to wash my children in white spirit? will that be good for their excema?

[icecold]

or...can you recommend some natural products which

a) dont cost a million pounds for 250ml bottles (which run out in a week)
b) oh..thats it...some i can buy in reletively big bottles, that dont cost the earth?

(see how i dressed that up as an AIBU?!)

Oops cocoNut not cocoBut!

I have tried every lotion and potion going with DS and his very bad eczema.
The best products I have found are Aveeno and Oilatum - both available from the GP on prescription.
Oilatum shampoo is fab, and only costs £2.99 at home bargains. You use it twice a week only, and so far a small bottle has lasted us about 8 weeks, and still loads left.
On the washes inbetween I use sainsburys or tesco own brand value baby shampoo. It seems a lot milder than any other shampoo.

We have been prescribed Hydromol bath stuff - we get through a bottle a week, but it really eases the itching. We have had that a few times on prescription.
We have recently changed to one in a blue bottle - will have to go and check the name. Which is also good.
Our Dermatologist prescribed it, and also very strong steriod cream - 2.5% Hydrocortazone (my GP thought it was a typo as she never prescribes above 0.5% for children!) as he said it is a fear of steriods that stops eczema being treated properly?!

Just keep pestering the GP - there are lots of creams and bathstuff you can try. My GP said it is all trial and error with eczema, and what suits one child will not always work for another.

Being a sucker for a new lotion or potion to try, I am about to order some coconut oil. Can someone please explain how I use it. Do I wash with it or apply it as moisturiser after washing?

when my son was little, we would bath with nothing in the water. No soap, no oil, nothing On the basis that a clean face cloth and some warm water would shift most things. Really our kids are not down t'pit and so its only surface grubiness, not really grime. I have added tea tree oil to a sponge to bath him with, mainly to help with potential infection.

Pears pure soap was OK as he grew older, it has minimum chemicals, although drying - my son has very sensitive skin and even now at 12 cannot tolerate highly perfumed soaps, biological washing powders and other bath stuff. We have now progressed to Dove soap, and he is fine with that.

Aveeno is wonderful stuff.

Lush has sls.

I think halos and horns is relatively cheap 'organic' and doesn't have sls but not 100% sure on the sls with that one.

We use weleda body wash and shampoo all in one. Smells lovely. We also use their creme bath for moisturising. Boots and waitrose do them but are pricey.

www.boots.com/en/Weleda-Baby-Calendula-Shampoo-Body-Wash-200ml_984274/

Weonly bath dd a couple of times a week. Her skin doesn't dry out so much and it ekes out the body wash.

You can also buy an adult organic, no sls shampoo. We found a cheapish one in waitrose. It's rubbish but fine for children's hair.

Check all organic products for lavender which is in most of them and irritating for eczema.

Diprobase from GP comes in big pump dispenser bottle. I use nothing but water and bath DS every night.

After bath smother them in 50/50 liquid paraffin in soft paraffin which is £5 for a huge tub in boots or free on prescription. Important to do it while skin is damp (and in a towel, it's greasy and messy!)

Olive oil is not recommended anymore for some kinds of eczema as it can encourage yeast growth.

Lush dream cream seemed to help a bit too for us but paediatric dermatologist asked me to stop using everything but 50/50 to moisturise.

Some Lush things have SLS, Dream Cream doesn't and it is very soothing. I find lavender based products help my skin.

While Lush shower gels and possibly more, have SLS's which may exacerbate itching, Lush dream cream does not have any SLS's in it. here (and it worked for me too, lasts along time as long as you put the lid back on!)

coconut oil really inflamed dd2 skin, and plain water makes her skin dry and itchy.

The best thing we have found is bathing her daily with dermol emollient, then slathering on dermol and hydrocortisone when she has flare ups.

Wow...thanks for all the response and advice....

I don't rate oilatum or Aveeno at all. Petroleum based creams are worse than nothing at all on my 2

I do like the Weleda baby cream, its great but in such a small tube, it lasts no time at all

I found Ponds cocoa butter fairly good, but dd1 still needs Eumovate twice a day. I want to not use steroids ad they thin the skin

Am going to try Coconut Oil, I have a big pot of it which I use for theory hair-dont know why I haven't thought to put it on their skin!! I've just added it to their bath tonight and they both looked good after, so we will see

Great tip about 'Curly Girl method' of no shampoo....I've been meaning to look that up for a while-so off to Google that now

Will also get some Dream Cream from Lush. I love that shop, any excuse to go in..I can use it myself, if the coconut oil Does the trick

Also gonna try oats in a sock! How much do you use? And is it good for repeated use, or new oats every time?

Harletoscara use it as a cleanser pre washing the hot wet flannel then as a moisturisier.

Its cleared up my spotty teens skin and my excmaery skins sons skin.

Palmers, not Ponds

My dd had bad eczema, it got infected, sore bleeding you name it! We tried all the herbal stuff plus lots from the doctors but nothing worked. then we tried a base cream called eczemol in conjunction with her usual doublebse gel (which on its own was not working) Her skin has cleared up so well I would highly recommend asking your doc to try it. I was told it is relatively new but has been giving v good results.

The bit of bleach in the bathwater that someone on page one linked too can be very successful, the doctor here recommended that for Ds when he was little. It stops them getting any infection in the scratched bits too.
He also had to stop any nice smelly stuff and stick with pure soaps we've been using Dove soap unscented for sensitive skin and using Eucerin or Cetaphil on the dry areas in a Cream in a tub not lotion.
I have it horrible on my hands and hate using the steroid creams, so the dermie doctor told me to try plain old vaseline, tiny bit, rub it in the sore spots cracks and tender areas. I am amazed it works, and my nails are growing like crazy and so strong for the first time ever I have to chop them off to stop me scratching other areas.

Just had another thought. My friends youngest had eczema so bad, her legs were covered and they cracked and bled when she would bend her legs. Doctor told her to wet a pair of knit tights, wring them out well, put them on her overnight, she did it while but after two nights the childs legs were no longer cracked and bleeding, she used to have to do about once a month and used Cetaphil in between and some prescription emollient in the bathwater. Hair washing was cut to only when she absolutely had to and her scalp healed up pretty well. Once under control she did so much better and could cope with it all.

Having just come out of a week long hospital stay with severe infected eczema on my DD, here's what the dermatologist told us to do, and what actually worked:

Wet dressings three times a day (if the eczema is not severe, night time only can be fine) using tubifast garments:
skin-zone.molnlycke.com/Skin-Zone/Skin-products/Tubifast-Garments/Tubifast-Garments/
Basically you bathe in a warm bath with oilatum plus (contains anti bacterial agent), then put on steroid cream (if prescribed), then a thick layer of emollient. The specialist prescribed 10% paraffin in sorbolene. Then put on a warm wet tubifast garment, then a dry one. There are tubifast leggings, long sleeve tops and socks which can also be used on the hands (added bonus is that it stops them causing too much damage when itching).

I realise you asked for natural products. I am a bit over natural products, they did nothing for us. Which is not to say they won't work for more moderate eczema.

Aveeno and Weleda, applied on damp/wet skin.