A loving mother wants her children to be healthy most of all. So imagine the emotional impact of discovering that your baby has eczema and all you want is to get rid of the itching and irritation. Imagine the worry a woman with eczema has when she becomes pregnant. The hypothetical scenarios are huge.
Fortunately, there is good information and inspiration to help women in both situations. Here, two moms reveal the immense lengths they go to to get their children relief and health.
Meghan Elliott lives in Kankakee, Illinois, and is a busy mother of two: Nora, 4, and Charlie, 1. After suffering from eczema, Elliot was devastated and set out on a quest to do whatever she could to help them. She researched his needs and then made sure the health system met them.
“Charlie’s skin is rough, scaly, and bumpy,” says Elliott, operations manager for marketing company Mayhill Moon. At first, the inflammation was mostly on his cheeks and thighs, but later started showing up in his elbows. “My son’s pediatrician officially diagnosed him with moderate to severe eczema and recommended we take him to a pediatric dermatologist.” It was a good idea, but she and Charlie would have to spend months on a waiting list , Elliott found this “extremely frustrating.”
From that point on, she began to learn as much as she could about Charlie’s condition. One thing that shocked her was that many children with eczema had moderate to severe food allergies. “After seeing how long it took to get a referral to a pediatric dermatologist, I called the pediatric allergist myself. Thankfully, they got him quickly and we found out that Charlie was allergic to all forms of eggs. Severe allergies and lactose intolerance.
This is a watershed moment. “What we are doing now is applying CeraVe treatment ointment on his cheeks and chin before and after he eats so as not to irritate his skin,” she said. “This ointment helps act as a barrier, blocking out any foods that may cause inflammation.”
Elliot carefully analyzes every aspect of Charlie’s daily life, putting him at ease in many ways. “One thing that helps my son is giving him a bath every night,” she said. “I thought it would dry him out more, but our dermatologist said to take a quick 5- to 10-minute warm shower and then we pat him dry and put lotion on him right away to keep the moisture on his skin. All moisture. We use CeraVe lotion, shampoo, and body wash during his baths, and we also apply CeraVe Treatment Ointment to his cheeks throughout the day to lock in moisture.
To help him fall asleep, Elliot relies on the softest bedding. “We use bamboo crib sheets, which are very breathable—when we use flannel crib sheets, he wakes up with irritated cheeks,” she says. “We also make a lot of bamboo clothing. He can also wear cotton clothing, but we are definitely staying away from any wool or polyester. Charlie is doing great now. “We have a doctor follow-up schedule every 3 to 6 months , he’s doing much better than he was a year ago. “
However, the emotional toll of worry and ongoing caregiving is considerable. “Raising a child with eczema and food allergies is exhausting and frustrating,” she said. “Still, try to get help and get your child into remission. My advice to other parents who are also going through this is to always be your child’s advocate. They can’t advocate for themselves, so it’s our responsibility to advocate for them this way.
Karen Fischer is an award-winning nutritionist and author living and working on the Gold Coast, Australia. She is the owner of Skin Friend, a skin care company dedicated to helping eczema sufferers through an online support network. Her own story, and that of her daughter Ayva, now 22, is why she has made eczema relief her job and passion.
“I suffered from head-to-toe eczema,” Fisher explains. “I am qualified as a health practitioner but I didn’t really understand eczema until I experienced it myself.”
Before becoming pregnant with Ayva, Fischer found herself dealing with a skin condition. “My eczema started out as just a small patch,” she recalls. “After a spell of work stress, it suddenly spreads throughout my body. Every time I eat, it spreads. Some nights, the itching is so bad I can’t sleep. I have to wash the sheets constantly, I can’t go out to eat with friends, I’m socializing I was isolated. No one understood and I spent a lot of time crying at home.
Noting the connection between food and her seizures, Fisher took a closer look at what she ate. “Your skin is actually made of the food you eat, so it made sense to change my diet,” she said. “Genetics play a role, but I believe eating healthy, low-chemical foods can make up for these genetic deficiencies.” Identifying which foods seemed to trigger her eczema and eliminating them helped Fisher get better.
Fortunately, her pregnancy went smoothly. “I had hand dermatitis before I got pregnant,” she said. “With a healthy diet, the condition went away quickly, so I didn’t have a rash during my pregnancy. However, Ayva developed eczema just two weeks after she was born. Fisher saw Ayva suffering and the baby having difficulty sleeping. She was shocked, but it didn’t immediately occur to the new mother that she could manage her daughter’s skin condition the same as her own. “I thought eczema was a hereditary condition and there was nothing I could do about it, so I used topical steroids to treat it. her eczema, but it didn’t work out,” she recalled.
Then, came the breakthrough: “A nurse who was caring for Ayva told me about food allergies, and she put me on the path to healing my daughter’s eczema. Nutritional biochemistry was my favorite subject in college, so I studied it from The allergy departments of various hospitals read the research results and designed a diet specifically for Ayva. Ayva’s skin improved and we gradually increased her diet with the right foods to rejuvenate the child’s body.
Today, mother and daughter are both happy and healthy. “Eczema is a complex skin condition and everyone is quick to give you advice,” Fisher said, before offering some advice of her own. In her opinion, “healthy eating is the long-term, permanent solution.”
