Eczema 6 month old...

[Tann1981]

Some help please anyone. My 6 month old DD started to get a few dry, rough patches on her thigh, took her to GP who confirmed eczema. Can anyone recommend any good remedies. Hoping to get it under control ASAP!!!

I used pure shea butter which was really good. Smells like a hamster's cage though.
Used to put aloe vera on first.

Aveeno was the best shop bought one I tried.

The blue Aveeno is brilliant for us

I have two kids with eczema and both showed symptoms from around 6 months. In my experience, it's about symptom control - getting rid of it doesn't actually work.

Time will probably sort it by the time they are 2.5 or 3. I know that may seem far away right now but most baby eczema tends to come and go, so it probably won't be a constant process.

Daily moisturising especially after a bath is the main thing. Use any simple Moisturiser, we swear by Cetraben. You should be able to get a prescription. Aveeno works great for some, for others it can make things worse. So maybe start with a small bottle and see how it goes.

Also, where is the eczema? If it's around the mouth and on hands, it could be triggered by saliva. My daughter had this. The only thing that worked was to put on a barrier cream to prevent saliva getting to the skin. Vaseline was perfect for this.

Check out the national eczema society website about good skin care for eczema skin. I found it really useful.

Also, do you have any idea what the triggers could be? It could be a food (dairy?) but more commonly it's something less clear cut, like a change in temperature etc.)

Oats.
I usually put a handful in an old pair of tights and tie them up. Then put them under the running water in the bath.
Sounds nuts but works.

The patches are on the upper thigh. Can't think of a thing that triggered it, although her dad has it.

What worked for my ds was a home made cream - a mixture of raw shea butter, coconut oil, and tea tree and lavender essential oils. I also stopped the daily baths. Now he gets a bath twice a week, a facecloth wash on the other days, and the cream as required. That was initially twice a day every day, now it's maybe once a fortnight. Definitely worth a try.

Dermol works in our house or aqueous cream. Put some on before washing and use it as a soap substitute. And agree - less washing is better than more washing as water dries skin out.

OP: my dh also has it, and I have asthma (the conditions can be linked if chronic), so it runs in our family too!

The thing with eczema is that if you ask 10 people what works, they will give you 10 different answer. A PP mentioned tea tree oil and not giving daily baths. That would make my kids' eczema worse, especially the tea tree oil. A herbalist once prescribed a cream that contained some peppermint oil, and ds had the worst flare ever after that.

Every skin is different.

The main thing is to cut out any soap, and maybe go with a very mild laundry Detergent. We use surcare, no fabric softener etc.

Don't panic though. Lots of babies have a little bit of eczema at some point, it's their skin getting used to the environment. It will probably just go away again by itself.

Moisturise it as much as possible with a neutral cream (cetraben, aveeno, double base...). Cut her nails if she's scratching.

We have also had good experiences with the la Roche posay range of creams, especially their Toleriane range. It's very pricy though. But like I said, everybody will tell you about the ONE cream that worked for them. good luck.

It's so true that different things work for different babies - Cetraben was awful for DDs skin.

Steroid cream. Only thing that sorted a bad flare up with mine.