Please share your eczema success stories

[naturelover]

By success I mean "identifying the triggers" and being able to more or less keep it under control. I know there is no magic cure.

I'm feeling very despondent about DS's eczema. He's 6 months old and it developed at about 3 months when he was still excl bf.

My GP refuses to refer me anywhere, she says he will "probably" outgrow it. Meanwhile she prescribes cream after cream, and so far we haven't found a cream that helps. Some make it worse. Right now we have HC and oral antibiotics for his scalp which is infected due to the scratching

I strongly suspect food intolerance but she says there is no way my diet can affect DS via breastmilk. Plenty of articles I've read contradict this.

Please can you share your stories of HOW you managed to isolate the triggers for your DC's eczema. Naturopath/skin prick test/blood tests/elimination diet?????

I'll try anything to help him.

this cream has really helped my eczema - I get it really badly on my eyelids so wanted somthing I could use all over my face (and was good enough to cope with my wrinkles as well!) - it is so gentle and soothing. I use it on dd1 and dd2 and it helps any little dry patches they get.

tbh with dd1 it was trial and error with all the creams to find something that worked.

I did read an article recently that said emollients like aqueous, Doublebase, EpiDerm, Dermamist, Hydromol, Dexeryl and Emollin etc shouldn't be used as they were actually created as a soap substitute - so fine to use as that but can actually make skin conditions worse. That would explain why they sting if I have a flare up and try to use them.

Hope you find something soon.

sorry - I have skim read as in a hurry but we found Aveeno cream & bath oil worked really well for DS when other creams just made it worse. You can buy it in Boots but your GP can give you a prescription for it. The Health visiote can't give prescription. It is made from oatmeal. It really was amazing. Good luck!

I agree that Elocon is fab - just a tiny bit occassionally works miracles. And Trimovate for DD's face. Plus I'm sure that eliminating dairy and egg from my diet when I was b/f would have helped but unforunately I didn't know that at the time. DD's eczema improved a lot when she moved onto Nutramigen.

Eczema is usually a complex picture which can be made worse by food and creams and unfortunately, is a very individual affair.

You are absolutely right about the impact of food you eat going through to the baby. My most vivid evidence of this was smelling the spices from a bag of crisps in my baby's poo!! Not all babies are affected to the same extent.

My DS was colicky, had eczema, poor bowels and was a very poor sleeper so lots of things going on and difficult to pinpoint what helped his eczema but we saw a Homeopath who prescribed some remedies, a Kinesiologist who suggested taking out wheat, dairy and sugar (from both of our diets - food triggers are pretty individual) and helped us find the right creams using muscle resitance testing (turns out the oil based creams Epaderm etc were not helping). We use Earth Friendly Baby cream but the cream answer appears to be very individual. We also saw a nutritionist who did some biokinetic testing and suggested removing apple too and we have had allergy testing which identified peanuts and sesame allergies which were also making things worse.

IME no one person had all the answers (though annoyingly they think they do!) but together we now have a happy baby, who sleeps, has normal bowel movements, much smaller patches of bad skin (getting better all the time) and doesn't itch.

Having alternative therapists give me a steer on the foods to avoid helped as I excluded for a few weeks and could go back to the GP showing an improvement and got a referral to an allergy specialist and dietician. I tend not to talk too much about the alternative stuff with GP's / Consultants etc but don't actively hide it.

Good Luck and hope you find your answers and get some relief soon.

Naturelover, I haven't read the whole thread but I read your question and had to respond as I went through exactly the same thing with my DS. Severe eczema that showed up when he was 3 months old and exclusively breast feeding at the time. His eczema only became under total control when we tackled the triggers. He has multiple food allergies - the most severe being cow's milk protein. Although he got better after I had changed my diet (to the point I was almost size 0!) together with the application of strong treatment creams, it only became totally under control when he made full transition from BF to a true hypoallergenic formula. He is now 17 months and his food allergies remain (we do regular checks) but his skin is completely clear thanks to avoidance of the food allergens (and we just need to apply some maintenance mild cream twice a day and a bath emollient to prevent his skin becoming dry). I was lucky to have met the right dermatologist that pointed me to the right course of action. Now I can only hope he grows out of his allergies...Good luck to you! Happy to share my experience further if that helps you.

Ds2 was just the same - 3 mos, exclusively bf. He is now 3 and it is mostly under control but we still have the occasional flare-up. We use Aveeno as a general rule to try to prevent problems, mild steroid cream when we need to and I have just discovered that jojoba oil added to an oatmeal bath does wonders! It does make an awful mess in the tub though.

Sorry, forgot to mention that the way we managed to isolate the triggers was by doing skin prick and IgE blood tests (conducted under the supervision of an allergologist referred by the dermatologist). Please note that food intolerance is different from food allergy - the latter often "interacting" with eczema.

Sorry, haven't read through whole thread as it's quite long, but thought this might be some help. My son had extreme eczema from a couple of months old(prob hereditory as I have hayfever, father eczema). I spent a long time identifying triggers, excluding dairy (which helped very slightly but not much though I know it's a good one for some), different creams etc etc plus gentler homeopathy, herbal stuff, wet wrapping, lavendar or chamomile in the bath and so on. HOwever, despite my leanings towards natural remedies etc, my feeling is that when eczema has a REAL hold, it just has to be blasted with serious stuff! A relative was a GP and actually admitted that once things have become quite established most GPS can't really deal with it.Our lives were really blighted by the stress of it all, with lack of sleep, constant scratching etc. My suggestion would be to forget the GP and find a well recommended paediatric dermatology consultant.We went through a couple before we ended up going to Gt Ormond Street privately and then were put across to the NHS list. Long trips to london but it did get it 'managed'. I then sorted a local consultant who turned out to be excellent at at 8 (yes long haul) and he was tried on medicine I had previously rejected because it wasn't working when he was 5- very strong though as it's an immunosuppressant (Azothioprine). He now has NO eczema and is a different boy with utterly beautiful skin. THis is probably an extreme medicalise example but I do think it's worth moving on from the GP. Hope it's of some interest

interesting that many people find egg an issue because I've never identified the cause of my eczema and I've not tried excluding them. Will have to get some egg substitute and give it a go.

A cream called Dexeryl was trialled by many mumnetters - feedback thread here dexeryl

While it made my eczema worse at first it did help a bit and many reviewers were more positive. If it doesn't help your baby it's a good skin cream for non-eczema skin.

What we thought was eczema on one child's scalp has almost disappeared after using ketoconacole 2% shampoo. We bought this in Boots after reading about it on the net. It also leaves their hair so glossy I'm planning to try it myself despite the high cost. If using steroids on the scalp it has to be phased in according to the leaflet. Says suitable for "children", don't know if that includes babies.

My ds's eczema started at 6 months and was awful until 4 yrs. We spent a couple of years as an outpatient not really getting to the bottom of it and then we finally gave up on the nhs and had him tested privately. He is massively allergic to egg and house dust mites ( amongst various other things).

The dust mites are his biggest trigger. We stripped the house of all carpets, fabric sofas, cushions etc. He has dust mites covers on all his bedding. He is now a completely different child and I don't even remember the last time we had to resort to using steroid cream.

For us it was both food/environmental triggers, by eliminating them we have pretty much emliminated the eczema.

I am so grateful to you all for sharing your stories. No two are the same!

I am starting to think I may have to rehome my cats as it seems they might be a major trigger for my son's eczema. It's heartbreaking.

Both DH and I have horrible family histories of allergies of all types, including eczema. So we were not too surprised when ds developed it - the only surprise was that he waited until nearly 3 to show any symptoms, and that they were actually relatively mild. Maybe all that breast feeding did help after all...

Anyhow, his main trigger was citrus, which I haven't seen mentioned yet, but believe is a relatively common dietary trigger.

Lanolin based creams made him scream with pain - oat or hemp based ones were much better.

And, the eczema disappeared completely (albeit temporarily) after his first swim in the sea! Sea salt baths can also help - possibly by controlling bacterial infections.

Nothing worse than seeing your child itching and being unhappy because of Eczema-suggest putting Oilatum emollient in the bath,and also using Oilatum soap.Rub a small amount of Pommade Divine on to the most effected places.e.g.elbows,knees and around the mouth,or anywhere else that is sore and giving trouble.It is natural,and can only do good.It certainly worked for me and my children.

My DD had eczema from approx 5 weeks 'til she was nearly 2, and now is fine. It was bad when it was at its worst, which was approx 6 - 18 months age. We ended up using steroid creams regularly, which a lot of people go to great lengths to avoid, but we struggled to find anything else to help her. A doctor once told me I was causing her suffering by letting her have raw skin (when I was just trying to minimise use of steroids, rather than slather her in it), he said if I use enough steroids (higher strength and quantity) to nip in the bud the skin problem then the skin will have a better chance of healing itself (this may of course be rubbish, but I see other posters above have had sucesses with steroids). DD has multiple allergies (eggs, nuts, milk, soya, peas beans pulses etc), we didn't know the extent of this problem at the time. One cream I found that did help was Cetaphil moisturiser which I think is only recently available in UK, we used to have ours posted from NZ. We used only Surecare liquid for washing, and washed all clothes twice, once with minimal quantity of liquid, then again with no detergent to rinse thoroughly. Frequency of bathing can make a difference, I think perhaps 2 - 3 times per week was optimal for her, using Diprobath additive (found this type worked better than other additives for her). I have a young baby DS who has v. dry skin so I've been dabbling with dairy and egg exclusion while BFing, I think it is making a difference. Just a couple of days ago I reintroduced dairy, his skin is def. drier so I think I'll stick with the exclusion diet for now, tho his skin probs so far have luckily not been as bad as DD's. Good luck and I hope your DS grows out of it, asap!

My DS had dreadful open, weeping eczema until he was about 9 months old. It was so distressing and we constantly used steroid creams and antibiotics. While still exclusively breastfeeding, I kept a detailed food diary for months, recording when DS's eczema flared up, and eventually identified dairy, eggs, tomatoes, onions, garlic and various other things in my diet as triggers. DS has now been diagnosed with serious food allergies to all these things. Managing his allergies is sometimes a stressful business, but his eczema has totally cleared up and his skin is beautiful - he is such a healthy looking little boy.

my son has had eczema since he was 6 weeks old, usual creams, lotions etc used wet wraps etc, not much helped an awful lot. allergy testing showed usual suspects, house dust mite being the biggest. normal ige (allergn levels) in people without allergies range from between 1-120 his was around 6000 (shock) he has never really been able to breathe properly through his nose due to all the allergies so he recently underwent a septoplasty (bone in the middle of his nose was crooked) and trimming of the inferior turbinates (they were swollen because of the allergies) and for the first time he can breath properly, and that was successful for him. he uses fucibet too regular for my liking , hes 19 now, but because it is a steriod cream he does heal well with it abeit short term, he also used e45 moisturiser and diprobase. he has learned to live with it def not as bad as when he was younger but still bad enough.

I had a miracle cure, comfrey oil £2.99 from Holland and Barrat. Ds had infected eczema all over his front and scabbed badly on his back and bleeding balls,horrible.

Steriod creams worked only while I used them, but as soon as I stopped then it all would flare up again. I tried comfry oil and it was amazing, really made a huge difference.
(pink and white bottle - not essential oil).

My DD2 has had it since 6 weeks, not identified any food triggers yet but we now that keeping her fairly cool and avoiding wool next to her skin and washing her clothes seperately in Surcare keep it at bay. That and smothering her in Aveeno cream and using the oil in the bath, we get it on prescription from the doc.

Naturelover how have you been getting on?

Did you get a referral? I have been going through a similar thing recently with DS who is four months. We have been through about 6 different emolliants, two courses of antibiotics, two steroid creams and two antifungals (because to start with gp insisted he had a fungal dermatitis, while I was always convinced it was eczema).

I just wanted to say that if you've still not got a referral you should just go along to paediatric A&E at your local hospital and hopefully you'll be able to see a dermatology specialist or be referred to one from there. I was advised to do this when the gp's felt they had nothing more to suggest. They will definitely look if your child's skin is infected. When I said my DS had had an infection on and off for four weeks the dermatologist was shocked I'd not been sent down sooner! We now have an appt with a consultant in a couple of days - and a whole new set of creams. Still have a red itchy baby right now but it feels like there is some light at the end if the tunnel!

Hi Naturelover - just found your thread today. My DD is in the exact same situation as your baby. 6.5 month, exclusively breast fed until now had a bad allergic reaction to dairy last week when I tried giving her a bit of baby rice with formula...

It's definitely a dairy allergy, and I've cut dairy in my diet for 5 days now and her skin is much better, but she is still SCRATCHING crazy!!!!

Have you tried cutting out egg in your diet?

I'm a bit reluctant to start cutting out egg because there is already not much I can eat with no dairy.

I've also read gluten might be a trigger...

I don't want to imagine my diet without dairy/eggs/gluten as I've already lost quite a lot of weight...
I've been refered for allergy tests for DD, but I'm waiting for them to contact me.

have you had any more success since last month?

oilatum junior bath emollient
REALLY WORKS!
Also after the bath instead of the usual lotion, try L'Occitane Mom & Baby Cream, it has lanoline and shea butter, it will sooth, hydrate .. it will cure your baby's skin within 3 days or so. Only use these two products, nothing else. Do not overload the skin with prodcuts. Good Luck!

My 10 month old has had eczema all over his face and body for about 2 months. We chose not to use steroid creams as they just surpress symptoms so you can never work out if what you are changing is the right thing.

We went to a doctor/naturalpath who uses the Vegatest, which tests all different types of allergies. It worked out that my son was allergic to tomatoes and dust mites. Since we have taken action on these two things his eczema has nearly gone in a few days.

I would really recommend this test, it is non evasive and works!

Eczema is usually the result of an allergy to something. Allergies are often a result of poor bacteria in your gut. Getting a Vega Test will identify what the baby is allergic to and then what probiotics is needed to help his gut and then end his sensitivity to food, dust mites etc etc.

too much cows milk sparks outbreaks in ds3. when he was young and moving from bf we gave him goats milk which seemed to be fine, he can tolerate cows milk but just not loads of it.

Oilatum soap and diprobase cream used together keeps things under control on the whole