Eczema treatments - anyone found anything particularly effective?

[FiFTM]

Hi all,

My 6yo DS has had eczema since he was a toddler. We have been managing it since then and it does seem to be lessening, ie not as widespread on his body, but we have persistent aggravated patches in the usual problem areas, behind knees, elbow and armpit creases. I feel like I'm using his steroid cream weekly now on these as I can't seem to find any emollient that controls it. We're currently using cetraben ointment as he was complaining of stinging with the creams. Just wondering if anyone has come across anything that they found helped, I'd love to be able to ditch the steroid use and keep it for occasional use, but maybe that's a pipe dream? TIA

We found oatmeal baths, Aveeno cream, short fingernails, a water softener and specialist clothing helpful. My son also had multiple food allergies.

Like others mentioned here I really recommend Aveeno, particularly the skin relief cream.

I would also try removing soya from the diet for a month. If no change then reintroduce it and consider removing dairy. I'd try soya first as it is a much less valuable food to stop eating nutritionally than dairy.

My childhood was being slathered in various petroleum ointments and steroid creams and following the advice to apply creams immediately on getting out of the bath. It didn't work. These are all things which I now know are a bad idea for me. Eating foods I am low-level allergic to is the main cause of my eczema. Putting petroleum on wet skin makes it sore in my case. Much better to have a quick pat (not rub) with a towel and put Aveeno on and after a few weeks of Aveeno it was like I didn't have eczema at all.

Coconut oil worked for me like a miracle, after a couple of years of trying a whole load of other things. I think you have to just keep trying to find what works for him, as it seems to be different for everyone.

Isn't it interesting (although not that surprising, as bodies vary so much)! It does seem to be a lovely (albeit expensive 🤣) hand cream (I've been rubbing in the excess after using it on DD) 😁

I suffer with really dry lips and most of the treatments people swear by just don't work! (Only Lanolin truly works for me).

I'll echo those who have suggested a trial of cutting out dairy and/or soya (pick one at a time and trial the one you eat least of first as that'll have the least impact on your diet!). The only reason for my daughters recent struggle with eczema is that we had to reintroduce dairy to my diet (she's breastfed) as part of the final pathway to CMPA (cows milk protein allergy) diagnosis. She was then accidentally given something containing cows milk just after the initial flare up, which exacerbated it. Thankfully all symptoms are settling down again now that dairy is strictly excluded from our diets, but it really does go to show that diet can really impact your skin!