A bit of background
If you have read my blog before you will know that the eczema in our house is quite bad! Little S having Lymphoedema is already at risk of her arm and hand drying out, without having eczema on top of that. A few months ago it was all over her body, with worst spots in certain places, top half of her arm, under her chin, her chest, legs, and ankles. My husband has it everywhere, he had light treatment, took antihistamines and used strong steriod creams.
Fast forward to present time and Little S only has a few small patches, How? I think its a combination of things, that help like with eveything it took us a while to figure out ourselves what was triggering little s outbreaks. These are what works for us and they benefit us in so many different ways.
• Wash Clothes in soap nuts learn more HERE
• Use natural organic body wash HERE
• Homemade cream recipe HERE
• 100% organic cotton where possible and nappies
• Epsom salts bath learn more HERE
• Shower filter learn more HERE
Personal Hygiene
For my husband homemade body wash was the first thing we made along with the hand wash but then as that was quite expensive to make we discovered True Elements Shower Gel and it works fantastic. What made a big difference for him in the beginning was Epsom salt baths, our homemade cream and the shower filter. We ran out of baking soda to put in the bath and we thought it would be ok to just use the epsom salts, it wasn’t, the chlorine and other chemicals in the water made my husbands skin really bad! We know this because since we got the shower and purchased more baking soda, he is on the mend!
*UPDATE following our purchase of the PiMag Waterfall water filter his skin has never been clearer and mine too in fact, you can find more information on that HERE
For the first few months of her life little s bathed in just water then later on we used Earth Mama Angel Baby to wash her hair, now she is able to take her bath filled with the shower because she only needs a shallow bath. We put some epsom salts and essential oils in only a few times a week now, whereas before it was everyday, and no need for baking soda because the shower takes out 100% chlorine and other chemicals. If you have read my review post on the shower you will know that I wasn’t brave enough to try the water, warm water in my opinion doesn’t taste nice, well we had some family round and we showed them our new shower, they even tasted it and were saying how great it was. How could i not and i was really suprised it tasted fantastic, nothing like how i had imagined, no wonder little s keeps drinking it.
Clothing and Laundry
We have always used soap nuts to wash little s clothes since she was born, we switched when little T was about 2. I dread to think what her skin would of been like had we used regular detergents. We discovered organic clothing this last year and noticed that little s woke up less in the night due to itching when she was wearing organic cotton babygrows and the only 100% cotton babygrows that didnt seem to irritate her was george range at asda. We try to make sure that the cotton touching her skin is organic, it is quite expensive so we have a few babygrows and vest from george when we don’t manage to get them washed in time.
Nappies
We had a tough time with organic cotton nappies, we couldn’t seem to find any that worked for us. So we bought cotton and bamboo close pop ins and added a organic cotton booster to the top so its next to her skin and so far they have been fantastic. Pictured above along with some lovely clothes that we got for little s which are perfect for her Lymphoedema, a lot of dresses and tops we find to be tight but not these they are really good sizing with room to grow and they are cute too which is a plus, and yes we are venturing into organic sanitary too as I have sensitive skin but that’s for another time. We also use washable baby wipes for both bottom and other messes.
The biggest difference we noticed for both of them was with the shower and our homemade cream but all these things make life better and eczema a lot easier to cope with for little s and my husband. They both use the cream in the morning then after a nightly bath or shower, topping up with organic Shea butter. We did discover that they are both allergic to preservatives and little s pesticides which is another reason why all these help. We still have a lot to do and change to make our home chemical free so that we and our children have a better healthier future. Would love to hear your stories, how natural remedies have changed your life.
Healthy Cooking Family 
We’ve not experianced eczema in our family but its worth knowing ways to handle in naturally.
Oh this is such a handy list, especially since my daughter and I both have eczema, although it is only mild. We only use very mild non-scented products at our home.
This is so good and such a useful post for those suffering from the same thing – really nice of you to share something so personal. Looks like you’ve tried and tested quite a lot too so can’t imagine how hard it was to get to this point but good to see that it’s working 🙂
Alina from The Fairytale Pretty Picture and category manager at The Olive Fox
Sebby is really struggling with his at the moment I think because I changed the washing powder. I’ve not heard of soap nuts before so will check them out
They take a bit of getting used to but at least they dont irritate, its so difficult when they have a flare up to try and figure out what it is, luckily its been a while now for little Saint. I hope it gets better for him soon!
This is something I occasionally suffer from so I appreciate this. Thank you
Thanl you for this post. My husband suffers excema really badly and has tried prettyuch every medication on the market. I’m going to try him on some of these. Hopefully they will help.
I hope they do help! Its such an aweful thing. My hubby would keep me up at night scratching as well as little S, so we have all been getting a bit more sleep recently 🙂
I am glad you found a way to combat the eczema and reduce the symptoms. Fantastic!
No one in our house suffers from eczema but our son does have very sensitive skin. This is such a great list of ways to combat it and I love how natural everything is too.
Your shower sounds awesome! We don’t have any eczema in the household, but I’m toying with the idea of switching from laundry detergents. We shall see! The Frugi baby clothes are so lovely – I won a babygro from them in a competition when I was pregnant and it was the most worn, the most washed, and the one which still looked the nicest once she outgrew it! x
Im in love with my shower and im not the one with Eczema ha! I never want to get out 🙂 we won a competition too, we got a beatiful rainbow dress and tights, through a shop called Babi Pur. I kove tge bright colours. 🙂
My nephew has a steriod cream for his eczema and he has the worst kind as well x
these are all really helpful.
i really need try this all on my poor husband. He suffers so much and all I want to do his help him.
I have not been aware of some of these home remedies and I am glad you are going for other options than store bought. This is a great post to share as you never know who you might be helping.
I’m thankful you’ve found some natural remedies that are helping ease the symptoms! I don’t have eczema, but I do have pretty sensitive skin, so I’ll probably try implementing a few of your tips!
So many great ideas. Our Little Bear’s skin around her hairline gets a bit dry due to the soap we use, but the rest of her skin is fine. I’ve been looking for something better as well!
My sister struggled with eczema most of young life and only has an outbreak every so often. I believe that using all natural products and remedies is a big help keeping it at bay.
When my son was a toddler he had a slight eczema problem and switching to all natural and organic soaps and laundry detergents really helped.
Such a handy list! I believe that using all natural products and just bookmarked this post.
This is an extraordinarily detailed post.O will be checking out the special shower. Though we don’t suffer from eczema we do have a history of atopy. So 100%cotton is a must. Thanks for the info