Cannot cope with DD's eczema any more...

[Schulte]

...is there a support group somewhere? A hotline where I can cry down the phone? Or can you lovely people cheer me up a bit?

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Dd started to get eczema on her hands and this has cleared it up. oney back guarantee too...

My brother is 43 and has never 'outgrown' his childhood exzema but this helped him and his skin is now pretty clear.

He dealt with it from the inside out. Ask your GP about this as it probably different for little ones.

Cod liver oil
Starflower oil
Vitamin C tablets
Zinc tablets.

Or a diet high in those.

Just thought I would mention what worked for my dd. The steroid cream wasn't working for her. A friend said using pure lavender oil in the bath worked for her dd and so in desperation I tried it, and it did work very well indeed.

I literally only put two drops in a whole bath. Maybe worth a try? (Obviously check with the doctor first.)

Hope you find remedy soon and a big ((hug)) for your dd.

Also, just to give you an idea of what might be recommended, this is what we were told by our dermatology specialist this week:

Hydrocortisone on the face in the morning followed by Aveeno all over face and body about 15 to 30 minutes later

Aveeno 3 -8 times a day all over (we are doing about 5 times a day)

At bathtime - Dermol 500 thickly all over then put him straight in the bath and let it wash off slowly as he plays in the bath (at least 10 minutes in the bath) Use it as shampoo too. Bath daily, very important apparently. Make sure all washed off before getting out.

Pat dry then put on Eumovate on red patches. You should put enough on so that you can see it glistening in the light.

Hydrocortisone only on the face

15 to 30 minutes later apply Aveeno all over, non affected areas first then on top of red patches.

We repeat this every day. I'm not saying this is what you should be doing with your ds as I guess every case is different but it seems to be the standard routine that is recommended by our eczema nurse, using whichever creams are right for each patient.

Great advice on here, have bookmarked it so i can try some recommendations. My DD is 13m and since about 6m has had it bad just on her wrists, luckily she is a happy little soul who seems to take it in her stride, but sometimes it really really gets to her.. For what its worth the gp prescribed pure parafin, and diprobase. Not that either have performed wonders. I also use sudocrem and savlon. When its really distressing her i just put cold wet tissue on her wrists for immediate relief, didnt know about wet wraps so will get some of those. When she eats she scratches them against her highchair so we put sweatbands on her wrists to stop her making them raw. Thank god she hasnt discovered how to scratch with her nails yet.. Lastly we did try cutting out dairy, it seemed to help for a week or so but, since it started, its never gone completely. She woke up at 6am this morning screaming and rubbing her wrists totally empathise at how awful it is for them, and helpless you feel as a mum.. X

sometimes you have to swap and change with the creams. You can use them for a while and then they start to sting. Its an endless cycle sometimes and trying to think of what's causing things and how to stop it has often kept me awake at night! However I would second the oats in the bath advice, very soothng - and makes them smell of hobnobs!

Funnily enough, DD's skin doesn't actually feel very dry. The pharmacist commented on that saying that with her bad patches, she'd expect her to have much drier skin. When she had an infection recently, taking antibiotics cleared it all up - not just the infection, but also the eczema, then of course the eczema came back when the ABs stopped. Is it possible that eczema is caused by bacteria in some children? Is that why swimming and sterilising tablets in the bath have helped some of you?

Once you have eczema, all sorts of things (bacteria, allergens, dust...) can aggravate it. The really important thing is to get it under control and then to keep it under control and to fight it vigorously at the first signs.

My DD is eczema-prone. At the moment I am using Lipikar products for washing and moisturising and her skin is a good deal better.

DD had it terribly - but as others have said she did grow out of it when she was 3.

You will need to keep a look-out for two things in the future. The first is asthma as apparently there is a strong correlation (DD did go on to develop asthma). The second is hayfever.

Schulte that is like my DD. She doesn't have any dry skin - she has beautiful skin (PFB!) but she has discoid eczema. Moisturising still keeps it at bay though ( as moisturising helps the outer layer of skin defend itself- my science explanation is crap sorry) She also had infected eczema though I didn't realise it for ages, so that is why I keep her bathed and moisturized, as much as poss anyway.

There are so many potential triggers yet no on really knows the cause.

As other posters have said you need to get it under control and then a strict regime of management.

The workshop I told you about really brought all this home - previously I had been looking for a cure.

I tried all the natural stuff: Hope's cream, Olive oil, Salcura etc- none of that worked for us, it made it much much worse. And although diet may be a factor, it might also be pollen or dust etc

I cut out all yoghurts, citrus and tomatoes from my Ds's diet when my friend told me that that had exacerbated her Dd's extreme eczema. it took 4 days and his red raw skin disappeared. I tried reintroducing the foods individually every so often and eventually, they stopped affecting him and he can eat them now with no problems.

DD has eczema - we were referred to the general paediatric clinic, but they had a weekly dermatology clinic, with a specialist, so maybe your hospital has something similar, and that is what you have been referred to.

Is her eczema crusty and a bit yellow? If so, it is infected and she may need anti-biotics or a cream with anti-biotics in it for a little while.

Different creams work for different people, so I'm afraid it you will probably have to keep trying different ones for a bit. Make sure that you are not using anything with lanolin in it - E45 is definitely out, it is not recommended for eczema. My DD reacted to anything with paraffin in it, I think that is fairly common. We don't use any bath oils, just epiderm as a soap substitute, and only 1 or 2 baths a week.

She gets a mild steroid cream on her face where it is worst every day, not ideal, but better than raw crusty itchy skin.

The dermatologist said that they don't recommend changing diets as eczema is cyclical and it is very difficult to know whether a flare up is caused by particular foods. We worked it out though as when we introduced solids, DD was very obviously ill when she ate dairy (like a scene from the exorcist.) Her skin seems much better now she has a dairy free diet.

Why not lanolin Grand ? wool fat soap clears up a lot of skin problems including eczema IME.

Lanolin can aggravate a lot of people's eczema.

Ok. I suppose you wouldn't know unless you tried it though, so we have been fortunate.

I agree, Lanolin can really make things worse.

Aveeno is very good. Also I changed washing powde to Ariel and that helped. If you have a lot of air freshners try removing them.

Lanolin is know to aggravate eczema in a lot of people.

It's trial and error as to whether it works for you/your child.

Wow there's a lot of conflicting advice on this thread! I really think you need to see a dermatologist or paediatric skin nurse - they are fantastic. Sadly in my experience most GPs are not very good at giving decent advice about eczema. I agree with Jostones advice above.

Most importantly, you really must bath your little one every night, preferably in Dermol 600 (anti-microbial bath emollient) then use Dermol 500 to wash body (no soap or shampoo). People with eczema are very prone to skin infections and carry many more bacteria on their skin than everyone else. Infected eczema is very difficult to clear. I won't give any more advice than that as you're head is probably already spinning, just Get thee to a skin specialist! And btw, we claim DLA for my son's eczema, asthma and multiple food allergies.

Thanks everyone. I find lanolin (which is in Bepanthen cream, for example) helps my dd. But I know it's bad for other people.

I think I am way too careful with the steroid creams. It's partly because my SIL keeps telling me they are bad and they will CAUSE dd to get asthma. Which I know is rubbish but if someone keeps telling you something like that, then you start doubting your own judgement!

Steroids caused my SIL to get diabetes, but it wasn't steroid cream.

If lanolin helps your Dd, why not try the wool fat soap? cheapest I've found here

I'm the biggest fan of everything natural you'll ever meet. But I was told most people missuse steroid creams - seeing my DD looking like she had chicken pox was enough to get me to sit up and take notice of what the experts (not chemist, GP or sil! ) were saying.

I think the advice is so conflicting as there's not a one size fits all remedy. And then something that works well one week stops working the next.

You need to get a referral to a dermatologist.

We had great success with Eumovate after using Hydocortisone to no effect. We used Epaderm in the bath - dd had a cool bath every second day with lots of Epaderm.

I agree with whoever said plain water is not good - it is way too drying for dd.

DD1's eczema improved a lot from about age 3 onwards but she had a major flare up recently (age 5) We were prescribed Betnovate RD and it was amzing. It started to work after the first application although I suspect they may not prescribe it for a 2 year old - it is worth checking though.

We are now using Hydromol in the bath and finding very good.

My son was prescribed an oat based skin care range called aveeno - it worked wonders! It can also be bought in supermarkets but it's fairly pricey.

Apologies if this has been recommended already.

And just as another example of each person being individual, dd2 developed eczema as a tiny baby and still has it badly now, aged 12. You need to see a dermatologist and try to get it under control because this could be a long haul.