hayfever Months she still breaks out in Exczema, even though she has otherwise outgrown it and doesn't even have dry skin. She gets it in all creases (knees, ellbows, neck etc). It lasts about 3 weeks and then she is fine again for the rest of the year. Doc still refuses to do a pollen test as apparently thats impossible....She doesn't have hayfever so we just buy over the counter anti histamines and are done with it...

But again, no idea if any of that is useful for your child. They could be reacting to something completely different and they may outgrow it one day or it could get worse during puberty...weird stuff this exczema...


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## alib (Oct 5, 2010)

I found a recipe for an eczema cream the other day, which I had planned to make & try on my son (he's 16mths), but it had rosemary & teatree essential oils in it. But now having read the above posts I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't, at least one post (sorry I can't remember who it was by) said not to use essential oils on children as young as three.
I'm new to this so please excuse my ignorance, but why? I knew that some oils are not safe for certain people, during pregnancy etc, but wasn't aware that they shouldn't be used on little kids at all, at what age is it ok to use them on kids?


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## lulubelle (Oct 5, 2010)

Does anyone have experience with neem oil?  I've never used it, but I've recently been doing some reading on it & I'm pretty sure it is supposed to be wonderful for many skin conditions including eczema....found this info on it...don't know how reliable the info is but it might be worth looking into 

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-eczema.html


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