Itches, Redness and Discomfort: How does your little one deal with Eczema?

Itches, Redness and Discomfort: How does your little one deal with Eczema?

Got a baby in the house? Sure, time runs by when you have a cutie pie like that in the house! For me, I have one adorable niece and she is the best thing I have seen in my life.

I am talking about my dear Laura- she is my elder sis’s girl. So adorable, and truly a God sent fairy in all senses. My sis and her hubby tried for many years before Laura joined their family. Since she is the first entry of children into both families- she is truly special for all.

I never used to find any serious problems with looking after her. Just the due date, both me and my sister, went constantly browsing  through parenting articles, taking ideas and advice from experienced parents on how it is to be a new mom and of course- a new aunt (that’s me!)

Soon she was born and was small, cuddly and I could literally admire this beauty the whole day!

Everything was fine, until we began to notice small changes in her body when she was about 6 months old. Her skin was problematic in nature.  It used to be red at time, thin layers of skin used to flake off in between and to top it all- she used to find it uncomfortable.

It used to itch! We wondered what that was about. As usual, at first, we thought maybe some new soap, or clothes or maybe some seasonal allergy may have come by. But no, these spurts of skin problems used to come and go within a span of two months.

It didn’t look good and so by the time she was 8 months, we decided to pay a visit to the doc. He took one look at her and commented, ‘That’s eczema’.

Now, this was one subject we were not aware of – as none of us had such skin problems.  So naturally, we never knew the severity of this. What it was like, how it felt, how the person would feel, what problems it would cause- were a complete question mark to us!

Anyways, the doc told us not to worry and do a few things:

Dealing with Baby Eczema

Getting to know the Skin

This means when does the skin problem get triggered? It explained it could with a change in food, or dress, or some internal body problem. We still had to find that out. So, watch over her is the basic advice!

Reduce the itch

When she was small, she did not understand how to touch and feel her own body, but once she could sit upright and when the itching mode is on- she was always busy in scratching her skin. If we failed to watch over, there were days- it would hurt her and bleed a bit.

Soothe the skin

When the doc first told us to soothe her skin, we were puzzled. How do you do that? We tried baby lotions, but seriously that never helped. He always prescribed natural almond oil massage and also to apply aloe vera gel before getting out of the house.

Avoid the triggers:  

This was one thing he stressed upon.  We went about reading various materials and understood that dryness of the skin was one factor for triggering the eczema within. So, he advised to avoid the sun as much as possible- especially the beach. If we did have to go, then keeping the child well covered was the next option.

Never knew it could be Food!

This seemed to be one of the main culprits in eczema. Our lil girl was fond of milk, cheese, omelets and chocolates, yes; we used to give in to her gastronomical joys. Little did we know, that they used to aggravate the situation.

Our little Laura used to have stomach upsets whenever we bought her readymade milkshakes and we thought that it was the store bought effect! But, our guess was all wrong!

Even when I made milkshakes at home, the case remained the same. And, as usual, our trips to the doctor became almost a daily affair. Oh those days, it was awful.

Those Dreadful Days

We were sure that we may have done something wrong that could have triggered another bout of itchiness.

Plus, seriously to watch lil Laura itch away was a painful sight.  She used to get moody and hated when we dressed her up with full sleeves and full pants, so that she would not hurt herself.

Confronting Child Eczema the Right Way

Bath Time:

We only used lukewarm water with a little baking soda to wash her. No more soap unless she was really messed up. Also, a very light soap, not heavily scented at all was a part of her bath time.

Food:

Kept away from gluten, all dairy products, and added in more fruits mashes and vegetable soups into her diet. Sodium was kept minimal and so was the case of sugar. If she did need a little sweet, it would a hint of honey in her oatmeal waffles.

Plus, we introduced fish oils into her daily supplements and it did do good for her skin, as they are rich in Vitamin E.

Salve:

We always made sure to keep her covered and apply aloe vera gel salves whenever possible. Also, they were the types that would not wash away when it mingled with water, or when she would sweat.

So, that is about it and we followed all this religiously. Within a time period of 3 years, she was completely free from itches and eczema, but yeah an occasional indulgence of ice creams or cakes- did do the bad trick.

But since she is much older now, she understands that she should not itch and tells us. Then we do take care of the situation in the right manner.

How do you handle such sudden bouts of eczema? Share it with me, and we could all provide relief to our children.