baby exzema

[Sassyfrassy]

My 3 month old baby was diagnosed with exzema last week. It's on most of her face and on one ear. The face is under control now with liberal amounts of aveeno and oilatum in the bath. Her ear has gotten quite bad though, it's flaky and has what looks like weeping sores on it. She's always tugging and pulling at it as well. Should I go back to the gp for another look at it or should I just leave it and keep it clean and dry? Any suggestions are most welcome. We are a family of exzema sufferers but dd2 is the first one to have it as a baby so I feel a bit unsure of what to do.

Dairy allergy/intolerance can sometimes be a contributing factor for eczema but certainly not always. I did a dairy-free trial when I was BFing DS and it made no difference at all.

The truth is that nobody knows exactly what causes eczema although recent research suggests it may be genetic. DS took part in a clinical trial which did genetic testing and out of two genes which they were looking at which may be faulty in sufferers, he was missing part of one of them.

In any case it is a case of trial and error what works for one person will not for another. But a lot of babies grow out of it DS's was terrible when he was 6mo but now at 21mo it is much more manageable.

We used to have to tie dd to the cot to stop her reefing her face during the night, she would not really scratch all day but as soon as it was bedtime, she was like a demon.

Essentially a cotton scarf tied to both sides of the cot with two loops that you can tighten to hold her arms tight by her sides. It was the only thing that worked when she was very bad - up to about 7 months.

We are in the middle of another flare up and already use steroids 2ce a day as well as all the usual emoliants. She's been to homeopaths, healers, on antibiotics, has goats milk, no wheat and to be honest nothing seems to work, she will just grow out of it in her own time.

It's a nightmare having a baby with exzema. I had it badly as a child too and in my late teens for a while so at least I can empathise as I know what its like to want to scratch and scratch till it bleeds.

Salleroo and Jilly, reading your responses gave me some perspective and I'm so thankful that Katie's exzema is nowhere near that bad. My DH had extrememly bad exzema as a child and were at times hospitalized because of it. I also had exzema but much milder and seeing as both my girls have it, I can't help but think that genetics must play a part.

Jabberwocky, what kind of oatmeal did you use in the bath? Is it just normal oats but finer and how much did you use?

Sorry to jump post, but any oats will do, just put them in a muslin and hold that in the running water.

For itching you can also buy the herbs chickweed, marigold (antibacterial) and chamomile from Neals yard - cheaply. Put a teaspoon of each in a teapot, and make tea, use a strainer and pour this into the bathwater or cool and use as compresses.

Thanks Salleroo, will definately try that.

Katie's ear looks dreadful again and smells funny so I'll be off to the gp again to have it looked at.

Oooh, I remember the bad smell, kind of necrotic? Maybe it's time for a dose of antibiotics to get it under control. The poor little mite.

I never got that lovely baby smell people go on about. dd developed excema at about 3 weeks and always smelled like she was rotting or of various horrible unguents and oils. She is gorgeous now though (smelling that is, she was always gorgeous anyway).

Yup, got a cream with antibiotics and hydrocortizone to hopefully get it under control. Was told the exzema on her hear as gotten infected. I know what you mean about the smell, you can't help but snuffle them anyway though =)

funny about the ears. dd2's first really bad sign of eczema at 5 wks was a shrunken, crusted, cracked ear

Hi, my son who is now nearly 3 had eczema when I started him on whole milk, usual places behind knees and elbows, I put him on goats milk and it went within 3 days, 2 thirds of children under the age of 5 are sensitive to cows milk, the body finds it harder to digest.

hi, i empathise with all of the above posts as my little girl has suffered from exzema from the word go. Was told it was baby acne on her face but by 2/3 months it was obvious (looking back now) that it was exzema. She had a really badly infected face and legs and arms by 3 months. We saw a dermatologist (had to go private or else wait more than a month) and have used eucerin, hydrocortisone & eumovate ever since (and fucibet and antibiotics when infected). She also has exzema all over her head and ears. The reason for my post (as clearly I cannot offer a miracle cure as much as I may wish to!) is to ask for HELP PLEASE!!! In order to stop her scratching i breastfeed her literally all night whilst holding her arms to stop scratching, and for the rare minutes she does lie on the bed rather than feeding/feeding position I am there holding her arms down. She is nearly 9 monhts old and i literally haven't slept since she was born (and having a 2 and a half year old as well does not help either!!). So does anyone have any advice how to stop her scratching in order to sleep through?And how can i get her into her own cot?? Any advice greatly appreciated, i am sleep deprived and desperate!. Good luck to all of you out there, this is so tough for all of us and our little ones.

My youngest suffers with eczema flare ups. She wears sleepsuits made from Bamboo, which are 100% natural, chemical free and help regulate her temperature, so she doesn't sweat. They have fold over mittens to help reduce the scratching and are super soft, with external seams, so no chaffing either. Try www.ickleeco.co.uk. They work for me...