Some of the home remedies for cracked feet in kids includes application of vegetable oil on kids feet, epsom salt bath, lemon juice, honey, rice flour, oatmeal, baking soda, aloe vera, to name a few.
Children lead exceptionally energetic lifestyles which give them cracked heels. For instance, if they are into sports and come home with sweaty socks, they may take longer to change out of them. This is one cause for cracked heels. Similarly, there are several other causes of cracked feet in kids. By making changes to their lifestyles, nutrition, allergies and some topical remedies, children can find relief.
Causes of Cracked Feet in Kids
- Athlete’s Foot: If your child’s feet are always damp, it can cause scaly, itchy and cracked skin or athlete’s foot. This happens when children don’t wait to be towel-dry before getting into their clothes or are slow to get out of their sweaty clothes. They should change out of their sportswear the moment they’re back home and wash their feet with soap and water every day. Wearing cotton socks would also help.
- Dry foot skin in winter: In winter, if your child wears several pairs of socks, it could inhibit sweat evaporation. Your child’s damp feet could give him cracked feet with an itch. If they scratch the area, it would open the doors for bacteria to enter the epidermis.
- Skin allergies: Using antibacterial bath soaps can make the skin harsh, dry and irritated. Topical allergies could result due to the ingredients of fabrics and dyes in shoes and socks.
Cracked Feet in Kids: 11 Home Remedies
Here are 11 home remedies you can use to treat your child’s cracked feet:
Help your child wash his feet and dry them thoroughly with a towel. Then, apply a little vegetable oil all over his feet. Then, make him wear a pair of thick cotton socks for the night. Let him wash his feet next morning and continue this regimen every night. The fats contained in the hydrogenated vegetable oil lubricates the skin and heals cracked foot skin.
Lemon juice
The mild acidic content of lemon juice helps to get rid of the dead and dry skin and heal it, thus preventing cracked skin on the feet. Put your child’s feet in a solution of lemon juice and warm water for about 10 minutes. Then, exfoliate the upper layers of dead skin using a loofah. By adding rosewater glycerine to the lemon solution, you can get soft healed feet faster. While glycerine helps to soften the skin, rose water heals cracks.
Epsom salt has several health benefits, chief among them being improving blood circulation and moisturizing skin. Your child can soak his feet in a basin of warm water with Epsom salt for 10 minutes. Exfoliate your child’s feet using a scrub and ask him to soak his feet in saline for 10 minutes more.
Read More: Benefits of Epsom Salt Bath for your Toddler
Take a basin full of warm water and add a cup of honey to it. Mix it well and then ask your child to place his feet in it for a while. After about 20 minutes, scrub the skin on his heels gently until they become soft and supple. Do this regularly till the cracks in your child’s heels heal. The antiseptic property of honey helps heal your child’s heels and rejuvenates the skin.
Take a couple of tablespoons of rice flour and make a paste of it with a little honey and apple cider vinegar. If your child’s heels are very dry and have a lot of cracks in them, they can be healed quickly if you add a little almond or olive oil to the paste. Soak his feet in warm water for a few minutes and then scrub it to remove any dead skin. Do this once a week until the cracks heal completely. Rice flour is a good exfoliant that also works to purify and replace the minerals into the skin, making it soft and smooth.
Powder a tablespoon of oatmeal and add olive oil to it to make it a thick paste. Apply this on your child’s feet over the cracked parts of his heels. Leave the paste on for 30 minutes and rinse with cold water. Pat dry. Do this on alternate days till the cracks in your child’s feet go away. The anti-inflammatory and moisturizing nature of oatmeal helps get rid of dead skin cells and replace it with soft skin.
Baking soda
Fill up a bucket with warm water and mix in baking soda to it and stir it until the baking soda dissolves in it entirely. Let your child soak his feet in it for about 15 minutes. Then, remove his feet from the bucket and scrub them gently using a pumice stone. Rinse the feet with clean water and do this twice a week until the cracks heal. Baking soda is known to be a good exfoliant which removes dead skin cells and soothes the skin due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
Extract fresh aloe vera gel and apply it to your child’s cracked heels. Combine a little of turmeric and camphor powder and a paste of basil leaves. Make a paste of it and apply it to your child’s heels. Leave it on for 15 minutes and rinse in lukewarm water. Do this once a day till you get full results. Aloe vera soothes dead and dry skin, healing the cracks and ridges while also working to increase collagen. It also contains amino acids that soften skin.
Vitamin E Oil
Take a few capsules of Vitamin E and puncture them to remove all the oil they contain. Massage this oil on the affected areas of the feet and repeat it two or three times a day until results are 100%. Vitamin E oil is a good home remedy because it nourishes the skin, hydrates it and smoothens the heels.
Shea Butter
Apply shea butter on your child’s feet and massage it for a couple of minutes until the butter is completely absorbed into the skin. Cover your child’s feet with socks and leave them on overnight. Repeat this each night until the skin turns soft. Shea butter is a natural hydrant and moisturizer and nourishes the skin. Its natural healing properties give the skin a soft touch and takes away all cracks.
Dip a cotton ball in a little olive oil and massage your child’s feet for 15 minutes. Cover his feet in cotton socks for about an hour, and wash it off. Repeat this each day. The nourishing and healing properties of olive oil restore normalcy to your child’s skin.
Conclusion
With proper care, your child’s heels can be healed within a week.
