Baby Eczema

[PuddingPie16]

Hi lovely people,

My DS is 5 weeks old and has Eczema. I took him to the walk in centre last Saturday and the Doctor diagnosed him with Eczema. The Doctor prescribed Ultra Base (moisturiser for the dry skin) and Hydrocortisone (1% steroid cream) and within 2 days he had immaculate skin.

Baby has had great skin this week but broke out again yesterday and so we are back to square one and having to result to the hydro again to fix it. However, I do not want this to be a fix for him constantly due to it being a steroid and its strength!

My question is..Eczema is usually caused by an allergy (so I am informed) and he only has it on his face, neck and arms so my thinking is it is diet related? I mentioned CMPA to the Doctor and he stuck his nose up and said this was the latest 'fad' and people are too quick to assume this when a baby gets Eczema. Little one also has no other symptoms and is generally a happy baby. He is both BF and FF (Cow and Gate - standard formula) and he will be fully FF within the next week or so.

Does anyone have any experience of managing baby Eczema please? Would you recommend seeing how he gets on with just formula for a couple of weeks? (in case he is allergic to something in my diet - none milk related) or perhaps when he is fully FF, try him on a comfort milk? (Which I have very minimal knowledge of so any information please would be greatly appreciated!).

Thanks everyone!

Sorry, just to make it clear...I meant when he is fully FF just see how he gets on for a couple of weeks with his current formula or try a comfort formula!

Also to add that he has only gone onto formula this week and Eczema began when he was just BF

Anybody please?

Hi I don't know if this is helpful but my DD had eczema that was due to milk allergy.
It wasn't exactly the same scenario as your little one.
She had bad reflux/colic for the first 6 months (fully breastfed, me eating dairy)
Then just before I started her on solids, bad exzema on chest, back, legs and arms. Not face.
I feel for you because at the time I hated seeing her suffer and I was actually hoping she was allergic to dairy as then I could do something about it.
I cut out dairy at suggestion of gp and within 5 days symptoms had gone down.
It's worth saying though that after about 2 weeks, slathering on emollient 4 times a day I also saw an improvement.
If you can't see much difference with the emollient you've prescribed you could ask for a different one. We ended up on cetreben.
When I got to the allergy clinic the dr said not to be too afraid of using hydrocortisone 1% for occasional flare ups, she said it is quite safe and diluted and fine as long as not using mega often, so that's what I do!
If the eczema is not due to an allergy it's tough because I believe they just have to grow out of it but the emollient does make a difference I found.
Hope helpful xxx

Are you moisturising everyday? Even when you've stopped using the steroid you need to moisturise everyday to keep the skin from drying out and the eczema coming back.
My daughter had eczema from 19 weeks from head to toe. It's only now at the age of 3 that we can let up on moisturising and now I tend to only put it on after a bath or on any dry patches.

YY to using the emollient. A few times a day if necessary. The right emollient can prevent eczema flaring up if you're lucky.
I wouldn't start worrying about diet unless you see reactions to specific things as you wean.
Don't bathe him too often. Avoid soaps and scented moisturisers. Cotton next to skin. Don't have house too hot. (Central heating plays havoc with my skin!) Watch what you wash clothes in. An extra rinse can help.

It's always best to keep using the emollients all the time to keep the eczema under control then use the steroid creams to manage flare-ups.

There are lots of possible triggers for the eczema and you may be able to identify your baby's with some detective work.

For my DDs it was perfumes in washing liquid/powder and baby bath.

Eczema is a dry skin condition and we found that using plain water for bathing helped.

Also switching to fragrance-free washing powder. It takes a while for this to help because you have to have washed all their clothing/bedding before they benefit from it.

We found that egg was a trigger for DD1 but she grew out of that.

Try not to cut out too many things at once or you won't be able to identify which one helped.

Thank you everyone for your responses!

Yes I am using the cream everyday and quite often. I do find it calms it and really helps the dry skin and am just using the steroid cream when he has flare ups.

I have yet to pinpoint what he may be allergic to but will monitor him more closely during flare ups to see if I can identify what may be setting him off.

Strangely enough Wolfiefan, my house is quite warm (new house so well insulated without heating!) and my brother suggested a dehumidifier to see if this helps his skin! So will look into that.

Due to it being on his face and back of neck, I feel like it is something external that he is coming into contact with and not diet but like you have all said, gradual detective work is required!

Thanks again

And although the steroids should be used sparingly you can slather on the emollient!

My ds had similar and we worked out it was a contact allergy to wool, do you wear wool? do you lie him on wool carpets?

I sat in on an eczema clinic this week for experience, and the specialist had pretty much the same advice for everyone.

1. Emollient four times a day - people have a preference for different ones so worth trying out a few
2. Avoid anything perfumed
3. Two days of steroid cream a week is considered low risk and if you start using the steroid when you notice a flare up, then two days is all you need
4. Eczema is a chronic disease so flare ups will occur despite all your efforts
5. Food allergies are a less likely to cause eczema. They tend to cause stomach problems in babies rather than eczema symptoms BUT she did mention that rashes on face are more likely to be allergies than rashes elsewhere. She also said that they take weeks to clear up completely after removing the allergen but that improvement would be seen before that. You should not change to dairy free formula (or a dairy free diet if you are BF) before seeing a dermatologist

I will try and remember what else she said (my notes are in work). Good luck!

Hi PuddingPie16 this thread is a few months old so I was wondering how your DS is doing now?

My dd developed eczema at 8 weeks and is still chronic at 4.5 and has very thin skin as a result of steroids.

Not sure if gp cam prescribe or if it needs to be a dermatologist but we are currently using protropic, it does the same job as the steroids but without being a steroid and altho slower to work is helping massively.

Also milk is a huge trigger, your GP is an idiot. It is usually the first thing they expect you to cut out! Dd isn't cmp allergic but does suffer lactose intolerance and soya is also a trigger (great fun for us!)

Look at what washing detergent you are using, fairy is the only one we can use! Make sure you out his stuff in separate to anyone else's, rinse after to ensure all traces are gone.

What bath stuff are you using? You should be able to use the emollient as a soap substitute and for washing hair.

However as a side point if it is isolated to his face and neck it could be environmental. Look at what deodorant, soap, perfume etc you or anyone else regularly near him are using as that could be the cause.

Aveeno is the only thing that sorts my dd’s eczema. You can get it on prescription. We tried doublebase and steroids plus a number of other creams I can no longer remember the name of.

DS's eczema was due to CMPA although he also had a lot of other symptoms such as bad reflux, terrible nappies & wind, stomach pain etc... his eczema was all over but red raw on his face.

He is dairy free now but we still use an emollient as he has a tendency to break out in patches if he has too much soya. We went through a lot of creams but doublebase and zerobase seem to be the ones that work best. Hydrocortisone only in rare cases of bad flare ups.

I echo what others have said about not bathing too often, emollient 4 x a day in bad flare ups, we still moisturise before bed to lock in the moisture. Fairy non bio is the only powder we can use. It's a game of fine tuning to see what works for you.

UghFletcher and wheresthel1ght I completely agree food sensitivities are often a trigger and often dismissed by doctors. I ebf and can see the reaction in my 12 week old DS’s skin (and reflux m) within hours. It’s defintely not a coincidence as doctors try to fob off. I’ve cut out eggs and his eczema has improved hugely. I’ve figured out there are other foods he’s sensitive to (cow’s milk products and almonds) from the pattern of his reactions but none are as bad as eggs. The downside is I’m on a boring restricted diet and taking calcium to compensate for cutting dairy, and I miss eggs. It’s worth it not to see him all red sore and itchy. I still bathe him with zeroderm ointment from the GP and put it on dry bits in case, but it’s nothing like th mess his skin was in before. It’s better to get to the root cause if you can.

My sons eczema was due to milk allergy, but he was also allergic to the cream prescribed which was diprobase!

Oilatum works for us.