Eczema newbie - can I survey your thoughts?

[NoviceKnitter]

Hi there, DD is 5 months and a small patch of red and dry skin on her temple has now spread to the front of her scalp where her cradle cap was (the cc has recently cleared up thanks to shea nut butter.) I'm fairly sure the new patch is eczema, as she's now started scratching and the skin is scaly and broken. The onset of winter seems to have been a trigger.

I've just spent an hour searching old MN posts - incredibly useful but a bit of a minefield in terms of all the creams etc out there. So thought it might be useful to do a simple survey of what's worked for you - for me and other new mums like me?

We've moved on from olive oil and shea nut butter to (today) calendula oil, oats in the bath and dead sea salts. I've also been prescribed oilatum junior for the bath and Cetraben cream.

I know it's different for every child, but which of these have worked for you what would you try next?

The shortlist (or long list) seems to be:

Aveeno Cream
SK Cream
Dream Cream from Lush
Adermo Exomega Cream
Calendula cream (not oil?)
Epaderm
Dermal 500

Am fully breastfeeding - anything I should do dietwise?

Thanks in advance for any help

BTW there was an article published in Gut journal at the end of 2006 which had a model for autoimmune conditions being triggered by leaky gut. Wouldn't surprise me at all if eczema was triggered in a similar way in many cases (which could explain why probiotics and elimination diets help in some cases)

I'm sure that central heating makes DS's eczema worse - it's always more problematic in the winter. As for bathing, I simply can't countenance not bathing a child every day (just one of my OCD things and I do know that it's not actually essential) so we always use an emollient. I'm glad to hear that at least some dermatologists would be in favour of my fanatical bathing!

Definitely Bluestocking - I'm seeing one of the top dermatologists (I think!) who said that frequent bathing was quite important.

since Saturday, I have switched off the central heating and my eczema, which was raw and itchy 24/7 has now subsided into flaky skin that doesn't itch nearly as much.

I'm bloomin' cold though!!!

hi
i'm new to this thread but am in same position. 9mth old had small eczema patches from 3mths and slowly came, went, came again in other places. now getting quite bad and spreading across back.
His ears really bother him and when tired or hungry especially. anyone else found this? has patches around his ears and wonder if that's why but he seems to want to itch inside his ears, hence they get cut, bleed, scab over (get itchy i guess). been told to come off dairy both of us as am BF , been doing a week but made no difference, personally i don't think he's dairy allergic. would love to get him tested. also this bath thing has confused me! i thought with eczema you shouldn't bath too much as it dries out the skin which can make itching worse. hard to know also if the oilatum irritates it or not, or if it's his diet??? i find the itching on his head and ears quite stressful as i'm always having to watch him and tricky with two other little one's around too. use epaderm and aveeno cream as both recommended by friends but doctor tbh wasn't much help so he's referred me to eczema clicnic. HELP!

gsack, from all my reading it seems that it's trial and error in each case, which doesn't make it easy. I'm now doing a random mix of calendula oil, calendula cream, Cetraben and olive oil. So far no better but no worse either. Sometimes seems a bit better then seems a bit worse again. I'm going to resist hc while she's still showing little discomfort from it. I really do think it's partly a winter thing. I've noticed my skin is really dry at the mo too but think that's partly cos of breast feeding taking all my hydration! If only a trip to Fiji was available on prescription!

I suppose the good news is that the vast majority of babies grow out of it...

Also read that up to 10 mins in the bath was great but anymore than 10 dehydrated the skin.

Exzema isn't caused by bacteria but is the skin unable to retain moisture. Avoid additional removal of oils from the skin caused by overbathing/washing - seek baby washes and products which do not contain sodium lauryl sulphate. This was developed to strip car engines and is the detergent found in everything. I use Greenpeople stuff for a few years now and my exzema rarely appears and my need for body lotions has gone. My 10-month old has a touch of red exzema on the backs of her knees which is being kept under control by using a baby balm by Greenpeople which contains hemp oil and calendula.
Waitrose stock some of their baby stuff or you can order direct from www.greenpeople.co.uk.

I think infant exzema is very common and winter/toiletries are the main causes. It would have to be quite severe to need to go down the food allergy route - and I think if it was it would likely be dairy products.
Good luck x

hi, so I've finally been to the HV for official diagnosis - she said go to GP asap and it's definitely eczema - whcih I knew but wanted to do my research first, for which Thank You Ladies.

She said a few things I wanted to run by you. 1. That it may help if I cut out dairy. I'm happy to do this but wondered if there was an easier way of testing this out, as in this brie obsessed household it would be quite a task.

1. She said it would get worse when I start weaning, which was a bit depressing. Is this your experience?

Might post on the breastfeeding thread as well.

I suppose I've got to stop my airy fairy natural route and go the whole hog with the hc etc, which I suppose i was secretly trying to avoid. Hey ho...

Thanks again for sharing all your experiences and information.

One other thing. DD's eczema is currently confined to her face, and pretty near her eyes. Are there special guidelines for this or do all the usual things apply?

Sorry, haven't read whole thread. But we had to try everything until we found the ones that worked for DD - everyone seems to be different. But epaderm is great. Oilatum bad for our DD (we used soya oil for bath). And I had to give up all dairy products when BF ing - that was what really made the difference. (Actually, I stopped BFing and DD went on to soy formula at 7 months). She has barely had it since (although came back last week). Good luck

thanks really interesting that the dairy thing worked for you.

My DS, now 2.5, has suffered with eczema from day one and we have tried loads of different treatments. I find that what works one day, doesn't always work six months later so best to keep trying new things.
He is prescribed 1% steroid cream which i only us if its really bad, and he was also prescribed Dermol 600 and Emulsifying ointment which I found to be useless. I now use Diprobase on him at least twice a day, but also put hazlenut oil in affected areas either in the bath or straight after and when its looking really sore use propolis which stops infection. It hasn't gone away, but it alot better now than it has been in the past.

Yes, but very annoying as, like you, I'm a cheese fan. It turned out DD also had allergy to eggs. Stopping BFing (OK, so I am going to get lynched by everyone) was the best thing I did, as it was very hard to work out, especially while weaning, exactly what she'd had when you have to consider my diet as well as hers. By cutting out my diet from the equation, it was much easier to see what she was reacting to.
Try to get a transferral to a excema clinic - which would have been very helpful if I'd had early on - and if you think its food related, try to get transferral to nutritionist. They are great for advising how to give a blalanced diet (once weaning) without dairy etc. I really feel for you - its horrible. I'm now pg with next and wondering if we'r going to have to go through it all again...

Just thought i'd update - dd's eczema patch got a bit icky so doc has prescribed cream with .5 hc and antibiotic. said at this stage may become full eczema or may just be a phase - way to soon to consider stopping dairy etc.

We've put a soft jersey baby hat on her to stop her rubbing the cream in her eyes and mouth. do you think that's ok?

She's also given as aqueous cream which she said is least likely to cause a reaction...

fingers crossed it clears up.

i'm starting probiotics - have posted interesting links on breastfeeding and eczema thread...