Eczema at night - driving me out of my mind!

[Suzie81]

My 8 month old has eczema. We generally keep it under control with regular creams and occasional use of steroid cream. Most the time it doesn't look that bad, but the night time scratching is a constant issue that seems to disrupt his sleep.

We keep the room cool, we keep him moisturised, we have scratch sleeves... But he will often spend two hours a night going nuts, wiping his face and cheeks, where he gets it the worst.

Not only is it horrible to watch, it's destroying my mental health as I don't think I've slept more than 3 hours unbroken for the whole time.

Anyone been through this. Have a consultant referral for April, but I suspect they'll just fob me off.

Meant to be going back to work soon, and I am terrified as I don't know how I'll function.

What moisturisers do you use? If it's diprobase/zerobase it might be worth adding something greasier in like hydromol. Hydromol can also be used as a soap substitute, I'd also recommend covering him in it before a bath so the water doesn't get to his skin and continue to dry it out. Do you add anything to his bath water (oilatum etc)?
Is his skin broken or just dry? If broken the hospital may recommend a slightly stronger steroid to use very sparingly for a shorter time.

Eczema is truly miserable so I hope you find something that works soon.

Have you tried Piriton? It’s only on prescription at that age (my GP refused to prescribe it as they said babies couldn’t have it which isn’t true), we got it from my DS’s dermatologist to help him sleep.

Are you using the steroid cream enough? Don’t be scared of it. And how often are you moisturising? You have to slather it on regularly and use it at separate times from the steroid cream as it acts as a dilutent.