<sigh> So, the Boy's eczema is going beyond mild and the regime is not working. What next?

[PaschaAndCustard]

He's 16 months old. We've been using Hydromol twice a day all over and using it in the bath since he was 8 weeks old and its been fine - barely there at all, but its starting to spread, he now has several discoid patches on his tummy, legs, back and neck.

They don't look so bad until he has a bath or goes swimming which is why i've left it, hoping it was just a passing thing. The doc gave him some hydrocortisone for one patch a while ago so I've used that for a week as per instructions, but its really no better at all.

Its not causing him noticeable discomfort yet - he doesn't rake it up and its not bleeding but I just know its only a matter of time if I don't sort it out now.

What's the next step? What will the doc suggest using? And do oat baths really work?

I bypassed the GP and went to a skin specialist. Ask your HV to refer you. We had to try a few different options as our DD seemed allergic to some emolients but have cracked it now and do the same routine still even though she is now 7 (she had it at 4mths) and is practically clear. I never let her skin get dry so after swimming or a day at the beach it's oily bath and emolients. I only bath her every 2-3 days too as that is also recommended.

Good luck though as it is horrid and can be very distressing especially if it gets infected.

Thank you, it is horrid and its not even that bad yet. Might have to actually look up the HV then? Not even entirely sure where the clinics are

He does have the emollient on before and after swimming and straight after bath as well. I think its time to change though, its obviously not working well.

We've tried loads- epaderm, oilatum etc and the thing that worked best for us was Aveeno cream, it's available on prescription + over the counter. We use infaderm in the bath and only bathed twice a week when he was little and 3 times a week now he's bigger (7). The food stuffs that triggered the flare ups were acids in fruit- tomatoes and red fruits such as berries and cherries were the worst offenders.
HTH

Aveeno.

Dairy sets him off I know but he has minuscule amounts anyway.

My best mate uses oat baths with her two DDs (3 and 1.5), and they've been fine since. Her eldest was starting to get really raw looking patches on her back and even the hydocortisone the doc prescribed was making no difference.

Sure you can try it, it'll cost feck all - couple of handfuls of porridge oats in a popsock and run the bath water through it.

We've just moved onto Aveeno as well - and its working miracles at the the moment, but we seem to get improvements every time we change cream, its the long time improvements I need to see.
We've had several different emollients, and afaik, its just trying different ones til you find something that suits long term.
We were also prescribed some stronger steroid cream when the hydrocortisone wasn't shifting things.
Someone suggested Vaseline on the worst patches before swimming. That seems to be helping also.

Right. Oat bath ahoy tonight and a trip to boots to try some Aveeno tomorrow. Do people find the lotion or the cream better? And is it worth getting the baby colloidal bath sachets?

meant to say we also use manuka honey cream on patches that are about to get infected. It worked the same as hydrocortisone for us.
Manuka honey skin care cream about 1/2 the way down. White packaging, green labels:
www.manukahoney.co.uk/categoryexternal.html

Thanks Sleepy. at the price though!

You can get Aveeno prescribed - cream, and a bath oil, and/or bath sachets. Best thing I ever did.

Aveeno worked for us. I also used Canestan and/or hydrocortisone for the really bad patches in the folds (dd was a very very fat baby...you'd never know it now...she's as skinny as a rail). Try a shower instead of a bath...seemed to help for us. And as others said, don't bathe every day. Towel/sponge off the stinky bits in between and bathe twice a week. If you do swimming, obviously make sure to shower straight after (at the pool) and put aveeno on straight after while pores are still open with heat from shower.

it's a question of trial and error. you need to find out what works for you.

has your gp got access to a dermatoloty nurse? at my gp there is one who has a clinic every month. very helpfull.

Aveeno is good for treating symptoms but if I were you I'd be wanting to find the cause. Have you tried dietary elimination? Might not be a diet thing, but it might be. Cutting out dairy cured my son's terrible eczema.

Aveeno is great for maintenance - worked a treat for us. You can pick it up for £3 a bottle in semichem (£5-6 elsewhere) or get on prescription. My Ds grew out of his excema thankfully - his 5 now and at 16months had patches on his face and legs.

Don't bath too often either definately not a bath every day.

when you use the hydrocortizone cream, are you still putting the emollient over the top?

DD is under the hospital and they gave me a lesson on applying cream which I thought was really patronising at the time which was really helpful and I found out about layering cream on the bad patches and I was using no where near enough emollient

yes, normal emoillent (sp?) on top of the hydrocortisone, but let the HC cream absorb dry properly first.

I never know how long to leave it between hc and emollient. is a couple of minutes enough or should it be more like 10? I would love for someone to give me a masterclass TBH.

My son's eczema (which he grew out of at around three) was much improved by Aveeno bath oil, which is oat based, and Dermol moisturiser. This regime was recommended by a dermatologist. Good luck with finding something that helps, it's so distressing to see a little one scratching away.

I would leave it for about 5 min and try not to let the skn dry too much in this time.

We were told 20 minutes between the two.

Pascha - discoid excema is notoriously difficult to shift My dd had it for some time. Are they definitely discoid excema and not ringworm? My dd's was initially misdiagnosed as ringworm; quite similar but ringworm usually has a patch of unaffected skin in the middle if that makes sense.

yes aveeno cream and bath oil / body wash on prescription

yes yes yes to finding out the cause - we were told by allergy specialist that it is ALWAYS an allergy. My dd was tested (blood test) at 10 months and was allergic to egg and dust mites. We cut out egg (me too I was bf) and her skin was 90% better almost overnight. Before that she was covered - face / scalp etc etc and did not sleep well at all. Creams made no difference.

You need to push push push push you GP to refer for allergy tests .

Rather than trying lots of different things, I would insist on being referred to a specialist. Either a paediatrician (they will see it regularly and then refer you if necessary) or directly to a dermatologist.