Eczema - steriods or alternative therapy or both

[sallymac]

My 6 month old DS has a bit of eczema which is very sad as bath time is no fun anymore and is more about scratch prevention than playing.

We have been to GP and are using emollients and have used 1% HC cream which clears it up beautifully and then it comes back a few days after you stop.

There is a lot of chat about food or environmental factors causing eczema which the GP is fairly dismissive of.

I'd like to know what people's experience of both approaches has been. Have people managed to get rid of this totally by changing somethign in thier baby's life or are steriod creams and crossing my fingers that he will grow out of it the only option

thanks

I am in exactly the same situation as you so will watch with interest!

i have just written a long post about this on the other eczema thread-have a look.

I couldn't find the other eczema thread, but just wanted to say that IME eczema is often diet-related, but most GPs are fairly dismissive about the idea. I have suffered from eczema all my life and what finally "cured" me was going on an acid-free diet. Let me know Sallymac if you want more details.

Babies do "grow out of it", at least to a certain extent, but in the mean time it might be worth trying a dietary cure.

Because eczema is not life-threatening, I always got the impression that GPs were not very interested in it.

Hi,
My daughter has had eczema since she was a baby. She is now 10.
All I can say is that diet does help. Try pure foods and foods without colourings. I am certain that this helped her (we were part of an article a couple of years back for the Daily Mail).

Also: I have found that THE BODY SHOPS HEMP CREAM has been a saviour for sore skin. It goes on without any irritation.

There is also a Swiss formula of Tea Tree Cream (cannot for the life of me think of the name today). This has also proved to be better than any steriod cream.

Years of steriod creams have caused thinning/fading of her skin.

Hope this helps.

I totally agree with tuttifrutti about it being diet related and the health professionals are failing to recognise this. Mine went (along with my asthma) when I cut down on wheat and dairy.

Steroids just cover up the problem and move it along. Something wants to get out of your ds and it's doing so through the skin. I would try dietary measures and see a homeopath.

I would second that the body shop hemp cream is great!

I'm also using pure Shea Butter on DS instead of his usual emmolients. It works as well as them, if not better (still to see how things are long term), and it doesn't seem to sting or itch him when it goes on. I buy it from akamuti.com

I have had eczema since I was 4 and Dd has developed patches on her elbows and knees - have had to resort to 0.5% steroid cream.

Bear in mind when using Hemp cream that it has lanolin in it and alot of people with eczema are allergic to it. It made my skin red raw.

I find Aveeno bath and cream/lotion help keep the skin moist - based on oatmeal I think.

Hope this helps

Zapping with steroid creams and growing out of it worked for me. Nothing else did. I think experimenting with other creams and diet is fine to try and prevent recurrences but eczema can be so sore that I'd definitely use steroids to clear it up in the short term unless it is very mild.

Another vote for Body shop Hemp cream here, the usual emollients on prescription aren't strong enough for my excema.

Scummymummy...I wish I would grow out of it have had it for 30years now.

when ds saw a dermatologist for his skin problems we were advised to use the steroid creams but not to stop too suddenly. Once the ezcema has gone cut back to once a day then every 2 days etc. It really helps to stop the recurrences.