Eczema - looking for guidance

[Suzie81]

My 5 month old has struggled with eczema for about two months now. Came out of nowhere and quickly took over his whole torso and arms. Was very unhappy with all the usual scratching.

Doctor prescribed steroid based cream, and it was like a miracle - within 24 hours it had mostly gone, and after 48 hours there was essentially no evidence it had ever been there.

We've been off the steroid cream for about 4 days now, and sadly I can see it is returning. I'm trying various moisturisers to see what works, but does anyone have recommendations?

I'm thankful the steroid based cream worked so well, but obviously that's not a permanent fix.

Do they grow out of this? My older daughter never had it, so it's all new to me.

Aveeno. I use it for mine. There is a great baby range too. I use it on my 22 month old son, keeps his eczema at bay. Avoid steroid cream if you can, thins the skin.

My little girl suffered with this and I found aveno and the steroid cream from the doctors didn't work. My mum got me something called children's farm and it is genuinely amazing !!! It worked wonders I use it for the bath. Body wash. Shampoo and moisturiser. Not had any signs since. 18 months later xx

Is baby breast or bottle fed? Have you tried asking for allergy tests? My dd was covered in eczema from 3 months old, reacted to all prescribed creams, but was diagnosed with dairy and egg allergy so I cut these out of my diet (as I was breastfeeding) and her skin healed. She has recently been prescrubed epioens as her allergies are pretty severe. She has hardly had any flares in the past 4 years since being dairy/egg free.

Agree with checking for allergies.

Mines had it over her whole body but not her face and was dairy allergy.

My son was terrible with it. Averno was the best moisturiser. God, the poor baby was wretched with it.
I think he was allergic to the cat at his childminders. He used to bleed in the folds of his elbows and knees.
He grew out of it and very rarely has anything these days. I think he was fairly ok by the time he started school. He’s 17 now. Sometimes in summer his legs get dry with being out in shorts, swimming etc, but nothing like what he suffered as a baby.

Aveeno fab here as well!

Definitely an allergy, possibly dairy? You could also look into other foods/ laundry detergents/dust/bath soaps/fabrics/pets etc? They could all be a factor. Keep his skin moisturised as dry skin makes eczema worse. Does he have asthma? Often babies do grow out of them as they get older though..

I did moisturiser every time I changed his nappy, if that helps. It just worked as a routine as his legs were out and it was frequent enough.

Moisturise twice daily, don’t use any soaps or shampoos where possible and avoid daily baths in favour of a good wash. HTH

If its returning so soon after stopping a course of steroids, you need a stronger steroid cream. Don't be afraid of steroids, used properly they are a cornerstone of eczema treatment. Its like fire - you need to put it out properly else it will keep burning.

Our experience is very similar to Hatch's - dairy and egg allergy. Truly horrific at its worst but DD is 13m now and i can't remember the last time she flared.