Baby Eczema

[Heavyrainagain]

My DS who is 4 months old has terrible
eczema, all over him.

We’ve tried a lot, currently he uses a fragrance free child’s farm moisturiser at every nappy change, he has a hydrocortisone cream and emollient in the bath.

We’ve tried Ameeno, oats, normal moisturisers. The doctor advised to bath every day but water is kept about 35 degrees.

Does anyone have experience of this and have any other advice? I’m struggling to get it under control. The last time it flared up badly (a couple of months ago) the hydrocortisone got it under control quickly but I’m struggling this time, it’s been bad for over a week now.

Hi my DD has Epaderm cream prescribed. My DH has bad eczema too and that always helped him. You don’t need it on prescription either you can get it at any pharmacy or on Amazon.

Normal moisturisers like aveno never did anything to help her skin.

At that age we didn’t use any soap at all in the bath. We use a bit now she’s old enough to mash food into her hair.

We changed our washing powered to surecare and now give every wash cycle an extra rinse at the end to make sure all of the powder if out. That made a big difference too.

DDs skin was probably at its worse at 4-5 months. All over her body and face.

Shes 10 months now and it’s done so much better!! It’s only in her arm and leg creases now.

Do read up about weaning and eczema. It’s wish I’d have done more. Babies with eczema are so much more likely to have food allergies because they get sensitised through their skin. Early weaning can help. I was quite strict about not weaning early and DD does have food allergies now. Doctors are hopefully she will grow out of them but we are quite sure it’s linked to the eczema. If I have another eczema baby I will wean them early.

@MarigoldSpider We’ve just started on SMA Althera for CMPA as the eczema isn’t his only symptom, he’s also barely put on any weight since he was 2 months old and he has mucus nappies. Our gp has been really unhelpful and we had to go private. He isn’t very keen on the milk so having to mix in some of his old formula currently!

That’s a good recommendation for the washing powder. Have you tried any other steroid cream? I had awful eczema when I was little but not as young as 4 months, it flared when I started school.

@Heavyrainagain my DDs allergies are IgE. So certain foods give her hives rather than an upset tummy. The paediatrician we saw actually said it was really useful that I hadn’t cut out the foods from my diet (DD is breastfed) as it would help her build up a tolerance. But this is a different kind of allergy by the sound of things to your little one as they only presented when we started weaning. DD has always been a good weight. She can tolerate yoghurt and cheese but not plain cows milk. Do try and push for a paediatrician referral. Is that who you’ve seen? The one we saw was so much more knowledgeable than the GP. It took about 3 months for the appointment to come through which isn’t too long really. It’s a shame it’s so area dependent.

We don’t use steroid creams now. We used it for a few weeks to clear up a really bad flare up on DDs abdomen but it did actually clear it and it didn’t come back in that location once we’d shifted it. But in other areas it would clear her skin a bit but wouldn’t fix the problem, it would come back as soon as we stopped and we weren’t comfortable with indefinite use on a baby. It was just hydrocortisone 1% we used.

I think adding the extra rinse on the washing has made one of the biggest differences, I can tell by her skin if there is a load we forgot to do it on.

Look up Dr Aron Eczema Treatment Group on Facebook. The Dr Aron regime was the route to managing our son’s eczema. Nothing else was working. He’s two now and we have small areas that require occasional spot treatment but he is mostly eczema free and even started swimming etc.

So many creams exacerbate the problems, and neat steroids stop working after a while.It is really tough to navigate through the many possible creams, treatments etc to find a solution that genuinely works.

Obviously he wears and sleeps in natural fibres

If you have carpets get rid of them

Change washing powder and rinse as PP

Hi Heavyrainagain, how are you getting on? My DD1 had aweful eczema from 3m to 2 years (and still occasionally) and I tried so many things to help her! I post on here now to try to help others as I know how aweful it can be for all involved.

Things I found helped:

1. Switching to Aveeno with Balmonds balm on top. Turned out all emollients and anything with paraffin in were making it so much worse. Baths were just water and clothes were washed initially just on a hot wash, then later with ecover when we knew it was ok. Sudocrem took the redness away and if it was really bad I used medium strength steroids liberally for a few days. In hindsight I wish I wasn't quite so reluctant to use them. Try a few creams and see what works for you, I tried so many...
2. Co-sleeping. But please read how to do it safely first (no partner, no drugs/alcohol, no bedding, no pillows, on side with arm surrounding baby etc). Provided much needed comfort and sleep to us both over night when itching was bad. Used piriton but didn't notice a difference.
3. Looking at diet and I mean really looking at diet or other potential triggers. I kept a diary for both me and DD (she was EBF and got significantly worse at weaning) and recorded her skin condition. Turned out she she had allergies (symptoms: eczema, hives or vomiting) and soooo many foods made her flare (sometimes delayed over 2-3 days). I had to cut the foods out too so allergens werent in my milk. Lots of painful trial and error and reading about nutrition, but she's much better now (dairy, egg, peanut, sesame, pea, lentil, chickpea, nut allergy). Pay attention to anything in a packet as 'may contains' made her flare in the early days. She tolerates them now. Raw vs cooked made a difference for wheat.
4. Avoiding situations of stress where possible. DD would scratch herself raw when sleepy (and when trying to go to sleep), when upset, or when stressed for any other reason e.g. by a peer at nursery or being in the car. Mostly when sleepy. She still stress-scratches today out of habit though it's rare now. Distraction with toys/singing/dancing/anything at all helped sometimes like when nappy changing or bathing to minimise scratching.
5. Keep nails as short as possible. We trimmed and filed every 2-3 days. She slept in socks and scratch sleeves but we kept her on the cool as sweat would make her itchy. They will still itch, but this way the damage is minimised giving skin more time to heal. I bought silk cot sheets as my DD would rub her cheeks raw on cotton sheets while half asleep.

Of note, had GP appts and paeds allergy refferal but other than ptx steroids none of them were actually helpful. Biggest differences were from changing creams and foods.

Hope you find something that works for you, it probably won't last much longer and will get better with time. Try not to let it ruin these early months for you, they go so fast and now I'm sad I didn't try harder to treasure them being so stressed about it!

@Heavyrainagain GP's are ridiculously under trained on eczema. You need tonasknfor a referral to a pediatric specialist.

Dd is 11.5 now but has had chronic eczema since she was about 6 weeks old.

Child's farm was a massive trigger for her unfortunately.

She also has Ige reactions so allergies show up weirdly and randomly.

My recommendations in the short term..

Only use non bio to wash clothes. Run at least 1 rinse cycle before removing. Do jot dry in the open air or raidiators/airers. Use a tumble dryer as they reduce contact with allergens.

Check his clothing, try to use cotton, try and avoid man made fabrics.

Of the gp suspects milk allergy. Also try and eradicate lactose and they can both be triggers for eczema

Try and keep him cool

Keep using the steroid cream until it clears up. Dd's consultant does her nut that GPs say to stop after 3-5 days. Keep using it til the flare uo goes.

Moisturise more often, don't restrict to just nappy changes. I think we were originally told at least once evy 30 minutes but at least once an hour.

Dd's gas never fully been under control and I took drastic action after donkeys years of lotions and potions as treatment. Dd is now on some pretty extreme meds to curb hers but it has been a huge battle.

Good luck!

Please read up on topical steroid withdrawal before going anywhere near Dr Aron. The multiple daily applications of steroids (even though they are diluted) has sent many many eczema sufferers including my DC into topical steroid withdrawal, which is an awful condition.

Hi all my 1 year old has terrible eczema and I’m at a loss on how to help it, any advice is appreciated:)
we have had gp and AnE visits as the flare ups have been so bad.
The products we have used are - all Aveeno products, child’s farm, double base, cerave, oilatium, dermol 500, steroids, coconut oil, olive oil, Vaseline. (None of these seem to be helping)
His skin is red and irritated it can be really dry and flaky and can sometimes be red and weeping.
It really seems to be affecting him he wakes up scratching in the night and has left cuts all over himself.
has anyone tried any good creams or had advice from a gp rhat could help, I’m at a loss.