eczema and washing powder?

[rabster]

ds has developed eczema - he has red scaly patches on his elbows, knees and cheeks.

he is bf, but has 1 ff per day.

The doctor gave us emmolient cream (deprobase) and hydrocortisone for it, but it doesn't make much difference though it stops the eczema becoming infected and sore. I use no bath products in his bath.

The first thing I thought might be the washitg powder I use? I use ecover non-bio.

Does anyone know a good hypoallergenic washing powder I could try to see if this makes it any better?

I use surcare

you can use the diprobase in the bath

Actually, I found that Ecover made my skin v. dry. I use Clearspring liquid which is another green brand. Soap nuts are another option.

My daughter (2.5) has eczema despite being fully breastfed to 6 months and still breastfed morning and night. It's very much in our family.

The hardness/softness of the water makes a huge difference to her skin - I'm in England at my parents house at present and the water here is lovely and soft and her skin is beautiful. Back home in Paris it is much harder and I do various things to keep her eczema at bay:

• leave her naked as often as possible (just a nappy) - this is excellent, but you need to have a warm house

• use a moisturising bath product

• massage her daily with a basic body lotion (eg Vaseline Intensive Care)

• use good quality all cotton clothes - I buy vests and pyjamas from Petit Bateau - and wash them in Ariel and then do an extra rinse cycle

how do i use diprobase in the bath? just swirl it in?

As Anna says do an extra rinse on the washing
No fabric softner is also supposed to help

You can just stick some diprobase on a flannel for the bath

Otherwise go back to GP as the HC should help
They can also prescribe stuff for the bath eg Oilatum

i just use fairy non bio on my 2.both ds have ezcema.

I use non Bio from Lidls, and that seems to be fine for us
I only use a bit of Vinegar in teh softener compartment,and no conditioner, as even the ones for sensitive skin cna make eczema worse!
There are also soapnuts that you can google for, that iliminate the use of washingpowder/conditioner completely and are meant to be brilliant.

As for Diprobase, your GP could discribe the Diprobase Emoillient Bath for your son....it's rather good! Emulsiderm Emoilient is also good...sadly Oilatum does not work for us at all, and I have heard of a lot of other people that found that it made theirs/their Kids Eczema worse. So, have come to the conclusion that it isn't as good as it amde out to be!