PLEASE ADVISE ON ECZEMA IN 2 MONTH OLD

[BaffledByBabyTights]

DD had what I thought was infant acne, which had been around for a few weeks (she is 8 weeks today), but HV said she thought it was Infant Acne. Doc prescribed aqueous cream which has made it red and the spots seems to have joined together into big blotches (or one big face sized blotch). I have been digging through the archives here and wanted to ask if this could be making it worse? Is aveeno available over the counter? Mners seem to have nothing but good to say about it. She is BFed, and I wondered if anything I was eating could be making it worse. Is it true that wine and tomatoes make it worse? There is no history of eczema in either side of the family and my sons don't have it. I may have to change my nickname to BaffledByEczema......

Sorry, I meant to type HV thought it was Infant Eczema.

You can buy aveeno over the counter and can probably get it on prescription (seems to depend on area you live in).

Dd2 was born with strange spotty skin which progressively got worse. There are all sorts of different emollients you can try on prescription to find one that doesn't irritate your dd's skin.

Infant eczema also known as seborrhoeic (sp?).

bumping please

Hi - DS had a 'birth mark' on his forhead which developed eczema by about 6 weeks. It got infected by 3 months and we ended up doing lots of yucky antibiotics. Finally what helped us was emulsifying ointment - which isnt oil based - and available over the counter. Our great consultant gave us tacralimus cream and eucerin cream. DS was over a year by then though. A friend also had problems which turned out to be dairy and wheat allergies. They go through the milk apparently so you could try comming off them and see what happens.

had same with my dd, what worked for her was me giving up dairy (she was bf) and SOS rescue cream from Green Baby she still has it a year on and skin has changed from raw to peach like -

hope you find something that helps your little one

mine suffer from dairy, eggs, wheat, fish allergies but still have eczema and asthma. try googling "atopic march". Creams include unguentum M, diprobase and epaderm. Sometimes you vary depending on weather, time of day etc.

I guess you know that you shouldn't use scented soaps. Instead unguentum M, diprobase or aqueous cream for baths.

Dust mites are a major allergen. We now have very little carpet in the house. Mostly wooden and tiled floors.

we also like epaderm here

If you are breast-feeding try a bit of breast milk on the sore patches and let it dry on - obviously discontinue if it makes it worse, but I've found it really helps the healing.

You may be already doing this, but I would stop using all products in the bath. Don't bathe in water that is too warm and see if you can get some Oilatum/Balneum. You can get it on prescription but if time is of the essence you can buy at a chemist. Also bathe you little one as little as necessary.

DS is nearly 2 and has had some exzema from birth. Using soap and shampoo in the bath made it the worst it has ever been.

Don't let the doctor fob you off. I went about three times and had to see someone else before I got prescriptions for a steroid, hydrocortisone and the bath stuff. All I could get before then was some aqueous cream and a vague promise that "he'll probably grow out of it".

We have gone down the cutting cow's milk out and I have to say it has worked a treat. We now are down to using the steroids once a week if that, whereas we were using them every day.

Re bathing, we found that a bath every day with bath stuff in and creams right after really helped.

You need to play about a bit and see what's best for your dd.

Fan of Epaderm and Oilatum here too. We were advised to bathe only every few days as water is drying to the skin.
One LO we cared for had eczema so badly on his forhead and cheeks that we had to wet-wrap him for weeks.

Just wanted to add: Keep nails short! The eczema does irritate and scratching will make it worse. I still have to cut DS nails every night otherwise he scratches himself to bits sometimes.

Baby eczema and acne can be easily confused! My DD got acne at about 5 weeks and I thought, given that it stopped at her neckline, that she had taken an allergic reaction. It then looked very dry so whilst I was in at the dermatologist for myself, I asked them to have a sneaky look. They agreed that it was eczema brought on by an allergic reaction and advised using a general emollient (I quite like the oilatum kiddie cream on her). Anyway, cream made it worse and after a few days I started to suspect acne again! After some advice on here and being at my wits end, I left it be. Washed it with plain water, infrequently, and didn't put anything on it. I found that it didn't worsen. And a couple of weeks later it cleared in a matter of days. So it is likely that it was acne afterall!

Sorry, probably not much help...

thanks everyone. I had given up and gone to bed last night, so it was a nice surprise to log on tonight and find so much help. I googled last night and as a result tried putting muslins on top of her sheets (which were brushed cotton as I thought they were snuggly, but then I wondered if they were making her itch and they were as she is visibly better as a result). I guess that explains why she slept much better in my arms as her face was on my arm. I saw something else which suggested putting oats in a muslin bag in the bath - has anyone tried this? Can you use bog standard oats? Kerrymum thanks for your reply - I appreciate your tips, but am a bit confused as to what the 'w' stands for?

we use dream cream by lush,it works for us!

's quite allright kerrymum, sometimes I don't know who I am and I live with me.....

We de-chlorinte the DDs bathwater with a crystal ball thing bought from allergybestbuys and wash all their clothes etc with ecoballs instead of detergent. DD2 8 mo will get patches on the inside of her forearms within seconds of having them washed under the tap. We dont use any soap on DD2 3.8 yo, just Weleda camomile cream bath. DD1 has mostly grown out of the eczema now but still has very dry skin, i use very little soap on her. I get tired of constantly having to put moisturiser on them....

Bog standard porridge oats in a sock have worked wonders for us! A combination of washing clothes in ecover and double rinsing, avoiding petroleum/mineral oil-based products and anything containing sodium laurel/lareth sulphate, plus regular baths using vegetable oil-based products and moisturising regularly - again using vegetable oil-based products and eczema is (touch wood) a thing of the past though my DSs (3 and 1) still get scaly dry patches...

I used oilatum on DS but it made him really sore (does me too actually) so I tried Burts Baby Bees bath oil and his skin is lovely now - hasn't had a flare up for nealry 6 mths. My nephew is the same, and it's working on him too. But got to second the porridge oats in a sock (or a pair of tights, they are easy to tie round the taps so the water runs through the oats easier). It's a strange cure but it really does work....somehow

Oilatum - mineral oil = the devil's own work! Weleda all the way...

I have used just a bit of olive oil in the bath too when I've run out of burts bees and that was a bit smelly but made him lovely and greasy!

I consulted a friend of mine whose son had bad excema, for advice about my nephew, who was complaining that the aqueous cream stung, (although I use it a substitute for soap when my own excema is bad to good effect). She highlighted the oats in a sock thing - she said you can re-use it a couple of times too, but after too many times it goes slimy and stinky. She also recommended calendula cream. Good luck!