To pull DS out of swimming because of his eczema flare up?

[Swimmingrashmum]

DS is doing swimming with school atm. Rather than one session a week over a set number of weeks, they’re going every day for a few weeks. His eczema was well managed with daily cream etc but now it’s gone through the roof. It’s flared up all over his shoulders and chest and is in places it’s never been before. He looks like he’s wearing a pink shirt made of eczema and he says it’s sore.

AIBU to pull him out of the rest of the sessions and get him weekly private lessons instead when his skin recovers?

Of course you should pull him out. Why is it a subject of AIBU?

Straight to the point, I like it! Tbh I think school make me feel pressured to obey sometimes (we had a letter telling us all children had to take part etc) and it makes me doubt myself.

Is it making it worse? Swimming pool water always makes mine better!
If it’s for aesthetic reasons I would say don’t, it’s okay to look different and still do fun things.
I feel for him though, it is truly awful and really played down in my opinion!

Yes, as someone with eczema, pull him out. It can be very painful and needs to be kept under control. If I went swimming everyday I'd be very sore.

Oh and be warned, if it's cropping up in new places it could go WILD. Mine popped up on my chest suddenly aged 17 (before then it was just arms and neck) and it took over my whole body. Took years to get it under control again.

I have eczema. If he has broken skin the very last thing he should be doing is getting in a swimming pool.

Pull him out. My DD doesn’t have eczema but got a nasty rash when we did a holiday swim camp so we stopped after day 3 and won’t book anything like that again. She has no issues when she goes for a weekly lesson plus I can make sure she gets a shower straight away afterwards which I find helps massively.

Yes, pull him out.
However, frequent swimming sorted both my kids skin, so don't totally rule out frequent swimming in the future when his skin has calmed down again.

He may need to swim in a situation where he can shower immediately afterwards.

You might also need to look into a pre-swim protective cream.

But yes, first try less frequent.

Yes, pull him out. Swimming definitely used to make my dd's eczema worse when she was little.

Is he getting a chance to shower after the school swimming sessions? My son had eczema and his class was told they had no time to shower and spent the rest of the day ‘chlorinated’. I asked if he could have a proper shower and his skin improved.

My dd gets horrendous sores on her hands and various patches when she swims especially in high chlorine pools.

She didn't swim at school at all for the last two school years they were there because her skin reacted after just one swim in the school
Pool which makes your eyes water just stood nearby so god knows what it's doing to their skin

I went in with her and told the head that she would not be swimming regardless of how they go on about it being a part of education and expected to take part and showed him the pics of her skin after ten mins in the school pool and he was mortified.

Not enough time to shower, get dried properly, and apply emollients (which make surfaces dangerously slippy).

School were already aware of severe eczema so accepted it when we said no to school swimming lessons.

I think the problem may well be the lack of shower. When ds's ezcema was bad he could go swimming but needed to immediately shower using dermol and then put his emollient on afterwards or he'd have a flare up like you describe your son having. If the school can't facilitate him having a shower and time to put his cream on I would pull him out.

Absolutely, if he’s having a flare up let him have a break, if he wants.I remember sometimes swimming would make my skin so painful- I think certain pools were worse than others but that was the 80’s. Every day with a flare up would be hellish. I agree about the showers- schools are sometimes a bit keen to get people out and don’t let kids get rid of the chlorine.

The chlorine in the pool water should help his eczema. They even recommend bleach baths for it. That's what helped my daughter's.

My DS's eczema used to be very badly affected by our local lido towards the end of the Summer season when the water hadn't been changed for weeks.

I was told by someone who I think knew what they were talking about, that public pools inevitably get contaminated with "substances" that react with the chlorine, and can cause severe problems for eczema sufferers. Poor DS looked as though he had been peeled and he now avoids chlorinated pools.

I am very sensitive to chlorine and if I go in a chlorinated pool my skin turns lobster red and sheds (like a sunburn) when I get out of the water. I went swimming in primary school once or twice before my parents (or possibly the teachers) decided it wasn’t a good idea.

Yes do pull him out. For many eczema sufferers, getting the skin wet for a prolonged period and in chlorinated water can cause severe irritation. Especially if he doesn't have the chance to immediately shower, emolliate, put steroid cream on etc afterwards.

Do try to take him swimming yourself though - some pools use 'ozone' (?) rather than chlorine and might be better.
Water activities can be such a big part of childhood and you don't want him to miss out completely.