To find eczema one of the hardest things about parenting

[YukoandHiro]

Honestly my daughter has a lot going on including asthma and food allergies but I honestly find the hardest thing her eczema.
For a long time it was under control but in the last fortnight or so it's gone absolutely wild again. She's 2.5 now and it's not going anywhere.... I'm so depressed about it. She's been on steroid cream most of her life. Every time she flares I feel like I've failed her somehow. It's hard because now she's at nursery part time they haven't the time to
Moisturise her head to toe every hour like I could at home - but I'm pretty sure that's not the only reason for the flare. I've no idea where it's suddenly come from 🙁
Anyway that's it really. It sucks and I'm out of ideas. Seeing her derm on Friday but just fed up of this cycle. Please don't say child's farm - that made things 100 times worse

[BeardyButton]

@Allegorical have you heard of dr Aron? Pls have a look at the guardian article i linked earlier.
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/05/daughter-eczema-dr-aron

I torally agree w you. We were caught in a horrible spiral of elocon step up step down, FLARE, infection, hospitalisation. I mean honestly. And people would tell me 'have you tried....'. It would make me scream. Like, ya. Have a look at my baby - open sores, top to toe red and bloody, but I slather any old crap on him, ignoring his howls of pain....
OP - if you are anything like me, you will be too tired and traumatised to believe this. But! You will find a way through this. You are doing an amazing job. Be kind to yourself.
Pls do have a look at Aron. Its not for everyone. It is basically admitting defeat. There is no miracle cure for some. Childsfarm isnt going to cut it. Aron is a managed way of using steroid and anti bac longterm. For us.... The benfits outweighed the risks.

[Allegorical]

Beardy I have heard of Dr Aron it and did consider it. I can see how it would work. I do think it’s the bacterial blooms on the skin that lead to flare ups. But we have got to a point now at age 6 where the eczema is not as severe. And it is well managed.
If it was a lot worse we would consider but he has been on a lot of courses of antibiotics in his short life and wanted to avoid if we can.
One think that has helped avoid the flare up is Dermol 600. Unlike other Bath emmoliants it contains Benzalkonium chloride which is an antimicrobial. We were prescribed by his consultant but the gp banned prescriptions for all bath emmoliants. So we stopped using for a while and he flared up massively. We know buy privately and I believe it keeps the flare ups at bay. It on I would only reccomend going to a dr before trying stuff.

[Sic99]

Hi there, i felt my DD had difficult start, felt different to friends and hated all the treatments. Sleepless nights. Uncomfortable. Stupid comments from strangers asking what was wrong with her skin ( in front of her!!). But as a result, ( she is 8 now) i feel she is quite a resilient little thing! Much more so than her sister. Which i put down to having to put up with all of this. And basically accept and get on with it. Sending you all my sympathies and 100% with you on how it's hard, and the stress is vvv underrated.

[YukoandHiro]

@Sic99 that's a really good perspective on things - I do wonder about how all this is affecting her, but didn't really think about the positives. Thank you!

[YukoandHiro]

@Allegorical we use dermol 500 in the bath. What's the difference with 600? And do you use dermol cream and an emollient too?

[Allegorical]

Use 600 in the bath - Its liquid like oilatum. I buy online. We do get a prescription from the Dermatologist when we go but gps refuse to pay. So infuriating. All because of one study that said bath emmolients weren’t effective. The fact this has an anti microbial ingredient is lost on them. Dermol 500 is a soap substitute. He has that on the sinks to wash his hands ( also has one in school). I did read this should t be used as a cream, should be washed off, not left on the skin.

[Allegorical]

dermol 500 can be used all over the body if you then wash it off in the bath so can be used instead of 600 but it is such a faff and ds hates it. And yes use a separate emmoliant. We were on cetraban but got moved to etcetera which is a cheap substitute but it does the job. We use an ointment such as hydromol or epaderm if he gets particularly dry.

[Allegorical]

I would also add that eczema has made him super hardy. The boy does not feel pain!!

[Lillyhatesjaz]

I may be out of date with this but I think that your child may be entitled to DLA if the eczema is really bad.

[UnderHisEyeBall]

There was a study done a while back showing families with a child with severe eczema experienced as much stress as families a child who had type 1 diabetes over a period of a couple of years. Yanbu.

[YukoandHiro]

Thank you @Allegorical I will speak to the derm team about these alternatives. At the moment we just use plain water and dermol 500 as body wash and shampoo

[YukoandHiro]

@UnderHisEyeBall I can well believe it. I can't believe the toll it's taken on my mental health

[Nemesia]

Something you said about your house being damp rang a bell. Apparently dust mites survive/ thrive in high humidity so your dehumidifier might actually be needed more not less. I think the ideal is to get your room below 50% humidity to kill them off. Of course this only matters if she is reacting to the dust mites!

[Pumperthepumper]

So much of eczema is trial and error, it’s brutal. Mine is triggered by a sharp change in temperature, antibacterial anything and scented candles. A flare up can last weeks and I can try everything and it won’t shift, until it suddenly disappears on its own. I’ve had infections in both my hands from open eczema and had to take antibiotics. My kids have so far avoided it, aside from the odd patch. It’s grim and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, and I’m sorry your daughter is suffering. I think you just have to keep trying different things and see what happens - dream cream and child’s farm made me flare up. Aveno keeps it mostly under control but doesn’t stop flare ups and is useless when a flare up happens.

[LoadsaBlusher]

My son was so bad when he was small we had to swaddle him to stop him scratching
He had prescription, diprobase creams etc
The only thing that brought relief was Aveeno
It’s oat based
Initially I paid for it and bought it and lathered him in it but in Scotland we can get it on prescription so it helped loads to get it for free

Instant relief within the first three days

He is much older now
Aveeno helps

[Lostalot]

Its a nightmare! I won't suggest anything,you've probably tried it all. Only thing that helped significantly for us was time. It probably started to improve when she was 7.5, still has bad patches on knees and inner elbows, but its NOTHING compared to what it was. Sending you both good wishes xx

[woodymiller]

There was a dermatologist on This Morning last week talking about how much worse it can be in Winter and advocating vitamin D supplements. He also recommended products like Aveeno that have colloidal oatmeal

[LoadsaBlusher]

Yes
Time helps too
My son was worst from 6 months to 2 then it petered out to just affecting elbows and joints
I only notice flare ups now in winter with heating full bung and If I use different laundry products

Excema is so personal and different to each child / person though

Trial and error is how most parents come by their most successful outcomes

[YukoandHiro]

My husband really suffers from sudden temp changes in either direction, so I think that's what might have done it for her this time... it's odd that it's on her chest though, and it's not an exposed area. Maybe she got too hot there with the heating on?

[fairybaby]

As previous OP said, a trial and error approach with eczema is the best. My son's eczema would flare up if he eat sugar.

Eucerin Dry Skin Intensive 10% Urea Treatment Lotion worked well for us.

[YukoandHiro]

Ugh I'm feeling miserable this morning. At the appointment, the derm didn't want to change anything about our regime - so just keep going with our regular moisturiser and eumovate every night in flare areas. But we've been using the steroid every night for three weeks and it's spreading and getting worse. She's up v early this morning (as always) and when I got her out of bed I couldn't believe that it's got worse her again. Tempted not to use the steroid for a while to see what happens but really dont want to make things even worse for her

[olivehater]

That seems odd. Out dermatologist was always open to switching up our routine of things weren’t improving. He talked about “elocon weekends” to get on top of things. We never found that eumovate helped us much and usually wet up the ladder. If you aren’t happy I would change dermatologist. What area are you in? We ended up paying private to see dr Clayton in Salford. He ha a very good rep. We had a nearly two hour skin management lesson with his eczema nurse once we got onto his nhs clinic which really helped us as well.

[olivehater]

Ps name change fail, this is allegorical

[Mummadeeze]

We went to a workshop when our DD was young and they gave us a very simple routine that actually works (for us at least). After doing it for a while, we stopped using steroid cream for good. She is 11 now and still follows it as it flairs up again she doesn’t. I think it will be a life long routine to be honest. So, after her bath (which does have oilatum in it), whilst she is still damp, you have to smother her in 50/50 cream. It is like a thick, runnier version of Vaseline to look at but is literally made up of 50% soft parafin / liquid parafin and 50% ointment. It acts a barrier to keep the moisture from the bath in. And it works. She also puts it on the morning. It is greasy and gets on her clothes but it is a small price to pay. We didn’t believe something so simple would work after trying SO many other things, but it was a life changer. For anyone who hasn’t tried this routine, I really recommend you do.

[Mummadeeze]

We also avoid all other moisturisers or products full stop.