Eczema

[Lottielou83]

Hi all.
DD10 mths has been suffering from such bad eczema head to toe, we've tried numerous creams for the doctors which none seem to work. was hoping that some of you lovely ladies might have some other ideas or secrets to help. I'm dreading the warmer months as her skin is so red and sore, whenever her legs are exposed she claws at them with her her hands or even her feet.
She manages to take her legs out of her sleep suit at night just to get to them, so we tried pjs... She takes them off too. Her latest trick is to unpop her sleeping bag too...little monkey.
We use fairy non bio and wash anything new she has before she wears it. We don't use any soaps, just the creams to wash her in.
Any thoughts or advice, much welcome xxx

Different creams work for different people. I found Silcock's Base worked for my DD and Cotorpin Cream for when it was very bad. She is a teenager now and still has flare ups but rarely. She still uses only those two creams - everything else stings her. As a baby she gave up dairy but it had no effect. She gave it up again at 12 and this coincided with the best no-eczema years ever - but I say coincides because she has had terrible flare ups in the past two months and has not touched dairy. Although I am not so careful about non-bio these days so maybe that's it....

So please go back to the dr and keep going. As pps have said different things work for different people. The main thing is to get a flare under control which might need steroids or antiobiotic creams - if the skin is open it can get infected - and then keep the skin as moist as possible. You might also need to try diet. And take care of yourself too- it's tough getting used to all the extra faff on top of worrying about your baby being so uncomfortable.

Probiotics help my son's almost instantly ie within days. Recommended to friend who had similar results.

Whipped Shea butter was best emollient for us.

Nothing in the bath just plain water.

Also the advice at hosp was to monitor humidity of your home. We found low humidity (due to heating) was a major cause for DS. His skin loves summer!

Thanks for your replies...
When you say probiotics...as in yoghurts?

No I use usually a powder. With multiple strains. Yoghurt usually has a limited number of strains put in when you buy it in supermarket.

You can get Udos choice, Solaray, Biocare as powders. When older you can give chewable ones like Bioglan, KIDZProbio.

I mix the powder with something like breastmilk and give it on a spoon. DS did baby led warning so not enough of his food went in mouth but you can put it in a purée. Or a bottle of formula but not til its cool enough to drink.

Also a good omega supplement can help the skin's moisture. If you breastfeed you can take yourself or you can get kid's capsules that you burst and administer in food or drink.

Thanks Hun, will look into that. Will give anything a try.
Unfortunately DD decided to stop breastfeeding herself at 7 1/2 months...I was devastated but it was her time. So will opt for adding into her formula or milk.
Do u get it from Internet...sorry that sound dumb

1. Get some scratch sleeves - like a little bolero with silk mittens, I put them on first - then ds sleeping bag to keep them on. They can be crafty with their feet too, rubbing one foot against the other. Keep finger and toe nails as short as you can, leave no edge for them to scratch with.
2. steroid cream - go to the GP, demand referral, and don't be afraid, you need to get the bad bits sorted quickly, especially 1% hydrocortisone which you can slather them in without skin thinning worries.
3. try washing clothes in liquid soap flakes- my ds reacts to non-bio annoyingly.
4. there was recently a very good thread, in chat which I can't link to on my phone about eczema with a lot of good input. My revelation was Dead Sea salt baths every second night, best his skin has looked since he was 6 weeks old, worth a try as harmless.

No sorry the thread was in AIBU -something like: to give up hope finding an eczema cream that works

My son has eczema. He has since he was about a year old. He's 19 months now. He has been prescribed Emuvate steroid cream to use on the inflamed areas for 1 to 2 weeks. Then aveeno cream morning and night. He also has aveeno bath oil for bath and shower times. Works very well for him. It's all prescribed too so dr clearly has faith in it. Nothing in his diet was causing it and I use the same detergent in machine as I have done since he was born. No idea why it started. Hope you find something that works.

Aveeno worked quite well for my DD too.

I think 7/8 mo is not an uncommon time for a breastfeeding strike.

Boots usually sell the Biokult Infantis probiotic which is good but I find the sachets a little fiddly. My Tesco is big so it's sells Optibac but again sachets so expensive and fiddly. My Holland and Barret only sells chewable. So I get from Amazon or go into an independent health food store. Otherwise you can get adult capsules and shake a little out and put back together and use the rest next time. The Omega for kids should be easier to find I think.

I agree the laundry detergent can be a big issue. I use Waitrose own brand sensitive.

The Dead Sea salts sound like a good idea especially if you are in a hard water area. The hard water is not great for their skin.

Thank you for your responses ladies... Very informative.
We've tried all the Aveeno products but they seemed to flare it up. Had Cetraban, dermol, doublebase, aqueous, but none seem to work.
Will definitely get some probiotic and Dead Sea salt flakes for her bath. We're also going to get a humidifier for her room to see if that helps as read a lot on that too.

I would try some different washing powders too. Try Ecover - which is more pricey - but you dont need as much (of any powder) as the box states. There is another one whose name escapes me right now, think it starts with 's', Surcare or something like that. Usually side by side with Ecover in the supermarket aisle.

The sun might actually help your DCs skin a bit. Less constructing clothes and air may relieve symptoms. My dd2 has a good scratch when she gets up but after that she tends to forget about it. She had fairly bad eczema as a baby but mainly grew out of it. Aveeno and steroids helped enormously at the time. She tends to flare up or have generally rough feeling skin in the winter months, I think tights, central heating etc all play a part.

Tonight we have tried the Dead Sea salt in her bath...hoping to see an improvement over the next week

Sounds ridiculous but we had tried everything the "eczema nurse" had told us to ie: no baths only short showers, no soap, and the whole range of creams and lotions, washing powders etc she prescribed/recomended for my two ds but in the end the most effective was lush's dream cream and wash which has a high oat milk content and really seems to sooth and take the angry redness out of theirs although they do still have to apply twice a day to stand any chance of not having red weeping flair ups particularly when they are under stress.

How's it going Lottie? I would give the Dead Sea salt baths about 2 weeks or so to show any difference if it is going to work.

Another Dream cream fan here. It's only been 4 days but DS2's skin is looking way better.