Toddler ECZEMA advice - can't keep on top of it

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GP doesn't want to know or investigate potential allergies that cause these awful flare ups. She is constantly covered in eczema all over her little body and has been like this since she was 4 months old, she is now 2 and 1/2. She has been prescribed emollients and steroid creams including one of the strongest, but nothing keeps it at bay. She is flaring up more regularly now and I have no idea what the trigger could be. Although it does calm down after nasty flare ups, it is always there and always causing her to be uncomfortable, she scratches constantly. We can't let her enjoy a bath for longer than a few minutes because once her skin is exposed she literally claws at herself. I trim her nails right down yet she still manages to scratch herself.

Does anyone have any miracle tips or ideas of what could be triggering this? I use non bio laundry detergent and softener, baths are now plain water only with child's farm unscented shampoo. Im at a loss and can't stand to see her so uncomfortable all of the time.

Photos attached from today with her latest flare up

My DD was like this. I started using something called balmonds skin salvation,

I find it comes back worse after steroid creams as you have to gradually reduce using it not just stop,
She still had flare ups but a lot more manageable

You need surcare washing powder - everything even bedding and dermol cream for baths

have you pets? Any food allergy concerns?

Also a referral to dermatology and ask if you have ezcema specialist nurses in your area too

@bookish83 thank you! I've just ordered some on Amazon prime so hopefully it can start working its magic asap. It's awful to see her so uncomfortable all of the time, it keeps her up at night too and that's often when she'll wake up covered in scratches that she's done during the night. It just absolutely covers her, and the steroid creams barely touch it hopefully this cream works for her as it did for your DD

@bookish83 sorry I meant to tag @ew1990 in that first reply!

I have asked for a referral to a dermatologist but they keep refusing saying that it's common in toddlers her age and she's likely to grow out of it I may have to look into going private. We don't have any pets and no allergy concerns really - she does have very sensitive skin to the point if she gets any kind of saucy food on her face (pasta sauce, ketchup, yoghurts etc...) it will come up in hives that disappear after a few hours. I have cut things out of her diet to see if I can pinpoint a trigger but nothing seems to make it better or worse

Are kids able to take antihistamines? Thought I'd suggest it in case they are.

Dd had terrible eczema as a baby, it stopped completely when we switched to a dairy free diet.

Ds1 just grew out of his, but we used mometasome furoate when it was very bad.

Ds2 has started getting terrible eczema since he had covid (he's 12 now, had it twice in the last 3 years). It's only during the winter months though, when the heating is on. He uses cetraben ointment (Any water based cream stings him), but we found that Elizabeth Arden 8h cream, applied at night, seems to work really well. It might be a bit strong for a toddler though?

8h ointment, not the cream.

DS had terrible eczema all over his face when he was 6months old

Tried so many creams, then he was prescribed daktarin - didn't realise until I picked up the prescription and thought oh what bollocks. As if.

Tried it and it cleared it up within 2 weeks!

Unpopular opinion maybe?

but I got the same runaround from the gp and the eczema while not the worst I’ve seen was getting progressively worse.

i spent about £500 to see paediatric allergy specialists and it was worth every penny.
eczema and allergies are linked.

we got the right medicated creams not just more sodding emollient, they identified her allergies and gave us a treatment plan to reduce reaction to allergens anddddd an exposure plan to prevent development of new allergies.
her skin cleared up a month after the initial appointment and we have had NO bad flare ups since.

best money I’ve spent

if you are in london area pm me and I’ll send his details

Allergic type family here with various things including eczema, may sound daft but running the bathwater through an old sock with oats in it is very soothing. That always used to stop the itching pre bed for my youngest and eventually it cleared up. He used to scratch his legs til they bled.

Check out Zoe Bee Creams, I have tried them and they are incredible. All natural ingredients and if you message Zoe showing pics, she usually responds quickly. Improved my child's skin within days.

Like a PP said allergies and eczema are 100% linked especially in babies and toddlers, in my son's case was cow milk protein and soy protein

Scratch sleeves for night time. We have used these for the past 4 years on my boy and it helps with the night time scratching as it stops real damage to their skin. Scratch sleeves do afew other bits too all on their own website. X

I had chronic eczema as a child. If you are still using the emollients, I would stop. I am allergic to them. Use only the steroid and wean off when the skin begins to heal. Then try a little Aveeno. A little salt in baths. Don’s use anything else.

Are you anywhere near London? If so I would highly recommend Dr Helen Cox. Helped sort out DS severe eczema having been fobbed off by GPs for years. We had a very strict regimen of different creams to use. It worked, he is 14 now and has been eczema free for years. I so clearly remember the despair and being desperate to help him.

www.childrensallergyclinic.com/

Disagree with this. You need loads of emollient, several times a day. You just need to find the right one as each person's skin is different so you might react badly to one but there will be one out there that works. Aveeno made DS skin bleed but lots of people,swear by it

Cows milk protein for me too as a child, and right now I'm covered from shoulder to wrist on both arms, think it is stress.

Sudocrem to heal it. And put gloves on her at night to stop scratching, I used to babysit for a kid who had oven gloves duct taped on - crude but effective!

We had to keep pushing for dermatology and allergy clinic referrals, even though DC was under 3yo. Dermatology nurses stopped hydromol and prescribed dermol, which was a game changer, because DC’s eczema was getting infected. It gradually improved. Once we were referred to the allergy clinic, we also addressed the dairy allergy. Scratch mitts every night while a toddler.
Skin still very dry now, years later, but eczema manageable using a combination of daily applications of Child’s Farm on elbow creases and early applications of hydrocortisone for stress-induced flares. With hydrocortisone, reducing gradually after a flare up improves, rather than stopping abruptly.
I’d say that you do need lots of moisturiser but it does make a difference what you use — hydromol worsened the situation, in our experience! Still use dermol as a bath emollient, plus child’s farm baby moisturiser daily, and hydrocortisone when required. Local clinical or NICE guidelines changed a few years ago, stating that bath emollient made no difference, but I strongly disagreed in DC’s case — it makes a big difference.

if you do decide to use antihistamines as pp suggested, we were advised by consultant that cetirizine was the ‘cleanest’ type, as fewer or no side effects. If you do get a referral to allergy clinic, stop the antihistamines five days before so that they don’t affect skin-prick tests if they’re carried out.
Also worth keeping a food journal to see if you can identify any triggers. I found heat (central heating and heatwaves) also a factor in DCs eczema.

Thank you so much for all of your helpful replies. It's sad to see so many of us are palmed off and told that they will grow out of it, it might be the case but to leave her so uncomfortable isn't an option for me, I just feel so sorry for her! I will be getting back onto the GP tomorrow with these photos and ask once more for allergy testing and a referral to a dermatologist but I know what their answer will be, so I will definitely look into private care in my area. Sadly I'm not London based so if anyone has a recommendation in Hampshire that would be fab I will also be trying out the creams suggested here as hers are doing literally nothing!

Allergy testing only shows ige-mediated allergies. It's typically non-ige allergies that cause eczema and that won't show on tests. All you can do in the latter sense is to remove the food and reintroduce it a few weeks later to see if symptoms go and then return, at which point you've confirmed the allergen.

Having said that you're saying hives with yogurt which is an ige reaction. That needs to be checked as it could escalate to anaphylaxis.

Fwiw my DS' eczema was caused by egg and removing it from his diet cleared up the year long patches of eczema in 2 weeks.

I would also strip wash all the clothes. My dd had issues with washing powder build up. She was fine with the powder but after a few weeks of washing it would build up on the fibres and irritate her.

It sounds like you need to cut dairy from diet and see if that helps/ hives from yoghurt could be an indicator of a mild allergy.

Skin orick tests are for allergies, igv blood tests are contraindicated for eczema as the inflammation of eczema skews the results. I would ask for a referral for the allergy clinic but you may wait a while.

Dermatology are the speciality who need to support you. A private consultation may be worth it.

We are lucky that we received very good NHS care and referrals but actually saw a dermatologist under NHS who also does private work. He was great.

Skin needs sooooo much emollient/lotion like 6 times a day! Dont give it up as PO said, it will just get worse

Our routine is:
Surcare for everything in the house and on all of our skin
Dermol 500 soap liquid and bath
Eperderm cream
Emollient
Steroids and a tapered approach when applied, dont just use and then stop as its pointless!
Cotton clothing
Bath a few times a week

A lot of people have said cutting dairy helps. We havent cut dairy as weve had allergy testing for it but we did have an undetected egg allergy which probably made it a lot worse!

My son has now (at 3.5) grown out of his eczema, apart from on his hands, but it was awful and all over his body.

These are things that helped:
Happy skin pyjamas
Balmonds skin salvation / thunderbird skin balm
Oat baths
swimming (I think due to the chlorine)

We cut out dairy and soya which helped, used steroid creams, epaderm was only emollient that didn’t make things worse. No soap or shampoo at all water only. Eventually tried lush dream cream which so many people had recommended and was like a miracle cure. Not sure if it was just going to improve at that point anyway or not but still use it now just in case. I think it’s very individual what creams will help and it’s a question of finding yours. So many didn’t help us - dermol, aveene, oat based, Childs farm all no good here.