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Original poster

Antihistamine for baby with eczema?

30 replies

Queenside · 20/04/2013 21:51

Does anybody have any experience of the use of antihistamine for babies with eczema? Our baby wakes up miserable trying scratch her eczema and it seems to be getting worse despite our use of emollients.

OP posts:
ilovepowerhoop · 20/04/2013 21:53

I would imagine you would need to get it prescribed as even piriton isnt for children under the age of 1

HelloBear · 20/04/2013 21:54

Talk to Gp about it. My DS has been prescribed antihistamines for his eczema but I really don't think it makes a significant difference. However it does make him a little drowsy which gives him and me some relief.

It's miserable I have sympathy for you.

Also the best thing we did was pushed for a referral to dermatologist.

ValiaH · 20/04/2013 21:56

Our daughter has antihistamines twice a day, she's 8 months old. She seems to get on better at night with them- she still scratches, but less so, and she definitely wakes up less in the night- she was waking up scratching and crying because of the itch. We've also found that certain foods trigger her eczema, so cutting them out has helped a lot too. One other thing- have you come across scratch sleeves? I found out about them on here, and they're wonderful- scratch mitts that can't fall off.

HelloBear · 20/04/2013 21:57

Oh and also get some scratch sleeves (amazon sells them) these made a huge difference to us. They stay on and are silk so cool on the skin.

Also how old is your Dd? Is she young enough to swaddle? I never swaddled my 1st dc but started to with DS and this is the other thing that made a massive difference, him physically not being able to itch.

HelloBear · 20/04/2013 21:58

Cross post!

TiredFeet · 20/04/2013 22:03

The Gp's fobbed me off by prescribing anti histamines for a while. To be honest if it is that bad (and I sympathise, ds was the same) then you need referral to dermatologist/ for allergy testing, and probably steroids. Allergy diagnosis and proper treatment transformed my son within weeks!
Scratchsleeves were also a life saver though and we still use them at night/ if he has a flare up

Anti histamines didn't seem to make much difference to ds sleep

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:03

yes.
we were first given them in order to take the itch away so that she wouldn't scratch while the cream/steroids worked.

for the first few nights it was amazing.
then it stopped "working"
we carried on with it when she was mega itchy.

anyway, long story, but it got that she would rub and scratch all night if she didn?t have it.
she git bigger and it stopped working so they gave us snother one with a bigger dose and said to use it twice a day whrn needed.
sometimes we need it twice but usually just once.

it's a total nightmare but she just gets so itchy :(

doesn't matter what creams we use or when we use steroid (sparingly).
the antihistamine is what keeps us sane

basically, it tells the body to calm down and chill. it stops the itching without affecting the cause.

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:05

Bear swaddling dd was like chaining an eel! Grin
she screams and screams when you try to restrain her.

Original poster
Queenside · 20/04/2013 22:06

Thanks for all of your advice. I will talk to our GP.

Has anybody food any major food triggers?

Thanks for the scratch sleeves suggestion. She's 8 months old and relies on her thumb to get her to sleep so I think that would cause a new problem. Also she uses her toe nails to scratch behind her knees!

OP posts:
UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:07

www.scratchsleeves.co.uk
please don't shop at amazon when scratch sleeves has their own website.
jeez.

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:09

hhhmmmm! bloody toe rubbing!
drives me mental!
even worse is she rubs while she's bfing, and therefore pulls my nipples to pieces! owwwwww
yy get gp to prescribe.

HelloBear · 20/04/2013 22:10

Argh too old for swaddlig! To be honest we now are facing the joy of weaning him of swaddling which is turning out to be a bit of a nightmare! So ignor that suggestion Grin

HelloBear · 20/04/2013 22:11

Ok unique calm down, I was only trying to help!

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:14

Grin not overreacting, just big anti-amazon.

ValiaH · 20/04/2013 22:15

Our food triggers are pretty instant- so if she has dairy, tomatoes or lemon she scratches almost instantly. Same goes for if I have any dairy as I'm still bf'ing her, and she gets a reaction through my milk. We've not been allergy tested yet though- doctor just said that as she seems to be having a reaction to take things out of her diet.

PeggyL · 20/04/2013 22:21

If you wanted something more natural, many people use our propolis cream which is excellent for eczema and psoriasis, especially for children, along with hand & face soap which i use in the bath with my two, far gentler on skin as the aloe vera in all the products make such a difference, especially to the little ones. Let me know if you want more info x

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:21

dd must be allergic to both sleep and waking up then because that's when she scratches most. Wink
gp says it's the tired feeling and not knowing how to sleep.

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:22

have you got a link, please peggy ?

RawCoconutMacaroon · 20/04/2013 22:31

I assume you've changed all the typical household triggers and that's not making any difference?

Triggers for my dh and 2 of our dc include washing powders (we only use non-bio), fabric conditioner (we don't use any!), perfumed soap, shampoos etc ( we use mostly organic, un perfumed).

Also some creams which have lanolin in, really make ds1 flare - he is also allergic to some animals, brazil nuts and as a baby also to strawberries.

Food triggers - gluten/wheat and other grains are very inflammatory, milk and soya fairly common... An exclusion of anything you suspect for a few weeks followed by eating that food for several days (it may take several exposures to make the skin break out), could identify food causes, if there are any.

It can be quite hard to identify some triggers as there might be a delay of a day or two between eating and breaking out.

RawCoconutMacaroon · 20/04/2013 22:35

Oh op, the point of me mentioning ds1 being allergic to lanolin (but I forgot to get to the point!), is that its an ingredient in some creams - we were clarting it onto him, and actually making him worse!

UniqueAndAmazing · 20/04/2013 22:40

we still can't find out dd's trigger.
lanolin actually helped her.but it's expensive.

TiredFeet · 21/04/2013 07:14

Op my friend found their thumb sucking baby just sucks over the scratchsleeves

No way would I have worked out ds tiggers without specialist support and testing- he has so many allergies and some are instant reactions but some are delayed

MistyB · 21/04/2013 07:31

Petroleum in the emollients was a trigger for my DS, as well as wheat, dairy, sugar, peanuts and sesame. Everyone is different it seems but eliminating was the key. (still is when new things randomly crop up like toothpaste!)

PeggyL · 21/04/2013 10:35

Hi UniqueAndAmazing, here's the link, click on Enter Shop on the right hand side, got to Skincare and look at Propolis Creme, this is the cream that a lot of mummy's use on their kids for eczema, my friend bought one and put it on her DSs legs where eczema was really bad and by Tuesday, it had improved sooo much (and a little goes a LONG way!). I'd also recommend the Aloe Hand & Face Soap (under Personal Care), I use this in the shower and really helps my dry skin but also in the kids bath and is so much more gentle on their skin. Let me know if I can help any more or if you've any questions xx

www.alewis.myforever.biz/store

UniqueAndAmazing · 21/04/2013 21:53

thank you peggy I'll gave a browse :)