eczema and petroleum or fagopyrum??

My 5 yo daughter has had eczema since she was 3 months old which was first triggered off by her dad applying johnson's baby lotion on her face! Since then we've tried all sorts of things but her eczema just seems to go away and return again and nothing seems to make it go away for good. We gave up visiting the docs for steroids as I get the feeling the steroids make her skin worse. But because we've never really found any creams that works well on her skin, we kind of just left it as it were for the past 2 - 3 years of her life, and she never complained about them or scratched them much since they don't seem to itch a lot, but they always looked very dry, peely, red and inflamed, though NEVER oozing NOR weepy. I've wondered if it was something other than eczema, but over the years seen countless different GPs, all of whom told me its definitely eczema and very dry skin, nothing else. I had eczema when I was a child myself and they were always been very itchy and weepy - so my daughter's eczema seems a bit strange to me in that they don't itch as much and don't ooze at all!

She has been attending primary school for nearly 8 months and her skin problem is now getting a bit of a cause of concern, embarassing and noticeable to the kids, so I'm actively looking for ways to manage it now. She always has these large itchy red inflamed patches around her hands and wrists (which I think are made worse by hand-washing too). The red patchy inflamed areas are the worst behind her legs. They are huge areas, almost widespread - starting from the bum crease and going downwards all the way until behind the knees. They are hardest to get rid of as they are very itchy at times, they are the only patches on her body which are almost like raised bumps, although once again, they are never oozing or wet. Also she doesn't seem to be compulsively scratching her rashes often. Just now and then she'd scratch, and if I ask her if they're itchy, she says yes they do get itchy sometimes, but not always. Strange thing is that the itchiness goes down a lot during the cold months, but the redness/inflamation of the patches remain. I have absolutely no idea why, as I always thought the redness was due to itching only, but apparently not in her case. They remain, but do not itch much during colder months. They get itchier during hotter months.

Overall she's a mild-mannered child. She is noticeably very forgetful and 'spacey' in general, and quite shy with most people except the friends and family she's most familiar with - in which case once she starts talking, she won't stop! She is a people-pleaser - likes to be in harmony with everyone. She has always been a skinny child with long limbs, eats little compared with her peers, prefers vegetables to meat (although she will eat meat), natural affinity for sweets and starchy food (but I've always strictly regulated her sweet/starch intake because I think its more important to eat more meat and veg, LOL!) We often eat chicken or fish in our household. Pork or beef is not our favourite - so we eat those once a week only.

She has always been averse to sports or any physical activity which makes her sweat or pant - she's always preferred sedentary activities. She loves a good chat and she is an art fanatic, producing loads of artwork each day by her own accord. Not so into books, maths or scientific/logical activities, though she reads well for her age. She does seem to get very vivid nightmares about once or twice every month, and she gets emotionally affected by them and scared, etc, so she comes to our room and wants to sleep with us whenever that happens. She also gets very hot and sweats like mad whenever she's sleeping. Not sure why that is. She's also prone to mysterious high fevers which come and go without other noticeable symptoms - but I think that happens whenever she's stressed - like when she was starting school in the beginning. She has some social anxiety as well... she only opens up to people she's close to and clams up with others.

She never complains about her skin problem, and she never scratches obsessively at all. But those large eczema patches always look so dry and red most times... Even her friends in school noticed, and told her she 'must tell her mummy to put cream'.

Also the area around her eyelids are often dry and peely, easily rectified temporarily (for a few hours) by application of cream. If cream not applied to moisturise, it gets a bit red and itchy as well.

And the area around her mouth - dry, peely, with some small red itchy patches. Easily rectified with cream temporarily, but like the eylids, will get very red and itchy if not moisturised enough.

I've done a search on the HOMŒOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA
by William BOERICKE, M.D. online, and after reading many search results for eczema related treatments, it seems that petroleum or fagopyrum might be worth a shot?? But I wonder what dose should I start her off with, etc? Also, I know for a fact my daughter's eczema patches are, like mine was, allergic to mineral oils and petroleum-by-products... so would taking homeopathic petroleum internally cause problems for her skin??

Are there any other remedies to recommend too? Would be appreciated!