Urgent excema advice needed

[naturopath]

Hi, my 4-month old ds has woken up screaming because the excema on his neck/chest area has suddenly flared up and he has scratched it to shreds.

I had already put hydrocotisone on before he went to bed, and have gen used hydrcortisone / cetraben all over his body.

Question is - what can I do with the area that is bleeding? I have just put scratch mitts on his hands so he shouldn't do any more damage, but can I put anything on the bleeding area to ease the pain/itching? Obvouslt don't want to irritate it further.

(am picking up presciption for various other creams etc. from dr. tomorrow)

Thanks!

[cmotdibbler]

Aloe vera gel is really great for soothing and stopping the itching. My mum has terrible eczema (and has done for 65 years or so) and this has kept her off steroids for the last couple of years. Its easy to grow the plants yourself and then you just pull a leaf off and squeeze the gel out, but you can also buy the gel in health food shops. My colleagues son was waking up screaming every night with the itching before she tried it, and it worked like a dream for him too.

[naturopath]

thanks - he's just scratched his head quite badly as well- I have some aloe vera gel already actually so will put some on.

[StrawberryMartini]

Can I ask if he's bf or ff?

[Leslaki]

put some oats in a muslin sq/sock or whatever and pop it in a bath (make sure it's securely tied!) while you run it. Put ds in bath and gently rubthe sore bits with the oats. It is amazing for taking the soreness, itchinessa nd redness out of hs skin. I am exactly the same right now with my excema flaring up over my neck - it's hideous so I can sympathise with him, wee lamb. he's probably too young for Piriton but ask the pharmacist, anti hyatamines can really help. Keep him cool as you can get too hot with excema and that makes it worse.

Good luck.

[naturopath]

totally bf. Will try the oats thing.. doesn't it hurt?

[MeMySonAndI]

Diprobase is good in open skin as it doesn't sting as other emollients.

Once the skin has healed use HC on flares and Aveeno or Eucerin10%urea to keep the skin in good condition. You can get them from Boots and with a bit of luck in prescription (This coming from someone whose child needed to have emollients applied 8 times a day to prevent the skin breaking and bleeding. With Eucerin10% that was reduced to 2 applications a day)

[BitTiredNow]

Aveeno - cured my dd within 2 days

[naturopath]

Great - have Diprobase so will try. In the meantime, have been given Trimovate cream for the infected area.

Haven't tried Aveeno yet as drs. have advised trying all the other emollients etc. first.

[MeMySonAndI]

They often advise that because the other emollients are apparently cheaper, not so in reality as you would have to use tons of it to get the same results as with a more expensive cream.

[naturopath]

interesting. ok, I might just go out and buy some then (unless it's hideously expensive!)

[StrawberryMartini]

I'd try cutting out dairy from your diet for a week and see if it makes any difference.

Aveeno's around £6 but you can get it on prescription.

[karen999]

My dd is exactly the same. She is 8 months. I have tried various creams/emolients but am using Aveeno just now and also a hydrocortisone cream. She too scratches and can cause a lot of damage! At night, I put mits on, a pair of scoks right up underneath her arms and then another pair of mits! She looks like a little boxer but it stops her from scratching. If she manages not to sctratch then her excema looks lots better, its just when she sctratches that she gets bad - to the point of bleeding. My doctor also advised me to put her onto soya milk which did help. I had been mixed bf and ff at that point.

[naturopath]

thanks - have been dairy and soya free for a good 3 months now.

hmm, put socks on his hands last night but he managed to get them off and scratch his head to bleeding/weeping again.

[karen999]

He must be a determined little mite!! Do you file his nails? I do this with dd and it seems to help - at least she seems to not be able to do as much damage!

[tatt]

how are you washing the bed clothes? All soap powder leaves faint residues and that might make it worse. Ask your doctor about piriton as he might be allowed a small dose at bedtime or an antihistamine cream.

[tatt]

oops forgot - add some probiotics to his diet or make sure they are in yours. Very good record in helping with eczema.

[HeadHeartorHormones]

Just a quick note on the Aveeno issue. I used to get it on prescription from my Health Visitor, along with a selection of other potions. Have you tried this route? Health Visitors are by nature more familiar with what is suitable specifically for baby and child eczema sufferers. But then I am fortunate to have a superb HV.

[Leslaki]

no the oats don't hurt - just the opposite! I was sceptical till I tried it. I also used to use Weleda's natural calendu moisturiser for babies that was good. Very thick but it worked. have also tried Aveeno and that was good too.

[naturopath]

ok,
-have just bought some more oats, so will maybe try them in the bath this evening

• already have Welede calendula cream (although not the baby version - is there a difference?)

• have been washing everything in Fairy non-bio, but have also used Tesco and Ariel non-bio (I think Persil made the eczema worse). Anyone know of a less aggravating washing powder?

• I keep his nails short but haven't filed them. Not sure if he'll ever keep still enough for that..

• I have the Infacol probiotic drops for babies in the fridge (think I only gave him them once), so will give him those again as well (thanks for reminding me Tatt - I'm on antibiotics myself now anyway so thought I would give him the probiotics to counteract any resulting action)

• HeadHeartorHormones - I didn't know HVs could write prescriptions - wow! will ask them for Aveeno then.

• Also, Tatt..... I finally decided to give ds medised last night (despite my protestations at such a thought.. see a previous thread).. he slept a little better, waking up only every 3 hours during the night, rather then every half hour!..only did this since reading that antihistamines can be an effective part of the overall treatment of eczema.

Thanks for all your advice. Let me know if any more... and I'll keep you posted!

[TheBlonde]

Washing powder - we use surcare

[BitTiredNow]

I have just had my third, and was given some pretty sleepsuits with mittens on them - would that kind of thing help? I think they came from somewhere obvious like mothercare or boots.

[Leslaki]

I find fairy is almost s badas Persil tbh!!! If I use Persil I look like a burns victim and Fairy aint much better. I knowit sounds daft but the only washing powder I can safely use is Ariel!! Meat to be one of the strongest but it isthe only one that doesn't aggravate my skin. A few of my friends have found the same for them or their children.
re the Weleda cream, my gp advised e to try the baby version, didn't even think to check for an adult version, but the baby one was great.
Hope the wee lamb is cleared up soon.

[PossumIsMunchingPumpkins]

I would also endorse oats in hanky in the bath and aloe vera sap from the freshly-cut leaf. The latter is amazing stuff, stops DS scratching in minutes and has kept him off steroid cream for a month now.
We use Ecover for washing clothes, towels, bed linen, the lot (if he's cuddled by someone whose clothes are washed in Persil he flares up immediately) and don't use fabric conditioner. I never wear perfume nor DH aftershave. We use cleaning products like vinegar and bicarb and Ecover washing up liquid to mop the floor, as DS is crawling now.

I feed him live yoghurt for breakfast and eat it myself (still breast feeding) and I take a probiotic capsule daily. All these measures and more have got it to a manageable state with nothing but oats, aloe vera sap and Aveeno to moisturise where as his skin used to be always weeping/bleeding/infected and LO on anti-biotics to resolve all of that.

[PossumIsMunchingPumpkins]

oh and in direct answer to your question, I put aloe sap straight on to raw, broken, bleeding skin - it seems to start to clot the bleeding and begin healing the tissue immediately.

[tatt]

glad he's getting more sleep. Breaking the itch/scratch cycle is so important because scratching does make it worse.