My son, 18 months, has had patches of eczema since he was a few months old, and before that suffered from general dry skin.
He has patches in the usual places, ankles, behind knees, wrists particularly. It has now started to appear on his face, at the corners of his mouth and around his nose. He has dry skin on his forehead that he scratches at night.
We have been to the doctors a few times, they say that there is a 50/50 chance he will grow out of it and have prescribed some creams. I know that they are busy but have offered no other advice. We use a steroid cream (Eumovate) on his joints for flare ups (I do not use it at any other time). We also have a 1% hydrocortisone for his forehead and also his eczema patches on his face. This sorted out the forehead issue straight away and is helping on the face.
We also use Oilatum in the bath, and nothing else. Have tried Balneum but didn't seem to have an effect. I use nothing else on his skin apart from some Aqueous cream.
The rather long and short of it is that I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on his treatment and if there are any particular thoughts on the creams that we are using. I know that a lot of kids have it worse and I am very grateful that he does not have a worse case. It just seems like all this stuff that I am doing simply keeps everything in a status quo rather than solving anything and I don't want to keep on putting this stuff on my child's skin. I have also read that Aqueous cream is not that good and contains SLS.
I have considered cutting out cow's milk. Is it in any way known that these sort of intolerances/allergies can be inherited? Three of my siblings and several other relatives had cow's milk intolerances as children. They have all grown out of it. Should I try it or is it not worth it?
Sorry for the ramble, wanted to give as much information as possible. Thanks!