Would you bath a baby with infected, weeping eczema?

[TheHeathenOfSuburbia]

DS (nearly 6mo) has had the odd patch of dry skin which we've treated with Aveeno.

But at the weekend, he developed really red raw patches tucked deep in his skin folds; took him to OOH doc, who said it was probably infected. Got Fucidin H cream for it and told to see our practice nurse to have it dressed today.

Practice nurses were a bit , which makes me think they haven't seen a lot of baby eczema this bad. Got GP in to prescribe oral AB's, so we have that going on too.

Nurse said, "after his bath, wipe it over with cooled boiled water and then apply the cream". Really? I haven't bathed him since this appeared, surely that would only make it worse? I bought Oilatum today, but there's no point putting that in the bath for wet oozy eczema, surely?

Any and all advice welcome!

yes you can bathe him very quickly, it will help clean the skin.

My dc's had bad eczema as babies - are slowly growing out of it/managing it better. I used to bath them and it seemed to soothe them slightly, and then put lots of cream on after. Make sure the bath water is fairly cool as too hot can aggravate it - for my dc's if the bath water is hot it still affects their skin and makes them itchy.

DD1 used to get weeping infected eczema as a baby and I sometimes had to wait a couple of days before I could get to the GP for Fucidin. I used to wash it with boiled salt water three times a day to get it on the mend and on a couple of occasions it was almost totally healed by the time she saw the GP.

It doesn't sting too much either.

mum used to put some oilatum in the bath which is very moisturising (and oily - a bit of a pig to was out of the bath but really worked for me). Don't bath every night. Even if it's ooozing it is soothing and will moisturise without you having to rub it in. Pat dry gently.

Make sure you are not using an Aqueous cream - gps often suggest these but actually they can make it worse. Diprobase ointment works for me now - not sure if you can use it on a baby.

I would give it a couple of days for ab to work but bath might sooth it?! You could try and if ds screams stop - not ideal I know.

Good luck x

Seeing the salt message reminds me - my excema used to heal up on holiday as I swam in the sea everyday. Worth a try (bathing in salt water rather than swimming in the sea around the uk!)

You have to clean it somehow, or where are the germs going to go?

For drying the sore bits, you might use a ripped up sheet or old pillowcase (less fluff than a towel). Poor wee chap, hope he is better soon.

I used to let ds bathe in warm salt water whe his excema was at it's worst, it used to really help.

I guess I will bite the bullet and try a quick bath then. Thanks for all the info!

We already have a hypoallergenic gentle wash (this sort of thing doesnt so much run in the family as gallop), so will try giving him a quick sweep around with that, avoiding the sore bits.

Luckily he seems to not be particularly bothered by it, he certainly has never tried scratching it AFAIK. He grinned away at the nurses trying to dress it. Strange lad!

Hmm, salt water, eh? How much do you put in?

colditz - I was going for the boiled water/cotton wool wipe to take off the germs/gunky bits...

Sorry, missed your point.

Im a nurse and I would def bath as you want to keep the skin as clean as poss and remove some of the dead skin cells. Def put oilatum in the water and don't use any soap based products, I would wash with aqueous cream or similiar and then cream well after bath. Hope it clears up soon.

I always bathed dd2 with emollients, also when infected. It was the best thing for her.

It seems to be a very individual thing so worth trying and then finding out for yourself what the best course of action is for your ds.

OK, DS is bathed, de-gunked, creamed and re-bandaged without getting too cross, yay! Thanks for all the advice, get the feeling I'll be spending some time on this board...

My DS had similar as an infant. It was awful, all behind his ears, in the folds of his neck. The only way I could degunk was to gently bathe him. I felt this was less abbrasive than trying to clean with cotton wool.
You can get Oilatum cream and bath stuff on prescription which can save you a small fortune. My DS is now 2 and still uses only Oilatum in the bath and on his skin which is still prone to dry patches.

I only bathe him once a week now.

Sympathies, heathen, ds had infected eczema as a baby and it can be very upsetting. I thought bathing was important - if you have infected skin, it needs to be cleaned (as gently as possible).

Agree with Princess that aqueous cream is A Bad Thing. Doctors have been routinely prescribing it for years but many people have found it actually irritates the skin. Now someone's got round to doing the research and proving what patients say is true, not just anecdote. I dunno, maybe it helps some people but I wouldn't risk it, personally.

Good news is many (most?) babies grow out of it so I'll keep my fingers crossed mini-Heathen is one of them. Happily ds did - he has the odd touch of eczema occasionally but nothing compared to those baby days. (And far better than poor old dh, who has scars on his body from childhood eczema and still suffers from it now. Must ask MIL at some point whether she was told to use aqueous cream...)

I use Diprobase on my eczema but DS (2) has Doublebass which is much lighter and a lot easier to rub in, although luckily his eczema never weeped. I agree that a cool bath can be very soothing and with Doublebass they recommend you put it on before the bath as well as after for additional relief.

Dermol is an antiseptic emollient for the bath, is quite good.

Oh, be careful if you have a shower after you've used oilatum in your child's bath. That stuff is v. slippery!

And oats are good. Stick some oats in a muslin, tie it into a sack, and hang it under the taps. Really helped ds.

Thing about eczema is, each individual is different, so what works for one person won't work for another - it's very much trial and error (and then what works for you can change, as well).

Could I advise you don't use aveeno? My DS' eczema was made worse by it.
I put diprobase on his eczema before he gets in the bath, which helps- not when it's infected though of course.
Hope he's better soon.

I don't know how much you'd put in a bath but to wash small areas I used to put in as much as I could dissolve in a small bowl of warm boiled water.

DD's skin was really sensitive to being left unwashed and broke down very quickly if I missed one of her creases at bath time. I used to bath her in plain water then cover her in 50/50 cream as soon as I dried her. I was able to massage the cream into the creases to help prevent the eczema.

If her skin broke down and got infected I'd wash it with salt water after her bath then put the cream on once it was dry. Washing does seem to remove the nasties and help with the healing.

I have a feeling the research done on aqueous cream was done by the diprobase/ doublebase company - funny they found it didn't wk well ime it wks fine as a soap substitute.

Aqueous cream is fine in the bath but mustn't be used as a cream afterwards as it can agrevate the eczema (I had this problem). GPs regularly advise it as a cream but it's wrong.

Take care with hypoallergenic washes - they usually have perfume in them (even unperfumed ones!). I cannot use Johnsons baby bath as it makes my eczema worse - it's fine on dd's skin but made mine red raw.