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......

wow, I've stumbled on a whole new world.... I never had a clue about any of this stuff. thejelly, forgive my ignorance, but what is bad about mineral oil? Ginger, how do I get this burtsbees stuff?

They sell it in some debenhams and big dept stores but I get mine off the interweb, it's easier! Just google burts bees and loads of websites come up. I'll do a link....hang on while I figure it out! (still not very good at this!)

here you go! I use this website. Unfortunately it seems the stuff that is kinder to our LOs skin is usually more expensive, but the essential care brand on this website is really reasonable. I like burts bees though, it doesn't irritate my skin or my DS or my nephew's either and when you find something like that you are best to stick with it! But, like I said further down the thread, just a bit of natural oil, like olive or almond in the bath would work as well. You only need a tiny bit and swirl it round really well. And another thing, with a little baby you should avoid bathing them as much as you can - a wipe here and there will do. DS was bathed once every other week up until he could crawl and I really think his skin is better than DD's because of it.

Mineral oil is a bit of a personal bug-bear of mine - it triggered horrible prickly heat on my arm years ago and it still flares up from time to time. After I cut it out of DS1's skincare - (together with other things so not 100% it's a trigger for him), his eczema cleared up completely. Agree with Gingermonkey, keeping well moisturised is really important.

Hi, my ds had eczema when he was a baby (I cringe when i look at the pictures). He ended up being intolerant to dairy - he was bf, but my dairy consumption was irritating his poor baby skin) I eventually took him to a homeopath and it cleared up. He can now tolerate dairy, but i still have to watch how much he gets. BTW, we didn't know he was sensitive to dairy until i gave him some Babyorganix cereal that had a tiny bit of dairy in the ingredients -you could see it going down, as he broke out in hives going down his throat. Anyways- we got him sorted when he was about 18 months. I wish we would have gotten it done sooner.

I would recommend homoeopathy. Two of my dcs have had very successful homoeopathic treatment for eczema. Let me know if you'd like more info about it or how to find a good homoeopath.

DS had extreme eczema as a baby for about 18mths. Hospitalised once with it. Anyway I tried everything (homeopathy, Chinese herbal, diet, wet wrapping and steroids)and there are a few certainties:

-what works for one will not necessarily work for another. For us personally we found water a real irritant so avoided bathing as much as possible.

• Docs know bugger all about it.

• Steroids do work so don't be afraid of them but don't over use either.

What made a difference for us:

• Avoid water

• Tea tree oil when infected and for wet eczema.

• Identifying his allergens at age 1.

Good luck it is much under rated condition.

Its all coming back!!! I never used anything in the bath, I still don't use much with him as he has a low tolerance. Also used ecover and double rinsed everything

Got to agree with water being an irritant - as it dries on your skin it takes extra moisture with it so it dries your skin out and that makes the eczema worse. Homeopathy didn't work for me either, but I know people it has worked for. I think the diet thing is key. Try cutting out a food type/group for a month at a time, starting with dairy because I think most people on here will agree that dairy flares their eczema or their DCs eczema up. The only thing that works with my eczema is avoiding dairy completely, and avoiding the irritants. I have a flare up at the minute but I have been drinking too many sneaky lattes so I only have myself to blame! You are lucky that your LO is so small - you don't need to bath her, you can control what she eats (by avoiding things yourself)and is too young to scratch too badly. I would use a natural oil to moisturise her, and to wash her like I mentioned before and try cutting dairy out of your diet. But it does take a while to clear up, you are looking at a couple of months really - but summer is here so the dry weather helps.

forgot to mention I react to ecover, think it has milk in or a milk protein. Those eco ball things are great - my friend uses them and swears they are the most amazing invention ever (and when you work out how much you save on washing powder in a year they are really cheap!). I still haven't got round to using them - but I will, eventually!

I am being educated today!! Thanks so much for all this. It seems like a complete minefield. I started using diprobase on her face, which has cleared it up a bit, but now it is spreading down her body. Thanks for the link, GM, I will check it out today, and dros, thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it, but am in Germany, so I am not sure I will be able to find one that I can talk to. do the ecoballs really clean clothes? even baby poo stains and stuff?

apparently so. Although my friend says she sometimes uses a bit of bleach or a stain remover and soaks it first, rinses it and then washes the clothes with the eco balls.

M was five years old when he developed eczema all over his arms, body and neck. Homeopathy did not work. Wet wraps and Diprobase were soothing but didn't cure it.

One spring holiday M swam in a sea salt water pool, immediately after his swim, his eczema exploded. His skin was inflamed and looked very sore and red. But from that day, the excema gradually subsided. By the end of the holiday it had gone.

Two weeks later, back at school, the excema started to return. M was not happy in his school and I think stress was a contributing factor.

When he changed schools the eczema didn't return. Occassionaly a little patch will appear in the crease of his elbow and he has a sea salt bath and this does the trick.

I think that his eczema was not only dry skin, but infected in some way and that the sea salt cleared the infection and allowed the skin to repair. I think it also helped being in the sun and not having to wear any clothes.

He had colic when he was a baby and I had candida. I am convinced that there is a link between these and also excema. A gluten free diet would have helped I'm sure.

calendula cream takes away the itch
aloe vera is wonderful cure-all for the skin. You can buy pure aloe vera in a tube or best buy the plant and use this (cut a leaf and squeeze it out).
in children trips to the seaside often clear up eczema - it did for me as a child.
I always got it at christmas time - worked out because of the tangerines I was eating, different for everyone.

I think my homoeopath may know some in Germany. I can ask him if you like

olliebird, that's really interesting about the seaside. I wonder if it's the salt water...or seaweed?

Hi- my ds has a red spotty rash on his face at 5 weeks- the hv said it was dry skin and prescribed epaderm. This didn't help and e45 made it worse- tried aveeno and it cleared up in 2 days. He now has peachy, baby soft skin.

Sorry that should have read had a red spotty rash...!

Diprobase and Epaderm are moisturisers and in my experience only work for dry eczema. Wet weeping eczema is more difficult to treat.

They also contain petrochemicals which some people can be sensitive to. Any good mosituriser will do the job. I would look for a good simple one that does no have any Nut Oils (quite hard to find as Almond Oil is a very popular ingredient) or seasame seed oil (most don't but some Body shop ones do). I am alwyas trying new ones as I get in on my hands but as yet none has jumped out at me as being a wonder cream. Several are very nice.

yes please tooticky if you don't mind - that would be great. I wonder if the seaside is also the ozone in the air? (wow, that's taken me 5 goes to type, I've had a glass of wine and it's gone to my fingers.....)

BBBT, I have spoken to my homoeopath. Unfortunately the very good one he knew of in Germany is no longer practising. There may well be others, but not everybody who describes themself as a Classical homoeopath actually follows the correct methods. He could definitely recommend some in France and Italy, but unless you are near a border/travel regularly that is no help. He is asking around and I will let you know if there is good news.

TooTicky, thank you so much for taking the trouble to do this. You are a star!

Can't promise anything though. If necessary, I can give you some advice on how to find the right sort of homoeopath - what sort of questions to ask, etc.

would just add that whatever creams you get, spot-test them for reactions on your dc before slathering all over. we had to take ds to hospital this week after he had an awful reaction to Allergenics cream (which is supposed to be 100% natural and non-reactive).

try here - organic baby clothes and skin care I switched to organic and also started to use ecover and it made a definate difference to my dd's skin.