To expect someone to be able to help my 2yo 'eczema' skin- pic

[MrsP2015]

Firstly this thread isn't in place of medical advice. We see the GP's weekly atm and 8 weeks, 6 GP's none have helped. I'm on the waiting list for a specialist appointment.

Until then I'm hoping someone may be able to help.

I was told this was eczema when it was dry patches but around 8-10 weeks ago the spots started, the odd 2 or 3 on each arm has now turned to this. Spots everywhere.

It's heartbreaking I don't know what to do any more to help my baby.

So far I've tried numerous creams over counter and prescribed (inc hydrocortisone).
More baths/ less baths
New washing liquid/ anti bac washer stuff
Different clothing materials
Dressing warmer/ cooler
Anti histamines
Diet changes
Heating on/ heating off
Clothes air dried/ tumble dried
Avoiding homes with animals
Avoiding public places

Nothing made a difference and I'm at a loss and feeling so bad for my child.

Any suggestions or advice appreciated as it could be something I could fix now.

Before this happened there was never an issue with allergies or skin- nothing.

Cutting out dairy has helped both my kids. I'm lactose intolerant, as is my DD, and now we have no dairy. DD13 no longer needs her creams and I have a much better complexion; no spots, no dry and dehydrated skin. Dairy is usually the first recommendation for eczema so I'm surprised your GP has dismissed it!

Echoing others who have said Childs Farm is great. Have seen this help others and used it myself for psoriasis, which it cleared up completely. And it's recommended for baby skin.
You can get it in Boots for around a fiver.

Good luck at gp. Just to add it was oral antibiotics my dd had, not cream.

Not RTFT so prob been mentioned, but when cutting out dairy (a common one with eczema) and soy, it takes around 6 weeks to properly see the effect.

Our GP referred us to a specialist eczema nurse team who mostly helped. That said the first one suggested getting rid of our cat which wasn't a trigger as it was worse at nursery! They were more up to date on which creams and how to use them. They went through a variety of things.
What worked was avoiding perfumed laundry products-Surcare and Simply Pure. Not being afraid to use the steroid creams to get it under control. We found the heavy greasy creams made it worse so switched to lighter ones. I can't remember all the advise as DD has more or less grown out of it. We're just cautious with things now and occasionally she has small flare ups.
Funny with shampoos and and conditioners she can use my John Frieda ones with no reaction but ones supposedly for sensitive skin/kids cause a reaction. Personally I don't rate Child's Farm stuff at all so avoid it!

Moo Goo scalp cream was a life saver for my eczema! It is milk based though, so might be worth waiting to try if you're going to trial going dairy-free.

I believe the company may send you a free sample if you contact them - or they do small travel kits of a few of their items.

My dad had really bad eczema in patches when he was tiny. Nothing helped it - creams made it worse (although aveeno soothes it temporarily.) was eventually referred to a specialist and it was viral ( he said it was related to the chicken pox virus I think) we got antivirals and it cleared up straight away and never returned. Gp never picked it up and it was horrible for weeks before we got the referral. His was just in one patch though so it might not be the same or it might present differently in different kids.

Child’s farm cream cleared up my sons eczema so please don’t dismiss it without trying.

Hi I know a few people have said this but my first child was covered head to toe in it. He woke up one day when he was around 2 and it was gone. At the time we had access to a great dermatologist privately and she recommended Eucerin 10%. It’s available over the counter and it was great for breaking down the scaley itchy patches but nothing really got rid of it fully. The dermatologist told us at the time that about 90% of babies grow out of it before they are 2/3

Dermatitis herpetiformis?

We use Oilatum bath solution. You can get it from the chemist or mist most supermarkets. It works a treat for our son and clears it up in days. Granted he's never been as sore as your little one but might be worth a go if you've not tried it already.

My dd is also 2 and gets like this. I never ever use soap in her bath, she has a shallow warm bath every night before bed, the only time soap gets on her body is when I wash her hair which I do as little as I can because it can set her off. I use the blue Aveeno every single day, if I run out and miss a couple of days it starts up again. Her skin is perfect if I keep on top of it, but sometimes if she's poorly it breaks out a little so I apply extra cream. Even e45 and aqueous cream sets her off, and any washing powder that says colour on it sets it off terribly.

I know it sounds strange but Dd has an allergic reaction to a well known brand of chocolate bar.

She can eat any other chocolate bar with no side effects but if some one has given her this particular brand within the hour she is covered in red blotches all over her face and body.

From the ingredient list it doesn’t look different to any other brand but the reaction whenever she ate it was there for all to see.

Again GP says it is always a coincidence.

Ultimately we found you are on your own to find what causes the allergies.

I have always found medical people very dismissive and too quick to prescribe gloopy creams and hydrocortisone creams that you can’t really use long term but are a temporary fix.
No one I have found is willing to do anything to get to the bottom of it all

Another vote for lush dream cream

Both my dc had mild eczema as young children, so i was always careful with washing powders, bath foam etc

Years later as a teenager my dd suddenly got the eczema rash like your child's, all over her back, neck, ears and front, doctors prescribed the usual creams and baths but after 10 days nothing was working and it was getting worse. A friend bought her some dream cream from lush and she smothered herself in it, 24 hours later the rash was practically gone she just had some tiny scabs from the rash, within another 24 hours her skin was clear.

We now always have a tub of dream cream in the house, and use it immediately on any rashes or skin irritations, I really can't recommend it enough.

It doesn't look like eczema to me. Did was covered head to toe. Same problems you had. In the end we went to see Dr Fox in London. It was expensive. About £500 but he did an allergy test which we had to wait 6 months for on the NHS. And he prescribed a very strong steroid cream. It cleared up his whole eczema in a week. Now we only apply it at the start of the flare up and it stops it and the next day he is clear. We now use it maybe once a month. But if we didn't then he would be coming versed again. Don't be scared of steroid cream. If given the right one it will clear up the eczema and then used as soon as a flare up begins then you will hardlynuse it.

Dr fox said the GP says don't use it for more than a week... This is down to cost for them! The steroid cream that the GP will prescribe is actually very weak. He said the eczema does more sage than lying in a bath of steroid cream for a week. He is a specialist. Like I said expensive but was worth it. My son looked like his whole body had been dipped in boiled water. Bleeding scratching lived with socks in his hands even in the bath. Dr fox literally saved my son and our sanity. www.allergylondon.com/

Sometimes it can be a reaction to the prescribed creams, so switching to something innocuous like Child's Farm seems to work miracles...when in fact you are just actually removing the irritant. Having said that, dd and I are severely allergic to Child's Farm. The only cream I can use is Dermol, and the only cream she can use is Diprobase. Anything with high levels of liquid paraffin cause itching and burning skin.

And I can only use diprobase and the kids Dermol!!
If it is eczema you need a really good emollient. Applied every half an hour. Not every few hours. Liberally.
You may need something stronger than hydrocortisone to get it under control.

Forgot to say in my last reply that I began to reduce milk (doesn't really like anything else dairy but has about 10-12 oz of blue milk daily) with the idea of stopping it but the GP said no as at 2 years old a milk allergy would have shown by now... so I stopped that idea.

Allergies can appear suddenly at any age so your GP is wrong about that. I would cut out dairy and eggs (as they are both so common causes of allergy eczema) completely for minimum 2 weeks, then if the skin is improved choose one to try introducing.

For my daughter's eczema, the only topical thing that helped (after trying steroid cream and many different emollient creams) was protopic cream which is an immunesuppresent cream so similar to steroid creams but it doesn't thin the skin. I think at 2 years old it should be ok to use it (DD was prescribed at a year old but that was unusual)

Oh yeah I would try swapping the milk to oatly for a bit, helped my son and we only had to do it for a few months and then he seemed to grow out of the bother with milk. He was 1 1/2 when that started.

Oats tied in a muslin cloth or sock in the bath, aveeno baby moisturiser, switched ds from normal cows milk to oat milk, I use it in cooking, cereal as a drink on it's own, everything is oat milk. He still has dairy just not milk

we've had loads of success with tamanu balm from tropic and childs farm many moisturiser. we used them when prescribed creams weren't making any difference.

the tamanu balm although pricey is worth it as you only use a small amount - it's like vaseline!

Oh and if giving up dairy - do not substitute goat's milk or soy milk, the proteins are too close to cow's milk so children are often allergic to them too.

I really think you should switch to oat milk for a few weeks give vitamins too.there ate thousands of children with severe allergies to milk protein who avoid all dairy and are perfectly healthy, they cant have any mamalian milk including goat's or soya due to similarity of protein chain formation.
You will need to switch to either vitalite or pure margarine spreads as both are dairy free, give up all yogurts and forage frais type desserts, coconut collective do a nice range of yogurt and chocolate desserts without dairy, switch to vegan cheese, waitrose fo one, or sheese, or violife which do different varieties. Check all packs if cakes biscuits chocolates, chicken nuggets etc as most contain milk. Bourbon biscuits and rice crackers are your friend! A couple of weeks will give you an indication.
You wont notice a difference from reducing milk if hes still drinking a glass a day, you need to completely eliminate it..
Are there any other foods that are consumed regularly? Bread, specific cereals or pasta, tomatoes every day etc. Its important to bear this in mind of see if there is a particularly bad day and what has happened and been eaten the day it two before to find correlations.

Child’s farm grapefruit and tea tree oil (or something) moisturiser got rid of both my son and I’s awful eczema in about 2/3 days. Game changer after using horrible steroids

My son had some issues aeou d certain parts of his body. All kinds of theories over years but in the end diagnoses via a dermatologist at the hospital and it was psoriasis. He now has a special cream and it works well.