Aveeno vs Aqueous Cream

[JudysDreamHorse]

Hello. My DS is 20 weeks and has eczema. He had it really bad on his head and the GP recommended aqueous cream (which I use for eczema with no trouble). We've been having very bad sleep for over a month now and I've realised the start coincided with us starting the aqueous cream (and also Epaderm). Since looking into it I've found that a lot of babies are sensitive to it so am going to try and stop using it and see if it helps.
We've also been using oats in DS's bath and I think this is helping his skin. I read on here before that Aveeno would be a good cream to try if oatmeal helps. Is it too similiar to aqueous cream though? Any suggestions for good creams to try or should we go back to olive oil. the aqueous cream and epaderm do seem to have cleared up his eczema (though maybe it was the oatmeal) but with mine I have to keep moisturising or it comes back.
Thanks!

i would advocate bathing everyday, just make sure you find something like aqueous cream or similar that you can use.

It's not the water that's bad for the skin it's the products that you use in that are the irritants.

We were also advised to bath lo everyday with oilatum or similar. We also use aveeno and had a similar poor experience with aqueous cream.

I've been using aqueous for nearly 40 years and it should only be used to bathe with as a substitute for soap, shower gel etc.

It shouldn't be put on dry skin as a moisturiser - it stings and aggravates the condition

Unfortunately it's trial and error finding a moisturiser that works without causing any problems

Lots of info to digest! Thanks for replies as much appreciated. Agree it is trial and error. His skin is actually ok now but I would like to know what to do if and when we have the next flare up. A bit annoyed at GP in a way but maybe she meant for me to use it as soap substitute and I assumed I should use it as moisturiser. We were initially using cradle cap shampoo on his head as thought it was bad cradle cap to begin with and she said to keep on using that as well but I stopped as it was obviously too harsh.
We were actually using oilatum bath stuff to begin with as well but I stopped using that as I thought it was making things worse. Maybe I'll just keep using the oats and see if that keeps it a bay. Really interesting about whether to bathe him every day. We have a bath as part of our bedtime routine and was wondering if I should cut it out because of his skin (and the routine doesn't seem to make him want to sleep anyway....).

DS is also a lazy little toad normal 8yo, and swims at school so not particularly supervised as to quality of showering - but he has learned the painful way that he really needs to shower properly..

Clearly the posters who have said do bath have younger children than me, so my thinking is probably out of date - but for me it certainly made a big difference when we stopped doing a daily bath, My chemist also always tells me not to bath him (when I collect his prescription).

Having battled with this for nearly 9 years I would say that, as in most things, all children are different, and respond well to different things. Diet was helpfull with DS who had soya milk untill about 4yrs, but of course yours is too small for that yet.

I have been told (so many times) that he will grow out of it - no sign yet, but managing it has certainly become less of a stress over the years. Good luck

We found reducing the baths has helped massively too. I was very surprised actually. We live in a very hard water area and we've found hard water = dry skin = more likely to itch and less able to absorb moisturiser.

I can see the logic behind the bathe daily advice where there is broken skin and/or dirt/food/anything likely to cause infection but DD's specialist just said see what works for you and then go with it...

Just thought I'd update. Went to the GP this morning and came away with a prescription for epaderm. Felt a bit like she just wanted to get me out as soon as possible (know GP's are busy) and felt like I was being irrational when I was in there. She did also offer a prescription of oilatum junior but I said I'd tried that and didn't think it had helped. Thinking back now I think we tried and stopped it around the same time as stopping the aqueous cream so maybe should have gone with it. She did almost prescribe some aveeno bath products but there were no junior one's on the system so said it was best not to. She also said aqueous cream was not to be used as a moisturiser only as soap substitute. Know this will not be news to many but was relieved she knew that at least. The other GP spent a long time looking up what to recommend in books so not sure she was ver clued up.

Anyway never got a chance to ask about management. Would you guys recommend moisturising morning and night or only when skin starts to look bad? I tried not moisturising his head with epaderm last night but he was still scratching - it was probably the worst night to try as we went swimming yesterday.
Sorry that I'm drip feeding questions - bit unfocused due to lack of sleep. Also remembered last night that it was actually using hydrocortisone which really cleared up patches on the body but felt it was too strong for his scalp. Thanks again.

Hi there

It's hard with such short appointments to get straight answers on everything, particularly as GP's aren't usually experts on eczema! Could you ask for a referral to a specialist? It sounds like you could really benefit from seeing a paediatric dermatologist. Whereabouts in the country are you? I know a v good one at St Thomas's in London if that's accessible to you?

With the management - what you want to be doing is preventing dryness as much as possible and keeping the skin moist even when it is looking completely normal. This is important to help prevent flare ups. Morning and night all over plus top ups at nappy changes would be a good way to start. (We did 4x per day with the moisturiser until DD was about 18 months old and she was no longer having flare ups. Now we are down to 1 or 2 times per day)

Aveeno adult products are fine to use. GPs will always err on the side of caution but you'll find anecdotal evidence all over MN of using both the bath oil and the moisturiser successfully with really tiny children.

Then for flare ups don't be afraid to apply the steroid/hydrocortisone liberally until the skin looks completely clear. My GP was always very cautious about this (and rightly so) but when we saw the specialist they were very clear that you have to apply liberally and keep doing it until the flare up goes. If you stop too soon or don't use enough the flare up won't clear. And anti-b's for anything that looks infected.

It's a lot to take in, there are so many options, and it is a bit trial and error until you find what works for you.

How often are you taking him swimming? Just a thought but it might not be helping. We were advised to avoid chlorinated pools whenever there was a flare up, and to not take DD swimming if her skin was very dry, to wash her down thoroughly immediately she was out of the pool if we did, and then to do a thorough slathering in her Unguentum moisturiser.

Sorry this was so long!

Do you have a Waitrose within reach? If so (and if you can afford it), you can get both the cream and the bath stuff there - it is the "adult" version, but has always been fine for my DC. I have only ever seen the infant versions in the US and Australia.

I don;t even know if junior aveeno is available in the UK - when i looked online it seemed that was only availabel in the US.

We get normal (not junior) aveeno cream, lotion and bath oil on prescription and have been using it on both DDs more or less from birth.

As far as how often to apply it - my dad is a GP and his credo is to slap it on 2 or 3 times a day - keep the skin really moisturised. I must admit that we only manage it as well as that when there's a flare up but I don't think there can be any harm from applying emollient (moisturiser) too much - it's not like hydrocortisone or something that you need to be a bit careful with (although again my dad says that the stuff they prescribe isn't actually very strong and if you're going to use it then use it properly ie don't stint and it's fine).

OP - is there a practice nurse you can take DS to see - as with asthma, they are often the real experts on managing these things?

Thanks again for the suggestions. About an hour from London so probably would look into something local first. Really appreciate all the info everyone has posted.

I think the bathing ting is trial and error - for us, we worked out bacteria on his skin made the eczema worse, so daily bathing it is!
may I add my two penneth having had big probs on DS's head with cradle cap and all over his body through the first year.
AVEENO - theres a surprise! - cream and bath oil. Cream up as often as you can manage. I used to aim for morning and night, plus every nappy change.
SOFT WHITE PARAFFIN - this really was trial and error via our fantastic eczema nurse. this is the base ingredient for most creams. We put this on a flare up point, say a red or fry or chaffing patch, and it helps protect the skin.
Bathing - DERMOL - for washing hair and skin in bath. Its got an anti germ ingredient.
Cradle cap - DS head has cleared up now, but was dreadful. We used coconut oil as a daily balm on his head, solid coconut oil (both from healthfood shop) which melts in your hand, when worse. it took a while but did help.

The bathing thing is definitely child specific! Ours are worse when we wash then too much - but we live in a very hard water area and I have heard anecdotally that hard water is terrible for ezcema. Certianly when we come on holiday to a soft water area their skin seems better.

A lot of this really is trial and error. Don't be afraid to use the hydrocortisone on flare ups though.

Very interesting thread.

It is hard to get good consistent advice on the management of eczema from GPs. I joined the National Eczema society for a while, but anyone can call the helpline. They will be able to tell you what the current thinking is, and they also fund a lot of research. Might be worth a try.

www.eczema.org/

Hi, this is my first ever post having lurked for what seems like centuries......

Just wanted to agree with IFishWife that I have found the Aveeno Baby Eczema therapy stuff to be nothing short of AMAZING! I have a 15 week old dd with eczema and it has honest to God transformed her skin since we started using it just a week ago. I read a few threads here recommending the Aveeno cream. I mentioned it to my SIL who lives in the states and she said she has only ever used the baby stuff for her dc and they really worked. She very kindly sent me what must be a year's supply of it last Monday. I have been using it morning and evening since and dd skin is beyond recognition and best of all no more scratching!

Prior to using it, had tried Diprobase and Oilatum bath which the doc prescribed but just made things worse in my opinion. As for bathing, we live in a hard water area too and I was advised not to bath dd too often, so I bath her 3 times a week and use the Aveeno baby wash.

You can buy the baby products from a few sellers on Ebay or from soft-skin.co.uk but I agree they are rather pricey, nowhere near what they cost in the States from what I understand, but in my opinion, I will happily pay more.

OP, I hope you find something that works for your DS.

Aqueous cream gets recommended so much & it's horrible. I bought Aveeno from the States once and got stung with a load of duty fees & VAT so stick to the UK site now www.soft-skin.co.uk much cheaper and you get it within a couple of days. They are also really helpful there. I do try and stick to UK companies as much as possible.

Don't use aqueous cream on skin unless for washing, it's really horrible for eczema. Our eczema specialist nurse advised to bathe everyday but for 10 minutes only, apply dermol lotion all over before putting dc in bath and then add oilatum to bath. Wash hair with dermol too. Keep water at 37 C so same as body temperature. Aveeno is nice because there's so ething about oats that really helps eczema, I know a lot of people recommend using oats in a net placed in the bath too for flat ups.

Just be careful using oats themselves in the bath directly too often as it can block the drains. Totally agree that Aveeno is a great product range especially the baby range. The shampoo is brilliant for craddle cap and the Baby Soothing Relief Cream keeps the eczema away. I once ordered from the States & got stung by a tax and VAT bill so it wasn't nearly as cheap as it first seemed.
I just stick to www.soft-skin.co.uk now, they delivery within a day or two and the staff are really friendly & helpful.

I'm so converted now that I also by the products for me, love the Positively Radiant Facial Moisturiser & the new body washes.

Aveeno cream is very effective at breaking the itch-scratch cycle. It will not solve the underlying infection or inflammation.