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 😢

We've been here. After three years of hell, we're in a much better place.

I urge you with every fibre of my being, don't piss around with different creams or looking at diet.

You need an appointment with a consultant and they'll put you on a proper plan, with the strength of steroid you actually need and instructions on what to do with it.

Don't waste time, call you GP and ask for a referral today

We eventually went through all the allergy testing under the care of the consultant. She concluded that DS is a little bit allergic to lots of things, but not to the degree that avoiding them would make any difference.

So we're on a management plan and hoping he grows out of it eventually. But he is doing SO much better now.

Exactly. These threads frustrate me. (I’m aware it’s a zombie).

High dose steroid cream sorted my dd’s eczema out within 2 weeks. We wasted years of pissing around with pointless creams and soya milk and exposing her to low dose hydrocortisone. What she needed was access to a strong, targeted treatment. It was like a miracle.

We discovered my DSs eczema was largely caused by one of the emoliants when we forgot to take it on holiday with us and it cleared up over the week.
Worth asking your doctor if your DD can try a different one in case hers is not helping.

I am sorry for creating a zombie thread. I did so in the hopes that the poster I referred to will be notified and will prompt them to check as I am truly desperate. I've been to a private consultant in London, someone who specialises in paediatric eczema , and complex cases at that, they put my DC on a strong steroid cream and gave me a plan . The gp also confirmed to me that it was a very strong steriod cream. I've been following the plan for over a year now, and the eczema goes away when i apply the cream. Then after a few weeks the eczema comes back. It's like a recurring nightmare that I can't seem to wake up from. The leaflet that comes with the cream state that prolonged use can affect growth so I am really worried about that too. Just thinking about it makes me so sad and depressed. I've tried different emollient creams, mostly paid for privately , only two were prescribed by gp for trial, out of which only one is on a repeat prescription now. I've spent a little fortune on trying different creams. Some are good, but not good enough. Yet to try Cetaphil? and Cera Ve, some reviews put me off them, but I'll have to give them a go too, because nothing seems to be working.

@2135542namechange First of all, you can't really cure eczema. You can get in under control, but there's no magic wand to make it go away, so you need to reframe the way you are approaching this.

What is the name of the steroid cream you were using?

What type of eczema is it?

Have you identified the triggers?

Often eczema is triggered by exposure to allergens which are mild enough to prompt an eczema response rather than kill the person, but because they're so mild, it can take a while to link the eczema flaring up to what caused it. Allergy testing is therefore so vital - it's worth getting tested for all the common allergens plus anything unusual from your life that you think could also be a possibility.

Some people's eczema hates the cold (it makes skin more prone to cracking) or the heat (the sweat irritates the skin) so general environment can also play a part.

Personally, whilst some emollients are better than others, I think they're generally all good. The important thing is access to steroids of the appropriate strength for the flare up and avoiding triggers.

It can feel miserable having eczema, and I have no doubt as a parent it can feel miserable watching a child suffer, but most people do eventually find a way to control it and to minimise the impact on their daily lives. Hang in there.

@2135542namechange Eczema is dreadful, whatever its cause, and especially distressing for small kids. When I endured it for six months last year, I found keeping showers short and cool helped, and that the best emollient for me was Balneum Plus which is urea-based with an ingredient that minimises the itchiness. It was eventually cured by phototherapy and more Balneum Plus. However, mine was probably caused by an auto-immune condition arising from treatment for breast cancer. Anything occlusive or based on liquid paraffin/petroleum jelly gave me an infection: I had five or more courses of antibiotics in three months.

My nephew suffered with similar when he was about 5 and the only thing that eventually solved it was athlete's foot powder. It dried right out, flaked and just never came back.

It was all over his chest and stomach and his belly button especially was crusty and weeping when he scratched it. He had it months. I think it must have been fungal but no creams worked on it, he had the lot. Steroid, antifungal, Eunovate, nothing worked but this powder we got for about 2 quid in savers.

I've been following the plan for over a year now, and the eczema goes away when i apply the cream. Then after a few weeks the eczema comes back.

This is pretty typical. You won't cure it, you're managing the symptoms.

Talk it through with your consultant. I have. Ours said that at the frequency we were using it, she wasn't worried about adverse effects. Apparently it's more of a problem when puberty hits anyway. We use Elocon fairly frequently, probably once a week on average.

Managing basic hydration is very important for us. We rely this and I find it head and shoulders above anything I've ever used

https://www.medino.com/product/ennogen-healthcare-fifty-50-liquid-paraffin-ointment-500g

I have tried Fifty:50 too. It's better than most liquid paraffins, but not the best for my skin. I had full allergy screens via hospital dermatology, and biopsies and nada.

My son had eczema at the same age, and did grow out of it after a year. I found the water-based creams useless and made it worse. Oileutem added to bathwater and used instead of soap was a great help. Also epiderm emollient (basically vaseline!). Using steroid cream to bring an outbreak under control, combined with regular use of oileutem and epiderm. Cut back on bathing from daily to 2-3 times a week, and switch to non-biological washing powders. Hope this helps!

YES to all of this!!! My DS had severe eczema from around 8 months, he had sores all over his arms and legs, it was horrific. I spent weeks going back to the GP for them to give me cream that I was only allowed to use for 5 days! Needless to say, it didn’t work
I ended up taking him to a private consultant for allergies, he took one look at him and said it wasn’t an allergy rash (they tested him anyway) and he gave me a steroid cream plus emollients to use for 8 weeks which worked
As a side note, DS who is now 5 has been diagnosed with Asthma and this tends to go hand in hand with eczema, not sure if it’s worth mentioning but his skin is still very sensitive and I can only use sensitive washing powder etc
hope you can get this resolved

I find oilatum bath formula really helps mine and so does the cream. Child's farm extra sensitive cream also really helps, try and avoid frequent baths too and when she does have one limit it to 5 mins tops and moisturise before. Try putting bandages on it over night so she can't scratch it in her sleep - it's good to air it but worse to scratch it. If the steroids aren't helping I would also be thinking it could be diet related. I have to use fairy non bio wash stuff but my mum says when I was younger Daz was the only one I didn't react too. Also check clothing - cotton is the best for me

Bananas and tomatoes, and tomato based foods really aggravated my son's eczema when he was a baby...worth trying to cut some things out for a little while to see if it makes a difference

Make sure you’re washing bed clothes at a high enough temperature to kill off any bacteria. (Higher than 40 degrees). Some eczema is an allergic reaction to bed mites and their faeces.

Thank you all for your replies and advise. I wash dc's bedding at 60 degrees and always use Non Bio, and most clothes are cotton. We only have a shower, so can't use Oilatum bath, but I did use Oilatum shower for ages as didn't have a better alternative , but consultant told me to change to QV wash instead, so that's what we are using now.
@thereisnorightanswer Dc's been diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis. Private consultant prescribed Elocon. When it got infected and gp didn't do anything about it , the Consultant also prescribed Fucibet (not sure if I've spelt it correctly), but now DC is only using Elocon to calm flare ups and maintain.
@Holyjinglebells I've heard that bananas and tomatoes can aggravate eczema too. DC doesn't really like bananas so very rarely has them. DC loves tomatoes but I only started giving it since when they were about 3 ish, but DC has been having eczema well before that. Even so I hardly give tomato really. But thank you so much for the tip.

Atoderm shower oil might work for you. Mine was diagnosed as AD too, and I still use it. A litre bottle is under £20 from Boots.

Balmonds is another cream you can try if it's not been mentioned already.

The inventor's kid had eczema.

It worked on my son but his was not as bad as yours. Really hope you find a solution though.

One thing to note when using steroids and emollient, make sure to apply the steroid first. If you apply emollient first it works like a barrier and the steroid isn't as well absorbed.

Continue to apply the emollient even when skin is looking good, this isn't just for flair ups but continuing skin care.

The hydrocortisone is quite a mild steroid, sometimes a short course of something more potent to get things under control can be required. This should be something well within your GPs remit to treat, referring to dermatology if persisting failure.