Baby with problem skin

[PissedOffNeighbour22]

Has anyone found anything that significantly helps problem skin on a small baby? He's 5mths old and for the last 6wks or so his skin has got progressively worse.

He rubs and scratches at his skin constantly and won't leave it alone. The GP has been useless, just said keep his nails short etc and prescribed an ointment. The problem was that the ointment was out of stock and the chemist & GP wouldn't give anything else for a month. Finally got the doctor to re-prescribe but they didn't know what to prescribe so told me I needed to find out myself and they'd do another prescription. I'm not a pharmacist so spoke with one and they said it's the doctor's job to work it out, not theirs. So now I'm stuck again.

Its now spread to his arms and legs plus his chest is getting worse. His face is terrible as both cheeks are rubbed away and raw. We go through the same cycle every few days - he rubs it raw, it starts to heal, scabs over so we feel positive, then scab comes off and he rubs it raw again.

Had anyone found if it helps to bath more or less often? It always seems irritated after a bath (he's also been prescribed oilatum bath stuff). And does anyone have experience of a cream that works wonders? I've tried a few off the shelf creams and nothing has improved it much.

So definitely push for a referral if moisturisers aren’t helping!

skin reaction as a result of allergies often start at about 4 months as the protection they got in the womb is wearing off at about then.

It sounds like a massive excema flare up and in that age group it is almost certainly being driven by environmental or food allergies of both.

The most common food allergies are milk and soya. The most common environmental allergies are soaps and perfumes and dust mites

I would switch to a hypoallergenic formula asap, or cut all dairy and soya out of your diet. Switch to hypoallergenic detergents and soaps and moisturizers and put dust mite encasements on his mattress and dont let him on a sofa, cushion, carpet or duvet.

To treat the excema you probably need a steroid cream for his body and a weaker one for the face. Once it has healed over, you can hopefully switch to moisturisers only as long term steroid cream use isnt the best.

Use onsies without elastic (so no constrictions at the wrist or ankle) all the time and put baby socks over his hands and pull them up to his elbows so he cant get them off, that will cut down on the damage caused by scratching. You must use them while he sleeps too.

If any of his skin is oozing and pussy he may need antibiotics as that is a sign of bacterial infection

Cut baths to lukewarm water and only twice a week. Every evening grease him up with moisturisers like you are suncreaming him. Try eucerin and e45. You can also google puting the tiniest bit of bleach in his bath water as it will help to kill of any staph bacteria on his skin and reduce the chances of infection when his skin cracks. But PLEASE google for the exact quantity as if you use too much you will really harm him.

Go back to your useless GP and get a referral to a pediatric dermatologist and steroid cream to get on top of the immediate problem

this web site has a great summary

www.kidshealth.org.nz/when-how-use-steroid-creams-children-eczema

Kokoso coconut oil - it’s a miracle worker and so safe and natural. My little boy and my partner both have suffered with their skin and this is the only thing that clears it. I think on their insta page they share many testimonials with photos so worth a look. Wouldn’t use anything else on him now x

Yes, very common to suddenly develop an allergy and it's so common that would be the first thing I'd rule out, especially fabric softener.

Alongside the emollient creams scratch sleeves can be very helpful and the silk baby grows.

@NewtoHolland I'd never heard of scratch sleeves but they look really useful so I've ordered one to try. He can get mitts off in seconds so Ive been using socks which are making an absolute mess of his face when he rubs with them. Can't wait to receive these sleeves. Thank you for the tip 

@Moon12345 I'll put this on my list to look into. The name rings a bell so I must have seen it somewhere before.

@serafinarose Never heard of a cradle cap comb either! I noticed last night that he doesn't have anywhere near as much as he had before so the shampoo might be working. I'm putting this on my list too as it's something I hadn't considered and would be great if I could get to using just baby oil to control it.

Hi, how's his skom doing! Hope you are seeing some improvement :)