How To Treat Baby Eczema

Your baby may develop dry and scaly skin patches which many parents refer to as baby eczema. If the symptoms are found on the scalp of the baby, it is known as cradle crap. However, if the symptoms spread to all over his body, it is known generally as infantile seborrhoeic eczema. When the symptoms turn severe, the affected skin of your baby can actually break, grow raw and begin to bleed. You may feel pained to see your baby looking unpleasant. Thankfully, baby eczema is not contagious.

Baby eczema afflicts babies less than 1 year old. A startling one out of every five babies will develop this condition at one time or another in their lives. This can also occur in 1 in 5 older children and 1 in 12 adults as well. However, although the cases that happen in older children and adults are not the same as infantile seborrhoeic eczema, these cases may have originated from previous cases that occurred when the sufferer was a child.

Some say that baby eczema occurs because of overactive sebaceous glands (that produce the skin’s oil). There are other forms that can occur. These reasons include asthma, hayfever, genetics or an allergy to something that the skin comes into contact with.

If your baby develops the symptoms of dry and scaly skin, bring him to see a pediatrician immediately. It is important that you seek an early and proper diagnosis as doing this can help you identify the right treatment. Still, the skin of the baby is always going to be sensitive and prone to flare ups. Hence, you will need to take special care of the skin with a good cleansing and moisturizing routine.

To treat cradle crap, you can try rubbing a small amount of warm olive oil mixed with a few drops of primrose oil onto your baby's scalp in order to loosen it up. Apply this mixture to your baby's head before bedtime. Let it soak into her skin before you wash it off in the morning with a mild baby shampoo. Some other topical supplements that can help your baby include Aloe vera or Borage oil.

If you are breastfeeding your baby who has baby eczema, then do consider changing your diet. Try to have more biotin from liver and eggs. You should also consume supplements containing essential fatty acids known to help in eczema skin. These include evening primrose oil or emu oil. Your baby may also be allergic to some of the foods in your diet. Examples include milk, dairy products, seafood. Hence, cut out these foods as much as you can while breastfeeding. Hopefully, these tips will help reduce the dryness of the skin that comes with baby eczema.