baby exzema

[Sassyfrassy]

My 3 month old baby was diagnosed with exzema last week. It's on most of her face and on one ear. The face is under control now with liberal amounts of aveeno and oilatum in the bath. Her ear has gotten quite bad though, it's flaky and has what looks like weeping sores on it. She's always tugging and pulling at it as well. Should I go back to the gp for another look at it or should I just leave it and keep it clean and dry? Any suggestions are most welcome. We are a family of exzema sufferers but dd2 is the first one to have it as a baby so I feel a bit unsure of what to do.

[jkklpu]

I would get a 2nd opinion in case it's impetigo: I had a HV who said that my then 3mo ds2 had eczema, but I took him to GP a week later as still weeping sores on cheeks, and she immediately said it was impetigo, took a swab and gave us antibiotics, which cleared it up. So worth checking again, I'd have thought.
Good luck.

[pushkar]

hi must be the baby milk or breast fed, things you have affect your baby if your breast feeding,there is a special baby milk which is a presciption you can get can't remmember the name and the other alternative is soya milk or rice dream but i would try and get gp to give the prescription one, usually its the protein in dairy or wheat that does not break down that causes excema, rice dream is for older children, my son uses it but soya is a good alternative . youcould approach a nutritionalist, look up british association of nutritionalists. [bant] can google it they're very knowledgeable on these things more than the gp, but try the gp first....when your older there is an ezymes called peptysides from mandimart.com you can take to break down the protein so you don't have to be gluten and casein free all the time....

[thehappyprince]

Not sure I'd change milk tbh, unlikely to be food allergy / intolerance. I'm extolling the virtues of vaseline at the moment - ds has had a patch of eczema since a few weeks old which just cleared up at last with liberal application of vaseline for a week or two! dh says I'm like an old lady going on about it's virtues. No harm in seeing GP, vaseline or E45 a whole lot cheaper than aveeno, and probably just as good. HOpe it gets better soon

[Anifrangapani]

DD had it as a baby - still gets it sometimes.

Things that helped....

Double washing her clothes, bed sheets and towels - second time with no washing powder
Oilatum - we called it baby basting more is better but make sure you have a good grip to prevent your dc flying across the room when you pick them up
Vit E Cream/ base cream - see above about grip
No soap - infact a wash every second day or when she started smelling was better
no shampoo
I stopped wearing purfume
wiping up any milk spills on her skin with water & clean cloth
Taping mittens onto her hands when she had a flare up to prevent scratching & infection
Barrier creams on slightly red bits
When it became infected - savlon and in extreme cases back to the drs to get antibiotics.
Stopped using chemical cleaners

Things that didn't help - cutting milk out of her diet (no effect), lavender oil, keeping her ultra clean

She has grown out of the worst of it, thankfully.

[Sassyfrassy]

Thanks for the advice,

She's ebf and I'd be very reluctant to change to formula butif it doesnt get better I'd certainly consider cutting things from my diet to see if it gets any better. I get aveeno and oilatum on prescription for both my girls so no need to pay for anything at least.

I'll give it another day or two and if there is no improvement we'll head back to the gp again.

Anifrangapani, agree with you on the oilatum, makes her very slippery indeed.

[zeered]

hi sassyfrassy, my 3 month lil boy is suffering from excema all over face and now moving to body. Has been really tough. Would love to be in direct contact if poss...just for the support...and to share.

[Springflower]

My son had really bad eczema as a baby and was treated by the GP until he was seen in hospital for something unrelated and they referred him to dermatology because they were more concerned about his skin. He had to go daily and get dressings etc on but it really made a difference and we were much better at managing it. If it isnt improving I would ask GP for a referral. I also tried cutting out dairy products, etc etc but found the things Ani said more helpful - mild washing liquid, no soap, less frequent bathing, wearing body suits to prevent scratching etc.

[Sassyfrassy]

zeered, you're very welcome to contact me on l.bengtsson at gmail.com

Thanks Springflower. She did used to have a bath before bed every day but we've cut that down to once a week now. I'll try to find some suits with mittens as she is scratching her face quite a lot.

[Beachcomber]

I found cutting dairy from my diet improved DD's eczema dramatically when she was a breastfed baby.

[heliotrope]

It's so hard as they are all different. My baby boy was the same with terrible infected eczema from 3-6months. He was ebf and I cut out everything for months and it didn't help. He had really crusty ears and patches on head and face that were raw and bleeding. It was only the steroid treatments that worked at the time, plus he had to have antibiotics for the infection. He gradually grew out of it and now at 15 months has only a few dry patches which are under control with moisturiser (Epaderm).

So my advice is keep the skin moisturised, prevent scratching, and keep an eye on it - if it gets worse then it is better to use a small amount of steroid cream than to let it get out of control as I did.

Hope it is better soon.

[Sassyfrassy]

Thanks for the advice,

The ear is looking a lot better, I've kept it dry and clean and used lots of aveeno on the face. The exzema on the face is about the same, possibly a little bit better, but her skin feels quite a lot softer at least.

[jabberwocky]

Ds2 had it really bad starting at around 3 months. Aveeno helped but for the really bad areas the 1% hydrocortisone cream was the only thing that gave him relief. I also cut out dairy from my diet (bfing, obviously), bathed him only once or twice a week and used oatmeal in bathwater.

[anneme]

I would support using vaseline - as long as you dry the area first. Worked on bad patch on DS1 face

[pointydog]

I would go back to the gp every time something new develops (we had tto do this with dd2). You might be referred to dermatology if it's a tricky case.

[jillywilly]

Hi, my baby girl is 41/2 months old, she has realy bad ezcma, all over her face, body neck creases etc, we have tried aqueus cream this made her face swell up! so we are now using aveeno, whcih seems to work ok on her body and creases. her face we used .5% hydrocortosone, intially this has been upped to 1% and we also have eumovate to use when its realy bad. ive taken to dressing her only in cotton, only bathing her every two week if possible, night before bath oiling her up in olive oil and leaving it to soak in....slippy baby!!!! nothing seems to clear her face up, she scratches it like mad and i find sometimes the gloves make it worse as they kind of rub away at the skin, the only thing that does seem to work is letting her sleep with me and holding her arms round me, almost like a bear hug, she sleeps soundly then, i dont - sleep with one eye open trying not to squash her! the other alternative tho is a realy bad nites sleep and her working herself up into such a stuper that she looks like someone has slashed her face next morning! im at a loss so any tips are helpful, her poor face is all scabby and yellow, shes on anti biotics most of the time. she currently has sma gold milk, i did change it to soy milk for a period at the docs request but changed her back as she went from 6 bottles a day to 2. please help with any tips or advice, i have 3 other children and none of them have ever had ezcma. i had started weaning her, but im scared now that i may be giving her stuff thats making it worse!!!!

[jillywilly]

ps. we are waiting for an appointment with the dermatologist too, x

[pointydog]

jilly, poor you and dd. It can be just awful. Hope you see the dermatologist soon. Wet wraps are a real fiddle but might help a lot.

[jillywilly]

ive read about those, hopefully theyw ill explain how to do them! i know there is much worse things, but you do feel sorry for them when they are so itchy and uncomfy all the time dont you! dermatologist saturday, its funny my freind suggested just now it could be lanolin allergy/wool fat, this is an ingredient that is in a lot of emolients so i will bare that one in mind too, i did a quick searche and it says its present in cosmetices, creams and household cleaners polishs waxes, so it could be coming off the sofa too. thanks tho xx

[pointydog]

people will tell you all sorts of thigns your baby could be allergic to. However, it is unlikely you will find one source and be able to eliminate it. SO don't get bogged down in trying to cut lots of things out of your baby's life. That gets exhausting

[mymblemummy]

Eczema doesn't sound such a big deal to most people, but caring for a baby in the throes of a bad flare-up is distressing, exhausting and dispiriting for everyone in the family.

I practically camped out at the GP's with my DS over the past few weeks. We've anointed him with the contents of half a pharmacy and I haven't dared bathe him in eight weeks (which, oddly enough, has proved it is true that hair is self-cleaning).

I can thoroughly recommend the pyjamas with built-in mittens from www.eczemaclothing.com Pricey, but they seemed to soothe him and stopped him clawing his face to pieces.

And from the same site I found a really helpful and informative book. It's called "Eczema: The Treatments and Therapies that Really Work," by Dr Carolyn Charman and Sandra Lawton.

I've dumped the washing powders and fabric softeners on the recommendation of another mumsnetter, and instead use Magnoballs, Ecoballs and Dryerballs on his clothes. And he's wearing nothing but organic cotton or hand-me-downs so old any nasty chemicals must have been washed out long ago.

And I'm moisturising him from top to toe at least four times a day even when his skin looks fairly normal. Anything to stave off another flare-up as bad as the last one.

[heliotrope]

It's true - people just will not understand how hard it is caring for an eczema baby. Jan-Mar this year were the worst months in my entire life as I just couldn't think about anything else and felt that I couldn't even leave my baby with close family as they didn't understand about the scratching and I would come back to a bleeding baby. I think I spent about 3 months holding Zach's arms.

Try Next for babygrows with fold back mitts - earlier in the year they did these for the 0-3 and 3-6 sizes.
Or, try using baby socks over their hands, if they don't pull them off.
Another thing, I used a mothercare swaddle blanket (about £15) every night to keep his arms down and stop the scratching. He was swaddled until maybe 8-9 months old, then the dermatology nurse said I should stop as she could tell it was a bit of a dependency for us.

jillywilly - on the weaning, it might help to know that the highest risk for allergic reactions are likely to be milk, eggs, wheat, fish, nuts, soya. So you could wean without these things fairly easily until you get more expert advice.

And if it can make you feel better at all, my son was the same with the yellow scabs and on antibiotics and he just gradually grew out of the worst of it and now has lovely peachy soft skin and only a bit of dryness on his back. It WILL get better with time.

[pushkar]

most excema is due to the lack of protein breadown in mothers milk if tey are eating milk or wheat , milk or wheat there arelots of substitutes around#for babies unders 6 months a prescription lactose free milk from g.p. or soya milk or rice dream and gluten andcasein breads etc 1000 on offer at various sites om, waitrose well being and on line just google the words...
all these things remove excema i have 3 unrelated children get better from aged 2-13...

[pointydog]

is ther e proof for that claim, push?

[TheNewsMongrel]

how come one of my children has eczema and the other doesn't then? they have the same mother.

[kalo12]

try cutting dairy out of your diet, it worked for me but eat loads of broccoli to get enough calcium or your teeth will fall out (i'm not joking) and eat loads in general cos if it turns out to be an allergy to dairy which is the most common reason then you will have to bf forever and then suddenly you lose loads of weight and its really tough