extreme eczema 3months old baby

[isitme1]

Ds2 is 3months.
He has really bad eczema which keeps flaring up.
Right now its red and angry like the childs cheeks on this link
link

Ive been to gp twice.
Once I was given steroid cream which helps slightly if used regularly which I was told not to use for longer than a week.
Next he was just given a mosituriser which is not as good as aveeno.
Im fairly new to all this as ds1 never had anything like this.
Can someone help please
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Hi there :O)

My little boy has had the same problem on and off since he was two weeks old. We tried all sorts of stuff for him but nothing seemed to work for very long and we just seemed to go round in circles. He's now 16 months and for the last four months we have been using Aveeno bath emoilient and a cream from the GP called Dermol lotion 500. Its been really good and (touch wood) apart from a very small patch on his arm its worked wonders. I only use Aveeno once a week in his bath. The rest of the time I just bath him in warm water and just let him sit in the shower with his toys, again no soap. I also found that switching to Persil non-bio was good and no fabric softener also has helped. As for his face I put Vaseline n in the morning and at night (or as the need arises). Sounds odd and it looks greasy but it soon soaks in and has calmed his face right down.

Hope your little one gets well soon

Lots of eczema sufferers only find the right products by trial and error - I don't know why, but some creams work better than others for different people. DS settled on oilatum junior bath additive plus Doublebase gel, whereas DD gets on best with Cetraben bath additive and cream. In both cases my HVs knew this and were happy to prescribe a few to try one after the other. Incidentally neither can use Diprobase because it inflames my hands, so I can't apply it to them.

Oh, and things which helped mine:
Cotton clothing and bedding
Fairy and Comfort in the wash
Not bathing daily if possible
Applying creams before, as well as after, bathing/ swimming
Wrapping up against cold weather (but without overheating)
Applying creams as often as possible when skin is sore, for example at every nappy change.

Hes just been prescribed the diprobase and its pretty crap. Thr aveeno works better but still not good enough.

I dont want to irritate his skin any more than it should be so dont bath him everyday.

Next thing to try is the aveeno bath stuff.
Hes on the steriod cream and he just keeps going to itch his face and because of that hes up at night knocking his dummy out trying to get to his face and then hes awake.

Will look into the whole cotton thing.
I also have an older ds who has SN feeding wise so as horrible as it is to say most of time is sorting his feeds out then sterilising everything.

Everything cotton? The labels should say what it is shouldn't it

Thanks x

Yep, the labels on clothes and bedding will say what the fabric is. Lots of baby bedding tends to be cotton, but polyester is common in fleece blankets or coverlets. We have one bamboo blanket which seems ok too.

Forgot to add scratch mitts at night to the list above - when DS was tiny someone (can't remember who) suggested putting socks on his hands instead of scratch mitts as they stay on better, worked for us!

Ive got him swaddled in a large fleece blanket. He is asleep atm so will leave him.
Will his clothes have a big impact in him if its just his face? He has the odd dry patch on his arm and knee butno wwhere near as bad as face.

X

Ps hes swaddled but the room is kept quiet cool too so he shouldn't get too warm
X

Hi isitme1,

I clicked on your link and my DS2 had dreadful eczema just like the baby's cheeks. What worked for us was . .

Scratchsleeves - mits with a sort of back bit so you put them on like a cardigan, and they don't come off. You can get them on a site called www.itchybaby.co.uk . There's lots of other good stuff on there too. (I quite often recommend it because it was really helpful to me, but don't own it, honestly!)

Epaderm - although agree with other posters it seems to be trial and error what works for each individual baby.

Oats in the bath (buy porridge oats, put a handful in a muslin and tie up with an elastic band. Put the bag in the bath and squeeze. At the end of the bath, squeeze out the bag and then wipe it gently over baby. It will be gooey) I agree with not bathing too often too.

We didn't use washing powder or softener but just those eco wash ball type things. I think we got them on little green earthlets site (not sure if it's still going) but you can probably get them anywhere.

Also we used a cream called Hope's Relief (again from itchy baby) which worked wonders for us, but I recently recommended it to a friend and she said it did nothing for her baby! It's very expensive so might not be worth trying.

Even waitrose baby bottom butter, which is £2 I think, worked a little in terms of keeping him moisturised, and not inflaming (think it is just solidified olive oil and camomile)

Definitely try and moisturise at least 3 times a day if you can manage it.

I hope some of this works. The good news for us is that, at 3.5, DS2 is 99% better now. He still gets dry, itchy skin, mostly when it's hot but it's completely manageable. I very much hope your DS2 grows out of it too.

Ds3 is 11 months and he's been having flare ups on and off since about 3 months.

We have betnovate, cetraben and dermol for the bath. Like someone up thread said, eczema remedies can be trial and error.

But plain water in the bath, no soaps.
A natural sponge rather than a flannel.
Cotton everything, clothes, blankets etc.
We cream ds3 sore patches 2-3 times a day. Moisturise him more if we're out in the cold.
We've found the cooler the room is the better, as long as ds3 is wrapped up warm, the cool air helps settle his skin if it's red and angry.
Non bio washing powder. And I've even just hot washed his things before now rather than using a washing powder.

Hope you find a remedy quickly.

Dermol helped here. When eczema flares I can "Dermol" DD every hour or two in the day. Slather it on! Avoid bathing too much at all. Rarely bathe and avoid bath stuff and bubbles. YY to cotton and keeping cool.

My dd suffered terrible eczema as a baby (probably worse than the child's cheeks in the picture). The best thing I did for her was to stop taking dairy and soya products (she was exclusively breastfed at that time).

Her skin improved dramatically after 4 - 6 weeks. The dermatologists were impressed as they initially told me not to bother with diet. I am so, so glad that I decided to cut off dairy and soya. It might not work for your ds, but please consider allergies as a possible cause.

Dd's skin is now so lovely. It is hard to imagine that I was once at total loss and despair over it.

DS had eczema too. All dairy triggered. He was formula fed and his flared up really badly at about 14 months we hen it tried to get him off formula and into cows milk. Took him to a paediatrician (we were living in Bulgaria) and she recommended no dairy. Worked a treat. Cut dairy out completely and it calmed down completely.

He woke this morning and both sides and eyelids and down 1side if neck as he was trying to itch it from 4am onwards.
I slapped lots of aveeno on but no avail.
Will have to use steriod cream.

X
Will dress him in cotton x

Calamine lotion may help a little to soothe the itching?

Hope you find a remedy for him soon

Hes dressed in 100% cotton.
Got window open a lil to keep room cool was a lil stuffy.
Hes swaddled so he cant touch his face.

Put the steriod on and then aveeno and hopefully should start to kick in.

Im worried it may be cmpi.
I started weaning about 2 weeks ago as he was very hungry having 8oz every 2hours. He was just not settled at all. So slowly introduced baby rice then fruit and veg. He was 15lb at 6 weeks. He had doubled his weight. Now last night I was at families house and sil has a 6month old baby and she gave ds a few spoons of baby yoghurt. I didn't stop her either. Feel terrible. He didn't come out in anything after and then a few hours later once id brought him home I put fire on and it got very warm in the living room and he went all red.
Ds1 was cmpi still might be but he has other gastric problems and food aversion so atm we are letting him eat what ever he wants which is very little. He had a biopsies done and one showed he was cmpi and one was fine so we will ge4 latest results in a few week.

Had a little cry this morning. I know eczema isn't life threatening but it is very uncomfortable and painful for ds2. I had a lot of trouble with ds1 and still do. A loy of worrying about him and knpw ds2. It's hard as now both my children are ill and as a mother its just so hard yo see both my babies suffer
X

What are you feeding him, my ds had exzema as a baby and I used non bio powders and comfort pure softner, smothered him in emulsifying ointment a couple of times a day then got the steroid cream when he was nearly 2 which helped but I couldn't use it long term, after a little research I discovered that cows milk might be contributing to it so I changed him to goats milk/yoghurt/cheese and his skin changed in 48 hours.

I'd definitely stop the baby rice and food. If nothing else, if you take them away it's one thing you can say it is or it isn't affecting his skin.

I know a few people who have started weaning at 4 and 5 months but 3 is far too early. Stick with the milk for now and see how he goes

I'm not having a go btw x

Hes in a routine of feeding now. Hes a big lad.
Hes settled and happy now rather than screaming because hes hungry.

His skin has settled a tiny bit with the steriod and aveeno on top. How many times a day can the steriod be used? Dr never said.
Will slap the aveeno on.

With regards to feeding will take ds to gp and see what he thinks. The heat might of aggravated it too. If he agrees we should trial then will stick to dairy free food and he will probably prescribe a different feed. Hes not always got bad skin. Sometimes it is settled. Could do with starting a food dairy in the mean time too to see if anything makes it worse?
I know 3months is early but for me the main thing is hes settled and now has 6bottles a day if he wakes at night which he doesn't normally.

Thanks x I know your not having a go x

We use the betnovate 2-3 times a day, about 10 mins after the moisturiser. We were told that the betnovate absorbs better after the cetraben has been applied.

But for no longer than 2 weeks on a flared up area.

And completely agree you need to do what's best for your lo

Hes got an appointment this evening so will see what they say.
This will be 3rd visit for this.
We've used
E45
Aqueous cream
Diprobase
The steroid
Aveeno
Oilinatum

Is it hydrocortisone you have? We found that rubbish.

Also bear in mind if you and others are snuggling your lo, if you have perfume on your neck area or perfumed creams etc that could irritate his face. Good luck later with the dr.

IME aqueous cream makes a good soap substitute (slather on skin then wash off immediately with water) but an extremely harsh moisturiser. I know other posters have said the same in the past too.

I might try the oats thing on DD later, actually! Never did try it on DS.

Yep thats the one he has.
He just wont stop going for his face!
It looks a lil crusty now
Going to have yo swaddle again.
Thats the only way I can stop hislm from itching
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