As a busy mom of four, I have PLENTY of experience dealing with all kinds of skin issues that happen with kids. Imagine my surprise on morning when waking up to find that what had first appeared as a small bug bite on my toddler daughter the night before, was now a cluster of forming blisters. I was thinking that this was not a big deal. What I didn't know at the time was this morning would start a chain reaction of treatment for not just one child, but ten days for the entire family. My darling toddler daughter did not have a bug bite... she had the highly infectious skin disorder, Impetigo. Once I realized what we were dealing with, it was time for this mom to "cowboy up" and boy was I thankful to have my Neem products on hand!

Here’s a bit of the back story so you know why I am so grateful to have Neem products in my home medical bag. We were out of town, and I thought my baby girl had gotten into some insects. By the morning of day 3 the main “bite” had broken open and the tiny clusters around it had turned into actual blisters. Some of them were open and some just very bulbous. Due to my past medical training, I recognized these blisters were not from insect bites. My daughter had a rapidly spreading skin infection. We were dealing with Impetigo!

Miraculously, I didn’t panic. With eleven years of motherhood and four children this was not my first rodeo in home treatment for illness. For years, I have steadily been moving away from traditional Western medicine and adopting holistic treatments into my home medical kit. I feel much better equipped to handle non-medical emergencies with natural alternatives available to use immediately when needed. I knew exactly what herb my daughter needed to stop the infection and help her skin to heal, Neem.

One of my main “Go To” herbs in my home medical kit is Neem. It is my favorite in that I can use it internally and externally to get rid of many types of illness. Neem supports a healthy immune response because it is a blood purifier and detoxifying agent. It literally purifies our blood and eliminates threatening toxins before they have a chance to take hold in the body. It has been my first line of defense against may types of illness because it works quickly and is gentle to the body systems.

I used several types of Neem treatment for my young daughter and for our older children who were also showing signs of Impetigo several days later. I knew the multi-faceted approach was the best way to nip this highly contagious infection in the bud. I used the Neem tub tea soak paired with the Body Guard soap, and the Shingle Pain Relief cream on or around the blister sites to kill the infection, sooth the skin and stop the itching. I had tried the Neem Extract, but it tends to sting a bit on a wound due to the extract alcohol base. Thankfully, I had the capsules, tub tea, soap, and cream to work together as treatment options for everyone infected.

I must say that my toddler’s favorite “treatment” activity was the Neem Tea Baths. As any toddler does, she LOVES water play, and the bright green color from the Neem made the water play even better! I chose the Bodyguard soap due to its high antibacterial/antiviral qualities to clean the skin. Our bar came with a mesh soap saver bag. I removed it from the bag to reduce any chance of the spread of germs and used the soap on its own. The soap also contains several highly effective cleansing yet soothing, delightful scented essential oils. My daughter had a lovely sensory experience holding the soap and creating bubbles with her hands. Do be aware, this bar soap is not gentle on the eyes. It will irritate and cause tears. Make your children aware not to put it on their face. As you can imagine, multiple tub baths a day was the highlight for my water loving toddler. She and I greatly enjoyed the splash play while we were “immersed” in this chaotic Impetigo adventure!

I do need to share some helpful tips in case this type of illness situation should happen in your family. We had to wash in hot water, EVERY item of clothing and bedding that the children had used to make sure no one was reinfected. You may need to disinfect stuffed toys, furniture, and your car interior as this type of infection can live in fabric for weeks.

Also, I would follow the Neem Tea soak baths by applying the Neem Shingle Relief Cream on and around the affected skin. I chose the Shingle Relief Cream because the formula has so many ingredients beneficial to this type of painful skin situation. This pain cream formula contains Black Seed Oil, Frankincense, Lavender, Ginger, Myrrh, Lemongrass, St. John’s Wort, and Arnica essential oils all within a rich, nourishing base of Neem, Coconut and Hemp Oils. It helped immensely with the pain of the blisters while truly healing the affected areas. Nothing is worse than itchy, cranky kids and the Shingle Pain Relief cream was HUGE in keeping them comfortable. They were not feeling itchy and scratching at the affected areas during treatment.

As far as my own personal treatment: I already take Neem Capsules daily, so I just upped my daily dosage. That was enough for me to remain clear. In hindsight, I should have started the increased dosage of Neem Capsules on myself and skin treatments on the older children as soon as I knew it was Impetigo. We continued this routine of daily soaks and cream treatments with ALL the children and by day 5 the sores were starting to dry out and no new spots had come. By day 10, the infected areas were completely dry, with scabs falling off the edges and new healthy skin underneath. Once again Neem saved the day…and my sanity! Our family loves Neem so much and now it is even toddler approved!

I must say, I am so happy this Impetigo nightmare is over! I am also greatly relieved that I already had on hand EVERYTHING I needed to treat everyone in my family ASAP. I did not have to wait for a doctor’s appointment or go to the ER at the hospital,  or wreak havoc on their gut microbiome with antibiotics. Neem has proven itself once again to be our best first choice for home treatment. It has become a beloved first line of defense to protect the health of our family.