How to stop 13 wk old from scratching face overnight

[Blyton]

Does anyone have any suggestions? My baby keeps on scratching his face with his mitts overnight (half the time, i don't think he actually knows he's doing it). Recently, he managed to scratch 1 cheek open, whilst the other is red raw and it's only a matter of time before that one opens up as well and i'm worried he might get an infection at some stage. He's got very dry skin on his face as a result. During the day it's fine, and his skin calms down as i apply creams to alleviate the dryness but come nightfall, it starts all over again which is very frustrating. I've tried putting his arms in his babygro/grobag so he doesn't scratch his face with his mitts but his arms still manage to find their way out and come morning his face is red raw dry, sometimes weeping from where he's scratched it alot. I don't think his face is itchy, just think he does it cos he's not fully aware of what he's doing.

is he trying to get the mitts off? have you tried him sleeping with no mitts on?

I have some babygro's/sleepsuits from Matalan (unfortunately pink!) and they have a little cuff on the end of each arm which folds over their hand like a little mitt but they can't pull it or knock it off to scratch.... might be worth having a look for some fir him?

next also do the sleepsuits with the foldover cuffs.

Have you tried tucking the mits over his babygro's? i do this with my ds.

Might sound daft, but have you cut his nails???
Sometimes scratch mittens come off far to easily.
This sounds mad, but my sister in law used to put baby socks on her kids hands as they're longer and better elasticated.

what are you using on his face to releive the itching?

it wasn't till my dd was over 5 months that i got control of her eczema. i successfully swaddled her till she was 8 months and that kept her from scratching.

the key to swaddling them to keep the swaddle from opening is to swaddled with their elbows straight. ie. arms by their side.

Is he actually itchy or is he just catching his face as he moves his arms? DS used to do this alot.

We tried:

Cutting his nails & filing the corners (they were really sharp)
Pyjamas with sleeves to long so thgey covered his hands
Socks on hands. Worked better than mittens!

Good luck

Really thick emulsifying ointment on the cheeks - so that ds has to get through that first before he starts damaging himself.

If you can get your GP to prescribe a cream with some lpc added that will stop the itching a little, and some glycerine which will hold in water, thus making the skin harder to damage. We still coat ds with this before bed every night and his skin is so strong now that if he trips over, he doesn't graze.

Keeping a teddy in the freezer and giving it him to cuddle at night will give him something to do with his hands and will be soothing on his skin. He's probably a little young for this tip yet, but it's worth trying it later on.

is he formula or breastfed?
if formula could be a reaction to the formula.

Am not sure whether his face is actually itchy as he doesn't rub/scratch it much during the day. Am thinking, per mamama, that he catches his face when he moves his arms or that he's trying to get his mitts off. He's currently being ff fed but am thinking it's not to do with this though could be wrong. Am using SOS Rescue cream on his dry skin and it seems to moisturise it, including the scaly dry bits on his body, the packaging also claims to help relieve associated itchiness not sure if it does or not. Have been using HC 0.5% on the inflamed parts of his face to help calm it down.

Wethreekings - do you have the name of the ointment you used ?

blyton i think emulsifiying ointment isnt that hard to get in the chemist, its usually non branded.
my local one is emulave but there are others.

look into the formula thing, it maybe be a wild goose chase but i breast feed my dd til 6mths and then formula she scratched her forehead religiously at night and i eventually located it to being the formula. went on to to nanny formula instead til 1yr. had her at nutrionists etc and surmised too it was the formula.

hth

The emulsifying ointment is called "emusifying ointment". You have to tell the GP or chemist as they keep it in enormous jars somewhere it won't stop the overpriced branded stuff from selling.

We always used Gap socks (the three fold type), then when DS was about 5m old the dermatologist told us not to use gloves as this would only stress them further and make eczema worse as a result. His advice was to ensure he had very short nails and not to fuss about the eczema infront of him. He said that eczema is a condition that children have and parents suffer, but it is important to keep the baby reasured that things are under control so no "poor baby" allowed.

Now, by then DS was so attached to his socks that he went ballistic without them (in practice, they are a sustitute dummy), almost 4 years son my darling little son still can't sleep without wearing at least one even when the eczema is well under control since years ago. And believe me getting rid of the sock is harder than getting rid of a dummy, the moment I look the other way he removes a sock from his feet and puts him on his hand!

Now, if you want to skip the queu of endless emollient try outs, get Aveeno Lotion (available from Boots) most children react very well to it, and its effective in even severe cases, however being oat based the formula is mild enough not to sting when applying to broken skin.

As for the formula feeding... I would try the emollients first, unfortunately there is not a massive difference between formulas, and if your child is really sensitive to cows milk formula he will be to goats formula too.

that "really" at the end was meant to be a "very"

What about swaddling in a miracle blanket or swaddleme to keep his hands away from his face?

I know he is still quite young but it is worth getting a cataloge from Cotton Comforts. My daughter has had eczema all over at times and their clothes have helped her more than anything. The website is www.eczemaclothing.com I reccomend ordering the book online. Its easier to browse through and free. May be hard to get small sizes but worth a look. They do tops with enclosed arms, leggings with feet for children with sore ankles ect. Hope you find something.

we used to put the scratchmitts on loosely (make sure they are not too small as this annoys them!) and then tape the top of the scratchmitts to the wrist of the babygro.
it was very effective!

I found scratch mitts came off so just made sure that nails were always kept short.

my sister sewed scratch mits onto all her dd's sleepsuits, and then used straps (like watch straps, to keep her writsts 'done up'! It was the only thing she couldn't escape from.

ds used to itch his face when he was sleepy/asleep. I put socks on his hands, but your post says your ds is scratching with his mitts on and still causing damage, so I'd get up to a chemist and ask for a cream for itchy baby faces to try to soothe the itchiness that must result from rubbing them like this ( even if the cause isn't an itch, it is the effect...)

try www.elenascollection.co.uk tel 01435 882092 - it has worked wonders for my little one - turned our lives around. We have managed to get it on perscription as it is really expensive - it was a real battle with docs though.

Have a look at www.allergybestbuys.co.uk under the eczema section, they have tops with enclosed hands.