Help us with the ever expanding eczema!

[NotJustKangaskhan]

My DD2 has had mild eczema since she was a month or so old. Just a few small patches behind her knees and a patch on her back which didn't seem to bother her and we cared for with cream when they became really dry.

Over the last month or so, it's been spreading rapidly. It is now covering the backs of her legs from the knees down to around her ankles, in her elbows, and her neck is covered. Today, it spread to her cheeks and around one eye. Today she is 18 months old.

When it started, we got a tube cream at the baby clinic which was magic and made it go away over night, so this week we went back and now she has a proper prescription giant tub of the stuff. But since then, it hasn't appeared to help much (the skin is slightly softer, but still really red) and it seems to be spreading faster (her neck had a small patch before, now it's covered in two large bright red bands). She looks so uncomfortable that my husband took her to talk to the pharamcist (as we can't see anyone til next Monday) who said to keep using the cream and see if it can be changed on Monday. The cream we currently have is Diprobase cream (I can't remember the name of the first tube).

Does anyone have any experience with quickly expanding and worsening eczema? I can't find any reason for it - we haven't changed laundry detergent nor the kids toiletries or anything else that I can think of that would affect this. She looks so uncomfortable (though she doesn't seem bothered by it most of the time, she has a very jolly personality, but since it's happened, she's not slept as well).

Any advice to help her feel better would be most appreciated!

Hi my daughter 2.5 has excema on her chest. I use diprobase, piriton to help her sleep and i have just got a stronger steroid cream today called Eumovate which is stronger than the last one. I use oilatum in the bath but it gets very slippy. The piriton seems to help the most. I will let you know if the new cream works. One of the mams tonight told me she used a bar of pure coconut oil which eased his

The diprobase is just an emoliant but doesnt seem to make it better it just keeps it moisturised. All the above you can get on repeat perscription.

Doublebass is the mosituriser that is magic for us. But piriton does solve the issue.

strawberrycake - nothing solves the eczema issue. Piriton just knocks em out for a few hours.
NotJustKangaskhan The key to eczema management is to keep the skin moisturised. This can involve a major investment in time and energy, but it is the only thing that really helps. If you are given steroid creams - fgs use them - don't dibby dabby a little bit cos they might be harmful. Use as prescribed and don't stop when it looks better - the skin needs quite a few days to regrow and stopping too soon really negates the treatment: you'll be back to square one within a few days.
Ask your GP to book a session with an eczema nurse - they can be really helpful. Also, try different moisturising creams - my ds turned out to be allergic to lanolin - a common ingredient. We use Epaderm, a bag of oats in the bath and steroids when needed. Good luck, if it turns out to be bad eczema you'll need it. Eczema Society have some good advice sheets.

Forgot to mention - ds severe eczema completely dominated family life from 4months (starting and spreading very suddenly) til he turned 9. But then it just started getting better on its own - now 13 and he manages it himself and rarely any problems. It can be very hard indeed to cope with, but there is a good statistical chance your child will, at some point, grow out of it. I guarantee you will never find out what 'caused' it - but with sensitised skin it is commonsense to avoid detergents, perfumes, soap, sweat etc that can definitely make it worse.

Hi depo, am interested in trying a bag of oats in the bath for my dd. Could you possibly give me a bit more info on this please? i.e. is it normal porridge oats, a cotton bag etc.

I use porridge oats- the large kind- not like ready brek! and put them in a muslin, tie it with an elastic band and run the tap through it as I run the bath.

Cream wise, Diprobase, double base and epaderm only worked for about a week or so.

My main stays are Gammaderm, which contains evening primrose oil and Aveeno, which is fab,it contains colloidal oats. We use this the most. When the skin is very red and itchy we use Manuka Honey cream, which stops the itch scratch cycle and prevents the eczema from becoming infected.

We used dermasilk leggings to go under DS's trousers, which reduced the itching considerably.

DS is now 6 and the eczema is much less severe now.

HTH

I found teething made DS eczema much worse. Or illness. Or stress.

Aveeno was a godsend for us. Nothing else helped.

HTH

Many thanks sleepysox, I'll try the oats tonight.

Another vote for aveeno. We apply it 6 times a day, in addition to a steroid cream morning and night when ds2's eczema is bad. 3 times a day otherwise. Keeping the skin moisturized is the only long term solution ime. We get the aveeno on prescription as it is expensive.