DS 5mo has eczema on his face, where do I start tackling this?

[naturelover]

I'm new to this, fortunately DD has had no problems with food so far (aged 2.5).

DS aged 5 months is exclusively breastfed and I've found that by giving up dairy he is much happier (was having various digestive issues).

Now he has eczema on his face. It's causing me a lot of distress as he's clearly very itchy.

So far, the eczema is only on his face (and a tiny patch on his chest which isn't spreading - yet). Clearly, he can scratch his face and I'm desperate to break the itch-scratch-itch cycle.

I haven't asked my GP for anything - I'd prefer to make lifestyle and/or dietary changes before doing that as I'm a bit mistrustful (IME they dish out steroid cream without addressing root causes).

These are the measures I'm taking so far, but I'd appreciate advice from those of you with more experience:

-have started vacuuming his room incl mattress more often, and the house is almost carpet-free anyway
-he's dressed in cotton only, washed with Ecover at 60 degrees
-I'm changing his bedlinen more often
-I've cut out dairy (see above)
-I'm using Kamillosan and sometimes Aveeno cream many times a day on his face
-I've put socks on his hands while he sleeps to stop him scratching his face, which pains me as he's a thumb sucker and clearly this interferes
-I bath him daily but in plain coolish water not hot

I live in London so the water is hard and super-chlorinated. Is it worth trying one of those dechlorination balls or is it an expensive gimmick?

Is the fact that the eczema on his face only a significant thing? Could it be a cat allergy as we have cats?

Is it worth putting some Aveeno oil or similar in the bathwater?

I can't afford a naturopath but my instinct is to investigate the food route esp as he's due to start solids next month. Is there any kind of food allergy testing available on the NHS?

Sorry this turned out quite long. Thanks to anyone who can offer tips.

Ok can't answer all of your questions but will give it a go.

Dd2 is 16 mo now and has had excema from a few weeks old. We initially went to the GP many,many times but it was the dietitian we were eventually referred to that helped the most.

She was put on hypoallergenic formula and diagnosed with many different allergies dairy being one. The dietitian said dairy allergy was most common reason for severe excema in under 1s.

once we got her diet sorted the excema has been much better but we still use Diprobase moisturiser and steroid cream. Also an anti histamine (piriton) to stop the itching and help her sleep.

You do need to see your GP and ask for a referral to the hospital dermatologist - you don't have to use the creams they give you if you feel that strongly.

If you look on my profile there are a couple of pictures of her -not very good ones though! where you can see the before and after.

You will get a lot of help and support on here.

Oh and dd1 didn't and doesn't have any skin/dietary problems so it's perfectly feasible to have one with and one without.

A water softener could help.

My ds has eczema and a diary allergy was diagnosed when he was three months but I strongly suspect he reacts to chillies and peppers in my diet, and he definitely reacts to kiwi and strawberries. Do go to your GP and ask for a referral to an allergy clinic.

Me and my DS1 both suffer from v sensitive skin.

You're already doing so much so don't have much to add. I do agree that dairy can have a big effect on skin - me and DS1 both now have goats milk and apart from my own violent reaction to aqueous cream recently, we have touch wood both had much better skin.

I did find with my recent reaction to aqueous cream that Aveeno didn't actually help. Previously, it has. It was a particularly violent reaction but in the end, I used nothing at all for a few days and that seemed to stop it spreading. I then used the weleda almond moisturiser and that has really helped.Their stuff is generally very good as it has no nasty preservatives in it. If your health food shop don't stock it, then Waitrose sometimes stock their stuff and you can also buy online. I think the baby face protector is about £6.

I only ever tend to get eczema on my face, I think there is a particular kind that tends to develop round hairline, eyebrows etc. I changed my shampoo (Jason do a very good one for scalp - rosewater, I think)

For sore skin on the body, I found that a bath in salt water and some drops of lavendar oil works wonders. I just buy bath salts from health food shop.

Weleda baby range has a fab weather protector face gel that would probably soothe it and also protect it in this weather (also drying effects of heating)

I agree re steroids and would also want to avoid them when possible.

We also live in London and we have had a scale inhibitor fitted. It has made the water taste much nicer, clothes feel nicer when they come out of the wash. I think it cost about £10 though our builder fitted it when he was doing some other jobs so we got charged for the labour. Not sure if it would actually be quite simple to DIY!

Good luck

Oh yes, DS1 was referred by our GP to paediatrician and then by them to dietician. After exclusion diet cutting out all dairy for 8 weeks, it was established fairly conclusively that he has a full on dairy allergy. They were very surprised as most small children grow out of it after the exclusion diet. We now can't try him on it again until he is 5.

Once we changed his diet, things improved dramatically, stomach wise and skin wise.

So yes although we changed washing powder, creams etc we did also go the ''traditional'' route when we wanted further advice.

DD2 (20 months) has had eczema from a similar age.

Do you know you can get Aveeno cream and bath oil on prescription? It will save you a lot of money. Some GP's are apparently reluctant to prescribe it, but I had no problems with our GP when, like you, I already tried it out at my own expense.

I use Surcare washing liquid and I bathe her as infrequently as possible. I recently swapped to goats milk/cheese etc and this has really helped.

I've also heard it suggested that you remove soft toys from their cot incase of dustmites and chemicals on the materials.

You sound like you are trying all the right things. What I have got from lots of reading on here is that different things work for different people. It's a case of trial and error until you find out what works for you.

Epaderm worked for us.(DD 2.8) Been battling with eczema on my daughters face for 6 months now. Tried everything! In the end Hyydrocortizone 1% to get it under control and then Epaderm in bath and twice a day all over has worked a treat. I would go to docs if I was you. The sooner you tackle it the better as it does tend to get worse and worse- especially if some creams irritate it even further. Good Luck

My GP was very helpful, prescribed creams and steroid cream in case things got too bad but said I understand if you don't want to use it. I got a referral to an allergy clinic pretty easily and they will also provide nutrition support.

Creams can be really tough, my DS reacted to anything oil based, aveeno, kamilosan and weleda products (almond oil)- we eventually found earth friendly baby cream to work. (I've described a DIY Kinesiology test that works for creams on another thread - has been described by other mumsnetters as "dangerous" etc but worked for us!)

A friend recommended not bathing which I thought a bit barking but it seems to have worked.

Washing powder: we use, eco smart simply sensitive.

From a holistic point of view, the eczema could be your DS's way of expelling toxins and this may have been triggered by taking dairy out of his diet, thus allowing his body to start to heal when before it was just coping with the dairy stress. Skin can get worse before it gets better.

Good Luck!! (BTW - boys seem to be more susceptible to food than girls at this age)

Epaderm is really good. And, it may sound a bit trite, but I personally believe the current weather has a lot to answer for. Both myself and my best friend, in our 30s, suffered as children. Grew out of it, but both had relapses since December. Weather the only thing in our lives that's radically different. Good luck.

imo, you really must put an emollient in the bath water. Not good to bathe in plain water, too drying. Lots of moisturiser for after the bath too.

If you want to folow up the house dust mite theory, you can buy special mattress, duvet and pillow protectors.

Lots of good advice here.

I've just had a week in hospital with DS2 infected eczema on IV antibiotics as I couldn't break the itch scratch cycle and even steroids didn't work . So I sympathise, it's so frustrating !

Couple of things to add to all these posts -
Be careful with kamillosan / weleda weather protection cream - they contain lanolin, which can be a significant excema trigger. (from experience !)

If you want naturopathic advice, contact the College of Naturopathic Medicine in london,they have a student clinic running everyday and it's headed up by some highly trained and experienced naturopaths. You will pay pence in comparison to paying a naturopath & it's really professionally run.

Allergy tests won't be done till your DC is older as they're generally thought to be inconclusive. Even if you can see your DC reacting to things, it won't neccessarily be 'proved'.

My dermatolgoist vehemently disagrees with me about food triggers . Despite them being a MAJOR trigger of DS1's eczema. so be prepared to not be listened to

HTH

oh, last thing - their skins very easily become resistant / intolerant to different creams. I found that I needed to have an arsenal of different ones, and to keep changing them every couple of weeks. I always kept steroids / emollients in in case it got too bad, but essentially didn't need them. Here's some I tried -

sunflower oil
Vogel Neem cream
Hopes relief
Aloe gel with lavender / tea tree
Am an aromatherapist so mixed up various oils. Chamomile can be a trigger in some kids (was with DS1) as it's a member of the ragweed family so be careful if there is any history of hayfever
Weleda

be very careful what you put on your baby's skin as skin creams for eczema have been linked to nut allergy in children. That may only be because allergic child tend to get eczemz but creams that use nut oil are best avoided. Some doctors believe exposure through the skin before the mouth is a risk factor.

Aveeno has never worked well for me, but lots of other people swear by it. Dexeryl supplied free samples to many mumsnetters and most were very pleased with it - you can find the thread on mumsnet. Made my kin red at first but is good as a preventive.

Aveeno works really well for DS, who's had eczema since he was newborn (he was breastfed, but both DH and I have eczema so he didn't have much chance). We also use Fairy Non Bio to wash his clothes, which has helped.

We do use steroid occasionally - when he was younger we had to use it quite a lot, but now we just put some on very rarely, if his eczema flares up badly, and one application is generally enough to get it back under control.

Thanks everyone, there's some great advice here. I have several things to explore.

Does seem that different things work for different people, I'll bear that in mind.

I'll try to get a referral to dermatologist from my GP, for starters.

Ooh forgot to say about baths (well, showers for us since we don't have a bath). We only shower DS once or twice a week, we use Aveeno bath oil (all on prescription) but his skin is still incredibly dry afterwards. Slathering him with the Aveeno cream seems to work though.

Apparently Aveeno has only been on the prescription lists for a fairly short time, which is why some GPs don't think they can prescribe it. If you want it though, just get them to check the lists properly.

DS has eczema on his face, though it was much worse when he was younger and spread to his chest and tummy.

GP was great, we have epaderm and diprobase on prescription which we use in the bath which has pretty much resolved the problem.

He does still get a little flare up around his mouth, so I do have to use a little mild hydrocortisone from time to time. The idea is to keep it really well moisturised once it's cleared up, that's where the epaderm and diprobase come in.

I've also suffered from eczema since a baby and whilst you're right to be cautious about steriod creams on babies, they can be necessary on occasion.

I'm also massively allergic to cats - sorry

I did get annoyed at a pharmacist that tried to be judgy about using steroids - firstly the GP had prescribed them, I wasn't just buying them randomly, and secondly, yes they're bad for skin, but the eczema was worse. Especially as DS used to scratch himself to pieces - forgot to tape his scratch mittens on one night, and went in to find blood all over the cot sheet

Both DDs have ezcema, although not super-bad.

What works for us.

Not bathing too often.
Aveeno oil in bath.
Moisturise with aveeno lotion / cream.
hydrocortisone for flare ups.

We get all of those things on prescription from the GP - I agree with the others that starting point is GP, childhood ezcema is very common, they will know what to do, and you can take or leave what they offer and combine it with other ideas as you wish.

Rhian we were running low of HC the other day and I went to buy some from the pahrmacy but they flatly refused.

Cue a rant from my dad who is a GP about how 1% is feeble anyway and not going to do any harm and of course you can put it on your face and all these poor babies itching and on and on and on...

smile and nod, smile and nod

I know - I've had a pharmacist refuse to sell it me and I just felt really stupid that I admitted it was for DS - I have eczema on my hands, so if we get stuck again I'll just show that and pretend it's for me.

shame - we have a lovely pharmacist who has been really helpful and has an excemay allergicy niece so he has given us loads of advice. pity they're not all like that.

Forgot to answer the cat question. Dd2 was tested for dog on her allergy blood test and came up as medium level allergic.

we were told that as she is young - and likely to grow out of it, and is he old 9 this year, we may as well keep him as it would take years apparently to totally rid the house of dog hair.

he is not allowed upstairs and we only have wood/tiles downstairs which we hoover a lot.

I don't know if it's the same for cats but DH is allergic to cats and he had bad infantile excema.

Have you ruled out eggs and soya as allergens? These are closely related to dairy allergy and can also cause eczema in exclusively bf babies.

If you resort to steroid creams, use them intensively for short periods then stop, i.e. 1-2 weeks slathering it on should clear an outbreak, then the same again with the next outbreak. Don't use continuously for a long time.