Eczema in babies

[mummy2rachel]

My dd (aged 9 months old) seems to get eczema on her arms every time she is too hot or have a fever. The eczema can get quite bad, to the stage that it gets weepy and infected. Doesn't help that she scratches them non-stop when she is asleep.

She is having another flare-up again. This will be the third time in less than 2 months. It still hasn't turned infected but is inflamed with huge red spots all over. I know hydrocortisone will bring it down, but I am concerned about using it so often.

Any parents / doctors out there who can give a bit of advice? We usually apply diprobase all over her twice a day. When the eczema flares up, we try to apply it much more often, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Hiya,

I think you need to take her to see a doctor. If they can't advise you, ask to be referred to the dermatologist.

Our wee girl had a small problem with eczema under and down her arms, and the doc gave a cream which put it away. When she is too hot, the back of her head flares up. We used to put thin mitts on her so she couldn't scratch in her sleep, although she did get them off easily enough when she was awake.

We found a really nice organic lavendar baby cream which we slathered on her afer her baths, but I think this has been discontinued. We are now using another organic cream with chamomile, not as good as the lavendar. We also were careful with which bath stuff we used and stuck with Horns and Halos, much kinder than Johnsons Baby. My sisters wee boy had skin troubles, and she used oilatum, but it is very greasy.

Sometimes these flare ups are brought on by teething.

She's 15 months now, and doesn't have any trouble with her skin.

Also, maybe she has an allergy to milk, eczema sufferers can be sensitive to dairy, so may be worth doing an allergy test.
Sometimes when skin is really flared up, talcum poweder can cool better than cream (depending on type of flare up).

I hope this gets better soon.

defo agree with BJ, that you need pro advice on this one.
Can only say from experience, no two people seem to have the same 'cure' for eczema, it is quite a hit-and-miss thing until you find the thing that cures a particular individuals version of it. I have one dc who uses aqueous cream in abundance, it cures it for him, whilst another uses E45 and/or vaselilne, if you put E45 near the other one it makes his skin much worse ... so no guarantees even within the same family. What a mare it is. 'poor your dd. hope you hit on the solution soon. x

With eczema it is very difficult to know what causes the flare ups, only know that you are best to wash in something very mild like Three Oils Soap (ww.threeoilssoap.co.uk). Creams like diprobase and vaseline are made with paraffin and Halos and Horns and Johnsons baby soap have all sorts of chemicals an preservatives in, some of them are said to be potentially carcinogenic.

Hydrocortisone is fine to use on a regular basis -- we have been using it on DS most days since he was a few months old (he's now 2). It's very weak as steroids go and as long as you use as directed it won't do any harm.

Far better to treat with HC when needed than to leave it and let it get infected.

You can get sleepsuits with built-in gloves, we used to use them when DS was little, from www.eczemaclothing.com or www.snugglepaws.com

Thanks for replies. We took her to see a gp the next day as it looked significantly worse. Got some strong-ish steroid cream (Elocon) and dermol. It isn't as bad now but still looks awful. I feel so sorry for her, though she is her usual happy self and don't seem to be scratching it. Really hope it will go away soon.