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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

severe eczema - 10 month old baby

57 replies

fluffydinosaur · 05/05/2020 10:40

hello, I realise this isn't AIBU but posting here for traffic.
my 10 month old baby has got severe eczema covering his face and arms (also some on legs and torso but not as severe). it started to develop when he was about 5 months old and has got gradually worse. Nothing is helping and we are desperate! we have tried hydrocortisone, euvomate, and fusidic acid for infected patches. he has dermol 600 in the bath and we've also tried oat baths. we moisturise religiously with epaderm ointment and aveeno. we are waiting for him to be allergy tested but none of this is running at the moment so likely to be a while before he can be referred. in the mean time he has never had dairy, eggs, nuts or fish. he is breastfed and I have small amounts of all of these in my diet although I did give up dairy for around 6 weeks to see if that made a difference - it didn't. please, if anyone has any experience of this, what worked?
thanks

OP posts:
Sosososotired · 05/05/2020 10:52

DS has dairy and egg allergy, and when he was little even tiny traces of either of these would trigger an allergic response. Egg was nasty rash on mouth, dairy was whole body awful eczema. Prior to allergy testing I wasn’t eating dairy or egg (was bf) and he wasn’t having these in his diet as I suspected these were his triggers. But I wasn’t nearly as careful as I could have been with cross contamination. Now we are an egg free house as he is so sensitive.

Have you tried a food diary? Maybe make a note of food that is being cooked in the house to see any potential cross contamination? Or taking his diet back to basics and introducing one food group at a time? I completely sympathise as it’s awful watching them suffer so much! Have you also thought it may not be food? Washing powder, pets, dust, mould are all common causes of eczema.

SkyDragon · 05/05/2020 11:01

We went through this so you gave my sympathies it's awful.
We took DS to a private paediatric dermatologist who advised us to use plenty of the steroid ointments to kill it, which we did, but the real breakthrough for us was when we ditched the prescribed emollients like epaderm and started using Aveeno. The emollients were just like throwing water on the desert, and made everything greasy, but oat based Aveeno was the only cream that seemed to moisturise deep down and keep working. His skin cleared up in days, and bar the occasional little flare (easily stopped with hydrocortisone) has been fine ever since (2 years plus). I just aveeno him in the morning and evening and it seems to keep his skin healthy. If I miss a day he immediately starts to feel dry to touch. It really is about keeping the skin healthy to prevent the flare.
Disclaimer that not all creams work the same on people so it might not work for you but I'd say it's worth a try.

Original poster
fluffydinosaur · 05/05/2020 12:10

thanks @Sosososotired we haven't tried a food diary so will give that a try. we haven't got any pets at the moment and hes not been in contact with any animals at all since lockdown so dont think it's that.we use fairy non bio washing powder which is supposed to be good for sensitive skin but maybe worth trying another.do you have any suggestions? try and keep the house as clean as possible but yes I guess dust is always a possibility...

OP posts:
Original poster
fluffydinosaur · 05/05/2020 12:12

@SkyDragon thanks- we do use aveeno. I tend to alternate between that and the greasy stuff during the day but neither seems to help very much unfortunately

OP posts:
FurryCat1978 · 05/05/2020 12:18

When my DD had similar experience (no allergies) I used MooGoo skin products, used a laundry additive for antibacterial cleaning, started her on probiotics (biokult from boots - adult capsules 1/2 dose) and after a couple of weeks the flare ups lessened until they were gone completely. Took three months probably of quite intensive treatment for skin to heal. Now she’s just on probiotics and Aveeno moisturiser. Like pp said, the emollients made it worse. Avoid anything with petroleum and sodium laureth sulphate. Good luck with the allergy tests and hope LO gets better soon.

Fromthebirdsnest · 05/05/2020 12:48

Child's farm is brilliant, I would seriously consider cutting out dairy and eggs as they are allergens that can cause skin problems xxx

HelloItsmeAgain1 · 05/05/2020 13:05

Very similar issue here but we were told to avoid aveeno as it can cause allergies and use cetraban instead. Can you give that a go? I'd keep pushing it. Also how are his nappies?

Boringnamechanging · 05/05/2020 13:11

Cetraben cream

Eliminate dairy eggs etc from your diet if you are breastfeeding and see if that makes a difference. If it does add one back in at a time.

Zigz · 05/05/2020 13:15

I second considering other sources of allergies. Have just had an awful few months with DP's eczema, so bad he couldn't sleep etc. and tried all kinds of creams. Finally we found the cause which was mould hidden under the carpets in half our flat! Fingers crossed you can find what's causing it

LouHotel · 05/05/2020 13:16

Hi OP my middle girl had terrible eczema, any over the counter moisturisers like Aveeno just irritated her skin further.

Our GP prescribed her 'Doublebase Gel' which is an intense moisturiser - it cleared her up completely and works like magic anytime she has a flare up. You can get it from Amazon but is expensive in comparison to others but a 500g tub has lasted us a year. It's a clear tub with a purple base.

Summerofloaf · 05/05/2020 13:24

At least most eczema resolves itself after 1st year or two so there’s that.

GPs I know swear by good old Oilatum cream. On prescription.

Staysexyanddontgetmurdered · 05/05/2020 13:35

You are literally describing my life with my 9 month old daughter. We have tried all the creams you have and the only thing to really do much is the steroid creams. We use Zeroveen to moisturise which is pretty good.
Can I also suggest washing his clothes in no detergent at all? That's what I do as I found fairy non-bio made my daughter's even worse. I just wash her stuff at 60° with no powder at all, it makes it hard to get off stains but it's just easier that way.
We have just been told our appointment with he allergy specialist has come through and has been booked for June but it's a phone appointment. Not sure how that will work.
Does your son sleep badly with itching? I put socks on my daughter's hands and give her (presrcibed) piraton when it's really bad

SarahTancredi · 05/05/2020 13:36

Do you replace dairy with soya?

50 percent of babies with dairy allergy react to soya too as the proteins are similar so if you are dairy free it's best to also be soya free until you can establish soya isnt a trigger?

OrwenOrdduOrgoch · 05/05/2020 13:43

Lush Dream Cream was the only thing that worked for us.

But if it is really red and sore it might need an antibiotic cream to deal with that first. (I am not a doctor)

OrwenOrdduOrgoch · 05/05/2020 13:45

Also look into excess clothing (it is really expensive but does help)

What washing powder do you use? The only one I can use is bold.

OrwenOrdduOrgoch · 05/05/2020 13:48

Eczema clothing not excess!

Sillybillypoopoomummy · 05/05/2020 13:52

OK - DS had severe eczema from when he was born over all his body - he is allergic to 'all' mainstream moisturisers such as cetraben, epaderm etc. Childs Farm positively burnt him. All soaps are out as are all normal laundery detergents - he is allergic to everything biological and also soap nuts, surcare, ecover etc. Basically everything for sensitive skin is death.

The things that have worked are aquaphor, salcura body wash and making all our own laundry detergent that involves grated goats milk or baby castille soap, washing soda and borax substitute (the recipe from 'ASonomaGarden but with better soap). Together with the addition of mindlynx high strength probiotics - the detergent caused a massive change in 2 weeks.

Good luck!

CoconutsHaveWaterInThem · 05/05/2020 15:18

I'm in Australia so not sure if you have it but my baby is 6 months old and has recently had a flare up. I used QV baby moisturiser and it calmed down overnight and after 2 days the redness went away. I have also heard Vaseline works really well.

Original poster
fluffydinosaur · 05/05/2020 16:11

thanks @furrycat - which moogoo cream did you use? I will try that, and also look into the biokult. is that ok for babies?

OP posts:
MrsLully · 05/05/2020 16:15

Eczema is horrible and should be illegal Sad
Mi wee one got a horrible rash when she was five months old and after trying ALL the creams you can possibly imagine I saw a poster on here on an old conversation that for them the problem was mold. We started using Bio detergent (the good stuff that's supposed to be bad) and washed all her clothes at 60 degrees. The rash was gone within a few days.
Now we are struggling to get rid of a fungal nappy rash that is the stuff of nightmare. It never ends Blush
I hope your little one gets better soon!

BammBamm · 05/05/2020 16:20

I was about to say removing dairy might gel but you've tried this. My DS was like this and I cut it from my diet when I was breastfeeding and it helped massively. He was extremely sensitive to washing powder and even a quick cuddle with someone who had used bio washing powder would make his skin so sore.
Have you tried ecoegg?
He is 6 now and his skin is absolutely fine. DD still struggles at 4 but it's manageable with mid strength steroid and aveeno.

Maryward · 05/05/2020 16:51

Hi, my son had terrible eczema as a baby. I got so fed up with nothing working & wrapping him in all sorts of ointment etc so I only used water to bathe him, used cotton wool & warm water for nappy changes & tiny amount of bepanthen ointment. Used huggies as pampers made him rashy. Only used Lidl non biological washing powder, fairy etc set his rash off. Only wore cotton clothing. Used to feed him goat’s milk & rice milk with potatoes mashed in. Thought it would never go! Anyhow it all cleared up by the time he was about 14 months old 🙂He was diagnosed with severe urinary reflux & had an operation at 11 months old. Wonder could that be something to check also? He is allergic to lots of food -tree nuts, beans, wheat etc. But he wasn’t tested until older, was always very fussy eater.He eats a very plain diet still & is a healthy teenager. Gets red eyes & dry hands, that’s all. Good luck

Original poster
fluffydinosaur · 05/05/2020 16:59

ah just seen all the other responses - thanks everyone, will try some of those. he doesnt have soya either and I dont consciously have it in my diet although couldbe an added ingredient as I dont check all labels. I've tried happy sleepsuits which didn't seem to make any difference,but that might be because it is worst on his face. his sleep is terrible because he is always scratching and waking himself up.he does have piriton on prescription

OP posts:
berryhead2013 · 05/05/2020 20:29

We used qv cream during the day and hydromol at night with skinneez vests and bottoms and steroids for bad patches
Don't know if you have been told this but it's important to taper down the steroid cream so once the affected area has cleared apply every other day for a week as the skin underneath also has to heal

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