Miserable Christmas day because of baby eczema, help!

[Summerhols]

Hi

My DD is 6 months old and her first Christmas Day has been a battle with teething, a temperature and bad eczema. She developed eczema about a month ago and we have gone through various creams and have hydrocortizan (sp?) 0.5% cream. But today has been dreadful, she is in bed now but her eyes are red and swollen, her skin around her mouth is red, dry and spotty and her neck is bright red.

We have been using Dibrobase pretty much every nappy change and though this seems to work on her body (which was bad previously but has improved) it does not seem to do much for her face.

Basically I am looking for advice specifically about treating babies face. Also is it worth while pushing the Dr for a referral to a dermatologist?

Has anyone found that teething and/or temperatures have a negative effect on eczema?

We are feeling so sad for our little girl, who is such a happy lady when not itching!

TIA.

Yes definitely push for a referral. GPs tend to know very little about real eczema. We had a similar situation with our DS several months ago and got nowhere with the GP. On referral we discovered that the cause of the eczema was food allergies (I was still BFing at the time and he was reacting to foods that I was eating!). So the eczema only improved when I cut out those foods from my diet. Now he has a restricted diet and we just use the emolliant and the hydrocortisone when he has a flare up. Teething and other illnesses cause flare ups.

We got referred to both a dermatologist and a gastroenterologist, which was useful. Some hospitals have general allergists, which may be better but I don't know as haven't seen one.

In the meantime just keep putting on the emolliant as often as possible and try different ones as some babies seem to react better to different types. We find Cetraban very helpful but try a range til you find on that works for you.

Merry Christmas and good luck.

She is EBF, though just started to wean, but not introducing any dairy just yet.

Does anyone know if I exclude milk from my diet how soon will it have an effect on her?

She is a lot better today, though her body has got worse. I have taken lots of photos to show the Dr as I just know that when I get an appointment she will be clear.

DD had dreadful excema from about 6 weeks - I found Aveeno cream - there is bath oil as well, to be really effective . She is now 4 1/2 and occasionally has dry areas at the back of her knees . Hope you find something that helps soon.

all i can say is prof. john harper at the portland hospital. our dd from only a few weeks old developed terrible eczema over 90% of her body by the time she was around 4 months old. despite going backwards and forwards seeing well meaning gp's and hv's and a trip to our local hospital to see a dermo' dr, all gave conflicting advice as none really seemed to offer anything that helped, that is until we had to pay out and go private and see chap above. He gave us a strict routine and told us to stop or start alot of obvious things (i won't list it all here but quite basic, i will however ifyou are interested?) and in one week as he predicted her eczema cleared up by more than 50% in one week. it was hard work ie for the first two years of her life we had to give her two baths a day but he was fantastic (he is one of, if not the, top paediatric dermo's in the UK, writes books etc), i can't tell you how fantastic, if not a little scary, he was. i remember all too clearly as to how emotionally hard it was having a child who had terrible eczema. btw she is nearly 8 and barely has it now, flares up from time to time. hope this helps,

If she is red around the eyes the chances are that she is allergic to something that is touching her skin rather than something ingested. DDs dermatologist said this, so I am trusting his judgement. If I were you I wouldn't use anything other than water to wash for the moment.
Ask for a referral to a dermatologist. DD is a teenager but suffers on and off. She is currently washing with water and using Hydromol as a moisturiser. In our experience acqueous cream should be avoided.
I'd get a GP appointment ASAP and ask for a referral.

Thanks, i'm preparing myself for being a pushy mum at GPs later in week.

She may be reacting to her own tears and saliva. My dd did that and I found the 50/50 cream (50%soft paraffin/50%liquid paraffin) from the pharmacist worked well as a gentle barrier cream to protect her skin in those areas. It's like Vaseline but much softer.

You really do need to get referred to specialist in eczema. The Eczema nurse at B'ham Children's Hosp was fantastic and his advice saved us years of heartache. He knew an enormous amount more than our GP.

Al1son thanks for your reply, I was wondering about using a barrier cream, was going to go for Sudacream as it is the only one I know really. But what you suggest sounds good, does it have a name or if I go into a pharmacy and ask for 50/50 will they know what I am talking about?

kelway - if you have the time and are so inclined to list the things you were advised please go ahead as I am starting to record possible triggers and change some things (for example washing powder) so any other tips would be great.

Poor you. It's rotten. Yes, ask for a referral. Agree with others re finding an emollient that doesn't aggravate your dd's skin.

Dermatologists will very probably prescribe stronger steroid creams so just prepare yourself for this, get a list of questions to ask.

Best of luck.

I hope your little one's doing better now? My DD is also 6 months and we've been battling horrid eczema all over her since she was 12 weeks, it really is awful so I feel for you. It's much more under control, for now, and while different things will work for all babies I thought I'd share a couple of things with you

• Epaderm ointment as emolliant has really worked for my girl. We'd tried many but this one is far more thick and greasy and has seemed to do the trick for her with applications morning and evening (with cetraben in between in the day)
• She was EBF til we starting weaning lately. I have excluded all dairy from my diet and it's definitely improved (cow's milk protein does transfer to breast milk). Took a couple of weeks to make the difference
• WE have great eczema nurse who;s wonderful. Community nursing team - find out if yo uhave that service where you live. I found referral from HV much easier tthan through GP who was rubbish
• I was REALLY stressed about HC cream on her face but when I stopped using it she got horrid infection so it really is important to keep going with steriods when necessary. In fact we had to go fomr 0.5 on her face to 1% which cleared, rather than just suppressed it.

HOpe that helps and that things are better now. You and I and our DDs are in teh same boat so I feel for you.....

xx

Thanks Angeoxford - your post is really helpful. I am off to the Dr's again tomorrow and seeing the HV on Friday so going to ask about an eczema specialist then.

I have been thinking about exluding dairy but as I am a vegetarian already I am dreading the idea of going vegan :(

Interesting about the HC cream as we have 0.5%.

Thanks

We use a mix of Epaderm (like a vaseline barrier), 0.5% hydrocortisone 1% and 2% hydrocortisone, and have had fucidin (includes antibiotic) when the eczema got infected.

We really, really had to push for a referral - in the end i was in tears as DD1's face was literally falling off .

They say not to use steroids on the face for a long period, but a few days is fine. We found hitting any small problems with the 2% cream for 24hrs and then following up with Epaderm does the trick.

I do hope you get somewhere as i know how it feels to see it and feel so helpless

FWIW, DD1 is now 4 and rarely has any flare ups at all.

I forgot to say you can buy Epaderm at the pharmacy counter of Sainsbury's and the like