4-month-old with Eczema, any advice?

[Marabou]

So my 17-week-old DS was just "diagnosed" with Eczema (well, the GP just sort of said "yeah that looks like eczema..) and I was hoping to get some advice from people dealing with this condition. Firstly, should I press for a more thorough diagnosis?

So far DS just has some red, dry and itchy patches on his face and a hint of dry skin on his right knee, so it hasn't developed into more than that yet. How likely is it to spread and how severe might it get? The GP told me to buy him the Doublebase-cream, which I have now used for a day and it does seem to ease the itching a little bit, but I'm a bit concerned about the liquid paraffinum in it.. On the rest of his body I am using raw shea butter, which works wonders keeping his skin healthy, but the doctor didn't seem to know what this is (?) and just said to use the Doublebase-cream from now on. But somehow I thought it might be better to use natural creams if his skin is sensitive..

Also, DS is EBF and I was wondering if anything in my diet might have triggered this? The only thing I can really think of is peanut butter, which I have recently had on a daily basis, as I've developed some strange craving to it.. I never used to have it in pregnancy or before.. Myself or DH have no allergies, but DH has allergic asthma, which I've heard could have some relevance.

Would be most grateful for any comments!

My DS developed eczema at about 5 months. His Father also has eczema and asthma.
Using either oilatum or nothing at all in the bath helped as does the emollient cream Cetraben prescribed by the GP.

It is diffucult to know how much worse it will get, if at all but my DS did get worse when I started weaning him. I made sure I only introduced a new food once every three days to check for any reactions this does make weaning quite a long process though! He is now allergic to raw tomatoes but nothing else and is fine with nuts.
You could try cutting food groups out of your own diet to see if it improves anything.

Why are you worried about the liquid parrafin? I'm not sure how effective shea butter is for eczema but, often finding the most effective treatment is really just a case of trial and error and seeing what works best for your DS. It sound so far like a very mild case so fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse :)

Hi there and many thanks for your reply.

I'm sorry to hear about your DS, but good to hear you've narrowed it down to at least one culprit. Yes I really hope it doesn't get worse with my LO and was also thinking that I'll have to take care to introduce solids one food type at a time to see if anything causes an allergic reaction... I'm also hoping our family can move house before the humid and cold autumn weather starts, as we get mould in our flat and I've heard it can sometimes trigger various respiratory conditions as well as eczema.

Concerning cutting food groups out of my diet, I've now stopped eating peanuts and will see how that goes. I'm also lactose intolerant, so I generally have very little dairy. Although I don't think my intolerance would really affect him, as it is not the same as being allergic to milk protein.

I'm just a bit sceptical about the liquid paraffin, as I think it might clogg his pores and just aggrevate the problem in the long run. But well, let's see how it goes.

Good luck with your LO!

marabou. so many babies have a little bit of eczema which crops up and then disappears with no explanation. Keep hoping this is your case! I would recommend using the shea butter at least 4 times per day on the affected areas. If it is not improving after 4 or 5 days, then try something else. most treatments for eczema have an element of trial and error in them, and if you are not convinced about the idea of parrafin, then eliminate the things you would prefer to work first. The key is to apply really regularly, and to try something else if it's not helping. Remain observant, as if it's not under control it will spread, get infected and become a severe skin condition.

as to the causes, sometimes this can be really difficult to tell. there are so many things which are irritants. easy things to change are washing powders.... they can often be very aggravating. it's harder to deal with pets, dustmite and mould. ventilation helps! but those are things to explore in the long term.

it sounds like you are approaching this verycarefully.... your baby is very lucky!

all the best

My 6 month old developed this as well - she was given oilatum but that actually made it worse. My doc said each cream or oil is different for each baby - so she was given Aveeno oil for the bath (no soap - still at 12 months) and Aveeno cream morning and night and this did the trick - literally in three days! It's expensive though unless prescribed. Good luck

Have to say all prescribed creams were hopeless for my 2 who both have eczema (1 and 4yrs). A friend recommended aveeno cream (not prescribed at my docs sadly) which has been by far the best. I do have to resort to steroid creams when there are major flair ups but keeping ontop of the moisturising, using non bio washing powder, only cotton clothes and changing bedclothes regularly can help too. My DC2 developed eczema at 4 months too triggered by a virus. My DC1 had it from birth. So hard to say whether food plays a role and there is so little money poured into eczema research in this country the doc advice is always steroids, which is very frustrating as it treats the symptoms but not the root cause. I avoid cows milk which has seemed to add to flare ups in the past - perhaps when you move on from ebf you could try nannycare goats milk formula?
Good luck - infantile eczema is very often grown out of especially if the child isn't suffering from asthma too.

My DD's eczema was controlled by cutting out all washing powder, soaps, shampoo and bubble bath. We wash her stuff with soap nuts now and if we use soap on her it is showered off immediately and she doesn't sit in soapy water ever. In terms of food triggers, well Actimel seemed to be a trigger as did too much dairy in general. We use E45 cream if she has a flare up now as the prescription ones we had were useless.