Eczema, characterized by dry or wet itchy and inflamed patches of skin, is common among babies, toddlers and young children. Natural remedies for baby eczema include topical use of coconut oil, calendula slave, or apple cider vinegar. There are also vitamins, supplements and dietary changes that may be helpful for children who suffer with eczema.
Topical Natural Cures for Eczema in Children
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is a simple natural remedy to start with when trying to relieve a child’s eczema. This can be used as often as needed. Diluted Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar is another natural treatment that has helped may Earth Clinic Readers. Add 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar to 1 cup of water, and apply with a cotton ball as needed, even every couple of hours. The mixture can be made stronger or weaker depending upon how the child responds to this treatment. A salve made with the herb Calendula in it may be of help, if you can find a quality salve, or better yet, make your own!
Mama’s Eczema Salve for Children
- Fill a pint jar with dry Calendula flowers.
- Cover flowers with oil. Equal parts of Castor Oil, Olive Oil, and Extra Virgin Coconut Oil would be ideal. Do not use hydrogenated oil.
- Cover jar.
- Place in a warm place and stir daily for 2 weeks.
- Strain out flowers with a piece of old, clean t-shirt.
- Warm oil in a double boiler.
- For every 4 ounces of oil, melt in 2 Tablespoon of beeswax pastilles. If you prefer it to be a harder salve, add a little more beeswax. If you prefer it softer, use a little less beeswax.
- Pour into a clean jar.
Store in a cool dry place. Use as often as desired for relief from eczema and other rashes.
Dietary Changes and Supplements for Childhood Eczema
A cod liver supplement helps some children with their eczema.
Food allergies often come along side eczema. Common allergens are milk, wheat, soy and corn. Reducing processed foods and sugar will encourage a child to take in more nutrient dense foods.
An apple a day and milk kefir are two excellent foods for children with eczema.
A teaspoon of Blackstrap Molasses each day is even better than a vitamin pill for children. It contains calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, potassium and some b-vitamins.
The herb nettle is a gentle, nutritious, blood purifying herb that may help children with eczema. Nettle can be taken in the form of a tea or a tincture.
Healing Baths for Eczema Relief
Many children enjoy taking a bath. Adding a cup of baking soda, epsom salt or apple cider vinegar to the bath will make it a healing bath. The aforementioned additions to a bath have helped some with eczema. It is an inexpensive and pleasant method for healing.
DIY Laundry Soap
Sometimes eczema is aggravated by chemicals in laundry soap and fabric softeners. Consider making your own laundry powder with simple and natural ingredients.
If you have a remedy for childhood eczema, please send us some feedback!
Continue reading below for reviews from our readers who have tried various natural cures to heal their child from eczema.
My infant sons eczema worsened over the course of a year. His integrative dermatologist suggested we buy black currant seed oil capsules and break them and rub them in to his back or stomach. We did this daily along with a few other things and his eczema cleared up 95%. It was severe before with raw red sores covering his face and 75% of his body. He now looks like a different child.
The other things we are giving him are: probiotics, fish oil, raw organic shea butter to moisturize, and weekly trips to swim in the ocean and absorb a lot of vitamin d.
I believe the black currant seed oil was the main factor in his recovery. Google it – there are studies that show this is effective for infant eczema. Hope this helps!
I found something that will solve the issue of eczema for children or adults. Do a search for Magnesium Oil. Baths are supposed to be the best solution for children because putting oil or lotion directly on the affected area will tend to burn or sting so start with the bath for children then you can gradually go to oil or lotion. Read all the information you can on our bodies needing magnesium and why the transdermal method is the best.
I just wanted to make a comment on the Crisco. My granddaughter who is 2 has had eczema since birth. She was having a severe flare last week and one of her doctors had said to try Crisco. He said is sound weird but it works for some. We my daughter called me today because she had just left the doctors office today because she now has severe hives on top of her eczema due to an allergic reaction to the Crisco. Be careful.
It's costly but try vitamin e for eczema. My 2 year old son has eczema and it's the only thing that works consistently and quickly. Apply over night all over your body or troubled areas only (to save costs) and you should be pleased with the over night results. Repeat every night or anytime you are lounging around. Vitamin E is a underestimated solution!
What worked for my daughter's eczema – yogurt and fish oil capsules. (or Krill oil caps, which are much smaller than traditional fish oil caps.)
I had her take one fish oil capsule and eat a container of yogurt at least once a day – twice, if possible.
After having tried many, many natural treatments for her eczema, this one worked!
Iodine works!! I was so desperate to help my son! I have tried every cream and steroid under the son since he was born. Last night I coated him with iodine, vitamin e oil and honey and wrapped with sports tape. This morning, no itching for the first time in years! Thank you……. Thank you….. This is truly miraculous!!! Tishua
Kelli that is awesome. I just started giving my 2 yr old probiotics. It has been 3 days and I have seen a difference in her skin already!! Do you do one packet daily? Do you plan on doing this long term? I am so excited that the probiotics may be helping her!!!
Apple Cider Vinegar for eczema.
My 3 year old was diagnosed with atopic eczema, 4 months ago. She has been getting breakouts constantly. I read about people using ACV for eczema relief so I tried it. I wish to share that after dabbing the ACV diluted for a week on the rash behind her ear I saw positive results, so I continued. The rash was completely gone by the end of 3 weeks. There were other breakouts on her arms but those areas were severley dry and damaged so the ACV stings too much as the skin is broken and she is so young. Since then, any new breakouts have been deterred by ACV application so that the areas don't get damaged to the point of skin breakage. (2 tsp to 8 ounces water, applied with cotton approx. 6-8 times daily.)
Hi, I am sharing our own story. Our son had eczema since his birth. We had so many terrible nights, him scratching all night and us watching helplessely. We tried everything from steroid to natural home made remedies to ayurveda remedies to homeopathy, But all in vain. But things changed when our washer broke down and we bought the top of the line LG washer that has "Sanitizing wash cycle". After using the new washer our son's eczema got better within days. And this is how we believe it worked.
We were applying a lot of vaseline and aquaphor to his skin regularly as doctors reccomend. Even though we were using organic cotton clothes the vaseline was getting absorbed in the fiber of the cotton and had made a film inside the fabric. That would not only negate the purpose of using cotton but make it worse. It was breeding ground for bacteria. His clothes would feel sticky from inside even though they were looking clean. We tried boiling clothes in order to get rid of the vaseline but made no difference. But the new washer uses the sanitizing cycle and gets rid of it. It takes more than twice the time to run the cycle but the results are amazing.
For us it was nothing short of a miracle. I feel the pain of all the parents and the kids that are going through this terrible experience. But , please check if a simple change like this can make a difference in your case. I hope for the best for everyone.
Just wanted to add to the long list of testimonies of the wonders of ACV. My 8 year old daughter has suffered greatly from allergies and severe eczema on her face, arms, legs. I have tried everything in the book, steroid creams that work a little while (which is not good for the face), Aveeno, Eucerin, Allegra, Zyrtec, Benedryl, you name it, I've tried it. After reading so many postings about how ACV helped with eczema, I decided to try a 50/50 solution on my daughter last night due to a bad eczema outbreak coming on… I also talked her into taking 2 teaspoons. with juice internally…. Let me say, I was utterly shocked to see the itching stop almost immediately (it burned for a bit at first), the biggest surprise was the allergies seemed to cease throughout the night, she slept without the itching, snorting, or scratching of the throat, didn't even wake up and had a peaceful sleep… I was truly shocked… Her skin even appeared to be clearing up just from one night of the acv, not to mention no stuffy nose in the mornings like she usually has, anyway its too early to tell if this truly worked, but it seemed to do the trick and I will update later but for now, I just may be a believer of this easy treatment. I will update her progress in a week.
My 6 year old son has been suffering from severe eczema for 5 years. He has be hospitalised twice for it. He has had to have wet dressings applied to his whole body 4 times a day. I tried absolutely everything to try and get rid of his eczema but nothing worked. My parents have an apple tree and had given us bags of apples. My son loved them much that he was eating anywhere between 2 – 6 apples a day.
After a couple of days his skin was completely clearing of eczema. I couldn't believe it. But it didn't cross my mind at the time that it could be the apples. My son didn't have the apples for about 4 days and I could see that his eczema was coming back. Then it occurred to me that he wasn't eating the apples. So he started eating them again and within 2 days his skin was clear again.
I encourage those parents who are watching there children suffer with eczema to please feed them organic apples not the apples you get from the supermarket. Make sure there organic. I'm so happy and my son is even happier.
My grandson suffers from excema esp. on his hands, his Dr.has us using a steriod cream and something for the itching I do not like using all that streriod cream which really does nothing for it, after numerous hours looking for a natural remedy I came across this site, love it…. starting giving him about a half teaspoon of flax seed oil in his juice and his hands and a spot on his leg have never looked better!!! Also my husband suffers from gout and when it flairs up he will use the black cherry tablets.
My 9 yr old has been afflicted with eczema on the tops of her feet and ankles for over a year. The best success we've had is by applying Betadine (or Iodine) liberally on the skin and leaving on overnight. Stick to this each night and you'll see results within a week. Good luck!
My son had severe eczema, as I posted on here it has improved 80-90% since removing fluoride from our water with a filter. Anyway he still has small flareups in the winter months so we tried the ACV. He is 12 and does not like drinking it so he applies it topically. He said it doesn't work that well and it burns like crazy, we are cutting it with water 50/50. I have used ACV as a toner on my skin and I have to say it does burn and I don't even have eczema. Tried it with my 2 year old Daughter same thing. She was screaming so much, I switched gears and just use coconut oil after bathing. For Adults this is a good remedy but for children, not so much in my opinion.
My 2 yr old has suffered from eczema since birth and we have tried everything from prescription steroid creams to coconut oil to removing all dairy from her diet. While removing the dairy DID help.. We were never able to completely heal her until I saw a news story regarding probiotics and eczema in children. I immediately went to the pharmacy and purchased the probiotics for children that the story recommended and within 6 weeks her eczema completely cleared up for the first time ever.
I am in complete shock. My daughter is 5 years old, and has had eczema since birth – extremely severe eczema over 95% of her body. We have tried absolutely everything, from prescription creams, OTC lotions, oatmeal, antihistamines, ACV, Baking Soda, etc etc. Any parent that has a child with eczema has undoubtably tried all the same remedies. I stumbled on this website and read about Epsom Salts. We started giving her a bath every night in the salts – 1 cup for a half full tub. She soaks for about 10 minutes, then out of the tub and gets slathered with a heavy lotion. After 1 week I am flabbergasted – her eczema is so much better, her skin is absolutely clear in most places, and only the worst scabby parts remain. ( We also used Iodine on the really bad infected spots for a couple of days). I don't know why or how it works, but it does! I am one relieved and happy mommy…and she is a much happier child. She actually has an appointment with a specialist in 4 days, and I won't have anything to show the doctor!
Apple Cider Vinegar helped my 10 year old with her eczema. My daughter has slight eczema since age 2. After moving to Florida, with the ocean and the sun, we forgot all about this ugly condition, but the unusual cold wheather this year has caused her eczema to flare up all over her arms and legs. I tried lots of creams and ointments, but she still scratched her self on a daily basis…I use this site a lot and I went to search for a cure and it worked!
I got a spray bottle and poured 2-3 table spoons of ACV 'organic' and some water to dilute the solution maybe 2-3 table spoons or less, I didn't measure.
I had her spray it on the sores and she said it burned but the itching was gone. After the solution dried I had her apply a gentle, organic face cream to keep the skin moisturised.
She does this in the morning and at night and its been a week and she feels great. Too soon to tell if its gone, but my baby feels better and thats great!!!
Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions.
Be well.
My 7 yr old son had eczema since hes a baby, it gotten worse lately due to eating a much more variety of food. Its dry, flaking, oozing out pus.There's always a layer of dead skin on his mattress,all of us couldn't have a good nite sleep because we would hear him crying due to the intense itch n also scratching in his room.he couldn't even straighten his arms/legs because its that dry n the skin might tear.We had to get him off school as school mates makes fun of him.We tried all the creams, bath oil everything u can find at the chemist, even when to a specialist. He was given a strong steroid syrup to stop itching but at the same time it stops him from growing.
Now he's on 1 capful of ACV mixed with a glass of warm water or sometimes with his morning tea. I also use the above mixture in a bowl with cloth or sometimes my fingers n dab the mixture on the sores, scratch marks n open skin. It worked so far but i still will have to continue this to see results.Its good to see him not scratching or itch in pain anymore.
best of luck to everybody whose had this annoying, unsightly 'disease'.
My daughter had eczema since she was 3 months old. NOTHING has worked. We thought coconut oil but it ended up coming back. I took her to a natural doctor who detoxed her of the heavy metals in her system from vacinations. She also put her on double doses of Zinc. Her eczema went away and only came back after I stopped the Zinc. Most people are either deficient in ZINC or MAGNESEUM. I thank god because it was a daily battle nobody should have to endure.
Emu Oil cured my son's eczema rash. I have a new baby son. He nearly four months and a lovely organic baby, smiley, outgoing and chubby. He did have cradle cap and I found this fantastic site probably a bit too late. It got out of control and spread, turning in to an eczema-style rash all over his head, belly and arms, and behind his fat little knees. It wept and scaled. Pretty gross.
I tried the usuals to start off with back when his skin was still lovely; olive oil to soften and a comb/soft brush to remove the cradle cap (I tried that so many times and couldn't get to the end of it); my partners 'old' dandruff shampoo (I eliminated his dandruff a couple of months ago with ACV much to our mutual surprise and delight); and ACV itself, both diluted in purified water, and straight, regularly and not so regularly. ACV seemed to halt the worst of it including the scratching for the first half hour or more, but was followed by bright red patches which after a while dried and flaked and itched. I suppose I burned my baby's skin- NOT what one intends to do as an alternative to petrochemical junk…
So as it stood this afternoon: an ugly, weepy, scaly rash both sides of his face and down his neck area; an itchy, hot and dry eczema-ish rash all over his belly; violent red and cracked/chapped areas anywhere his arms and legs bent; skin dry and rough on arms and legs.
I rubbed calendula oil here and there again (which seems to work temporarily on the itch and dryness but that's all) and we walked to the pharmacy where I saw a last bottle of emu oil (not THAT cheap be aware, but fair considering its source and manufacture), bought it (not what the pharmacy woman suggested at all- ) and applied it straight on to his skin as soon as home because he'd woken up and was scratching and going nuts. Within half an hour he looked like a new baby- the redness was completely gone, a little yellowy blistery skin was still visible close up but he chatted away to a toy with hands finally occupied with each other again rather than sneaking a scratch. His skin is soft and lovely. It strikes me as extraordinary because it's been so long since I've seen it that way.
I don't know if it'll eliminate the rash altogether but I'll certainly write back sooner or later to let anyone in the same situation know.
He went to bed after a bath with quarter of a cup of ACV in it, and a massage/rub down with emu oil and he hasn't made a whimper. He's been restless the last two or three nights, not settling at all, waking three or four times, wriggling and mad with itch and irritation at all hours. Hopeful. Not counting on it but it seems pretty amazing so far.
Poor little emu's. R.I.P. : )
Me again, finishing the emu oil post. His skin is beautiful, we still use emu oil around/ behind his ears for mild teething issues (he's almost 7mnths now), and I've found the eczema culprit; cows milk products and tea tree products, incl. the popular (in Ozzie) tea tree mattress. Once we got these out of his system his skin began to glow. It's truly beautiful. Eating sheeps milk yoghurt, goats cheese and coconut cream as stand-ins till he weaned.
Good-o.
: )
Apple Cider Vinegar for Excema: My daughter who is now six years old has had excema since she was 5 weeks old. We have tried everything to cure her excema. She has it the worst on her cheeks and around her mouth. I finally found this website that said to use Apple Cider Vinegar. I thought we would give it a try. Two nights ago I gave her 1 tsp. in a glass of juice. She didn't like it but she tried it. Then we took a cotton ball and rubbed it all over her face. She said it stung for about a minute then it went away. I only did this once that day, then the next morning it was absolutely amazing. Her face looked better than it has in years. We did not even give her the APV orally yesterday we just rubbed it all over her face again before bedtime and this morning her face is completely cleared up. I have been calling every family member I know telling them about this. We have quite a few kids in the family that have excema that have had no luck. I am so grateful I found this website. Thank you.
I found your website by doing a general search to find if acv could help my infant son with his eczema. My son has had it since he was a month and a half. After his 2 month vaccination, it went crazy. He has been prescribed every cortisteroid cream and even Elidel. He was given a four day dose of oral steroids. It cleared him up beautifully. A week later the eczema was back with a vengeance and worse than before. So I began to research. I started using acv on his skin two days ago and the eczema is drying up very fast and actually the dead skin is slowly peeling away. I have spent so much money on expensive lotions, creams, and whatever else he pediatrician advised. When I asked her about the acv…."Oh that stuff will never work," she said. Of course not. There's too much money to be made by prescribing all of the harmful medicines!!! I am a true believer of this stuff. This morning I gave him a teaspoon in about 3 ounces of apple juice. You can't even tell the difference in the taste. But without the juice… Whoa Mama, that stuff is strong! Everyone in the house will have daily doses of acv from now on. Thank you guys so much for the truth. My son's skin looks so much better already. He doesn't look like a little lobster anymore.
My son who is 7 years old is been suffering from mild eczema since he was a baby. Recently, about three months ago, his condition has taken the worst turn. His ecaema started to get worse. I recently bought a book on line which says to give him apple and carrot juice. I give him a glass a day and his eczema spread on his stomach, thights, arms, back, and side of his face. I don't know if this is related to the juice or not. I would like to give him ACV and know what amount. Thanks in advance for help.
My sister's three small children all suffered with itchy eczema, until she started giving them Moducare, which is plant sterols and sterulins. I don't remember how much she gave them, but I believe it was the recommended dose for small children – ages 1 1/2 and up. It's a tasteless powder that comes in a capsule, so you can mix it with applesauce or juice. All the eczema issues resolved. She stopped giving it to them after about a year or so, and the eczema never came back.
Moducare also greatly helped an asthmatic child who was told by his dr. he'd have to be on steroids for the rest of his life. He never did take the steroids, and the asthma got better.
Hi,
I wanted to share a remedy that worked really well on my baby's excema. When it oozes, vicco turmeric (found in any Indian store, it's a turmeric paste in a sandalwood oil base – no other ingredients) works wonders. I just tried it by chance one day and now everytime her excema flares up that's all I use. It's doesn't moisturize well but cures the oozing & flare up really fast so I use it in combination with a natural baby moisturizer.
Pranathi
Applied a solution of glycerine and water (equal portions) to 4 month old with eczema. Huge improvement in both inflammed areas and scaly spots within 48 hours. I had earlier tried other options including applying coconut oil, olive oil, flax seed oil and strong chammomile tea. I had also tried adding glycerine drops to the massage oil but that did not help. Diluting with water in approx 1:1 ratio, is important.
My daughter had awful eczema on her face. I saw one reference to an ingredient called quercetin that I knew was supposed to be in apple skin. I buy organic apples and slice one up every morning for her breakfast. She only eats half an appple, but the eczema is now easily controllable with a little half percent cortisone. If she ate a whole apple, I feel like she would not need the cortisone at all. I'd like to get her to try the ACV, but know she'd hate the smell. Love this site…just found it!
My 5 month old son got contact dermatitis from a surface that had been sprayed with Lysol. He had it all over the backs of his thighs and on his toes & it was spreadind to other regoins as well. The Pedi prescribed an oral steroid and a steroid cream but I really didn't want to give him these strong chemicals. He said even with the meds it could take a couple of weeks to clear up. I found your site and tried apple cider vinegar instead of starting the steroids. That was yesterday and today it is almost cleared up. The redness and swelling are reduced by about 60% and some areas are already healrd. WOW! I had been using OTC hydrocortisone ointment and benadryl cream and they hadn't helped at all. I think it will be gone in a few more days!
I am usually the one that never believes "this stuff will work", but I have tried everything to boost my energy levels, to diminish my mood swings, to curb my appetite, and to clear my skin,…and when I say everything, I mean it, until now. ACV is the cure ALL! There is nothing that it doesn't fix, from my large appetite to the weeds growing in my yard. I would take stock in this stuff! I have not experienced a a headache,(which I had daily for 12 years) in the last two weeks. I have lost 8 pounds in two weeks, My energy levels are through the roof, ( and with 4 kids it is important to keep those levels high:)) My skin and hair is fresher and silkier, without having to buy expensive shampoos and conditioners. My husband wont go near this stuff,…but I swear by it! I have my kids drinking it too, and I can tell a difference in their overall temperaments, their active levels are not extreme, they think clearer, nd for my youngest son who has Eczema, this is the only thing that has cleared him 100%, and we have put lots of money into soaps, lotions, and special diet needs for the last 3 years with him. Put a cup of ACV in his bath every night, towel him off and he is good to go, Before ACV , we would have to bathe him twice a day, once with soap, and the other just a water bath, and then lather him down with lotions and prescription creams. This has leveled him out and his skin is clear for the first time since birth. Now I don't have to bandage him up like a mummy when it gets really bad, because it simply is not there anymore!!!:) For ANYONE, with ANYTHING wrong with them,…this is the cure! I swear by ACV,…it has saved my family.
One cup of ACV in tub, was it half tub or a full tub of water? My grand daughter is two years old. Bad case of eczema.
Just wondering if you had heard from anyone regarding citric acid allergies and eczema. When my son was a baby he had really bad eczema. We didn't know what was causing it until I started looking at the labels of all his food products and discovered a common denominator….citric acid. I decided to only use products that did not have this in it and low and behold his eczema cleared up. It was even in the creams I was using to treat the eczema. No wonder none of it helped. He is 4 now and when he gets a build up of citric acid in his body (because it is in EVERYTHING) he gets eczema breakouts again.