Ds is covered with eczma- what do I do?

[SlightlyFamiliarPeachyClair]

We know he has an intol to milk (rather casein) and he has been eating cheese lately because for some reason he has stopped eating most other things (he has HFA so it's not an unusual thing)
I changed the brand of soap which didn't help

what soap products (laundry and bath) should I be using?

Will phone Dr's later for an appointment I think. poor lad, scratching himself raw

Yes- GP is a good plan.
Why don't you go back to your usual soap if that was ok?

that wasn't any better, I meant I changed away from the one on to another to see if it would help

Boots do hypoallergenic powder.

I personally use ono-bio (usually Persil) and Comfort pure.

GP will prescribe something like oilatum for the bath which is moisturising. Diprobase cream is good too.

My dd has eczema and we control it with doublebase and use hydrocoistone cream when she has really bad flare ups but its prescirbed so docs are your best idea. have you got any aqueous cream thats quite good to moisture the cream.

Hope he's much better soon.

Hi

How old is he?
Don't use any soap in the bath. You can give them a good clean with a cream such as epaderm or if his skin's Ok with it something like e45. (epaderm makes the bath a bit slippy)

You can also use something like oilatum in teh bath to keep the water soft.

After a bath smother him in moisturiser, epaderm, aveeno, whichever you like.

If he's scratching excessively there's a chance the excema could be infected but the doctor will advise you on that. i find that a dose of piriton at night for a few nights just to break the habit is really useful.

If his excema is bad a few days of hydrocortisone will sort it out. I know it's not ideal but I think you have to weigh up what is going to cause the most damage to his skin.

poor little thing. Hope he's Ok soon.
I've never had a problem with laundry. I think it depends on the excema and experimenting a bit to see what suits you. I know if you want to be very careful you can soak his cloths in napisan and then wash without soap powder.

Slight problem in that Sam hates to be touched apartfrom when fully clothes

Oh help!

Thanks for all the ideas

Can't get appt for a week! (well tueday)

Is ther anything I can do at home or buy from the pharmacy please?

Health visitors can write perscriptions for non medicated creams.

In boots in Manchester, I once spoke to a phamacist who specialised in excema and she was really helpful - just as good as the doctors. Some are no help at all but it's worth a try.

What worked best for DS1 :

• Used No soap in the bath but products like oilatum, aveeno bath oil or emulsiderm.
• Used some hydrocortisone with bad flare up. When he has finally being referred to the exzema clinic @ hospital the nurse told me the following 'Don't worry about hydrocortisone, it will NOT affect his skin even if you use it regularly for months at the time'. DS1 actually needed stronger stuff (That's why he was refferred) but really don't be afraid of using it!
• Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise. For me the best has been the Aveeno cream (Again available on prescription if you want). I used to put some on DS1 face 6 or 7 times a day. That's the best way to put excema at bay if there is a flare up. If there isn't any flare up, carry on moisturing perhaps twice a day.
• Another advice from the nurse was to look at dust mites as a lot of children having exzema are actually allergic to dust mites. Does he have a cuddly ? Look at his bed too and the carpet if there is some in his bedroom. For us the cuddly was a big offender...
• Last one but already you know about it is dairy product. The advice that I had being given was 'He should eat dairy as long as he/you are happy with his exzema levels' ie if some cheese gives im exzema but it manageble that's OK. If traces of milk are enough to start a bad flare up, it is annoying him etc.. then remove all dairy from his diet. Please if you want to go down that route as we did with DS1, have a word with your GP as this sort of diet can affect his calcium intake.

Good luck!! This a tricky issue because GP/dermatologist don't really know what causes eczema and you will find a lot of conflicting advice (Like dairy is not a trigger for exzema). You need to go with what is working best for your child. It is a trial and error situation
Again good luck with it

SlightlyFamiliarPeachyClair, you can get aveeno cream, aveeno bath oil & emusiderm from the chemist as well as all the other moisturising creams mentioned on the thread.
You can also get some hydrocortisone over the counter if you don't say it's for your child . It's up to you to see if it is bad enough to use some on your accord or not.

You mention your ds hates being touched - one thing i've always done is when my ds is asleep, absolutely smother him in moisturising cream (he hates the feel of it) and if he need hydrocortisone cream, put that on 20 mins before.

Good luck

We try to make it really fun just after the bath (we don't put any soap in the bath any longer - nothing at all except a little olive oil) by putting vaseline on him while he is actually still in the bath so he doesn't notice - luckily its summer now so warm enough to not dry him immediately - apparently this locks the moisture in to his skin and we saw a serious improvement. We have gotten a bath suction seat - DS is now able to sit up for a while which gives us a lot of access to his back and neck - easy to distract him while one of us smears the vaseline on - he does hate it too. We are also using the hydrocortisone creams when we see a flare up. Oh yes also cut the finger and toe nails as short as possible to prevent further infection. Good luck - I do hope your baby feels better soon.

I second aveeno wonderful stuff.
My dd was covered for a while , used hydrocortisone 2 a day for a month then went down to once a day for 2 weeks (hated using so much, but we were desperate) covered her in aveeno 2 times day and used dermalo in her bath (all from doctor) we use 'sure care' to wash all our clothes and towels , and now she hardly gets it at all just a bit behind her knees, we never have to use hydrocortisone now just bath stuff and aveeno when it flares up........