Breastfed and ezcema ... anyone else

[Shell001]

Hi,

Anyone else have baby with ezcema ? I thought breast was best ... I am aware environmental issues that can cause this .. dustmusts family history washing powder but wondered how common in bf it is ..

[fruitymum]

Yes , DD 's started at 6 weeks, found that Aveeno cream is best for her skin.

[Lizzer]

My friend's bf baby's(really bad) ezcema cleared up really quickly once she eliminated dairy from her diet. It may be worth a try but make sure you're getting calcium from other foods. HTH

[NoBiggy]

DD has the occasional flare up (although I think it's quite mild - have no previous experience of eczema). She was exclusively bf until 6 months, and I still bf her now, as I think it may help (maybe?) - she's 17 months near enough.

We use Aveeno too.

[Sabire]

My first is my only one with excema - and she's the only one who got formula as well as breastmilk.

My understanding is that in vulnerable babies it can be triggered by very small exposures to cows milk - either in the form of formula top ups or as a supplementary feed in hospital (at my hospital over 50% of bf babies get formula before discharge for one reason or another), or through dairy in mums diet if exclusively breastfed.

[mum2jakeyroo]

I have had bad eczema all my life. So decided to bf both my dc as was aware that it can be hereditory. Up to now not had any signs on my 3yr ds. My 15 month old had a bit of baby eczema at 4 months but seems to have outgrown.

[2happy]

I have eczema and was bfed.
ds1 was exclusively bfed for 6m, and bfed for 15m and has eczema.
ds2 is nearly a year and still bfed (exclusively for 6m) and has (so far) no sign.
Bfeeding helps, but it can't completely override genetics or the environment. In ds1's case I blame dh's insistence on using Johnson's baby bath, when I wanted to only use water on his skin - and totally recommend people with a history of eczema in their family use only water to clean their baby with!
Aveeno rocks.

[Balthamos]

There is quite an intersting thread in the allergies section on this at the moment...i would link you to it but don't know how!

Has your baby ever had anything else apart from breast milk - even once? My DD was excl BF - EXCEPT for 3 nights when DP and I attempted to give her a nighttime FF when she was very young (a couple of weeks old i think). I really regret it but I was exhausted and suffering from a very painful large episiotomy wound which made sitting or lieing down very painful and i was finding feeding tough.

She wouldn't really take the F (but she had some) - her eczema started after that...

Anyway, i found Epaderm and Aveeno solved it. Her skin was bad for a while but she has now been clear for about a month! Thanks to the Epaderm/Aveeno combo and delayed introduction to solids.

Also, be careful of hidden formula in infant foods (porridge etc). Good luck!

[terramum]

DS developed awful eczema on his face when he was a few months old. He was excl bf apart from some formula during his first week. It really bothered him at night & nothing we tried helped at all. He scratched himself so bad he bled . In the end we put him in between DH & I at night so we could hold onto his hands to stop him scratching in between sleep cycles. Creams & bathing made it worse along with the rest of his fairly dry skin so we kept baths down to max of once per week & only used plain water. Eventually it just went away as mysteriously as it had started...but I do wonder if it was linked to his teething as it subsided when he had got most of his front teeth.

He is now 3.5 & has perfect skin, which I think is down to the bm (which he is still having) & the fact that he still only gets bathed in plain water.

[mom2latinoboys]

Yes ds2 was exclusively bfed up to 3 months and he developed eczema at 2 months. I think it has more to do with our family history than formula.

[edam]

yes, ds had quite bad eczema as a baby despite being b/f (well, mixed fed, he had one bottle a day from about eight weeks).

I knew it was on the cards, though, as dh has terrible asthma and eczema. And thankfully ds's cleared up by the time he was about, I dunno, one or something.

B/f (and I think ideally that means exclusive b/f) does reduce the risk of exczema, but it's not a guarantee. If you take a population of 1,000 babies, half exc. b/f and half formula fed, there will be more eczema among the latter group but that doesn't mean there will be no eczema at all amongst b/f babies.

So far, by age 4, ds has escaped asthma (touch wood) for which I am very grateful. And the eczema is barely noticeable - very rarely have to use creams or anything.

[Shell001]

Ive exclusive bf DS and never ff .. its been a month now and started on forehead and last week noticed dwn chin/cheek area but thought it was teething ... but now on arms.

The last week ive been up on and off every couple of hours holding him from stratching. He has cradle cap too .. was using olive oil but that isnt going either.

Saw hv and told me to put aq cream on every hour and it caused it to flare up and had to go doctors and she gave me steriod cream 1% and cetreban ...

I read the link in allergies about good lotions aveeno and elena's seems good choice .. Thanks everyone

[Shell001]

Wouldnt be bongela ?

[TheOldestCat]

Yes, DD (14months and still BF) has eczema on her tummy. A small amount of diprobase worked for us, but aveeno is good for my eczema so might give that a go for her following the advice here. Thanks all.

[squimlet]

ok yes is the answer to this. it all started when he had his first lot of injections and got worse and worse. We went to see a cranial osteopath and importantly a homeopath and OMG what a difference. he went from looking like he was scalded to beautiful skin all round. We have decided not to inocculate either children if poss any more than we need to now.

you might try www.burtsbees.com their baby buttermilk is superb. also check out www.akamuti.co.uk for 100% natural skin care

[minishreddie]

Have you tried different detergents? 'Surecare' seemed to help my DD. Sorry if this is really obvious.

[chankins]

IMO your family has quite a lot to do with it. I bf all mine and all three have suffered with eczema, as did me and my siblings as children. I did mix feed from 3 mo, and it cna't be co incidence that eczema appeared at this time in all of them, and again at start of solids. However, by sisters both ff from the start and have 5 dc between them, and only one of them has suffered badly with eczema. ??
I just think my dc would have had worse skin if I hadn't bf at all, and smetimes looking back I wish i had exc bf for much longer.
dd2 is going for blood test this fri to allergy test her as her skin is so crazy and reactive. I will post results in case it is helpful to anyone else on here.
o and we use soapnuts to wash clothes, not any powders, she used to itch like mad at night, and thought it could be the bed clothes.

[Shell001]

surecare where can you buy this ? i use fairy non bio and ive just cleaned it all because trying to think of everything ..

[Shell001]

Sorry the washing machine ive just cleaned out ...

[SkittlesAreFruitGroup]

Yes, with DD. Exlc bf and at 2 mths had mild eczema all over, cleared up within a week of me removing ALL dairy products and by products from my diet. I thought I was going to go crazy!! However, as an exclusively bf mummy, just had to do it, even though her eczema was not too raw or itchy.

After three months of dairy free i slowly introducted it back into my diet with no effects, and in the last month or 6 weeks she has been eating some dairy directly and no problems.

Often an intolerance or allergy in infants can be reversed or reduced in severity with an exlusion period as the gut damage can repair.

[minishreddie]

Whoops...its Surcare (sensitive). I get it from Sainsbury's. I also quit dairy whilst still bf as DD, and use Oilatum in the bath.

[minishreddie]

duh...'whilst bf, and use Oilatum...."

[Balthamos]

we use ecover for washing clothes. It seems to work well for me and DD.

good luck!

[Washersaurus]

Both my bf boys have mild eczema, although DS1(2.5) has mostly outgrown his now. I believe childhood eczema is very common and usually grown out of before school age.

Keep the skin well moisturised (we use Unguentum cream), use emulsifying stuff and oilatum in the bath etc. if skin gets really bad see doctor and get some steroid cream