Eczema cream safe during pregnancy

Pregnancy-Induced Eczema

Sometimes, despite not having a current eczema diagnosis, pregnancy brings about dermatitis flare-ups with redness, itching, and bumps. The flare-ups tend to be grouped in small clusters and may have a hard crust. This situational eczema can appear anywhere on the body. Itching starts affecting the belly, breasts, the tips of fingers, palms of hands, soles of feet, crooks of elbows and knees, or just indiscriminately, with no pattern or time of day.

Hormone fluctuations can bring out eczema in people who’ve never had it, or significantly change existing symptoms. During pregnancy, the skin acting wildly can be overwhelming. Naturally, you want to ease your discomfort, but you want to make sure that it’s safe for your baby.

What’s Causing Pregnancy-Induced Eczema?

The worsening of eczema during pregnancy is influenced by changes in female sex hormones like estrogen, which kick an expectant mom’s immune system into high alert. An increase in immunity against external allergens and toxins helps protect a growing fetus, but makes the mother more sensitive. Inflamed, itchy skin and its accompanying sleepless nights are a tough side effect of these bodily changes. It takes away the much-needed respite during pregnancy, and can make feel that you’re unable to be the mother (and wife) you want to be.

Choosing Your Topical Treatment Matters

Always get a new consultation for your skin condition when you’re pregnant, rather than working off existing assumptions from previous doctor’s visits—because your body is changing and the treatments needs to as well. After assessment, doctors might prescribe topical corticosteroid creams with personalized dosages and potency. In extreme cases where the eczema massively deteriorates a mother’s quality of life, oral steroids may be prescribed. But there’s a lot to think about.

The US-based National Eczema Association cites some of the side effects of topical steroids, including slightly higher incidence of low birth weight with steroid use (if a certain amount of usage is exceeded) and worsened appearance of stretch marks. With the stronger oral steroids, there’s a risk of the baby becoming addicted to steroids. The baby could need steroid injections after birth and for some time thereafter.

Going Natural with Eczema Skincare

We understand that everyone’s eczema is different. That’s one of the big problems with eczema—the lack of certainty that something will ease your symptoms, and the inability to plan ahead when flare-ups happen without warning. If you’re easing out of using topical steroids, want to keep using them but at a minimum, or avoid them altogether, you can pair your eczema care strategy with good natural eczema creams. For some women who are pregnant, one further step of caution involves avoiding all essential oils. We make it easy; in our eczema collections, the products are fragrance-free.

Great for stretch marks

Tai | Body Oil with Prickly Pear Oil, Oat Oil, Broccoli Seed Oil and Olive Squalane

This dry-feel oil is full of Superfats: botanical oils that have diverse and rich fatty acid contents. These oils help the skin repair itself. It deeply moisturizes damaged skin, to help reduce discomfort. Use daily on eczema-prone spots as well as areas where your body is stretching out, like the thighs and belly.

Good for extremities

Bond | Healing Body Salve with Kokum Butter, Camellia Oil, Mango Butter and Calendula Herbal Oil The rich salve really goes deep into spots like flare-up fingertips, soles of feet, and more. Massage it into tender feet, sore from bearing the weight of your unborn baby. This salve eases chapped skin, and readily absorbs without a greasy residue. The skin drinks it up. ****