Mumsnet Talk

We're under care of a dermatologist, paeditrician and allergy specialist. I thought we'd have answers by now but nope.

We're using streroid cream twice a week and Epaderm
Im between. I think the epaderm does jack all though.

We've tried Aveeno, Oilatum, Epaderm, E45 and others.

We use soap nuts, so no nasty powders in the washing in his clothes. I hoover as much as poss to keep down environmental allergens down, no pets, no smoke.

We're also about to try wet wraps at night but before we do Id like to find a cream that helps a bit, I swear Epaderm doesnt do a thing.

Any suggestion, please, pretty desperate here. We're having to use steroid cream every 3 days and all three of the above HCP's dont seem to be making any noises to this changing.

Have a look at www.purenuffstuff.co.uk. I have just started using the eczema cream on my dd and it does seem to sooth it. They do an entire baby range too.

What are you using for baths? No soap based products I assume. With my first dc terrible eczema but with lots of moisture and bath products it went at 1yo

allergy bedding?
boil washed bedding and towel

lots of water to drink?

why steriod cream twice a week ? shouldnt that be twice a day? with 5 times moisturiser?

wet wraps are work for many. good luck

How often are you using the Epaderm? We never got my DD's eczema under control until we were religious about moisturising at least 4 times a day (and using the steroid creams once a day, with at least half an hour between applying the steroid and the Epaderm). Has your dermatologist mentioned Dermasilk clothing at all? We got DD the pyjamas and they made a real difference. They are very expensive but you can get them on the NHS at the discretion of the GP.

Thanks.

Baths, we use emoilent (citraban (sp)).

I put the bedding on a high wash (95) and also got a mattress topper as I couldnt afford a new mattress, its not ancient though.

Steroid cream was twice a day 3 months ago but the last two months we only need to use it twice a week. We seem to be stuck here, no more improvement.

Basically I smother him in moisturiser 4-6 times a day, when I use the steroid cream it calms it down then slowly the patches start coming back by the third day they are just too angry and I use the steroid cream.

I remember we tried pure potions at one point as well but I a £20 pot lasted 2 days as he needs it applied so often.

Will try that websitw thank you.

Dermasilk sounds like a great idea.

I find its particularlt bad where things rud. His ankles the whole of his arm, the sides of his torso, the bottom of his torso the back of his neck the whole of his face.

*where things rub.

Got to be honest, if you only need to use steriod cream twice a week, I'd say that's pretty good! I always say that DS's eczema is under control these days but we still have to use Eumovate most weeks. Skin nurse says this is fine, in fact she says with recurrent eczema it's a good idea to apply it once a week even when skin is clear to keep it under control. If patches are coming back too quickly then you need to go back to applying steroid twice a day until at least 3 days after the patches have disappeared to make sure the lower layers of skin are totally healed otherwise you're just 'fire fighting' and you'll never have any totally eczema-free days. We normally only use Epaderm as a soap substitute and use hydrous or 50/50 as emollient but it's very much trial and error with emollients and finding the right one.

Epaderm never worked for us either. Double base does seem to do the trick, and with steroids for flare ups, we generally have everything under control apart from his hands now. His hands are awful though, they are constantly covered in welts where he's scratched until he's bled. I'm at a loss as to how to deal with it, as I'm fairly confident he won't accept having his hands in gloves overnight.

Diprobase has always worked with me but Dermol is the only thing that works for my kids. You can get it to go in the bath and as a cream (never lotion no good!). It has an anti microbial that kills the itch. Hideously expensive but we got a sample once and never looked back. I would try different emollients. Good luck.
Diet helps or makes it worse?

Thats great, thanls for the suggestions. There is stuff here Ive never heard of before.

Diet started it in the first place, he had no eczema then had anaphylactic shock to yoghurt (milk allergy) which turned into 6 weeks of hives which settled into eczema. If the eczema is left it will turn back into urtucaria again. So it comparrison his skin is remarkably better. I just thought we could get it back to what it was before the anaphylaxis, maybe not though.

allergy bedding needs a decent whole mattress cover, pillow cover and duvet cover. otherwise they are still sitting in a sea of dustmites. is dustmite one of his enviromental allergies?

my son has no headboard ( was fabric so very bad!)
allergy bedding (am getting new stuff, as needs replacing)
boil washed bedding.
air filter (did make diff with regard to quality of sleep! wish we brought this years ago)
wooden flooring.
books in boxes
one teddy on bed, others in boxes ditto toys when younger !

rest of house.
carpet on stairs, carpet in living room. wooden flooring everywhere else. leather sofas. washable cushions.
hepra filter vacumm cleaner.
teddies were frozen over night then washed, all of my 4 kids at the time btw!

With DS excema we found that it never really disappeared until we discovered he was also allergic to soya and that we had been giving him soya as they use soya flour in commercial bread. once we cut this out his excema all but disappeared ( at the age of 11 it is now flaring up again and we can't work out why but that is another story). Anyway since you said it started with food, I am wondering if there is something causing it to flare up again that he is eating. I wonder if it is worth keeping a food diary and seeing if anything comes up as a potential irritant. ( I know my nephew was mildly reactive to something in sweets and his excema always flared up after haribo)

Awful eczema in dc4, none in others. Tried all usual, epaderm made him look llike he had been put in hot water, only thing that helped woth us was fairy non bio, steroid to get control twice a day, then Cetraben several times a day. This was marvellous stuff. Also used Pure potions skin salvation which helped. Was absolutely amazed when it cleared at 12 months.

Think it's a case of trial and error with the emollients - Double base made DD's eczema worse, as did Diprobase, but Epaderm seems to suit her. Our dermatologist gave us several different samples to try so we could see which was best for her.

Thanks. I dont know that environmental allergens cause anything it just seemed to be something people kept mentioning so I should try and tick it off the list.

I dont need to keep a food diay as he eats such few things - pork (very occasionally, hes not a meat fan at all), lamb (same), potatoes, broccoli, carrots, apples and pears. We just introduced bread but literally the last 2 weeks. Rice and baked beans, these are both very recent too.

And thats it. We avoid all milks, apart from mine and my diet is exactly like his. I dont think we can change his diet further, we havent been advised to. They seem to be ok with us doing this.

And corn snacks. We eliminated these for a month at one point but that made no difference.

Balneum in the bath helped my ds a lot (Oilatum didn't nor did cider and oil, some weird recipe I got from a friend!).

Our dermatologist gave us much stronger steroids and said we should zap it asap, as soon as it starts. When it's kicked in, it's a lot harder to clear it. He was on Betnovate, Fucibet and something which they use on people who have had transplants which isn't a steroid, so suitable for the face.

This strategy really worked for us, and it meant we used steroids far less frequently (now hardly ever, ds is 6), though the strong ones when we needed. He was a good doctor!

Have you tried fewer, quicker baths.

Nothing worked on DS's excema, we have cupboards of lotions and potions. Changing laundry powder and milk didn't help either.

All settled down when I got him in the shower or in/out 1 minute baths. Our water is very hard and the kids skin plays up if they're in there for too long.

The oil in the bath water never helped, it was the water knackering up his skin all along.

PS. There is hope. My 6yo was terrible when he was 6months-18months. Teething made him worse, as did Central Heating. (Oh, try not to dress him too warmly). But improved greatly with new regime, and time. Now he can even have a bubble bath (sometimes!).

I agree with Meglet, try to have fewer/quicker baths. DS1 had quite bad eczema when younger but is much improved now. The best cream we used was Double Base, it's kind of gel-like and very easy to apply. DS1 hated having cream put on but that one goes on v.easily and absorbs quickly so they don't feel all sticky for ages.

A word of warning about fewer/quicker baths. Severe eczema makes the skin more prone to infections and therefore our dermatology nurse told us to bath DS more often not less as he is very prone to skin infections. We use Dermol in the bath as it contains a anti-microbial as well as a moisturiser and bath him every night. When his skin is very bad, we bath him twice a day. If you live in a hard water area, a water softener is a good idea and lots of bath additive eg Dermol or Oilatum. Also, never use shampoo on your little one, just wash their hair in the bath water.

Ive had mixed advice about baths before. At the moment I put 5 days in between his baths unless hes dont a particularly interesting, and far spread nappy.

His skin does get drier with baths, Cetraben seems ok though.

I definitely dont think I cam consider bathing him more often.

Im going to use the steroud cream more after reading this. Its never gone it just tames it, I let it flare up to a point and use it again out of fear of using it too often.

He was on emuovate (sorry completely forgotten the spelling). Now hes on a different one which I cant remember the name of (sorry Im crap) its weaker and hydrocortison 1% for his face.

My DD's eczema is very very mild, only on her chin area, however, i didnt find that her hc cream particularly helped, in fact I felt that it made her more itchy, possibly because it ade her skin tingle on application. My dd was prescribed canestin hc cream for thrush a while back and I tried this on her chin around christmas and her eczema is virtually gone. Any sign of redness I use it immediatly. Not sure if it would be recommended tbh but it works for us.