Natural Dry Skin Remedy for My Children

I agree with the coconut oil suggestions. I found the Nutiva brand to be great and ordered it from Vitacost.

Lanolin works great (and if you breastfed at all you probably have some in the house already!) Olive oil and vegetable oil work too, also pretty cheap and probably already in the house!

E.
Shaklee's baby lotion is organic and nontoxic. It cleared up the eczema on my son's feet in one application.
Let me know if you are interested.

ADDED: I would NOT use anything containing Melaleuca (Tea Tree Oil) on a baby or young child. It has been shown to be a hormone mimic/disruptor and has caused little boys to grow breasts in rare instances. Occasional use as advised by a doctor is probably okay, but not everyday use.

Original response: Rubbing organic olive oil on your hands and patting the child's warm, moist skin right after a bath is safe and soothing. It's quite compatible with skin oils, contains antioxidants, and not too likely to cause allergic reactions. Other oils are good too; I've heard that grapeseed oil and sweet almond oil recommended.

For patches that need more intensive protection, try Lansinoh, the stuff used on nursing mom's nipples.

Jojoba oil. Give it a few minutes to soak in. It's not as greasy as other oils. Apply it right after a shower or bath to keep the moisture in the skin.

1) Lanolin, or Lasinoh breast creams.
the creams used by Moms on their nipples.

2) Also, Coconut Oil.
Its great for skin.
You can probably find it at health food stores and online they have it.
Good stuff.
All it is is coconut oil.
Read about coconut oil online for skin.

3) I also love the Burt's Bees "Baby Bee" diaper ointment. I used it for my son to great success... and used it for diaper rashes and other skin irritations. I even keep a tube handy for myself for bug bites etc. and itches. Its good for many things. Besides as just a diaper cream.

Lansinoh. In the breastfeeding aisle. Especially great because you can put it on their faces, and if it gets mushed around onto their hands and they end up eating it, no problem. It is a little greasy and sticky, so I tended to put it on right before nap or bedtime - better chance of it soaking into their skin rather than just being rubbed off. But a light smear of it on particularly bad spots helped during the day, too. Both my sons had bad eczema on their faces during their first few winters, and this was the only thing that helped.

My ex mother in law's son has eczema and she uses mayo when it flairs up and apparently it works very very well. It could be useful for really dry skin too because the point is mayo apparently moisturizes your skin fast and effectively :P

I recommend Emu Oil. It is wonderful for dry skin, lips, etc and doesn't leave a greasy mess.

I suggest coconut oil also. You want to get extra virgin organic coconut oil. I buy the Nutiva brand from Amazon.

It is in a solid form but it will melt right in your hand. You only need a little bit. Scoop it out of the jar into your hand and wait a couple seconds then apply.

try physiogel..
my dd used it when she had dry skin and scalp...
its not natural but very good on babies skin...

Melaleuca's renew lotion is the only thing that has helped my extreme dry skin and eczema.

Renew from Melaleuca, used it for years, great for my excema.
S.

I too was going to suggest olive oil. It is natural, but your child may smell a bit like baked chicken! ;) It will work though. If you want to do lanolin I would recommend going to your local pharmacy and asking them to order you a pound of it. My husband is a pharmacist and we did this while I was pumping b/c my nipples would get so raw. It's only like $10 for a giant tub and the brand name tubes are at least $4 and they're really small, so buy in bulk!

I have put sweet oil in my tub when I get really dry. Baby oil in the bath would work also.

I have been using L'bri Pure n Natural body butter and their daily moisturizing hand & body lotion for my son. The products are all natural. They worked wonders on my son, better than anything else. I am not saying this just because I sell L'bri but because I know they work GREAT!! I was a customer of L'bri for a year before decideing to join the team. If you would like more information you can message me or visit my web site. www.cbrugge.lbri.com

When my daughter was little I used pure shea butter on her dry skin & eczema. It worked very well!

J.

Besides lotions, check nutrition.

Are your kids getting enough fat, especially omega 3 and 6 fats? Those are the fats found in avocado, fish, nuts, olive oil, etc. It takes a while to build up in the body's system (a lot less time for kids), but the results are long-lasting and natural.

For your 10-month old, mush up an avocado and give him a couple spoonfuls each day. He'll learn to like veggies, and get some good nutrients. For your older ones, give them nuts (peanut or almond butter/apple combo works ok) and avocado for snacks. Cook with olive oil as much as you can.

I use Grape Seed Oil ($3.99) on my kids... I get it at Trader Joe's it's next to the Olive Oil

I use Vaseline. I used it when I was small and now I use it on my 6 month old's diaper rashes and his dry skin on his face. It works for us!

We use Cerave cream (not lotion) after the baby/child's bath. Pat them dry with a towel and immediately put on the cream while their skin is still damp. You can also use Cetaphil cream (not lotion). Both are dermatologist & pediatrician recommended. And try not to bathe then every day.

You can try jojoba oil or sweet almond oil -- both are excellent, moisturizing oils for the skin. Olive oil is also okay, and if you can't find the other two (which are generally considered better for the skin and more readily absorbed), it will work. You can order both jojoba & sweet almond oil through www.thesage.com.

Also, make sure that the kids are getting lots of water--it's important to hydrate from the inside out, too; water is better for the older one than juice or milk for internal hydration.

If your house is dry, that will likely make it worse (my son's eczema is always worse during the winter when it's dry). Add a humidifier to their room or boil some water on the stove for a while every day, to put some moisture into the air.

You might also consider switching all your laundry cleaners to something like Charlies Soap or Biokleen (scent & dye free), and getting rid of fabric softener (use vinegar in the rinse cycle instead). Dyes & perfumes & other additives in laundry detergent, bubble bath, etc. can irritate and exacerbate eczema. For the older child, try use a good handcrafted soap instead of the bar soap from the grocery store. Handcrafted soap contains glycerin, which naturally draws moisture to the skin, and is often much less drying than commercial soaps. (If you have a Whole Foods or a farmers market near you, these are good places to look for handcrafted soap).

I use unrefined coconut oil.

Hi E.,

THREE boys on the entire planet have had issues with tea tree oil affecting their breasts...three. Google it if you like. Every time you see it reported it is simply the reiteration of the same three boys. More people have allergic reactions to flowers, eggs, dairy, and a multitude of other things than to tea tree oil. You have to have a terribly compromised immune system to have any kind of reaction to tea tree oil. That being said, I would have to agree with Jaimee that the only thing I have seen that absolutely cures ezcema is good nutrition and Renew lotion. Ezcema is systemic and is caused by either having poor eating habits OR the body not being able to absorb the nutrition properly. The synthetic chemicals in our food in the form of pesticides, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, etc. change our body chemistry and cause us to have so many contraindications in our system. A good absorbable multivitamin would help tremendously. Make sure you look for one that is guaranteed to absorb. Most don't and even cause more problems than they help.

Hope this information helps. EVERYONE I have recommended Renew lotion to have thanked me. I don't have to be right but it sure feels good when you see a little one's agony go away.

God bless,

M.

We use aquaphor on dry patches, even on diaper rash.