My son's eczema

[Krussell86]

My 10 month old Son's eczema is absolutely awful. Our GP is pretty useless. We've tried so much. Cetraben, zeroderm, oilatum in the bath, we've tried washing with avino baby and with just cool/warm water and limiting bath times. The only thing which works is hydrocortisone cream but the doctor won't prescribe it again because he's had it twice. Any suggestions please? We use gentle non-bio washing powder too and have changed a couple of times. It's all over from his arms, under his chin, his entire torso is covered and there's a bit on his legs. The only parts which haven't got eczema are is face, where is nappy sits, lower legs and feet

Request to be referred to a dermatologist. Also look at allergy testing could be an allergy to something in milk if he’s had it since day 1.

Do you use anything for nappy rash? You could try that on a patch of the eczema.
DD’s dry patches calm down a lot with metanium. Other creams seem to exacerbate the itching and redness.

Agree with requesting a referral to the dermatologist.

Also GPs prescribe the cheapest creams first hoping that they'll work and some of them contain awful stuff - even aveeno isn't great. Try more natural stuff - aloe Vera, coconut oil, oat baths. Balmonds skin salvation worked wonders for dd1 and dss.
I use avene akerat and la roche posay lipikar when mines really bad but I appreciate they are ££££

My son had this. Agree, ask for dermatologist referral. We kept his eczema at bay with hydrocortisone and epaderm. Thin layer of hydrocortisone after epaderm. I applied the epaderm in a very thick layer 5 or 6 times a day. Only thing that worked. I also got him silky mit things to stop him scratching at night- I think they were called scratch sleeves. Also, limit bathing I was told.
At 6 unfortunately he still has it but not quite as bad- backs of knees and inside elbows now etc

We went private after the dismal response from the GP. It wasn't cheap but she sorted in out in less than a week. The drugs were £60 and then the gp went with them and we have a supply.

Also try antihistamine if you can find the right dosage

My dd suffered terribly for a few years, the thing that broke it was not suing any washing powder or softener at all. I did use soap nuts sometimes, but mostly just washed in water at 60. It was a real game changer. Dermol 500 to wash with and as a moisturise, just a day out using regular hand soap is enough to have her hands bleeding by the evening so we carry some everywhere. It also has an anti itch in which is really important for my dd. You can get it on prescription but I've been buying it online during lockdown.

Burt's Bees stuff worked wonders for both me and my baby son when our eczema was bad.

You have my sympathies, my DS was covered on his face and made it bleed every night when he was eight months old. He is now nearly five and has a lot of allergies, particularly a milk allergy that he carries epi pens for. This is how we got on top of it. I took milk out my diet while I was breastfeeding him. We used dermol 500 to wash with and then smothered him multiple times a day in diprobase. Once the bleeding had stopped we used hydrocortisone cream. We never stopped smothering him in diprobase and when he got older and we were on top of it we switched to aveeno. Everyone told me it would pass and at the time I couldn't see it, but it does and you will get on top of it. Best of luck.

Wash him in cornstarch and water, don't rely on your GPs they're useless.

Recently got back from a private GP appointment after the local GP were useless

The advice I was given is that you can use the steroid cream for a long as possible intermittently, there really is no time limit.

Use it to get the eczema under control
Use again as soon as eczema flares up

Eventually steroid creams thin the skin, so long term use is not good. I’m a lifelong eczema sufferer and in my experience GP’s are poor at managing bad outbreaks, but don’t recognise this. I would insist on a referral to a dermatologist or pay to go private if necessary and if you are able.

I used goats milk soap and cream on my daughter several years ago. It worked wonders.

Forget about clothes detergent. We use a laundry egg. I've had eczema since I was born and am currently in light therapy after 10 years of steroids.

One thing to note - there is no cure for eczema. Kids usually lose it by adulthood but if not it's likely to be life long. Stop expecting miracles.

Another - sadly as baby is so young he can't have most of the treatments because they have major side effects on growth. Trust me you'd rather keep the eczema.

Push for a referral to a dermatologist. You have to really force the doctors hand because they're loathe to do it. Also GPs don't know shit about eczema.

Make sure he's wearing cotton clothes. NO soap in the bath. Emollient four times a day. Cut out dairy for 6 weeks to see if it improves. Stop using any harsh cleaners in your home and go natural.

Good luck. Eczema is a bitch.

Oh and you can buy weak hydrocortisone over the counter. Just check it's suitable for his age. Zeroderm is also good for stubborn eczema. It's gross and oily but good.

I can empathise. My middle child had horrific eczema as a baby. When we were out people would sometimes peek inside the pram to look at him as they do, and then physically recoil. It was awful. Our lives were one long round of applying creams and bandages and he was miserable all the time too. We did see a dermatologist who helped somewhat - short bursts of stronger steroid cream was definitely more effective than longer term use of the very weak hydrocortisone which is all the GP would give us. I also found that regularly changing the emollient I was using seemed to help. The dermatologist looked at me like I was mad when I mentioned this but it definitely worked for us, and I have since come across several other people who have found the same.
But then this was the same dermatologist who told me quite aggressively that food allergies do not cause eczema when I mentioned that I had a dairy allergy as a child and wondered if DS did too. However, when DS started weaning and so was receiving dairy directly rather than just via my milk, not only did his eczema get about a billion times worse, but he was admitted to hospital due to blood in his stools and severe wheezing - classic signs of CMPA. Within about 3 weeks on a dairy free diet his skin was almost completely clear. By 3 months we were down to rarely even needing an emollient and he never needed steroids again.
I realise our experience is probably extreme, but I am still angry, many years later, that the first 7 or 8 months of my child's life were so truly miserable when it could have been avoided. And I think I knew all along but I trusted the experts, so I am cross with myself too. When my next child started with eczema as a baby I went dairy free immediately- I didn't bother getting anyone else's opinion. I would consider trying it in your shoes. If it doesn't help after a few weeks you can reintroduce dairy and you are no worse off but you may be like us and find a huge difference. Long term, a dairy free diet is a bit of a nuisance and you should probably get advice from a dietician to ensure your baby gets everything needed, but you soon get used to it, and if it does help it is worth it.

YY to regularly changing what moisturer you use. I find that everything has a shelf life and eventually my skin will get irritated with whatever was a miracle cream at first.

My biggest tip is not to rely on what GPS will prescribe. Heavy duty emollients were always the worst thing for me so I had to find alternatives myself. I even had a GP refuse to refer me to Dermatology because I wasn't using the Diprobase prescribed because it made it so much worse.