Going mad now, what could be causing this awful rash on 6 month old. With photo

[Cocomandarin]

I’m here because I’m giving up with the GP.

my 6 month old has always had eczema and was suspected cmpa as a newborn but eventually she settled on aptamil anti reflux and was fine until we have started weaning.

she has had patches on her elbow and chest that get sore and weep. Steroid cream healed them but soon as stopped it’s back. She also is getting a rash all over her body that isn’t like eczema. More like bumps/ hives. We’ve changed her to cmpa milk and no dairy and it’s still coming up. It does seem to have got worse since she started teething and we have been giving her calpol and ashtons teething powders. The gp just shrugs at me and give her cream but doesn’t understand I have to see her trying to scratch herself face off constantly and cry 😣 can anyone help with what this might be. Ive tried every single thing you can think of for the eczema but nothing gets rid. I now keep reading horror stories about babies with severe allergies that aren’t noticed until it’s too late but I don’t know what it is

Our daughter was allergic to Fairy non bio too, we used Surcare, I think, but also used Ecoballs, mostly for our nappies, so they did get things clean!

we are all prone to eczeme and I used Fairy until they changed the formula a few years ago - added a really strong and minging scent. We all lit up like wildfire

changed to Ecover/Surcare and we all settled down again.

Now it’s warmer, perhaps she could be in just a nappy during the day ? If washing detergent has been causing the rash, that would give her a breathing space. If the rash goes, you’ve cracked it

Along with emollients you need comfifast or tubifast garments. You put the emollient+/- steroid on then put the garments on which helps keep the moisture in.
I would have referred that when I was a GP. could be allergic to what's in the creams too.

I would eliminate all chemicals that come into contact with their skin (washing powder, creams, bubble bath, soap etc) and use only Salcura bio skin products and this ointment/cream which is amazing. https://madeleines-cream.com/collections/catalogue

Eliminate dairy, wheat, gluten, eggs, citrus and use a good age appropriate probiotic to restore the gut. You can reintroduce those foods one at a time once their skin has been clear for a few months and see if there’s a reaction. Those are the usual culprits but it could be something else so I would also look to having blood based allergy testing done. Failing that a functional medicine dr will help as they know so much more than conventional drs about skin disorders. GPs will just treat the symptoms with steroids etc but a functional medicine dr will do stool testing to find out exactly what is going on in the gut. Skin issues are almost always gut related and when you fix the gut issues you fix the skin.

We did this and our DDs issues were related to over growth of candida and fixed with diet and the right probiotics. She can eat anything now with no issues.

We switched to ariel bio powder and the rashes went away. No issues since.

Hi
do you have TikTok? There are so many videos of parents sharing their experiences of baby skin conditions and what worked, you may find something useful

when I saw the nurse I said ‘I think I need to cover it, it keeps splitting when she pushes up on her elbows’ and she said oh god no you can’t cover eczema it will sweat and make it worse. And I went away thinking surely that isn’t right 😣 they have been totally useless through all of this. Thank you for the link. Now that it’s warmer I have to have her little arms out and it’s just open and exposed so I end up putting her back in a sleep suit so it’s kind of covered.

No. But most of our clothes don't have grease on them.

It's usually the perfume that triggers skin reactions, not the enzymes.

Another vote for ecover washing powder, and their other cleaning products. That may not be the cause but I find bio washing powder in particular makes things worse. Hope the medics can help you figure out the underlying cause.

thanks everyone for your replies I am a little emotional, I’ve just felt so alone and trying to get help has been difficult. So thank you so much for all your lengthy posts I have read each one and it means a lot 🙏🏻

There are a huge number of variants on eczema, it's not just the dry scaly skin type.

My dd has vqripus types, including this same type as your picture, that comes up as hives. It is linked to a condition called urticaria where her skin is hyper sensitive to the histamine the body produces.

Has your GP advised antihistamines?

Urticaria tends to adversely react to things like oats so I wouldn't advise using them (made dd soooo much worse).

Ensure all clothing is loose. Nothing with tight waist bands, no cuffs. Try and use pure cotton and nothing synthetic. Wash everything before you use it and do not line dry as irritants I the air get on the clean clothes and cause more issues. Use the tumble dryer where you can.

Use the steroid cream for a minimum of 5 days. Ensure a good emolient cream is used too. We find that the ointments (the vaseline style ones) made dd worse as it trapped too much hest nect to her skin.

Happy to give more advice if you want to dm me.

I use Surcare capsules. They are non bio and non scented. They’re not the best at getting stains out as they’re so gentle but that doesn’t bother me too much as if anything’s very stained I can spray with vanish before putting in wash.
As PPs have said, double rinse everything

Has the weaning included egg? I have seen this type of eczema reaction in egg allergy. I hope you can get a second opinion and allergy testing.
Advice with that type of rash is not to put on any type of cream that includes foodstuffs (e.g. moo goo or coconut oil) as that can trigger new allergies. Anti histamines were helpful for us (under medical advice).
I hope you can find out what is causing it.

ideally see an allergy consultant at a reputable hospital asap. The worry is that all the research now shows that if the first contact with a food allergen is through the skin (broken skin with eczema or similar), then a food allergy is more likely to develop. She could already be allergic to oat (aveeno), coconut (coconut oil) and others. The increase in children wirh peanut allergies about 15 years ago was linked to eczema cream having peanut oil in it (no longer used). I know all this as I was in your position and it was too late, and my son has multiple food allergies. Ideally she will be tested for all the major allergens plus anything you’ve put on her skin. Best of luck, sounds stressful

My husband is allergic to fairy OP. Sometimes I'll.forget and see some on offer and he just erupts and scratches. Im allergic to persil. We're both fine on Arial.

I think I'd do a maintenance wash on the machine and change detergent and do an extra rinse at the end. If you use softener then you'll have to experiment. But that looks more like an allergy and is start with laundry first.

Absolutely this.

Dermatitis herpetiformis? Does it ever look like tiny little blisters? Balmonds skin salvation moisturising ointment worked wonders on DS when steroid ointment failed.

My DS had eczema that looked exactly the same as this and after a while turned into discoid eczema. I paid for a dermatologist appointment. She took one look at him, said yes, eczema and prescribed elocon. He’d had lots of different steroids to this point but this was a wonder drug - prescription only and to be used sparingly but cleared it up in no time. He is now 12 and we haven’t needed to use it in about 5 years but we used to use it regularly. Any cut or scratch, any abrasion and he would end up with problems and this would clear it right up. I appreciate i sound like I work for them but honestly, we did everything we were advised by the GP: all sorts of exclusion diets, bathing with oats in tights, other steroids, emollients, looked at washing powder, gloves overnight and he just couldn’t stop scratching but this cream stopped it all. There is a generic name for it as well. Would suggest telling the GP to prescribe it. In my experience GPs don’t always know best but if you tell them they will prescribe.

What emollient have they prescribed?

Hi,

I have a 2.5 year old with eczema since he was a baby and has allergies epi pen etc.

My advice is dont go private for the allergist. FYI allergists can only check for ige mediated allergies - a rapid immune driven response whereby the allergic reaction happens mostly within a few minutes hives swelling etc. or an hour tops. Therefore I don’t think this will help you.

Food can trigger eczema and cause rashes but that is not a true ige mediated allergy and a skin prick test or blood test can’t check for this type of allergy.

Dairy makes my sons eczema flare however he’s not allergic and it’s takes a few days to show on his skin.

My advice is to use surcare, have a week without wheat and dairy and see if any improvement. Also do not get any of the top allergens on the broken ezcema skin. That’s how’s allergies are caused. Eg. Dont get Peanut butter on their eczema.

Try washing her clothes with Granny's or a similar brand of what used to be sold as "liquid soap flakes". It's soap, glycerin, and water, nothing else. If you live in a hard water area, put some soda crystals in the drum as well to stop soap scum.

Do not use fabric softener.

Add a bit of vinegar to her bath. Tap water can make the skin flake because it's treated to be slightly alkaline so that it doesn't dissolve metal pipes.

We have one with CMPA.When we weaned we went onto a milk-free diet with oat milk and soya. Best not to do too much soya when very young.
We use Ecover washing liquid but have a friend who can’t even tolerate that who uses Boots non-bio sensitive laundry detergents.

Ask the GP to refer you to a paediatric dermatologist. Speak to the dermatologist about trying protopic. GP can't prescribe it. It's a game changer for severe eczema like this. Also, get some scratch sleeves to be help protect her.

You can still buy the dry soapflakes as well as the liquid version. Score!