 MIRACLE cream for my young baby's eczema! |
| Review Date: June 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kiyomi, Indiana, USA |
I am a first time parent and was concerned when my 3 week old developed some small red spots and splotches near her eyes. The doctor said it was eczema and to use any lotion to moisturize and it should go away. To my horror, it spread RAPIDLY over the next 2 days to her neck, scalp, and covered her entire face and forehead. My little girl was rubbing her face and it was irritated and itchy. It was so terribly dry that around her eyes and eyelids it was thick and crusty and I feared she may have a different infection inside her lids.
At this time I looked online to see what would work. There were so many options to try Disney baby cream, Aveeno, Mustela, but I decided to try the California Baby Calendula cream because I received a small sample tube in shower gift set. I had read reviews that it worked immediately so I began applying the cream at every feeding (every 2-3 hours). It has a spa-like smell, that smell that salons and spas have when you get a massage or facial. After about 7 hours I noticed that the skin was smoother and a little softer--maybe a 20% improvement...not exactly the miracle I was hoping for but better than nothing. So I ran out and bought 3 containers and a humidifier since it's dry in our house. That night I put the cream on her face and ran the humidifier and in the morning her skin looked dramatically better---70%! That was on Friday. By Sunday it was completely cleared up and her beautiful skin was back to normal! I put it on every day now since I've learned she has sensitive skin and I use California Baby's shampoo/wash too since I read the Johnsons head to toe body wash I was using has an ingredient--quaternium 15?--that futher irritates rashes and eczema. I don't even leave the house without this cream for my baby!!! |
Miracle Cream? No, Reasonable Alternative? Yes
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| Review Date: November 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: goonius, a room in a house on a street in a city just like any other. |
Both our children have eczema, and have since they hit about the 15 month mark. They have it during the summer months and the winter months. They get it from sweat when they're wearing formaldehyde-drenched Chinese-made clothing and when they're wearing Oeko-Tex certified organic clothing from Peru. They might be allergic to foods (the possible allergen list is a mile long, and it's not like the doctors could possibly test for everything; elimination diets have been futile). They're certainly allergic to that big hickory tree over their play equipment. Cats, dogs, mold, dust, you name it.
So, when all else fails, and you can't weed out the source, you want something to make the symptoms go away. In the case of eczema, you can either suppress the immune reaction (topical steroids) or combat the resulting itch and moisturize and heal the inflamed, damaged skin. California Baby Calendula Cream performs the tricky combination of controlling the itch long enough to heal the skin. It works reasonably well the majority of the time.
Calendula (or pot marigold) extract has been proven to have anti-inflammatory properties, among others, in plant pharmacological studies and has been used topically to reduce inflammation and soothe irritated tissue for centuries. Of course if your child is allergic to plants in the marigold family, calendula would (obviously) have the opposite effect.
I wouldn't be surprised if this has chamomile in it as well, though the label doesn't disclose the contents of the 'proprietary oil blend'. It does have a pleasant tea-like smell to it, and chamomile has been noted to have similar soothing effects.
The rest of the ingredients are dedicated to moisturizing the skin. Because of the density of this cream, it stays on the skin, and because the first ingredient is purified water, it is quickly absorbed. It leaves skin feeling incredibly smooth, but not at all greasy.
The big drawback here is that if your child has severe eczema, you might have to apply this 3 or 4 times a day to the most affected areas. Our children do have severe eczema, and this can keep it at bay if I remember to apply it frequently. Of course I don't always remember. Then there's the cost of applying this cream multiple times per day to two children. We go through one jar per week easily.
So, why not use another moisturizer? Well, in our case, almost all moisturizers we've tried (Aveeno, Nature's Gate, Cetaphil, Eucerin, and others I can't recall now) actually irritate the kids' skin even more, whereas this and the Sensitive Skin California Baby lotion do not. Vaseline works as a barrier cream, but it ruins clothing (mine and theirs) and isn't easily absorbed by the skin.
So, we keep trying other things occasionally, and keep coming back to California Baby. While it is not a miracle cream, it is a heck of a lot better than the other stuff that's out there. (It should be at that price.) It works pretty well most times, sometimes clearing their eczema entirely for brief periods. Another reason to like it is that it rates fairly low on hazardous ingredients according to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Database. All the other mainstream lotions we've tried were considered to be moderately hazardous, and when you read a bit more into this stuff, they just don't seem like good things to be applying to a baby or young child's skin. Most common lotions have ingredients that are actually considered to be irritants, which may explain the children's reaction to other moisturizers.
If your child has eczema, and you're at your wit's end trying to find something, anything that will improve their quality of life, it can't possibly hurt to give this stuff a shot. Pricey as it is, there are so many days I'd give anything just to not have to watch my children irritably tearing at their own skin. This calendula cream has definitely been a source of relief for them - and thus, for our whole family.
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Makes baby's skin soft - helps eczema!
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| Review Date: August 16, 2006 |
| Reviewer: J. Lien, Beautiful Washington State |
| I bought three different lotions for my daughter when she developed eczema, hoping one of them would work. California Baby Calendula Cream has worked wonders for her. I put some on my baby's skin after her baths, and I notice a difference in her skin the same day. Her red patches disappear, and I imagine my baby is more comfortable as well. Even if your baby doesn't have eczema, this cream has a pleasant, light scent that isn't overpowering, and it makes my baby's skin even softer than it already is! Another great California Baby product! |
Love this stuff
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| Review Date: March 18, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Jeannette A. Kennedy, |
We try to stay away from the diaper creams that have mineral oils in them, but when my daughter had a really nasty rash, we started searching for something we liked. All the typical lotions and potions out there seemed to burn her - she really didn't like us applying them. Even then the rash took days to go away. Now, we apply this stuff and she doesn't even flinch...and the rash disappears within a day. On top of that the cream smells so great!
I highly recommend this product. |
amazing
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| Review Date: March 19, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Gemma, |
This product cured my babies cradle cap in three days! Now I use it on his face where he gets a little sore and red from dribbling. It is light, gentle and has only good things in it (no petroleum). Highly recommended.
As a side note my cuticles are in better shape as I tend to rub the residule cream into my hands. |
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superb article . Will definitely copy it to my blog.Thanks.