Did you know if your child has eczema, their skin can heal – without medicated creams or moisturisers? Eczema doesn’t have to be a life sentence. You can heal your child’s skin. Your child’s eczema can heal. However, you may have been misled and been told that your child’s eczema can be only managed. 

THIS IS SIMPLY UNTRUE. 

Why? Because 14 years ago, my son was diagnosed with eczema. Spoiler alert: We identified the root cause and his skin healed. The eczema never came back. 

Initially, we went the conventional route. Like so many others, we ended up stuck in a cycle. A neverending cycle of eczema-steroids-eczema.

It was clear to me that it wasn’t ever going to help him heal as they only suppressed the symptoms.  The inflammation was still there. We’d put the steroids on a few spots and they’d disappear, only to pop up other places on his body. 

It was like trying to play “whack-a-mole.”

The idea that the only treatment for your child’s eczema’s is suppression with topical approaches is old and outdated.

Even studies show that topical approaches do not heal eczema. This is because they fail to identify and address the root cause(s).

So if you’re struggling with your child’s eczema and are unsure what to do next, read on.

I’ve written this article for you. It’s all the things that I wish I knew as a mum of a 4 month old with severe eczema, way back then.

His eczema used to weep, literally from this head to his toes (see below). At times it was SO hot and red and itchy on the cheeks and chin… and everywhere. 

The photos below was him a few months after he was diagnosed with eczema. It escalated quickly. 

I was heartbroken. I felt lost, frightened, and worried for what lay ahead for my son.

• A life of steroids and wet dressings? 
• Being bullied at school? 
• Low self-confidence
• Itching at night, broken sleep, resulting in difficulty concentrating /learning at school 

My mind went years into the future and I didn’t like what I saw. 

The doctors couldn’t tell me why he had eczema – and all they could suggest was more steroids. In my heart, it was clear that steroids weren’t the answer to become eczema-free. 

So I spent hundreds of hours – and thousands of dollars-  trying to work out why my son had eczema. I knew we needed to find out the reason and address it at the root cause. 

When you do identify the root causes of eczema and clear them – the eczema disappears. It is a logical resolution with the skin healing.   

When we identified the root cause and cleared it, his skin cleared completely.

No moisturisers, no steroids.

His eczema has never returned. 

Finding the root cause of eczema is so powerful. It is the way to healing your child’s skin. 

And seeing how much this impacted not only my son, but our entire family, I’ve been supporting other parents of kids with eczema to have the same impact. 

Someone asked me the other day why I’ve shared all of this for free.  The answer is simple. 

I see SOO many mums of kids with eczema and Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW) posting in FB groups asking for help. They’re at their wit’s end, feeling so low and hopeless. And while I can’t help them all with individual comments, but I can reach more people like you with this post that I will help.

And if you’re wanting some additional help with any of it, then there are links in this article on how we can work together. 

I see SOO many mums of kids with eczema and Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW) posting in FB groups asking for help. They’re at their wit’s end, feeling so low and hopeless. I know I can’t help everyone in the comments section. But I can help more people by sharing all I know here for how you can help your child’s skin heal.

My strategy to clearing symptoms is all WITHOUT:

• super restrictive FAILSAFE, Vegan, or Carnivore diets,
• complicated supplement protocols (that are so hard to get your kid to take), or
• questionable medicated cream (ahem Aron) regimes.

My clients are DONE with seeing their child suffer with eczema.

They know the cause goes deeper than creams and steroids and they’re ready to rip the root out and get to the bottom of it once and for all!

They want their happy child back, and they want their life back. And they want to heal their child’s skin. They want to reverse the eczema. It is 100% possible. 

My clients get fast results with their kids. They are are completely ready to clear what’s keeping them inflamed. They understand this is what is stopping their bodies from healing naturally. Think about what happens when you get a cut or graze – your skin knows exactly what to do to heal.

The same goes for your child and their skin. 

It doesn’t have to be so hard, overwhelming, or frustating.

It can be simple. 

My approach identifies the root cause(s) and a multi-focal approach and encompasses all of the contributors to epigenetics for health; epigenetics being the things outside of the gene that we CAN control. This includes environment, stress, food, lifestyle, toxins. The cause of eczema is never any one thing. And therefore my strategy to healing skin adjusts to this. 

If you’re ready to heal your child’s skin, change your child’s life and trajectory – read on and most importantly, take action. 

And if you are ready to fasttrack your child’s healing, click HERE for the different ways we can work together to clear the itch at the root. 

I spend about 80-90% of my time with my private clients on one strategy that is KEY to healing. It results in the greatest shifts – so read on until the end.

Healing catalysts are also helpful. These are things that can fasttrack improvements. I have simple protocols for these – contact me if you’d like access to these protocols. We all need a bit of extra support sometimes!

How to use this information:

The strategies below are all things you can do at home. I’ve provided them for information purposes only. If you are looking to change, consult your healthcare professional before doing so.

Typically, I only recommend 1-2 maximum from this list at any one time for my clients. This is alongside identifying and clearing the root cause.

DO NOT try to implement everything at once.

Start with one in any order and implement for one week. Then add another one the next week. You’ll be on a path to reducing inflammation with every step. 

If you feel overwhelmed – stop.

This is not designed to add to your overwhelm. If you want details and recipes, you can access more information HERE. 

1. DETOX ROUTINE FOR ECZEMA

Supporting your body’s detoxification systems are vital to clear the toxins and waste out and to minimise flare ups in doing so.

Lymphatic Massage:

30-60 seconds daily, gentle massage around collarbones, neck, armpits, abdomen, groin, and back of knees. Don’t go overboard. This is perfect to do with your child after a bath/shower. 

Hydration:

If your child is drinking water (after weaning from breastmilk), ensure they’re hydrating with filtered boiled water (or a breastfeed) before and after the massage. 

Exercise: Move your body after this, e.g. dancing, running, jogging, marching on the spot, trampoline, or rebounding. For babies, this might look like them lying on their change table or your bed, and you moving their arms gently up and down like they’re marching or doing jumping jacks (you moving their arms and legs only, two at a time). 

Binders

There are various binders for mould, heavy metals, and general detox to support the body detoxify and ensure the toxins/heavy metals/mould exits via the digestive system instead of detoxing through the skin or lungs. A simple and easily accessible one is activated charcoal but this depends on the age of your child. 

2. DIET & ECZEMA

Gut health:

If your baby is starting to wean breastmilk, then home-made meat stocks are a beautiful first food. Avoid those rice cerals and processed first foods in cans and pouches. Cans contain chemicals (even if “BPA-free”) and pouches negatively impact your little one’s jaw development. NO BONE BROTHS to begin with please!

These home-made meat stocks must be made with meat and a meat joint (e.g. maryland – thigh connected to drumstick, meat and chicken feet/necks, or whole chicken). Add whatever veg you like including garlic and onion if tolerated, and add salt to taste. Drink at least 1-3 cups per day. After 2 weeks, SLOWLY add in a strand of sauerkraut and build up the amount to a few tablespoons per savoury meal.

Inflammatory foods:

Reduce or remove processed foods/ food additives, hydrogenated vegetable oils. The top ‘food triggers’ that I see are gluten, dairy, soy, and sugar. Once the gut is healed, these may be reintroduced slowly or in smaller quantities and well tolerated for many. I do not recommend strict elimination diets, carnivore, or vegan diets for healing eczema, as I tend to see more damage to gut health rather than improvement. Initial improvement on these diets may be due to removing processed foods at the start. 

Nutrition:

Whole food diets are a beautiful way to nourish your child’s body, skin, and nervous system. Increase nutrition as much as possible, e.g. beef/chicken livers, sardines, herbs like oregano, rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion as tolerated.  Think about what they’re eating as being healthy building blocks for skin; processed foods and hydrogenated vegetables oils aren’t great building blocks for healthy skin. Ensure that they’re getting enough protein in your diet, essential fatty acids, vitamin A, D, E, and zinc. Vitamin D is typically low in those with eczema, allergies, and asthma, so can be worth testing and if low, supplementing with Vitamin D3/K2 – check with your healthcare professional first. 

Colours of the rainbow:

Increase plant-based foods and multi-colours. Aim for 20-40 different plant-based (unprocessed) fruit/veg/seeds per week as they’re increasing their foods. 

Mealtimes:

Peaceful mealtimes are key to improving digestion. This means eating together (where possible), eating sitting down, not rushed or stressed, no screens before, during, or after dinner. Chewing 20 times per chew. No water during meals – save this for at least 30 mins before or after a meal to avoid diluting the digestive juices. 

Hydration:

Drink the recommended amount of filtered water per day (for adults and babies over 6 months). Use a filter for drinking water to avoid drinking chlorine and other chemicals/heavy metals etc. Chlorine can affect gut bacteria negatively. Alcohol is inflammatory and can also affect gut health, so best to avoid. 

Celebrating my 3 year old client –

NO LONGER HAVING TO GO ON DUPIXENT.

Has said GOODBYE to 3 medicated creams –

as he no longer has eczema!!  

 3. ENVIRONMENT & ECZEMA

If you’re doing alllll the things in this article but not seeing any improvement, I would be strongly suspicious of environmental factors, particularly mould, or water (shower/bath).

Mould:

This can be a BIG contributing factor – check for mould in common places like bathrooms, ceilings/roof, cupboards, behind bookshelves, and basements. I recommend a Building Biologist to assess and recommend appropriate remediation.

Dustmites:

The dustmite faeces (!) can be an allergen – so regular vacuuming with a HEPA filter vacuum and dusting can help reduce the load. They also don’t like light – so NOT making your bed for the first 30 mins after you get out can help reduce them. YES! Wash clothes on 55C or higher and/or use tea-tree essential oil to kill them.

Bathing:

Reduce frequency of bathing. 1-2 times per week with ‘top and tail’ washes on the other days for kids. Chlorine or other chemicals/heavy metals/contaminants in the water may be a trigger – so consider a water filter. If you know the water is good quality, then include Epsom Salts and Dead Sea Salts in the bath. Ensure water is not too hot. If you’re finding bathing contributes to flare ups, try a very short shower instead.

Soap:

AVOID. Soap is drying and increases the pH of our acidic skin. The bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus is a bacteria associated with eczema and inflammation/flare-ups. This bacteria likes dry and skin with a high pH! Use just water with babies and kids – NO bath oil, shampoo/conditioner or other products until much older.

Personal care products:

Overall, reduce exposure to personal care products to reduce exposure to more chemicals. Avoid fragrances and oat/goatsmilk coconut oil as these MAY lead to the development of a new food allergy – not always, but a few small research studies have made this correlation.

Moisturisers:

Ensure your moisturiser does not contain the ingredients above, perfumes/fragrance,  or skin irritants. Check EWG.org website Skin Deep database for information on the safety of your moisturiser ingredients. For my private clients, I recommend a basic eczema skin serum made from jojoba oil (2/3), hexane-free castor oil (1/3) and a few drops of black-seed oil. With the addition of lavender, frankincense, roman chamomile, and helicrysm (ensure these are pure oils), these oils are known for healing skin and are very powerful. Make sure you only add a drop of each as they are powerful and effective even if well diluted at 0.5% rate. 

Clothing:

Best fabrics are cotton and silk. Bamboo has a lot of greenwashing and uses a lot of chemicals to get it to become a fabric. Avoid synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon. Wool can also be irritating. Wash your clothes in fragrance-free detergent – you can a very simple one with bicarbonate of soda, washing soda, and borax.

Temperature:

Sometimes, those with eczema “run hot” and may need less warm doonas/blankets/gro-bags at nighttime.

Sleep:

Avoid blue light (i.e. screens) 2-3 hours before bed to optimise the circadian rhythm. Getting outside and into the early morning sun and evening sun can help reset the circadian rhythm and improve sleep quality. Switch off modems at night to allow the brain to detoxify more effectively and improve sleep quality.  

4. HEALING CATALYSTS FOR ECZEMA

Light Therapy:

This is super beneficial and can fasttrack reduction in inflammation and symptoms. DM me if you’d like to join my photoceutical protocols group for gut healing, anxiety, stress, and lowering inflammation. 

Sunlight:

Red light therapy has been shown to be very beneficial for eczema. You could consider a portable device. However, Sunlight has the full spectrum and so exposing your skin – including eczema areas – to the sun in the morning with sunrise and late afternoon /evening with sunset, is very beneficial. 

Grounding:

Getting outside with your bare feet on the grass, dirt, sand – is a beautiful way to reduce stress and reconnect with nature. 

FIND JOY DAILY!

Taking the focus off eczema/your skin and doing something that brings joy into your life every day is vital for you as a parent – as well as for your child. This reduces inflammation, and helps your body shift out of the stress response so you can manage your response to your child’s flare-ups with less stress. 

5. RELEASING STRESS & STORED EMOTIONS

TO CLEAR ECZEMA

THIS is the BIGGEST root cause of eczema that I see, time and time again in my private clients. It’s also why you’re probably not seeing the improvements you think you should be seeing by now. 

When an event occurs that is stressful to us, we respond (SNS subconscious response), we feel intense emotions and then process them through and out of our body. Then, our PNS kicks back in and we’re calm again.

Except, this is increasingly NOT the case.

Why?

At the time of a stressful or traumatic event, we may not feel safe to feel and process those emotions (e.g. grief – cry), or we don’t know how to feel and process those emotions.

If we don’t process our emotions, they get stored in our bodies, contributing to ongoing inflammation. 

It’s exactly why two soldiers can be in the same battle, and one suffers afterwards with PTSD and the other is not affected in this way. One may have had a childhood where he felt safe and able to prcocess emotions growing up in a household with adults who modelled this for him. The other may have grown up in a household where he didn’t feel safe to feel and process his emotions, whatever the cause. 

Over time these unprocessed, stored emotions accumulate and eventually present as a physical symptom(s).

For those of you reading this – eczema. 

The most common stored emotions that I see are anger, fear, sadness, hopelessness, frustration, shame, and guilt.

Now, you may be wondering how your child could possibly have stored emotions when they’re not even that old!

It’s a great question. 

Some of these emotions may have originated as a foetus during your pregancy or during birth. For some, stress around conception can also play a role in symptoms.  

Separation or fear of separation is also a common theme I see in my private clients, which commonly occurs between mother and baby shortly after birth (even if just for a few minutes), or a parent returning to work. 

Biologically, we are present as an egg in our mother’s ovaries when she is a developing foetus in her mother’s womb.

So any stressors that occur during our maternal grandmother’s pregnancy with our mother, or our mother’s childhood, can affect us too.  

You may need to read that (above) again. It can be mindblowing for many, but biologically true. 

While we cannot change what happened in the past, we can clear the stress and resulting inflammation created at the time of these events.  

My client was DONE with eczema and Topical Steroid Withdrawal.

She was ready to clear the root cause.

By identifying the root causes of her eczema, we cleared stored emotions and supported her nervous system so she could finally hea. These changes were rapid (4 sessions over 6 weeks).

 I use a range of gentle approaches to help my clients reduce the intensity around these emotions/events in time – even if they’re not sure exactly what happened. I work with the parents of young children and teenagers on this as it helps to reduce symptoms in their child. By reducing the intensity of stored emotions, this ‘unsticks’ the stuck SNS response allowing both the parent and the client to feel more calm as their PNS is allowed to “come online”. This cuts the inflammation at the core and results in a reduction of symptoms. Sometimes this takes a few weeks, sometimes it is much quicker.

We know that our kids sense when we are stressed – and they also sense when we are not. Calmer parents also can mean improved family dynamics, which benefit the entire family. Our children’s nervous systems can reflect this too.

Are stuck / unprocessed emotions holding back your healing?

If you’re wondering if unprocessed emotions are contributing to your symptoms / your child’s symptoms, here’s a short exercise to test it:

Think of your child’s eczema.

Notice:

• What emotions are coming up?
• How you feel / sensations in your body?
• Where you are feeling this in your body?
• What the intensity of this feeling is out of 10 (10 = most intense, 0 = nothing)?
• What colour is this feeling/emotion?

   

  If you are sensing strong feelings and/or emotions, then these are contributing to inflammation in your body and your child’s.  While there are lots of physical and breathing exercises that you can do to lower your SNS input and inflammation, by clearing the emotions around the event pulls inflammation out at the root.

  If you are DONE with eczema, and would like support, click HERE to find out the ways to work with me to reduce inflammation and symptoms in your child. 

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