Healing from Within

It's been a week now, using Glaxal base cream on Jasmine's face to see if it'll help her eczema. Her dry skin patches remain and there hasn't been much improvement compared with the other creams we've tried. We wipe her face with a wet cloth and then apply the cream on immediately to seal in moisture. If we wait more than 5 minutes to put on the cream, her skin is dry and rough. To keep the dry patches at bay, we apply the 1% hydrocorizone cream twice a day.

Her face looks ok, but it's her eyes that concern us most (since we can't use creams in the eye area). Jasmine likes to scratch her eye area whenever she can and we have to pull her octopus arms out of the way. Swaddling her arms all the time is tough so I've spent several hours on the internet, looking for ways to heal the eczema internally.

Articles have indicated that babies are susceptable to having eczema early in life, due to their immature digestive and immune systems. It is said that 25% of babies get eczema and 90% of these babies, will grow out of eczema by 2 years old. The 10% who don't grow out of eczema will have eczema for life. Hopefully Jasmine will grow out of this soon.

In terms of healing, I've tried to cut out diary, soy, wheat, peanut and eggs out of my diet. This is in case Jasmine is allergic to any of these types of foods. I slipped on this yesterday (just realized it now) when I ate tofu for dinner (there goes the soy). I haven't seen much improvement in her skin with this elimination diet. I hear that it takes about 2 weeks for my own body to detoxify itself and another 2 weeks for Jasmine to detox her body. I will try to keep it up.

I've started taking oral supplements of fish oil, flaxseed oil and borage oil to increase my essential fatty acids (EFA) of Omega 3, 6 , 9. Eczema sufferers are often deficient in EFAs. EFAs are responsible for maintaining the cells moisture. This is important because the skin's moisture barrier serves as a protective barrier against the elements/free radicals. As I am taking the supplements, the EFA's will pass through into my breastmilk.

I've also started taking probiotic supplements, which will increase the 'good' bacteria thought to help normal development of the immune system. They promote normal immunity and protect against harmful bacteria. There is evidence suggesting that using probiotics in early life may help reduce the symptoms of atopic eczema.

I'll give an update after a week.