Should I use hydrocortisone?

[mandler]

DS 4 months was diagnosed with eczema today. Already his chest looks much worse, not on his face yet. I am really upset mainly becasue I don;t know what to do for the best.
I have diprobase and hydrocortisone on prescription and bought (not baby) Aveeno from the chemist. Am trying Aveeno first.
His skin isnlt really dry, just very red patches, legs a bt rough to the touch.
Also exclusivey breastfeeding, and neither I nor DH has eczema.
Totally confused about how to get rid of the cause and treat the symptoms.

I was told by my doc to not use it on the face?? The one I have is 1%

I have 1% which I use on my elbows, hands etc. DS has .5% (only v mild excema) but doc told me that I could use .5% on my face but only very sparingly/occasionally.

mrs fish. try soapnuts for washing clothes, google it. even lakeland do them now. dd's skin flares up if i use any chemical washing powder, even ecover.

also, i didn't like using hc cream on dd's face, and it was only a tiny patch on her chin and neck. but the gp explained there are 5 stages for treating eczema which get progressively stronger. emolients being the first stage, then hc creams being the 2nd...he said best to treat the problem with a low strength treatment that wait til the eczema gets severe then needs wet wrapping etc etc.