Eczema help needed

[Geordiebabe85]

Hi
LO (10 months) has always had dry skin. Recently it's got worse and GP said it was eczema (based on seeing a photo) and to use Oilatum in the bath and moisturise twice a day.
I'm not 100% convinced it's eczema because it's worst on his forearms, cheeks and eyebrows rather than the typical places you'd see eczema.

Anyway, I have a few questions which I'm hoping someone might be able to help with.

1. Is it normal for it to be worse in the evening?
2. Do I use Oilatum as a soap or just put it in the bath and use another soap? If I should use another soap which ones are best?
3. Can anyone recommend a good suncream to use or are the regular ones ok?

Thank you!

Do you have any pictures of their skin?

Oilatum is fine to use as a soap. You can use others, just make sure they dont have any fragrances etc in them. Sanex is another brand.

I had terrible eczema until my early 20s and it was all over my face as a kid, so he could definitely have it pn his eyebrows and cheeks. The only thing that cleared it up was cutting out dairy. Has the doctor mentioned his diet?

Thank you for replying.
His diet hasn't been mentioned. I've tried to see if certain foods make it worse but can't seem to spot anything obvious. I might start a proper food diary tho to check.
The pic is the outside of his elbow

Poor little guy. Everyone's ezcema is different but it looks like that's what it is to me.

I would keep a food diary to see if it flares when he eats certain things. It was cows milk, eggs and other dairy for me along with ANY type of fragrance in moisturisers and soaps.

I would also check what you are using to wash his clothes as that is a big one that people can forget about... make sure the laundry powder doesn't have any smells or anything and don't use fabric conditioner either as this is full of fragrances usually!

My toddler has severe eczema. We bathe her as little as possible (as a baby just once a week, now more often because she plays in the dirt). She needs to be totally dry before we clothe her. So not slightly damp toes or whatever. Everything needs to be unperfumed, all soaps, detergent, mummy, everything. We need to wash off the sunscreen at night or it starts itching (flannel instead of bath). She used to be okay with la roche posay but now reacts to it, we now use biodermal but not totally happy with it. We use sudocreme at the first hint of redness in the diaper area and vaselinecetametagol for dry spots in other areas.

It's a bit of a struggle sometimes but preventing and keeping on top of it works better than curing any eczema that has already started.

Thank you. How quickly after food would yours flare up?

It looks ezcema to me. With suncream. None of it work for DC2. She's 8 now and still suffers from it. I only put suncream on her if she's going to be out at school all day (for example sports day). Otherwise, it's sun hat and go into the shade. Her skin flared up with rash for every sunscreen I tried. To me, it's better for her to go a bit browner than have cracked itchy skin.

Thank you. Sounds tough! Have you spotted any triggers? Has your GP prescribed anything or do you just use over the counter things?
When you say Mummy is unperfumed, has your little one reacted to you wearing it??? I don't wear perfume much at the mo (I'm on mat leave) but just wondering if he has been worse on the days ive worn it.

I agree with PP sudocreme is great for calming. I’ve dealt with eczema for years and Aveeno moisturiser is very gentle, Lush also do a very good moisturiser called Dream Cream.

I've had chronic eczema my whole life, it has moved around as I've got older and appears wherever it wants.

Agree with others about a food diary and the non perfumed everything. Dermol 500 is a good soap substitute to try. I also used to do oat baths which seemed to help for a while. Please be sceptical if the gp prescribes topical steroids and really do use it sparingly.

I've found if I leave my skin slightly damp before applying whatever moisturizer I am using ( I rotate every few months because after a few months my skin seems to suddenly decide the previous holy grail is going to cause a reaction) it helps seal the moisture in.

Thanks. I'll take any excuse for a trip to Lush!

Thanks for the tips!

Have you spotted any triggers?

We did spot food ones for DD1 - carrots at weaning age - think it was 24 hours later she developed a rash every time even when DGP ignored us and then when questioned would admit they'd fed them .

Never found food one for DS - washing powder though Dmum and later MIl are allergic to many types - so stuck to persil non bio - lanolin often in creams prescribed - can't remember how we found that. He also gets bad with wool or non natural fibers - though that's improved with age. Sun cream was trial and error. He also flared up every year at certain time - till we moved now think it was likely a tree pollen - birch I think - there was a linked table on here with time of year and looked at that and locations of types of trees - it was a considerable distance move.

Took ages to find a cream that worked for him one of the aveeno ones and then couldn't get it on prescription till changed GP due to move and need much more than i first expected.

When Ds was really bad eczema clothing with built in mittens were a turning point.

We have needed occasional very short steroids treatment and occasional antibiotics for infections for DS - DD1 we avoided her triggers and by early childhood she was clear.

He has cleared up with age - though puberty has bought scalp issues that we can't get ID rest of skin has been fine.

Within a day. If I eat dairy before bed, I will wake up the next day with a flare. It would also flare if I got near sand or salt water. I would sometimes take an antihistamine to help it calm down but it was awful.

Epaderm is great for after bath time as a soothing cream to stop the urge to itch. I would give that a go as well! You can get it from Boots.

Thank you for sharing. I'd never have thought carrots! I was thinking of just the common allergies like eggs and dairy!
He did get quite a bad reaction the other day after crawling round outside and I wondered about pollen.

Thanks. I'll head to Boots and check it out.

What we found was;

• identify any allergies (food dust animals hayfever etc)

• MooGoo cream

• Cut out oilatum and equivalent bath emollients as they had paraffin and peanut oil that caused reactions

• try to wean off steroids as quickly as possible so that the skin can properly heal

• oat baths (soak whole rolled oats in an old pair tights it turns the water really creamy and white)

And minimal baths ! We did wipe downs with aveeno cream on a soft lukewarm muslin cloth)

Always moisture while skin is damp and air dry where possible not towel dry

We like Aproderm oat cream as they won't prescribe aveeno anymore

My LO has awful ezcema, she's just recently has two separate courses of steroid tablets and then three different steroid creams for use in different areas. She is only 3 bless her

Use the emolliant as a soap substitute and then after lightly towel drying apply the emolliant when slightly damp to lock in moisture.

Fresh pjs every night. During bad flare ups we have a pj top wit mittens to limit the damage from scratching. Absolutely keep nail short as possible

Wash clothes inside out and hot temp to remove buildup of the creams. No fabric softener and nothing scented.

Contrary to what I previously believed snug fitting cotton clothing is recommended over loose so it doesn't rub on the skin or ruck up and irritate.

We have found child's farm to be ok for suncream but when we first start applying in the summer we do notice a decline in her skin and have to really be on top of it.

We find the emolliant to be slightly more soothing if refrigerated as well.

In terms of whether it's worse on the evening, I think sometimes this can be tiredness flaring it up, change in temp, ie it's been a warm day and is then chilly. Warm bath to cold bed can make it look worse. Also build up of emolliant and suncream through the day can make it worse. Everynight have a full flannel wash, if not bathing, and pat dry and reapply etc.

Hope some of these tips from everyone help.

Ds2 had some large red blotches on his skin recently which were diagnosed as eczema. We tried Aveeno and within 2 days it improved so much his skin almost back to normal.

Ds1 has some eczema and is allergic to many creams. He can only use Aveeno and certain sun creams such as P20 and Nivea sensitive babies and kids.

Thank you for sharing. I'd never have thought carrots! I was thinking of just the common allergies like eggs and dairy!
He did get quite a bad reaction the other day after crawling round outside and I wondered about pollen.

I did read later that carrot reactions and mugwort pollen may be related - and there was a lot of mugwort weeds around near where we lived at the time.

She out grew it though so avoiding it for a few years was all that was needed.

So food diaries are best as they help you spot any patterns with food and then just keep an eye out for other triggers - you may never spot them all.

I did get very sick of everyone insisting DS must have a dairy allergy I was solely breast feeding and desperate enough for him to cut it out completely from my diet with no effect on him at all - but people kept persisting that it must be that as it was all they'd heard of.

I'd agree oat baths are good though.

Sun sense suncream has been great for both of my kids with eczema but it can be trial and error.
Lots saying minimal baths.. our dermatologist actually told us to do daily baths but just quick 5 minutes and i found his skin was so much better for it! Controversial i know!

Thank you so much everyone for all of the advice. It seems that I need to work out his triggers. I've started a diary detailing food and also if we've done / been anywhere out of the norm.

Oats as in just porridge oats???

So is that available on prescription?