Itchy small spots on 19 mth old , eczema ? Advice needed

[jolie33]

Hi all, my 3rd child has itchy, sore spots , mainly affecting his legs .
Had them for mths now, been to doctors / given dermol & cetraben, also told to give oral antihistamine, as & when it flares up. We use ecover w powder, have cut out dairy to see, use only water or dr. Bromers baby wash ( coconut oil based with no chemicals).
Im not happy with doc just saying its just one of those things , i have attached pic ! He dosent get them on trunk at all its legs & sometimes arms , also gets a sweaty patch behind 1 ear. Im looking for any advice please ! Thanks all x jo

[ppeatfruit]

I cured ds's eczema with (whispers) homeopathic sulphur. Plus warm baths with seasalt softened water. Also chickweed cream from a health food shop.

Careful with coconut , it's very acid to some people. In that vein look at his orange juice and tomato intake. They are not good for eczema. Good luck

[jolie33]

Thanks for that reply , i think the coconut may have caused a flare in the spots, its def worse.
Ive never heard of the sulphur for eczema, is it a tablet ? Also what seasalt ? Isnt that very drying to the skin , did your childs spots look like my boy's im not sure what it is , he has had them come & go for 6-7 mths if not more. X

[ppeatfruit]

Well his were more patchy behind the knees and inside his elbows. It used to bleed sometimes so quite horrible.

You can get the homeopathic remedies from some health food shops. Just a tiny melt in the mouth granule. That does no harm.

Funnily enough sea salt is what of course is in the sea it softens the water and the skin. Normal tap water is sometimes very hard so more drying. You can get very good gentle soaps , don't use bubbles they are too drying.

[jolie33]

Ok, sounds very different to my baby's spots, no soreness, just itchy I think more like hives,,,,,,
As for the salt reply, Oh my of course I know what sea salt is , I was wondering if it was a special type for bathing as in Dead Sea etc, that did make me laugh !!!
Thanks for info x

[outputgap]

I saw you on the other thread. I'm going to summarise what worked for us in case it's helpful:
Bath every night with oilatum and wash with aqueous cream;
Steroid cream on all areas of eczema twice a day, until eczema is gone;
Moisturiser on after (at least half an hour) steroid cream;
Antihistamines to get us over the first few weeks of treatment but never needed again;
Blast every tiny bit of eczema that returns straightaway with steroid cream;
Washing with surcare;
Merino wool grobag, no polyester at night, keep him cool.

[jolie33]

Hi thanks.
I really dont want to use steroids if i can possibly avoid it.
Yesterday i bathed him with a seasalt / dermol combo then put on the cetraben , he only wears cotton/ sleeps in cotton sheets & we wash stuff in ecover non bio.
And gave antihistamines as rec bu chemist.
In 1 day i can see its calmed down a bit, will carry on with this & see how it goes.
For me steroids would be my last resort as its so damaging to skin. ( doc advised)

[ppeatfruit]

Yes I agree jolie about steroids. It thins the skin. Ds had asthma when he was older and the hospital just gave a him steroids each time he had an attack, it made him overweight and angry.

[jolie33]

I'd rather try & treat the cause & as naturally as possible! X x

[ppeatfruit]

Blimey someone who doesn't believe in the whole "medics are best, alternatives are woo" philosophy of the majority on Mumsnet.

I agree with you jolie as I said. I haven't been to the doctors (or taken over the counter medics) for an illness for so many years I've lost count. You could try an echinacea supplement for your ds's inflammation.

Also organic olive oil is good for eczema !!

[jolie33]

Looks like i have a mumsnet buddy in you ! Lovely to hear another mum agree, ive tried calendula cream & aloe vera, seem to have calmed the inflamation. Also thinking of trying oats in bath water x x

[dementedpixie]

Could it be molluscum contagiosum ? It lasts for months but should go away by itself

[ppeatfruit]

If you have very hard water where you live, I'd give the water softeners in the bath a go for your ds too, the water has to be quite warm. it really did seem to turn the corner for my ds. of course everyone is different.

Have you looked at his diet too? It sometimes works but if he had anti biotics at birth (I was CM to a baby who had this) it was difficult to cure.

[jolie33]

Hi again, well his skin is almost clear , used aloe vera gel & a cream called allergenics, its almost stopped the itching & id say 70% of spots have gone.
I live in devon so its soft water, in response to the last post he was a homebirth, and had a healthy drug free labour & birth ( fast 2hrs ) when he was born he had the same kind of spots on his face, we saw the doc as mw said it was strange to be born with them. They cleard up on there own. Diet wise im trying to cut out dairy & egg, to start ! X thanks all

[ppeatfruit]

That's good news.

[ppeatfruit]

I read that steroids damage the adrenal glands too BTW jolie You're right to be wary of them.

[tinymeteor]

Looks a lot like my DD's eczema. Likewise only on arms and legs, though she is prone to dry/slightly scaly skin on trunk too.

I've been using Cetraben lotion twice daily all over. Took 2-3 weeks to make any difference but now it's really improved her general skin condition. I do use steroid creams to treat localised flare-ups, but sparingly. On a dermatologist's advice, I am careful to phase them out, so it's a few days of twice daily application, then a few days of once daily, then every other night, then stop. Otherwise apparently you can get rebound flare-ups and end up using far more.

[jolie33]

Ahh ok , his trunk is clear & his only other problem is a sweaty patch behind 1 ear , we are trying the allergenics ointment with success at the mo, but id really like to know why he gets this , id never heard of eczema looking like little spots !

[ppeatfruit]

I think the definition of eczema is if it itches! If not it's not eczema. The chickweed cream we got from a health food shop, worked well.

[jolie33]

Yeah his definetly itches & he scratches until it bleeds . Poor baby x

[tinymeteor]

I didn't expect it to be spots either! Thought it was chicken pox the first time she got spotty elbows. But various docs insist it's eczema, so there you go.

I have noticed it flares up alongside colds and other viruses. Dermatologist said that with small children, skin rashes are often just how their bodies express illness, so it's not one simple cause I guess.

[ppeatfruit]

It's horrible I know Jolie . Giving up tomatoes and oranges helped almost completely for him and me too .

Chicken pox spots are different though tinymeteor They always started behind the ear and spread over the body with my dcs.

[tinymeteor]

I know that now! They were little blisters so I initially thought pox but it didn't really fit. We still have that to look forward to...