I think DD has eczema on her bottom. Apart from dairy, should I be avoiding anything else?

[Caligula]

DD (almost 4) has really sore bottom and thighs, and I think it's eczema.

I've trawled through the archives and the consensus seems to be to avoid dairy products, but is there anything else I should be avoiding?

And how do I ensure she gets enough calcium?

dont change her diet like that without consulting a gp first

in fact you should take her to the gp as a first port of call and try some creams like epiderm and diprobase before radically changing her diet.

Doesn't always follow on - could use goats milk or soya.

Might be worth seeing doc for a diagnosis.

The try the emollient route for keeping it under control.

Enid you beat me to it!

speak to the GP before you change her diet. it may not be dairy related at all. have you changed soap poweder or bought her new knickers lately?

Could have nothing to do with dairy - at 4 is probably something else and not diet re;ated excema at all, I certainly wouldn't change diet without seeing GP to verify what it is!!

I don't see the harm in switching from cows to goats milk for a month say and see if there is a difference. i did this with DS, and, there was no difference!

I apply olive oil and E45 cream every night which is enough to keep it at bay. I use emmoliant bath stuff and a tiny smidge of body wash on a sponge.

I use oilatum and acqueous, but they don't seem to have any affect at all. I don't really want to use these steroid creams. What are epiderm and diprobase? Are they non-steroid?

I think it's eczema - DS had it when he was a baby and I have it sometimes. It looks exactly like it.

I use non-biological powder. Anything else?

I wouldn't really change her diet radically - just cut down on milk and cut out cow's cheese. She eats loads of feta and goats cheese, but that's not counted as dairy is it?

Euurgh - olive oil. Isn't that very heavy? (And whiffy?)

Aveeno cream from boots has been a god send for me for ds eczema.

Oatmeal in the bath...

I tried the oatmeal but got a bit fed up of porridge sodden socks hanging around the bathroom.

This was before I started watching Anthea Turner, so maybe I'd consider actually removing them from the bathroom if I tried that again.

No you can buy it from pharmacy. I used to use it when DS was tiny, his skin was alway beautiful. Stopped using it and started relying on chemicals and then lo and behold he developed excema.

I try to keep to a minimum the amount of chemicals I use now. Now his skin is gradually getting much better again, his skin was dry all over, but now only a patch on his tummy and tops of arms after a couple of weeks of being back on the OO!!

steroids creams do have their palce in treating eczema but do understand your concerns about using them. if she does look very inflammed and/or the skin is weepy then do see the GP for a steroid cream with anti biotics. dd1 skin requires lotions and ointments where as dd2 skin is better treated with creams.

LOL caligula!

me and dd have contact dermatitus and our excema is not diet related flippin house dust sets mine off!! explains why i am such a clean freak :o change soap powders etc first before looking at diet and mine always gets worse in the cold is dd sitting on the cold ground at all? only a suggestion do you use toddler wipes on her bottom at all if its only in one place it is more likely to be contact related as an allergy related excema would be all over

there is something in e45 that makes my excema worse try using aqueous cream or diprobase instead

Toddler wipes irritate my DD as well. Does your DD wear tights? Mine does as she hates wearing trousers, however I have noticed that the tights irritate her too.

Try using non-bio washing powder (sorry if you already do) and strangely enough mine and DD excema is worse if we don't use fabric conditioner.

Nulnulcat I could have written your post myself!! have you tried Hemp cream? brilliant stuff.

Took her to the doctor's and he's confirmed htat it's eczema. But his advice is confined to using steroid cream. I really don't want to be too reliant on it - it's OK once in a while, but I don't want to have to use it long term. Any other advice?

Plain old aqueaous cream made my dd's eczema much worse so we stopped using it completely. Diprobase which is another non-steroid emollient works wonders for us. My sister also uses Doublebase whcih she really rates. both of these can be got on prescription or you can just go into your local pharmacy and buy them out right. The Diprobase costs approx. £11 for a massive jar which should last you for months and months....

use the steroid cream to clear it up then switch to plain water to clean her bottom and use loads of moisturiser. see if that helps.

does she go swimming? dd1's eczema was dreadful in the first year of her life..till we stopped her swimming lessons (heavily chlorinated pool)

emollient cream (the one that looks like lard) was better for us than aqueous