What have you found has worked best for your childs eczema?

[Nomorerain]

DD (2.5) has it quite bad - v. itchy patches from head to toe. We're using Eumovate (and have also used a stronger one) plus emolient but it just seems to be getting worse.
I've tried switching cow's milk for Goat's but it hasn't made any difference. DH thinks it might be because of our two cats and I'm keeping them at a distance to see if there's any improvement.

Is there anything else I can try? I just feel so helpless and it's upsetting to see her so uncomfortable.

Less baths and giving them showers. Our water is very hard.

Steriod cream helps, but I prefer to keep it to a minimum.

Short nails help too, I do the dc's nails a couple of times a week.

I switched to showers for my ds2 too.
His can get quite bad.
We also have 2 cats.
I'm looking fir more natural methods now as have tried a number of creams including aveeno and oilatum.
My MIL has told me to try dabbing him with Collodial Silver, but I'm not too sure on that, so think I'm going to try tea tree oils next

Nomore, I feel for you. My ds used to scratch his neck red raw until it was oozing and weeping. I used lots of diprobase.

I must say nothing really worked, though without diprobase it would have probably been much worse.

Ds grew out of it - it was heat-triggered and with each summer past, it got less severe. This summer, he is fine. He is almost 4.

So I guess growing out of it was the only thing that worked for ds.

The thing that has helped our dds most has been keeping them as cool as possible. Heat really makes it flare up.
Also short nails, infrequent bathing, emollients, eumovate and the usual but the main thing has been the temperature.

If you are exclusing cows milk it might be worth substituting with something more different than goats e.g. soya/oat milk as most dcs who can't tolerate cows milk can't tolerate goats either.

I'm starting to think my ds2 might be allergic to tomato. we are just beginning to notice that it seems to get a lot more angry after he has had dinner. Unfortunately, I use tomato an awful lot as pasta is a firm fav in this house

Oh, I see...........thanks bb

Thanks for your advice everyone. Her wrists are the worst areas but this week it's also been bad around her neck and legs - esp her knees. I think I may have to push for allergy tests.
One thing I did want to ask you all - what do you think about aqueous cream? My GP didn't recommend it and said it can irritate the eczema but I know of many people who are using it and say it helps. Wondering whether to try it or not.

Another one for Dream Cream - works on both of us! People have very different experiences with the different creams, aqueous cream hurts me so I won't be using it on my son. It's a bit trial and error really. We like Aveeno too.

Olatum bath oil worked really well for us.

We used to have to wetwrap DS2 every night, due to his skin being so bad, cracked & bleeding. HE would waken throughout the night, with the ithing. It was awful - I think people underestimate the impact of eczema until they experience it themselves.

He now has a small patch behind one knee which doesn't bother him at all.

The main thing for us was having RASTs done to see what he was allergic to - dairy, soya, wheat, eggs, sesame, nuts to name a few.

Cream-wise, we found Epaderm to be a Godsend! We used that combined with steriod creams (and had use of steriods explained properly. You need to go up and down the strengths like a ladder iyswim.

Thanks again. We've tried a few different creams now - Diprobase, Doublebase and Cetraben. Nothing seems to help much - even the steriod cream. Haven't tried Epiderm (I asked but he wouldn't prescribe it).

I wondered about wetwrapping but haven't a clue how to do it. Ideally, I'd like to put some sort of glove on her hands at night. They just don't get a chance to heal as she's always scratching and picking at the skin.

Have you been referred to a skin specialist, or are you just seeing your GP? The skin specialist unit at our local hospital provided us with a wet wrapping kit and explained how to do it. They also explained the use of steriods a lot better than the GP. It really is important to know how to use them properly.

My own homemade salve. It hasn't simply covered up the issue like steroid creams etc. It helps to heal properly. It takes longer but it works better than any thing the dr has ever prescribed.

Anyone mentioned changing washing powder? Get a really really gentle one and no fabric softener or scents. Also check out your own lotions etc - DS reacted really badly to a handcream I had. Any synthetic fabrics are out for us, too - everything had to be 100% cotton for several years. Plus and labels or tags that might rub bring him out - I snip them out.

We found that using the steroid cream with antibiotic in it to get rid of infection and start healing and then a really thick, greasy cream called hydromol (i think) worked well. Prescribed by 'special skin problems' health visitor after trying loads that made no differnce.

Dermasilk Dermaor clinifast Clini PJs to put them to bed in. Eumovate or Hydrocortisone for flare ups. Epaderm and Aveeno cream regularly throughout the day (5-6 times daily when bad). Minimal baths and when we do bath we either use Aveeno powder or Dermol bath additive.
Changed washing powder from Persil to Fairy and stopped using fabric conditioner.
Clothes 100% cotton.
Hooe that helps!

Thank you.
Everyonesatit - yes we have seen a specialist privately. He wasn't much help to be honest. We were the last appointment of the day and he was already way behind. We were in and out in no time.
My GP referred her to the eczema clinic a couple of months ago and then informed me last week that the letter hadn't been sent so it's only just gone! Grrr..

another one for dream cream...i use it on dd,tis amazing,i used to work there and the amount of pepole who would come in saying it was the only thing that worked was astounding.

we also use really gentle washing powder (ecover)and only 100% cotton,cut out all tags etc.

I found different creams worked in different places on my DD (2.6)

Diprobase worked well on her back but not anywhere else.

Oilatum good for bath.

And Aveeno is the best

I would second allergy testing or thinking about what your DD eats incase of an intolerance which won't show up in allergy testing.

DD is severely intolerant to dairy (lactose) soya & oats (and now possibly wheat/gluten )