Eczema - where to start?

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

DD2 (nearly 6mo) has had dry skin since she was born. It has slowly got worse, and for the past 2 weeks has been red and inflamed-looking. we have been BLW for the past week mostly on veg, and toast. she has been ff'ed since 4mo.

Saw the GP today and she confirmed eczema. We have been given hydrocortisone, and epaderm cream, but GP didn't feel able to advise on dietary stuff, or bath products/detergents to use or avoid.

So does anyone have any ideas as to where to start? do we need non-bio detergents? how often to bathe?? sorry for sounding so clueless but no-one in the family has any history of eczema or allergies.

I'm sorry I can't really help but did not want this to go unanswered.

FWIW Sainsbury's have a range of hyperallergenic detergents and so on. I believe dairy can be linked to eczema. My DD has Cows milk proteins allergy and normal milk makes her skin very spotty and dry.

Hope others can come along and help more.

hi Charlotte ,

My dd & myself have atopic eczema , so first of all you will need to use a NON-BIO washing powder (i use persil) and don't use any conditioner , fabric softener etc . As for her baths , i use oilatum in the bath water as it tends to soothe her skin and i use Aveeno moisturising lotion after her bath (i try to moisturise dd's skin 3 times a day if possible) .

HTH

thanks for all the pointers. we'd already been only getting cotton clothes as her skin has been so dry - i was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the Primark baby clothes are 100% cotton. we'll start looking at non bio/sensitive detergents and some of the Aveeno bits for bath/shampoo. and it's a good job you mentioned sunscreen, as i hadn;t thought about that yet.

My DS (2.3) has eczema and like your DD had dry skin from birth.

If your DDs skin is getting worse now it could be because of pollen rather than food. DS's skin was absolutely at its worst this time last year and then once the tree pollen was gone and summer came it got loads better. He's having another flare up now and I'm hoping that it will get better again soon.

Bath - there are lots of natural remedies people swear by like oatmeal in a sock etc. I never used them instead we used Oilatum and then when DS started to get skin infections as he constantly plays in the dirt we were prescribed Dermol bath emollient. Don't used any shampoo. Stay away from bubbles or anything fun

Some will tell you not to bath DD too much but a lot of dermatologists these days recommend a daily bath and if it is pollen a bath will help to wash the stuff off. Applying emollient and hydrocortisone after a bath is supposed to maximise their benefits, but remember to leave about 1/2 hour between applying each one.

Food - to be honest we just carried on as normal. DS has an egg allergy and is allergic to salmon so he doesn't eat them (obviously) but otherwise I kept a careful eye on him when we tried new food but I didn't try to avoid dairy etc. Life is too short.

Washing - I would go for something like fairy non-bio. Also try not to line dry as the pollen and dust gets on the clothes. I always wash clothes after one wearing as the emollients can make them really gunky. Actually I'm lucky if clothes last half a day now before needing washing (see dirt comment above!)

I would really recommend joining the National Eczema Society (£20) www.eczema.org. They have loads of information and a good magazine they send out a few times a year. At the very least you can read about people worse off than you to cheer yourself up!

You may find that one emollient works for a while and then your child will become sensitive to it so that you have to switch. I avoid Oilatum as it contains wool sterols, I also avoid anything containing lanolin (which is wool). People also avoid sodium lauryl sulphate and parabens. The website www.eczemaanddermatitis.com has some helpsheets and information. Be aware that it is written by the people who make diprobase so may have a slant. That said I use diprobase cream, ointment and diprobath on my elder son and find it very good. Don't touch acqueous cream. For bad patches you could try hydrocolloid dressings, from pharmacy or doctors, these are big sticking plasters which cover the area to stop the child itching and help area to heal. I use these on my baby 11M. Aveeno Oatmeal seems to work as an emollient for baby and is a good loose consitency. Baby uses Dentinox Cradle Cap shampoo and Infaderm bubble bath as his soap. My older son Johnsons Camomile for his hair and E45 Junior shower gel plus diprobath. Bath twice a week. Cotton clothing and bedding. Website www.eczemaclothing.com does these. I use Fairy non-bio, double rinse, no softener. Just bought new suncreams, Nivea Sun Kids Pure and Sensitive 50+ and Banana Boat Baby from Boots, seem okay so far. Plus, Simple Aftersun Gel. Try to keep child cool.

Our specialists have said that some people believe there is a link between cows milk and eczema, but mine are cows milk allergic and so never touch it but still have eczema!

Perhaps, you can get your GP to refer you to a children's (sorry can't spell paediatric) dermatologist. Speak to National Eczema Society and/or Allergy UK.

thanks again for all the advice and links
we are slowly moving towards becoming a more eczema friendly household
trip out to the big Boots this weekend to stock up on toiletries and suncream. the dds love to bathe together so we're getting the same stuff for both girls.

Good luck with it all Charlotte.

One of DS's has excezma and it ranges from mild to not very nice! Once it is under control it's not to bad but we have found certain foods aggrevate his skin - these are strawberries, rhubarb, tomatoes (raw) and oranges.

Aveeno is brilliant, we use the oat one and they do it in our Sainsbury's now too. Definately non-bio washing and I would use the liquid and not powder, seems to rinse better. Sun cream seems to change from year to year which one aggrevates him!

Don't know if there is anything in it but he also has Actimel daily.

My DS has it and it flares up now and again. Mostly I keep on top of it with Oilatum cream and Oilatum bath (which I get on prescription). Now and again I use hydrocortisone cream. I bathe as infrequently as I can get away with, using tepid water, making sure I dry really well and then applying Oilatum cream before nappy and jammies.

I use only non-bio washing powder.

There's some other good tips on here, thank you. Oh I use E45 bubble bath when he's clear, but only the Oilatum when it's bad.

I am def. going to get some of those patches Maggie as the night time itching is a problem for us. I never know whether to leave his skin bare to the air, or cover it to prevent tiny nails scratching the skin.

My older DS had the same but grew out of it so I'm hoping the same for DS2, it's awful for them.

HI i've found this new site Really helpful www.everythingforeczema.com. They sell allsorts of products including a clothing range- and its been started by a Mum who's already done the hard work of searching for everything.

I was also advised by a lady the other day that Asda do a real cheap moisturiser without Lanolin which has really helped- she quite rightly said that often the cheaper products are good as they don't have all the costly perfumes etc. (Sorry can't remember the name but i'll post when I remember!)

My DCs all suffered from eczema from time to time since they were babies. We have a family history of eczema, it runs in our blood. Eliminate all perfumed products from their bath and skincare products. Be really vigilant if the product contains essential oils because a lot of them are known to be skin-sensitising (yes, just because its natural doesn't mean its always good for you!) It will also help you a lot to learn to read ingredients lists for products so that you know exactly what's inside. You can often try Googling for more information about each ingredient. Some preservatives are skin-sensitising, like Linalool, Geraniol, etc. There is a list of all the 26 allergens commonly found in skincare and bath products here that were documented in EU directives for their skin-sensitising/allergenic properties : ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_sccp/docs/sccp_q_196.pdf

I've found that its quite difficult to avoid all of the potentially allergenic ingredients in commercially available products, but if you know what's inside the product, then you can try to pin-point the possible causes when your DCs have an eczema flare-up after using them.

Products with strong detergents in them strip skin of oils and aggravates eczema... There has been a lot said about SLSs (Sodium Lauryl Sulfates) and SLESs which you can google... however there is another camp which claims that SLESs are actually quite gentle... Cocamidopropyl Betaine has been listed as a possibly allergenic ingredient though its quite often used in baby products because its supposed to be gentler than SLS. EWG's Cosmetic Database claims to be an info-portal informing the general public about what's really harmful in commercial skincare products (www.ewg.org/bodyburden/consumerproducts) but because of its involvement in environmental lobbying groups and its database is always touting some enviro-friendly organic product as the next best thing (when it isn't always the case for eczema sufferers) means I don't always take it as the gospel for researching ingredients. Paula Begoun's Cosmetics Cop Ingredient Dictionary website also claims to offer consumers information on cosmetic ingredients (www.cosmeticscop.com/cosmetic-ingredient-dictionary/A.aspx) ... I do tend to listen to her more though... based on my own experiences.

Also, warmer weather tends to aggravate eczema or trigger flare-ups in my family. And hayfever... To make things more confusing, my DCs could show an allergic reaction to a certain product a year ago, then take to the product fine another year! We have tried many products over the years and I cannot say for a fact which ones we are truly allergic to... let's just say, it changes. And hydrocortisone and other topical corticosteroids like that are great for flare-ups but not advisable to use them for long term - they thin the skin slowly through continuous usage and eventually cause skin damage amongst other negative side effects. If you find you have to rely on these creams long-term to keep the rash in control, it might be best to look into other ways to try and treat/prevent this condition, i.e. diet and changing the skincare products for eg. Whenever skin starts to flare up with eczema or hives all of a sudden, examine the foods you've eaten very recently (within the past day or two) and the weather, and whether you've recently changed products, etc. I find for myself, eating peanut products makes my skin more prone to rashes. I don't go into anaphylactic shock, but I definitely have some kind of skin reaction to eating peanut products, so I try to avoid it, or just eat sparingly and then I will often be fine. And also insect bites can cause allergic skin reactions too, more so with eczema prone skin, so when there's gonna be lots of insects buzzing around, it might be worth using an insect repellant (though that too can be a tricky issue - working out if the ingredients in the repellant might be allergenic to your daughter!) And suncream...a lot of the commercial ones are potentially skin-sensitising for eczema sufferers.

So basically, know your ingredients, and you'll be much better prepared to tackle this eczema head on! :)

btw there is a genetic predisposition to eczema... more info here : www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allergyuk.org%2Fdownload.aspx%3FFile%3Dleaflets%2FAtopic_Eczema_and_Sensitive_Skin.pdf&ei=df6xTbqeK8Ko8AOq2diVDA&usg=AFQjCNH7U5I021lnAohsAjPNFkoq1lyCMA&sig2=Dm8HmGNzgnSZZZ_5QNxghw

And really, moisturise often. Once you've found a moisturiser that your child isn't sensitive to, moisturise daily, as often as needed, and especially after taking a bath - and you should moisturise skin within a 3 minute window of bathing, because that's when the skin's pores are still open and will absorb the moisturiser so much better than when they are closed.

Have not read all the threads but my dd has managed well on diprobase cream emollient as a moisterisor, dermol 500 lotion for soap sub or light moisterisor and dermol 600 for adding to the bath water. We use surcare for clothes and no conditioner. As someone has already mention the time of year with pollens ect may make things worse(you could experiment with not line drying her clothes and towels as pollens stick to them) but also remember about posibility of being dust mite allergic. My dd has this and to help - wash all bedding at 60 degrees and freeze teddies regulary for 24 hrs to kill dustmites. My dd started from couple weeks old with eczema which progressed asthma, multiple food alergies,life threatening peanut allergy,dustmite allergy, polllens allergies ect. Epaderm is very good, we use it still at times but especially prior to swimming in pools as a barrier for her skin. Remember it does make them sweat this hot weather. Bathing is difficult to know how often for your particular child and you can only judge how often with reguards to how your dd copes but moisterise right away afterwards to block in the moister from bathing.

Think about the stuff you put on your own skin, too - hand cream particularly. And carpet cleaning products when you get to the crawling stage. Obvious when you think but really easy to overlook!

Yes, balia has reminded me of another thing. Wool carpets seem to really aggravate eczema on me and my eczema-prone children's skin!

Hi Mums. My daughter Georgie is 4 and has had severe chronic eczema since birth. I'd like to share a few things that have helped us a lot. By the way - we are from Australia and I realise that some of our treatment methods are quite different. 1. Dustmite management - we removed all carpet from our house and keep Georgie's room as clean as possible. We have dustmite proof bedding on her bed - pillow, over mattress and over duves in winter (Allergend from Melbourne). We keep her cool all year round in bed - cotton blankets in summer, light duve in winter. We try to avoid environments that we know will be bad for her. Her Pre School and 'big' school are both aware of severe eczema problems and have created 'cleaner' environments for not just her, but other kids with the same problem. 2. Wet dressing - very effective and very simple. Found clothing better for this than bandages, but Mums use both. Bandages by Tubifast, clothes by Planet Peach (see Everything For Eczema, UK). Basically one damp layer under dry, or just damp on v hot days. You can just spray with a water spray to refresh. 3. Bleach Baths - Yes! That's right. I know this sounds horrific, but we had terrible problems with staph / skin infections til we started doing this all the time. It's a v low concentration, same as a swimming pool, but without all of the other nasties. A lot of the pediatric dermatologists recommend this here. 4. Moisturising 3 times a day. We use Emulsifying Ointment and only apply it in the direction that the hair follicles grow (to avoid Folliculitus or follicul infections). 5. Expose skin to sunlight for 10 - 20 minutes twice a day but only at times of day that it won't burn. 6. Bath every day in oil (QV works for us, but not for everyone), and as close to bedtime as possible so she goes to bed clean. 6. We give her probiotics, zinc drops, vitamin D3 (when she will take it) and fish oil (which she currently refuses to take because it really stinks!).

Oh. And I forgot Goats MIlk Soap (Everything For Eczema I think has this too). and only plant based clothing detergent (in Aus, Purity Liquid as it dissolves better than powder).

Georgie also has multiple allergies, including some v severe (we have an Epipen), but her diet seems to affect her skin less than hot weather and dustmite.

Moisturise moisturise moisturise!!

I wasn't moisturising my son enough - therefore his skin kept flaring and needing steroids. Now I smother him in epederm 3 times again when his skin is good, and fingers crossed it seems to be staying that way!