To not have a clue what to do about my DD’s eczema

[Yellowpolkadot]

Dd (1 year) has been having an awful time with her eczema. It is mainly over her shoulders and happier bag but it is raw and weeping. We’ve been to the gp several times and have been given two different steroid (one with antibiotics and one with antifungal) to try to calm it down but they don’t seem to be working. DD is clearly really uncomfortable and tries to scratch at it and sometimes over night manages to make it bleed. We moisturise her 4-5 times a day and have been applying steroids and giving Piriton as prescribed.

We are back at the doctors tomorrow, but I’m just wondering if anyone has any suggestions, anything I can buy or ask the doctor for to help her as she is miserable 😢

What's her diet like? Any known or possible intolerances. Dairy products can trigger ezcema. I'm sure there are others.

Also washing powder/liquid - different brands can irritate different people. Try switching?

Diet? When did her eczema start?

As well as the medicated cram from the GP what really helped my dd when she was small was Annique rooibos rescue cream. I told a few other people about it who thought it was good too
(dont work for them I promise )

cNo soap, no shampoo, no bubble bath - just aqueous cream for washing and emollient in the bath water and in it for 10 mins at least every day.
That kept my DS's under control as a baby.
Flare ups and initial horror itching were solved with steroid cream. If we left off for a few days, it flared up again horribly.
He had terrible itching on his head and forehead - dr kept saying it was cradle cap but it was that plus eczema. The steroid cream sorted it.
We used to be given ointment instead of cream so it stuck better and stayed on longer.
Cleared up when he was 3, and his asthma went.

Now at 19 they are both back. If anything, worse than they were as a baby.

Good luck and you must keep going with trying to find a solution xx

Demand a referral to a dermatologist. Learn how to use a steroid ladder and get it sorted and keep it sorted. Learn which ones to use , where and for how long and dont give up til it clears. The risk of skin thinning isn't as bad as the damage any infected raw eczema can do.

Look at getting scratch sleeves for bedtime. They're like a little bolero jacket with closed mitts so she can't scratch.

Work your way through an assortment of emollients until you find one that works. Try Dermol, Double Base, Epaderm, etc. Epaderm was the jackpot for us but everyone is different. You can't over emolliate.

Try to ignore unsolicited advice. People mean well but DD had it awfully on her face and strangers were always telling me how goats cheese soap sorted their cousin's child; or how Lush creams would fix it immediately or that we needed to go dairy free. Get the to a dermatologist...

I would be investigating possible food allergies very aggressively. My first step would be to eliminate ALL dairy products/ingredients for at least 2 weeks to see if there's an improvement.

No advice, but lots of empathy. I've got stress related eczema at the moment and it's driving me mad. So itchy! Poor wee mite, hope you find something that works....

Start removing certain things from her diet and keep a food diary

My eczema was awful when I was a child and as soon as my mum removed cow's milk and cheese from my diet like the GP advised her, it stopped flaring up.

Thank you, it’s been worse since she’s turned one and gone on to whole milk, she has a really varied diet but is a big fan of milk products. So it could well be that. How would you go about eliminating dairy from a one year old who only sleeps at night after a bottle 🙈

I agree you neex to go to a specialist. What moisturiser are you using? Aveeno worked really well for my two, including when they had chicken pox. The other creams like diprobase did nothing.

I know people poo poo it on here, but there really is a massive link with dairy and eczema so it's worth thinking about.
With steroid cream, you need to use it until it's cleared properly, otherwise the eczema may rebound worse but gps don't like prescribing long courses so a specialist is best. I found that we had to keep changing creams as one would work but then the effect wore off. We also found that in the summer, the petroleum type ones made it worse as the skin sweated under it.
Its a horrible trial and error condition. I feel for you. Good luck with the doctor.

DS had awful eczema as a baby. We tried everything, in the end went to a herbal medicine person who gave us the most disgusting tincture you can imagine but it worked v quickly. He is now a strapping teen with lovely skin, just can't go in sea water but otherwise fine. I know it sounds weird but it worked for him. Whatever you decide to do you have my sympathy, its awful when your child has this xx

As to milk alternatives, you'd be amazed what's out there. Oatly barrista (the grey one) and soya infant milk (with the giraffe on the packet) are recommended. Soya or coconut yogurt are good, vitalite spread, and you can even get oatly cream and creme fraiche for cooking. The CMPA facebook groups are great. It's really manageable.

Dermatologist and allergy clinic. My DS was miserable with eczema until we figured out he was dairy intolerant. It disappeared once we cut out dairy. You could try your DD on Oatly or one of the other non dairy milks? In the meantime moisturise like crazy, multiple times a day, and it might be worth taking to a pharmacist too. If it's infected then you need fusidic acid cream or similar and DON'T use steroids till the infection clears.
Good luck

My lg (12mths) had terrible eczema as well as permanent cough/wheeze from 4 weeks to 6 months at which point, when we introduced solids, she was diagnosed with cows milk protein allergy (cmpa). She was started on antihistamine twice a day to control symptoms and so I could continue breast feeding. Prescribed Hydromol ointment for skin and diet changed - she is allergic to all cow products milk & beef, soya, strawberries and pineapple.
Her eczema is now gone as are the breathing problems. If she has a slip up with dairy (1malted milk biscuit) or soya (1/2 packet lol bear crisps) then they all come back. Good luck x

She’s had zero cream and zeroderm prescribed. We’ve tried Aveeno, childs farm, welda etc... nothing is working 🙈 I even sent DH out to get the lush cream this week as she was so upset with it, we were at our wits end!

She’s also had hydrocortisone and fusidic acid creams.

I’ve never suffered with eczema so this is all so alien to me! Thanks for the advice, it sounds like I just need to sit at the doctors and not move until we get a referral!

Another vote for demanding a referral to a dermatologist- ignoring all the infuriating comments about how some fancy named organic moisturiser worked for their grandchild. One doctor told us to stay away from any cream with aqua in the name as it's just water based and it can actually flare up even worse for some children.
The only thing that worked for us is a referral to a dermatologist, an emoilment and a steroid that we still use 2 times a week. Our LO is finally sleeping through the night after years of waking himself scratching and bleeding, so I understand your pain!

My DD seems to have chain reactions. So, I bathe her, she can only have an allergen free bubble bath (Waitrose/child’s farm). If we use shampoo or soap it has a chain reaction and she breaks out.
I alternate the moisturiser (child’s farm and isomol gel)
And I wash her sparingly. So bum wipes and a bath twice a week.
I use liquid soap flakes watered down with wash nut “tea” for her clothes.

This works for us, when she grabs her brothers lynx (and her dad /big brother lets her) she ends up in a flare up, and it’s the steroid gel for 2-3 days!

But unfortunately it’s different per child!

Try coating it in sudacream, it got rid of mine and my childrens.
I’m not sure it can cure your problem, but maybe a little bit of relief!

My ds had very stubborn eczema at that age. His was very definite patches and worst on his back. We were referred to dermatology quite quickly and prescribed strong steroids and emollients. It cleared really quickly and as long as we use the steroids at the first sign of a flair we only need to use a tiny amount. Interestingly his skin has been much better lately (he's 3 now) and we cut the dairy a few months ago because he seems to be lactose intolerant- not sure if he's grown out of it or it's cutting out the dairy that made the difference! We didn't have too much trouble switching him to soya milk of its any help but he wasn't much of a milk drinker and was older than your d's at the time

We had this with DD as a baby. She even had wet wraps- tried a million creams and it just kept getting worse. We even tried herbal medicine and cutting out wheat, dairy. It just got weepier and more horrible and despite my protests, the drs all said it wasn’t infected.
We were on a waiting list for a paediatric dermatologist and she got another bacterial infection on her chest and was put on antibiotics. Anyway, as the antibiotics kicked in we noticed that her skin was massively improving and by the end of the course her eczema had all but gone. Anyway following that she suffered with a little bit of dry skin but nothing like it was.
So I’d be wary that her skin isn’t infected tbh

Just keep going back to the GP. Skin stuff is hard to diagnose and its trial and error at least to start off with.
And in the mean time don't bath too much and when you do use a (cheap) emollient cream rather than any soap or bath wash.

My ds has eczema. It’s mainly controlled with double base now, but when he had flare ups as a baby I found skin salvation balm by pure potions really good. I buy it from the love Lula website.