IT came as no surprise to mum-of-three Andrea Walker when she noticed patches of eczema begin to develop on her youngest, Eva.
Her two older daughters, Casey, 11 and Elise, three, had both suffered with the skin condition, which is thought to be largely hereditary. With both older girls Andrea had tried a variety of emollients, but what worked for one didn’t necessarily work for the other.
“At first, you’ll try anything and with Casey I did try quite a lot of things,” she remembers. “I found with many treatments it was trial and error in different combinations. Then a neighbour told me about Lesley at Little Herbal and a cream she was making. Now I’ve found something that worked I won’t change it.”
The cream she used is called, Themba, developed by Little Herbal International, based in Holmfirth, Yorkshire. Former pharmaceutical worker Lesley Robinson launched the company after a trip to Zimbabwe, where the remedies originate from traditional medicine.
Themba is made from the sausage-shaped fruit of the Kigelia tree, which grows in low lying altitudes of Southern Africa. The Kigelia fruit has been traditionally used for stubborn dry-skin conditions but can be used to soothe a variety of ailments such as acne, cold sores, athletes foot and insect bites.
Little Herbal has added aloe excelsia, calendula, wheatgerm oil, lavender and vitamin E to the cream, which seems to be suitable for the most sensitive of skins, even babies, promoting healing at the same time as tackling skin problems associated with viruses, bacteria and fungus.
Open-minded
“I think with a condition like eczema you’ve just got to be open-minded,” Andrea says. “We’re doing a bit of everything - looking at diet as well as skin care.
“Elise is on a dairy free diet because she is allergic to milk and eggs, which was aggravating her condition. We found out after she was hospitalised with asthma and the doctors did some tests, so we’ve been advised to keep her on a dairy free diet until she is about five and then try again. We tried all sorts, including adding acidophilus to her breast milk to rebalance the gut, and I rubbed a capsule of evening primrose oil into her thighs for the essential fatty acids to help reduce inflammation. Sometimes we had to use hydrocortisone cream, but it’s steroids-based so you worry about that - you don’t want to put anything very strong on the face.
“Casey’s skin isn’t upset by her food and her eczema is more seasonal now. It flares up in winter so we go back to using Themba and it calms down. With the other two I use Themba morning and night religiously. It helps keep it under control - I can tell if I’ve missed a bit because they’ll have a red patch.”
Eva was just seven weeks old when she developed a patch of red dry skin behind her ears, but in two months it had spread to her face, legs and body.
“I cried when I saw the patch,” Andrea admits. “I knew straight away it was eczema. It’s upsetting because you just want your baby to be peaches and cream. People stare and say, `Aw, what’s that on her face?’ You know they are being sympathetic but you just want it to clear up. It’s very sore as well - Eva’s skin was inflamed and hot. I dressed her in simple white cotton and put little mitts on her hands to stop her from scratching but she would be up all night crying with the pain. She was sleep-deprived as a result and I was, too.
“Sometimes, you just want someone to really listen to you and Lesley was a big support for me in that way. Together we put together a plan of action and she also put me in touch with an immunologist at the hospital who suggested that Eva take a small dose anti-histamine, twice a day.
“That stops her skin feeling itchy so she’s not scratching it - hence she’s not making it sore and not getting infected skin. It also means the Themba can do its own job of healing the skin without having to work doubly hard to stop the itching as well.”
Aggressive
As seen in the photos, when Eva’s eczema flares up it is very aggressive, red and hot. To try and reduce the inflammation Eva was one of the first to use a new cream from Little Herbal, Oshana (African for dry place), which contains the active ingredients of Themba mixed with other ingredients known to be kind to the skin, like aloe and vitamin E. It can be used in between applications of Themba to moisturise the skin.
“On the photos you can see the eczema was very aggressive on Eva’s face,” says Andrea. “We didn’t realise at the time but she had got some of it infected. When we went to the doctors they said that because I’d been using Oshana it had kept it under control.
“Because with eczema you need to get a lot of moisture into it, we used Oshana head to toe on Eva and then rub on Diprobase ointment (A mixture of liquid paraffin and white soft paraffin that produces a greasy moisturiser. It works by providing a layer of oil on the surface of the skin to prevent water evaporating). Once that’s soaked in we have a completely peachy little girl.”
Although there is no catch-all treatment for eczema there are things you can do to help minimise discomfort:
Keep your baby’s skin moisturised, especially after a bath. Emollients reduce water loss from the skin by providing a seal or barrier so the skin is less dry, itchy and more comfortable.
Bathing your baby in lukewarm water can help his/her skin retain moisture and stay hydrated
To reduce itching use cotton clothing and bedding, which keep the skin cool and allow it to breathe. At night, cotton mittens can be used over babies’ hands to help reduce damage to the skin during sleep.
Reduce house dust mites, which can aggravate the condition, by regularly vacuuming, damp dusting and airing bedding.
Dietary changes can be quite helpful although it is important to seek advice from a nutritionist in order to ensure your child is getting adequate nutrients. Keeping a diary of foods eaten and observing skin reactions can be useful when weaning babies.
Source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/lifestyle/health_and_beauty/health_and_beauty_feature/s/1038482_remedy_for_eczema_itch
Republished by Old Post Promoter
(A great book, by the way, since I always agree that you should not trust your doctor 100%) 
