Miracle Honey Eczema Cream for Babies

Clear your baby’s (and your own) eczema with this whipped manuka honey eczema cream. This body butter is moisturizing and nourishing for your babies skin and will help heal eczema fast.

This post may contain affiliate links. Also, I am not a dermatologist so this should not be taken as medical advice. See my full disclosure policy here.

Miracle Eczema Cream

Eczema on babies is so heartbreaking and it’s easy to feel helpless when you see your little one scratching at their rash, not knowing what they’re doing.

My sweet baby has super sensitive skin and has struggled with eczema since birth.

When she got old enough to scratch her rash, she became covered in scratch marks that broke my heart.

Her pediatrician prescribed a steroid cream, but I wanted to try something more natural first.

I did a bunch of research on how to help her skin and I learned that honey is actually really great for skin (more on that later).

This recipe was developed with my baby’s sensitive skin in mind.

After one night of lathering her in this cream, her red rash was nearly gone!

It was a miracle!

I had been aggressively moisturizing her skin morning and night before that so she was not in the middle of a huge flare up, but I could never get the eczema to completely go away.

This cream cleared the redness and inflammation more than anything else had.

What is Eczema?

Eczema (atopic dermatitis) is a chronic skin disease that involves dry skin, intense itching, inflammatory skin lesions, and often has a big impact on quality of life.¹

It most often occurs during infancy and early childhood, but can happen at any age.

While it is not fully known what causes eczema, flare ups have been linked to things like stress, environment, diet, allergies, detergents, changing of seasons, and infections.²

Sometimes eczema can be controlled by changing the diet (like going off of dairy), and it can also be helped by changing detergents and soaps, etc.

But the one of the most effective treatments for eczema is moisturization.

This recipe helps nourish and moisturize the skin to contribute to the healing process.

What goes in eczema cream for babies?

Manuka Honey

Honey is known for its antimicrobial and wound healing properties and it has been used as a treatment for infection for thousands of years.

(In fact, as I’m typing this, I’m remembering how I was given honey in the hospital to use as nipple cream after my baby was born.)

Honey is great for eczema, especially because it is anti-inflammatory.

Manuka honey is a special kind of honey from New Zealand that is much more powerful than traditional honey.

The bees gather pollen from Manuka trees which creates honey rich in methylglyoxal (MGO).

The more MGO in the honey, the more antimicrobial it is.

There are different levels of potency of manuka honey and it can get quite pricey the more potent it is! (Check out how much this one is!)

My favorite brand of manuka honey is Happy Valley that can be purchased on Amazon.

I use Manuka Honey that is15+ UMF and 514+ MGO since it is very powerful, but not outrageously expensive.

You can also use regular honey for this recipe, but it won’t work as well as manuka honey.

Will this eczema cream be sticky with honey in it?

This body butter is smooth and creamy, but can feel slightly sticky right after application.

It’s not like putting straight honey on your skin, but will leave a slight sticky feeling until it soaks in.

I like to put the cream on my baby before bed and by the morning, it leaves her skin super soft by morning.

Is it safe to put honey on babies under 1 year old?

Honey can be dangerous to babies under 1 year old due to the possibility of botulism found in some honey, but that is only a risk if ingested.

If you believe your baby will suck on their hands, etc. after you have put this cream on, either don’t put the cream where they’ll suck or exclude the honey from the cream until they are older.

There is no risk to applying the honey on a baby’s skin if they are not ingesting the cream.

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is really good for protecting the outermost layer of your skin.

It is actually not super good at moisturizing on its own, but it is good at holding in moisture of other things. That’s why I like to use it in combination with other ingredients (like mango or shea butter).

Coconut oil can improve the skins function by preventing excessive water loss and it creates a layer to protect the skin from out

In addition, coconut oil is anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-oxidant.

Coconut oil is great for fighting infections and helping the skin heal.

I like to use the Kirkland brand of coconut oil that you can get at Costco. I also really love this Nutiva brand that can be found on amazon. It is high quality and a great price.

Raw Mango Butter

Mango butter is super moisturizing and is full of great nutrients for the skin.

It contains vitamin E and Vitamin C which both help protect the skin from the environment.

You can also use shea butter instead of mango butter for this recipe.

Shea butter is actually more nutrient dense and works as a stronger moisturizer.

I chose to use mango butter for this recipe, because it tends to feel less greasy and the smell is much more mild.

I get my mango butter on amazon. Here is a good quality, but inexpensive unrefined mango butter that you can order on amazon.

When using products on babies, I try to use ingredients that are more gentle and don’t have a strong smell.

As a note, when using any oils or butters as a moisturizer, they will tend to feel a bit greasier than lotion on the skin until they soak in.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The olive oil in this recipe has two functions.

First, olive oil is great for the skin! It helps reduce inflammation, which is a huge issue with eczema.

In addition to being packed with nutrients and anti-oxidants, olive oil also provides deep hydration for the skin.

The second reason I included olive oil in this recipe is to help with the thickness of the cream.

Coconut oil and mango butter are both solid at room temperature, which can make the cream a little too firm.

The olive oil helps thin out the cream enough that it is easier to spread.

The amount of olive oil you’ll want to use depends on the climate in which you live.

I live in a very cold climate in the winter so I add extra olive oil to this recipe when it’s colder and less in the summer when it’s warmer.

If you live where it’s consistently warm, you’ll want to use less olive oil to prevent a runny cream.

Vitamin E Oil

The oils and butters in this recipe all provide great nutrients including Vitamin E, but I find it helpful to add a little bit of extra vitamin E oil to this recipe for extra support.

When used topically, vitamin E helps to reduce skin inflammation which is what eczema is.

It also helps to reduce itchiness which is another huge part of eczema.

Babies especially tend to itch their eczema rash since they don’t know not to, so this can help soothe and calm their urge to itch their rash.

I take these vitamin E capsules so I just open one capsule and drop the oil into the cream. You can also buy pure vitamin E oil in a dropper on amazon or at your local grocery store.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil is known to be one of the most gentle essential oils and is thought to be safe even for babies.

However, I tend to be very cautious when using any essential oils around babies and young children.

You can judge the amount of lavender you choose to use based on your baby’s age and tolerance.

I use just a couple of drops to enhance the power of the cream while not over-doing it.

Lavender is a great calming oil and also has wound healing properties.

It is a helpful tool in reducing eczema, which is why I included it in this recipe.

Be sure to use a high quality therapeutic grade essential oil.

How to make Honey Eczema Cream

1. In a glass bowl or measuring cup, gently melt the mango butter over a double boiler until there are no more chunks.
2. Remove from heat and add coconut oil. Stir until the coconut oil melts and the two oils are well combined. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. Stir in the manuka honey then place in the fridge until the oils just begin to harden around the edges.
4. Using an electric whisk or hand mixer, whisk the mixture until it starts to resemble honey butter. Add vitamin E oil, lavender essential oil (if desired) and one tablespoon of olive oil.
5. Whisk until well combined and cream starts to become more white.
6. Add more olive oil and whisk until cream is just runnier than desired consistency (cream will firm up as it cools).
7. Apply liberally to skin once or twice a day, especially before bed or after a bath.

Helpful Tools

My husband got this exact immersion blender for me for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I have loved it ever since. It’s great for making soups and smoothies, and even lotions. It has held up really well.

It’s way less expensive than other ones I’ve seen, but the quality is totally there.

Notes

• I like to melt the mango butter first, since it takes longer to melt. The coconut oil will melt faster and should only need the heat from the melted mango butter in order for it to melt. Avoid overheating.
• Allow the mango butter and coconut oil to cool before adding in the manuka honey so that the heat won’t kill the beneficial properties of the honey.
• I like to apply this cream at night just before bed so it can soak into the skin overnight.
• The cream will be a bit sticky and have a slightly greasy feel due to the use of butters and oils. Be sure to use with clothing that is not easily ruined.

Sources

1. Emollients and moisturisers for eczema https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012119.pub2/full
2. What causes worsening of eczema? A systematic review https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2133.2006.07381.x