Eczema - at the end of my emollient-covered rope

[EssentialHummus]

DD is six months old and otherwise a happy little thing, but she's had eczema since she was two months ish and it's not improving despite my trying everything. Her body is now clear, more or less, after a course of hydrocortisone and plenty of daily Child's Farm, but her face is still very badly marked and (bewilderingly) will go from nearly clear/healthy looking to red and weepy - and back - in the course of hours.

If you have been through this, can you advise, please?

I've tried:
Diprobase
Doublebase
Oilatum + variations in the bath
Aveeno
Sudocrem
ZeroAQS
Hope's Relief
Dermol
Various non-bio washing powders
Fewer baths
Cutting out (my) dairy (BF)

...and probably more besides.

We've been to a dermatologist twice who feels we just need to do our best to manage things while she grows out of it, with Child's Farm and weekly/less hydrocortisone.

I have a vague sense of some things that I eat making it worse (like soy) but I can cut them out fully and the flare-ups carry on.

Help, please.

books - I’d like to but both GP and (private, fwiw) reckon it’s meaningless for under 1s, because of their ongoing development and the link between their immunity and BFing mum’s.

*private dermatologist, that is.

I'd concur about that Hummus. One of my DDs had allergy testing at 9mo that suggested that she was allergic to all sorts of things, including eggs, dairy and wheat!!! Luckily for us we knew she was fine eating eggs and wheat, or I can't imagine what her diet would have ended up looking like! But her immune system soon settled down and future tests were more informative. She is still severely allergic to dairy but luckily nothing else.

Go see David Atherton at great lemons street hospital. He sorted out my DS1’s awful eczema after months of trial and error on the nhs. He’s amazing.

Great ORMOND street, not great lemon street obviously

ilikebread that wasn't quite the point I was making but never mind. As I stated clearly I meant no offence to you and if almond oil cured your eczema thats fantastic, I am happy for you. As you stated to me If someone is allergic to nuts then you would have to be an idiot to put any sort of nut oil on them, obviously yes I agree with you there
The link I posted was about Professor Gideon Lack, a leading doctor involved in a study, who said: “My own view is that infants with inflammatory conditions should not be prescribed creams or ointments containing peanut or nut oils.
In brief it was believed the skin preparations containing nut oils could have been getting through the damaged skin of children with eczema and actually causing the nut allergies/rise in. I actually find this very interesting having a dd with a life threatening nut allergy. Its just one theory and thought I would share/highlight as when you have a dc in this situation you would do anything to know any theory's as to why or how it may be caused. Or what you could have done to prevent it.

I'm sorry I've not read any of the previous replies, and I'm sure it's already been said, but Lush's Dream Cream is amazing for eczema.

www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a19809123/lush-dream-lotion-eczema/

Have you tried this:

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/eczema-cure-baby-lush-cream-treatment-natural-skin-condition-mother-dorset-a8302581.html

ds is 7 now and has had eczema since birth. During the flare-ups the only thing that has worked is absolutely covering him in ultrabase (the really thick stuff in the tubs rather than the thinner stuff in the pump bottles) and then wrapping him in bandages. We also had to use stronger steroid cream (though I've forgotten the name now). As he's grown older his skin has improved quite a lot and he hasn't, touching wood, had a flare-up in over a year. We just use the pump bottle ultrabase at the moment to keep it at bay.

My dd has just been prescribed epimax cream as a moisturiser and a soap substitute...

Obviously can't comment on how good it is as it's the first day of using it, but anyone else tried it?

I would highly recommend pushing for allergy testing and looking at the NICE guidelines for testing, as severe eczema is a major indicator for food allergies.

DD had horrific eczema, raw and weeping, over her entire body, face and head. It often looked calmer on her face but would flare up hugely within a few hours. She was being treated at GOSH by a consultant dermatologist who had DD in the cycle of strong steroids, multiple antibiotics, daily antihistamines, anti-fungal creams, emollients 12 times a day, two baths a day and DD wore scratch sleeves 24/7 with no improvement in her eczema. The dermatologist and GP refused to refer her for allergy testing despite us asking many times. I was told it was just eczema and we should get on with it.

At 7 months a blood test finally showed DD had CMPA and skin prick tests then also showed further allergies to soya and egg. Once these were out of DDs and my diet, the eczema just went. It was shocking how a baby can go from looking like they've been severely burned, to having soft and normal skin in less than a month.

DD still has the odd patch of eczema, as do most of my family, but it clearly flares when she's been exposed to too much of one of her allergens as we slowly reintroduce them. We were lucky as DDs blood test for CMPA was done as part of a research trial to see if GPs should be referring more children with eczema for allergy testing, otherwise I dread to think how long we would have waited with DD suffering.

Hi op, my dd is just 3yo and we've battled with her eczema since she was tiny. Tried everything on your list and our magic combination (we're in Australia so not sure the brands are all available in uk pharmacies) is:

• QV bath oil
• QV cream
• Advantin ointment (not cream) to treat flare ups
• 2-3 bleach baths per week

Bleach baths have been pretty well researched here to kill off the hard to kick infections on the skin. Has to be really diluted obviously and not to touch face or to be ingested. See here www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Skin_infections_-_bleach_baths/

Other advice has been to do bath time 2 hours before bed, and to get really loose bed clothes to allow her skin to breathe at night.

Good luck and hope she grows out of it!