ECZEMA TERROR

[sagarika]

Dear mums, I am a new member plus a new mum. My 4 months old bb is suffering from very bad eczema. Particularly his face and head. Keeps scratching night and day. Its getting worse now. The skin on his face is now broken and weeping. Been to the doctors so many times, have used oilatum, hydromol, steroids, and now antibiotic (fusidic acid), nothings working. I am so frustrated. Can anyone advice. GP wont refer me to a an allergy/eczema specialist becoz this condition is so common!! bb is exclusively breast fed. is there somehting in the food that I am eating?? Cant bear to see him suffer so much. What do I do????

My ds 6 months old, has suffered really badly with this for three months. He is FF so I think its just one of those horrid things. Luckly I have got my GP to refer him HOWEVER we have had to go private. We also requested that the GP prescribe a clinivest and clava this stops them being able to get at the skin during the night. If it helps my GP only got serious on this after we took him to the emergancy doctor.I'm not sure if any of this helps but you are not alone xxx

I suffered from psoriasis. Not the same I know, but I am completly psoriasis free now. Something which doctors said would not happen. I can tell you how, but I do find people don't want to make such drastic changes (which I can understand) ...But the first thing I did was give up meat. I don't eat any meat or fish.

I also went down the alternative/Reiki/natural route.

It may not work for everyone, but the change has to come from within. So creams etc tend to just relieve itching etc. Obviosuly with a child you will have to ensure they get the correct amount of iron/protein etc but these are easilt obtained from Quorn, vegetables etc. Anyway, enough rambling from me. Best wishes :)

Ooops just read your boy is 4 months! but I guess he could be eating pureed meat?

Best ignore my post! Teach me to read properly :)

my ds was llike this at that age

his face used to be stuck to the bed in the morning because of dried blood

it was heart breaking , and all the stares when out in public

ds was referred to dermatology clinic when very young and we could go anytime he had a flare up , just had to call and get seen same day ..was a godsend as the nurses were so supportive

in the end the thing that changed it for the better immensely besides high dose steroid creams was ds stopping drinking milk and milky products

this came about by accident as I stopped bottles at 2yrs and he point blank refused to drink milk from a cup and also stopped eating milky things

his eczema cleared up remarkably..so in hindsight I wish I had tried that sooner

I would push for dermatology referral , get a diff dr if needed

good luck

can I suggest you have a look at 'itchybaby' website its great set up by a mum whose LO suffered terribly from the same it really helped me and gave me a few ideas. DS is 3 months and has had a couple of bad flare ups but he is on FF and now lacto free so bit different for you sorry HTHs

Have you tried cutting out dairy from your diet?

Sagrika I really feel for you. My daughter is 7 monthswbad eczema all over which isnow under control but from 3-5 months itwas awful. It's so heartbreaking but you will get there I promise.

What steroid cream do you have? You need to use that for a few days after it clears up the redness or it bounces back straight away. Emolliant needs to be applied about 5-10 times a day when eczema is bad.

Your gp is right that it's common but if your baby has it severly then it's not common. Try your health visitor. I ended up totally breaking down after about the fifth night of zero sleep and she was amazing and sorted the referral to eczema clinic that has subsequently been absolutely f'ing brilliAnt

I have excluded all dairy from my diet. We discovered DD allergic to milk when she accidentally came into contact with it on her skin and she got hives etc. At that point I stopped all dairy and it improved within about a week.

Unfortunately every child is different when it comes to eczema but you deserve support in getting tobottom of it

I hope this helps it will get better xx

Thank you all for your support and suggestions. I will try a dairy free diet and see.have been using 1%hydrocortisone. But it keeps coming back! I think speaking to the hv is also a good idea.will have to get that referral to dermatology somehow. Thank u all again.

From what I remember you have to use the cortisone for a long time (2 weeks) and then decreased the dose gradually otherwise it comes back quickly. (2twice a days for 2 weeks ,then once a day for a weeks, every 2 days...)
Then you have to find the right moisturiser for your DS skin. GOod luck
I would see a dermatologist, as GP often don't know how to use the creams properly.

You need to go back to your GP and request (forcefully if necessary) a referral to the eczema specialist at your local children's hospital.

DD1 saw one aged five and it changed our lives. They can show you how to use the creams to best effect and also give you tips for prevention as it is much better than cure.

Eczema isn't just itchy, it is painful and it's not fair to allow a child to suffer just because he has a 'common' condition.

Go on, be pushy and make him refer you.

his whole body has areas of red/dry patches altho' his face is worse. how am i to apply steroid all over his body?

will there be a waiting period for the eczema clinic. i think there are long waiting periods for hosp appts to come thro'. i might have to go private....

newmom35 you mentioned clinivest and clava. sorry to be so daft but what are they?

You should put the hydrocortisone wherever the skin is red and inflamed. For my DD that meant all over pretty much.. Schrodinger is right about gradual reduction in use of steroid rather than stopping it. My gp gave me naff advice not to use steroid on her face so she scratched it raw and ended up with an infection as well. I managed to get to the eczema clinic within a week when hv helped but that's cos DD was so bad and I was in a right state. You really do have to push but once you have the right advice it's so much better

Hi, my DS has suffered with and still does with eczema. I had trouble to start with, with lots of wrong advice but eventually managed to get it under control with advice from a HV who specialised in skin conditions, but it will never go away!
I was orignally given 2 types of moisturiser, hydromol and double base but was never really shown or told how to use it, to the point that the eczema got so bad on his head and face that he scratched it red raw and made it bleed and puss.
The doc told me to use the hydrocortisone 1% but never advised that i should use that along side the hydromol so it constantly kept coming back.
so, the advice that worked for us, -hydrocortisone 1% on all areas of ezcema wherever it is on the body, morning and night for 1 week(thinly)
-Hydromol ALL OVER the body after approx 10 mins of steriod aplication and at night thick layers it creases.
-Apply hydromol on problem areas of eczema throughout the day as soon as the last lot has soaked in, annoying but clears quickly
-after 1 week reduce steriod to 1 application a day on problem areas but continue with the hydromol
-reduce steriod to 2/3 applications a week and continue with hydromol (by this point we weren't using it nearly as much)
-stop using steriod and when it has cleared up replace hydromol with double base and apply twice a day to problem areas.
He does still have flair ups from time to time so we go back to hydromol and use it regularly for a while and it subsides again.
It is always his head and face he suffers with the most, but the only good thing i was told was that if they have it now, they are likely to grow out of it, where as if they got it when they were 2/3 years they'd prob have for life. I hope this helps in some way.

sagarika I am a great fan of cranial osteopathy for babies with health issues and took my DS when he was very little because he was very unsettled. The CO we saw was very good and I mentioned a friend's LO to him once who had bad eczema and if I recall correctly (was a while ago!) he said it is something that can be treated with cranial osteopathy as it can be the result of the liver possibly having been pulled slightly out of alignment during birth and it releasing toxins which result in the eczema on the skin as the toxins working their way out.

It might be worth asking your HV if they can recommend a good one and looking into it. Everyone I know who has seen a good CO for baby health issues has always been very impressed with the results.

Really hope that your LO's skin improves - I had childhood eczema and remember how uncomfortable it was.

Rach x

My DD1 had horrendous eczema. We were referred to a dematologist. I agree with Claireabelle81's suggest regarding all the cream. But the most important thing is to break the 'scratch, itch cycle'. The more they scratch, the worse it gets.

We had special vests and tights which were like bandage material so she couldn't get to the skin. But MOST IMPORTANTLY we always had her hands cover from about 4 months until about 18 months. Sounds mean but she learned to do everything with tight socks on her hands! At night she was in sleep suits with built in hand mits.

The creams are good but there no miracle cure if you let DS continue to scratch. (DD1 grew out of the worst of it by the time she was 2)

I know it's hard work. x

"as it can be the result of the liver possibly having been pulled slightly out of alignment during birth and it releasing toxins which result in the eczema on the skin as the toxins working their way out"

Sorry to be blunt but this is a lot of crap. At the moment it is generally thought eczema is genetic (we took part in a big national trial which found that eczema sufferers tend to have one bit of a particular gene missing).

OP (aside from this) you have had lots of good advice here, def press for a referral to a specialist and get LO allergy tested, they may suggest an exclusion diet (I had to cut out dairy, egg and soya as common triggers) but this should only be done under the supervision of a dietician and you have to be really strict about it for several weeks. Meanwhile try the different emollients to see which works best and don't be afraid to use steroids when needed.

If it's any consolation DS1's was horrific as a baby and now (age 4) he only has it very mildly (although does have several food allergies inc egg).

rachel,your advice re:liver is absolute nonsense.with no clinical basis whatsoever.and whilst you may believe such or have been told so.reproducing it as if fact,needs challenging

and some quack laying hands on baby head wont treat eczema either

I'll keep my thoughts to myself then - I was just trying to help with something that I and other friends have found useful with health issues with their babies, I wasn't stating it as fact if you read my post carefully - merely as something that might help [erm]

As with all alternative therapies - there are people who believe in them and people who don't. I have had a good experience with cranial osteopathy as have others I know so I was suggesting it as a possible option for the OP to look into not as a hard and fast cure.

Claireabelle81, Your suggestion sounds really good.i will try a similar routine,only I hvnt found the right cream for him.hydromol seems to make his patches go more red,and oilatum doesnt seem to be enough.i have to use it v frequently.any other suggestions for an emollient.has anybody tried cetraben,epaderm etc.i wil definitely push my gp for a specialist referral but I dont think I will opt for cranial osteopathy at this point in time.thanks to all you mums.im more hopeful now

For DD1 the only cream which works is Ictyane (ducray) for dry skin.
And Aveeno but it needs a lot of repeats, mainly every time you change a nappy so a bit tedious.
We tried at least 20 of them before most of them making it worse.

Epaderm ointment has been the successful thing for DD. Its a gloopy mess that needs digging out with a spoon and goes all over clothes etc but frankly who cares about such detail. Gp can be reluctant to prescribe cos it's expensive but it's meant far far less steroid for us which is bonus (not that u should be concerned about using steroid of course). Of course its trial and error for your baby (to quote my eczema nurse 'when epaderm works on babies it really works' Cetraben is not so thick and comes as pump action. I've heard of mums it's worked for tho....

Good luck

With reference to the hydromol making the skin red, I questioned this also with the HV as was having the same issue, but apparently it is normal and should do this, and will only go red on the areas that are affected. This redness will subside with use and as the ointment soaks into the skin will fade, proof I guess that it is working. It work on my DS, but be sure to use the steroid cream along side to start with to stop the scratch - itch cycle, and as soon as you see it coming back, back on with the hydromol, stops it from escalating! Also using something in the bath does seem to have helped, I was given dermalo bath ointment, I got all this from HV but the steroid cream.

We tried all the emollients under the sun, and Doublebase is the only one that worked for us.