Natural emollient for toddler

[Purpledoggy]

My wee boy has eczema, as do I, great family trait. His has been getting worse the last few weeks so we had a consult with the practice nurse, who advised using more emollient, mainly for bath time but also moisturising. She was pretty meh about which one ie wasn’t fussed which, and prescribed a paraffin-heavy one. I know I don’t get on at all with that sort of thing, my skin definitely prefers more natural products, so I am looking for an all-natural or mostly natural emollient product to try with him as well. I saw a body and bath oil by Balmonds, not technically emollient but looks mainly oil based. Any other suggestions for natural fragrance free emollient? We already use childs farm sensitive fragrance free moisturiser, which he gets on great with as a regular moisturiser, so it’s more a big guns type thing for when he has a flare up. I know individual things like shea and coconut people use but wondered about a blend xx

[Abs1403]

We use Aveno sensitive baby moisturiser after the bath and this works a treat for keeping our little boys excema at bay. X

[Twiglet2]

we used Aveno too generally but my cousin recommended this one too me for flare ups as her little one was quite bad and in and out of hospital and it has really helped. Our GP said not to use any of the creams or Vaseline’s in the hot weather as it can ‘trap’ sweat etc in and actually make it worse and that’s better for winter and just the emollients (but you probs already know that sorry!) … we did end up with a steriod on one patch but I had to push hard for it as GP was reluctant but it worked a dream and cleared the worst of it there permanently xx

50/50

[Purpledoggy in reply to Twiglet2]

We do have some steroid to use for now as he's quite itchy in places. I have something that's basically the same as your pic but I'm just not keen on paraffin - maybe he'll be fine with it but the flammability also makes me nervous and I'm not sure the nursery will want to use it there! xx

[Purpledoggy in reply to Twiglet2]

Also that is interesting about not using creams in hot weather - I wonder why they trap sweat but the emollients don't? I have also wondered if the hot weather has made him worse over the last week or two. xx

[Twiglet2 in reply to Purpledoggy]

yeah the hot weather is a blessing and a curse can wear little loose clothing bit the heat defo made it worse, when we were abroad is when we needed the steroid most as it got pretty bad. Gosh I didnt even consider ‘flammability’ and only sent the steroid and aveeno to nursery so I’m not sure. It did work a treat though and we only use it for flare ups (but I’m off to make sure it’s stored somewhere cool and dry now 😂). A few people have said about the creams trapping the sweat and making it worse in heat (my cousins doctor our health visitor and our GP) and said use emollients instead then but I’ve no idea why sorry o

[Purpledoggy in reply to Twiglet2]

I think the flammability issue is more when it dries on clothing as it seems to concentrate it and the clothing probably acts as a wick. Xx

[Solly-44]

My son’s eczema has largely cleared up now but I used to make him one out of Shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax. It’s greasy so can be used as an emollient and is really easy to make - he got on well with that if DIY is something you’re open to! Ultimately it was switching to a fragrance free washing detergent that cleared it up for us.

[Purpledoggy in reply to Solly-44]

I was seriously considering making my own so this is helpful! Do you have a recipe/proportions you used? Also which washing detergent do you use? We use Fairy as I am not good with biological washing stuff but I do wonder whether he might be sensitive to it based on the distribution of his flare up xx

[Solly-44 in reply to Purpledoggy]

boots.com/boots-sensitive-s... I use this one for his clothes. It’s not so good at removing stains but has been great for his skin.

Let me see if I can dig out the ratio I was using for the cream, it’s been a while since I made some!

[Lydialego123]

try epimax oat cream, the nurse prescribed it for my son but I buy it now and it’s really helped my sons eczema clear up x

[Movie3]

So both children have sensitive scalp and skin. Aveno was too harsh for mine. We use Oilatum Junior Bath Additive and their junior head to toe wash. My older little one can now use baby farm shampoo and conditioner, but still use oilatum wash. If it works for you. Keep an eye when there go on sale, as can be pricey. With both I have to space out baths and hair washes, every night would be too much for their skin. It was about finding right balance, too much dried their skin, too little also worsened their scalp. Also found sudocrem also helped with problem areas like dribble. There oilatum moisturising worked well for older child, not as effective as sudocrem on the younger. My younger child Is particular bad with eczema. With suncream Ultrasun helps with sensitive skin, very sensitive formula. From a family that reacts to suncream and makes the dry skin worse. Although opt from their normal 50 spf, just for ease. The mineral is good, but hard to apply as so thick. Again stock up in sale time, has a two year shelf life, if it works. Just natural Aloe vera for after sun. As some else has mentioned non bio washing tablets, use persil or fairy. I react to the strong smelling. Also aim for cotton rich clothing. Good luck, appreciate its hard until you find something that works for you.

[Sevy571]

We use Aveeno Dermexa which helps specifically with with eczema. Store bought I mean over the counter, not 100% natural but maybe worth trying for you!

[Purpledoggy]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I found another product from Balmonds, called skin salvation, that was the kind of thing I was looking for but it helps to have some others on the maybe list. I suspect the heat is doing him no favours but so far it’s much better with the hydrocortisone and Epimax. Will give the 2 Balmonds things a try once patch tested and see how we get on xx

[feyz]

We recently tried balmonds, it really works for my little one! She has quite bad flare- ups and aveeno, child farm, zero, vaseline, homemade coconut and Shea butter, none of them helped! Now her skin is soft - although she had another flare-up as she ate some strawberries

[Purpledoggy in reply to feyz]

Do you use the bath/body oil, or skin salvation, or something else? Definitely trying them on my crazy dry sensitive skin too! Xx

[feyz in reply to Purpledoggy]

Skin salvation so far - I also have some body wash, but haven't tried that yet.

[Jogsandwalks]

For my boys eczema, it was a long process but this is what works for him now. Basic aqueous cream from Sainsbury's for bath time. No fragrances or 'sensitive' body washes like Child's Farm or whatever. Just off the shelf aqueous cream to wash with.

Coconut oil, shea butter and paraffin heavy emollient cream was far too heavy and gave flare ups. Definite no, no with any of those.

QV cream was on offer at the chemist near me so I tried it out of desperation. It works! The doctor gave cetraben, zero base, diprobase and all other crap emollient creams. Thank goodness for the offer otherwise I wouldn't have thought to try QV Cream. But we stick with that as a moisturiser.

Clean bottled water, no limescale filled tap water to cleanse from within. Normal Sainsbury's/Aldi mineral water is fine.

Last thing is Natures Aid baby vitamins from H&B to boost health from within.

All these things - and now my son is eczema free.

Only very rarely used to use steroids for major flare ups but, he hasn't had many flare ups anymore.

[Hidden]

Hi there, the chain bridge honey farm make lots of natural fragrance free products that I have found gentle & useful as an alternative. Yet to find a single wonder product for myself & my little one but no nasty chemicals etc in these. The honey is delicious too for the adults🤣.

[Purpledoggy in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, I do like honey products! xx