How I Controlled My Baby's Eczema (Part 1)

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    Since Baby Picturesque was about 6 months, I started noticing these dry, red spots all over her. I started to apply lotion after her baths, but it didn't really seem to help too much. When we had her pediatrician appointment, that was when we found out that she had eczema. All our pediatrician told us to do was to keep her bath times short, bathe her only every few days (any more than that could dry out her skin), and to keep her moisturized.
    After I started to research eczema in babies (click here for more info), I found out that it is extremely common and more often than not, fades with age. But I needed to treat it now, and I couldn't wait for her to hopefully outgrow it. Every time she itched it, it would get more raw and even bleed. 
    I found out that many times eczema is caused by skin or food allergens. So I changed Baby P's soap, the detergent we washed clothes in, and I watched her diet and my diet (since I breastfeed) even more than usual. 
    I saw a big difference in her skin just from changing the detergent we were using on her clothes. I had been using free and clear detergents but they still had fragrances. Come to find out fragrances often are an irritant to babies! We now use Purex Free and Clear. It has absolutely no fragrance in it and immediately I saw every part of the eczema disappear... EXCEPT on her feet and behind her knee. I then switched shampoos several times and finally went to completely organic, Nature's Baby Organics, and started to see a little bit more change in the eczema spots. 



    I also changed my routine with bathing her in hopes that it would get rid of the rest of the eczema (especially since the one behind her knee was really red and puffy). I only bathed her every three days, and used only water to clean her, saving the shampoo on her hair for last. But that didn't really make much of a difference either.  
   Baby P. is now 11 months and she would itch the spot behind her knee and on her feet so bad it would bleed. I obviously would try to stop her, but she would get mad and push me away. I tried bandaging it, but she would just pull off the bandage. Well in my desperation I bought natural creams and all kinds of products. Except nothing really worked. 
   Finally I heard of fixing the problem from the inside out by giving her a probiotic daily. I bought Garden Life's Raw Probiotic for kids at my local health food store. I only give her a tiny bit, once a day (as directed on the box) mixed in her puree's... but after a few weeks I started to see a difference!!!

    But unfortunately this probiotic took a few weeks to help, and I wanted something that could help now. So I did more research and came across this article on putting diluted apple cider vinegar directly on the spot (I use Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar). After a few days of doing this twice a day... it almost has completely cleared up!!!!! I still apply moisturizer, but for the first time in 6 months I can see her fair skin again!!
    Here's the recipe I followed for a diluted version of applying apple cider vinegar:

    Dilute about 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar with about 3 cups of water. Saturate a cotton ball with the mixture, and apply it to the affected areas. If it is a fresh spot, it’s going to BURN LIKE CRAZY, so be ready to blow on it. However, patches that are a few days old shouldn’t be so bad. Apply it in the morning and again at night. Sure, you’ll smell like vinegar for a while (not too badly), but if you’ve ever dealt with eczema, you won’t care (Taken from TheHillHangout.com).

    These pictures are really horrible, but you can see a difference in her skin just after a few applications. It did take a couple of days for it to work though (just warning you). But this might be a help to some other parents who are struggling with this as well!!


Before:

After:

Updated 5/8:  I forgot to mention that I refrigerate the vinegar mixture. I think this also makes a difference since cold has been known to help with inflammation as well!

Check out part 2 to my story on how I dealt with Baby's eczema.