Note from Nicole: My daughter suffers from eczema and had a horrible time with it when she was younger (you can see it on her poor little body in the picture I’ve included)  I think this information from Brandy is wonderful and hope it helps you as well!

It seems everyone knows someone who has a child with eczema these days. Several reports released by the BBC cite an increased use of detergents and baby wipes as cause for a rise in eczema in England. Sticking with England for a moment, between 1950 and 2002, rates of eczema in children have more than tripled – from less than 5% of children suffering from eczema in 1950 to 20% of children suffering from eczema in 2002. Rates of prescriptions for eczema in England have also drastically increased in just a 5 year period between 2000 and 2005.

In the US, approximately 1 in every 18 individuals suffer from eczema, and 10.7% of children who visited doctors in 2003 were diagnosed with eczema.

Like so many skin conditions for which there is seemingly no cause and no cure, eczema is devastating and demoralizing, and the magnitude of this devastation amplified when it strikes our children.
So, what causes eczema? And, more importantly, what can you do if your child suffers from it?

There’s no single, universally agreed upon cause of eczema. This fact places it in the same category as rosacea, acne, psoriasis, and a number of other skin and general health afflictions. Likewise, there’s no cure all though a variety of remedies have offered relief to many suffering from this frustrating and painful condition.

Several studies link harsh detergents (sodium lauryl sulfate aka SLS, sodium laureth sulfate aka SLES, etc.) with eczema5. SLS and several other detergents are very harsh. Detergents are defatting agents by nature stripping the skin of fats and oils, which are necessary for maintaining healthy skin.

For babies and children, especially, I recommend non-detergent washes, emollient washes, or natural soap (aka lye soap that’s made right). My favorite from this list is natural soap, and the company I recommend is B & GiGi Soap Company. Bobbi Silacci, owner of B & GiGi Soap Company started making soaps after her daughter, Gianna, developed eczema. The soap alone helped Gianna drastically, decreasing the duration of her bouts with eczema and decreasing the severity of her attacks.

Regardless of which company you choose to purchase natural soaps from, you want to look for a few key things:

1) The soap should be superfatted – this means that additional oils or butters beyond what are saponified during the soap making process have been added – these additional oils and butters provide emolliency to the soap and help restore and maintain the natural barrier function of the skin, which is key for retaining moisture in the skin and prevents defatting and stripping the skin – if it doesn’t say, contact the company, they will be able to tell you which of their soaps are superfatted.

2) If Coconut Oil is an ingredient, you also want to see ingredients such as shea butter, cocoa butter, or palm oil – all of these, due to the high degree of saturation, aid in making a hard bar of soap with good lather – coconut oil when used alone to provide hardness and lather, can be drying.

3) Olive Oil, Honey, Oats – Oats are often mentioned in treating eczema (further discussion below), honey is a humectant, and aids in retaining moisture in the skin, and olive oil prevents trans epidermal water loss (TEWL) from the skin – other oils may work just as well, and I’d recommend experimentation to determine which soaps work best for your child – just be careful as allergies to sesame oil, jojoba, shea butter, avocado oil and several other oils may actually promote irritation rather than soothe it.

4) Fragrance – in some cases, fragrance can prompt irritation – if you know this is the case with your child, or if you don’t want to take the chance, talk with the soap company you are interested in purchasing from – most smaller companies will custom make batches without any added fragrance. A good company to contact if you can’t find one on your own is Raindrop Retreat . While I can’t speak for use of their soaps on people with eczema, I personally love their soaps, and the soaps are unfragranced.

In addition to the avoidance of harsh detergents, there are also other things you can do to treat and prevent eczema. Ceramides, important molecules in cell membranes, have been indicated to be important for controlling and preventing eczema. Several oils are high in ceramides, and these oils can be massaged into the skin to aid in treating and preventing eczema attacks.

I recommend sunflower oil (high oleic) for use with eczema, because it is high in ceramides, readily absorbed by the skin, and because high oleic sunflower oil has a relatively long shelf life and can be stored at room temperature for approximately one year if kept away from light.
Several studies also indicate the role of PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs), especially gamma linolenic acid (GLA), in countering eczema. I especially like hempseed oil, grapeseed oil, and rice bran oil and offer a custom blend of these three in addition to sunflower oil and Vitamin E upon request. You can buy any of these oils yourself, and apply topically to the affected area. I recommend storing hempseed, grapeseed, and even rice bran oil in the refrigerator to prolong shelf life. If you use grapeseed or rice bran oil for cooking and use the oil fairly quickly, room temperature storage is fine.

Finally, colloidal oats (oat flour, which can be purchased at most grocery stores in the bulk foods section), has been indicated as being helpful for relieving eczema. Add to bath water. Yes, it makes a mess, but I’ve yet to meet a parent who cares about the mess and is always willing to try it.

Probably the most important thing you can do is to apply lotion as soon as your child comes out of the bath. You want to lock in every ounce of moisture you can, so it’s best to apply lotion while still damp and follow up with a butter or oil (whipped body butters and lotion bars are great for this if you aren’t keen on having a little one running around smelling like vegetable oil) to lock in moisture and help prevent TEWL (trans epidermal water loss).

The quality of the lotion is very important, and this is where it’s very helpful to read ingredient lists. The younger your child or the more sensitive their skin, the more you’ll want to stick with safe, natural ingredients (Return to Eden offers two great creams – visit the website here for more information – plus, we’ll work with you to customize a cream if you need to avoid fragrance). If your child is extremely sensitive or has allergies to several oils and/or butters, it may be best to skip lotion entirely and use an oil that quickly soaks into the skin – sunflower oil and grape seed oil are both great choices though there are also several others.

For kids who hate wearing lotion, lotion bars are a great alternative. Lotion bars are solid bars typically composed of beeswax, butters (shea, cocoa, etc.), and oils (olive, jojoba, avocado, grape seed, etc.) and the only non-natural ingredient in most is the fragrance.

Return to Eden Cosmetics offers lotion bars scented with essential oils and unscented for those who are extremely sensitive. Return to Eden also offers lotion bars in various shapes (i.e. dogs, cats, dolphins, etc.) to make it even more fun for kids to use. And, we’re now offering lotion bars in push-up dispensers that are more purse and diaper bag friendly. For shapes and sizes, visit here