If your baby has dry, itchy skin then it’s likely that they’re suffering from baby eczema.

What you may not know is that there is not one, but three types of baby eczema.

The first is atopic eczema. This develops at around 3 months and is due to an oversensitivity of the immune system. It tends to hereditary meaning your baby is more likely to suffer if other family members suffer from eczema, asthma or hayfever.

The other forms of eczema are irritant contact eczema which occurs when your baby is exposed to an allergen for a prolonged amount of time or allergenic contact eczema which happens almost immediately.

How can you treat baby eczema?

Well the bad news is that there’s no one cure that works for everything. There is however a large range of remedies that can help to reduce the irritation and make your babies life a little less itchy.

1. Moisture Your Baby’s Skin

Baby eczema tends to be mean very dry skin, moisturing their skin will act to reduce the irritation this causes. You should try to apply this lotion as many times a day as you can, particularly after a bath. You can use a baby lotion but I’d recommend contacting your doctor as he may be able to provide you with a more effective and quicker acting solution.

2. Don’t Have Too Warm A Bath

The warmer your baby bath is the less your baby’s skin will retain moisture and hydration. This doesn’t mean giving them a cold bath (which wouldn’t do them any favours either) just make sure it’s more lukewarm than hot.

Concerning products, you should only use those for babies with sensitive skin and apply them just before ending the bath so the soap doesn’t sit on your baby for ages.

3. Washing Your Baby Clothes In Sensitive Washing Powders

Babies have much more sensitive skin than us adults so may well be affected by washing powder in a way we’re not. Make sure you use a non-bio / sensitive washing powder to reduce the impact this might have.

4. Buy Cotton And Nothing But Cotton

Buying natural materials such as cotton is always going to be better than an synthetic material because it will allow your baby’s skin to breathe thus reducing irritation. If you can buy organic cotton (Gossypium is a particular favourite of mine) then this is even better.

5. Keep An Eye On What You’re Feeding Them

Your baby’s eczema could be due to a food intolerance. If you’re currently weaning them it’s best to do it one food at a time (and leave a few days in between) so see if this could be the problem.

6. Keep Dust Away

Dust is a great source of eczema flare ups. To reduce this impact you should hoover as often as you can and not allow your baby to play directly on the carpet. You could also use a air purifier in their nursery to reduce the amount of dust in that room.

Have you got any other hints that have worked with your child? If you do, please please add them below!

Popularity: 17% [?]