eczema

[Lilia]

HI!

My DD is 4.5 months old and has eczema on her face. Sometimes it gets really bad. She itches it all the time sometimes until it starts bleeding. We tried using Sudocrem & Infaderm, have room temperature on the lowest and she wears only cotton. Our Health Visitor said to use Sudocrem and wash the face regularly, but it does not do anything (apart from relieves itching a little bit). Have you got any tips on how to make it better and what else we shoud try.

Thank you very much

For those of you interested in eczema and homeopathy, I found this interesting article - it's a different way of looking at eczema - I recommend it
www.talkeczema.com/docs/features/feature_homeopathy_eczema.htm

My 2 yearold has had eczema since she was 6months. Have been managing to keep it sort of under control with various emolients/oilatum/steroid creams etc etc. She has a flare up at the moment along with a skin infection which is being treated with antibiotics. Her fingers are in an awful mess and are constantly bleeding - more so at night when she's in bed and scratching like mad. Can you suggest anything for protecting her hands during the night - as I have been putting dressings on but they don't stay on all night.

susiebabes when my daughters hands were bad I resorted to putting cotton socks on her hands with long sleeved pyjamas and securing together (not too tight!)with micropore or masking tape.It worked quite well when both hands are covered its more difficult getting the tape off!.Have you tried giving her piriton prior to bed time?.maybe this might help with the scratch-itch cycle. How long has she been on the antibiotics if its a while maybe you need to go back to your Gp and try a different course or push to get her referred to a skin specialist(sooner the better). as the refferal can take time.

Thanks trudles. I will try the socks tonight along with the piriton. The GP's won't refer her as they keep telling me that she will "grow out of it!" The antibiotics will be finished today - she's been on the course for just over a week. So, perhaps yet another visit to the doctor is required! Although sometimes you feel that you are just wasting your time. It's an uphill struggle most of the time.....

sounds to me that you should change your GP I cant beleve their attitude. My daughter was refered to a specialist aged six months. maybe you could ask your health visitor to give your docs a bit of a push. As for "growing out of It" my daughter is nearly three and the specialist wants to see her every six months as he thinks It could still get worse in the future,despite being reasonably under control.

Susiebabes I would change your doctor. I asked to be referred earlier this year and ds is now pretty much clear with the occassional flare up in the same places which we just bring back under control with his steriod cream but most of the time it is just his 50/50 cream and the dermols in the bath. They too believe he will grow out of it and he probably is gradually but it didnt stop them helping him.

We had okay weekend - not much sleep though! Tried the socks + piriton - did help last night. I have decided, after reading your advice, that I will take dd back to doc this weekend and demand for a referral. This time I won't take no for an answer - especially on hearing about all your successful referrals. Even if it helps a little bit I would be much happier and so would dd I'm sure!!! It is very tiring, the lack of sleep and constant worry, especially when we have an 11 month old dd to think about as well. I was thinking also about trying homeopathy as our surgery has a homeopathic clinic. What do you think? All suggestions gratefully received!!!!! I'm so glad I found this site.................

Susiebabes, I really feel foe you, it must be v. hard. just thought I'd add my twopenneth, first hoeopathy, my eldest dd got eczema at 3, now 4 1/2, and it has definitely helped with the eczema and many other things. Calc Carb works for her but you'd need to see someone to find out what your dd is best suited to your ds. Recently though we also saw a dermatologist who is also a GP at our surgery and have been using Dermol 600 in the bath and Doublebase cream 2 or 3 times a day with a little hydo-c cream. All of these together have made a huge difference and her skin is great now. She keeps asking people to feel how soft it is! I'm not counting my chickens yet as it's only been 4 weeks, so we'll see. But for me, seeing the dermatologist and talking to someone who was genuinely interested in our problems and who knew what they were talking about made all the difference. Hope thing get better for you all.
P.S. on homeopathy again my dd was always hot internally,if you see what I mean, which always made the itching worse "h" really helped to calm this. She now no longer sleeps naked like a star fish, scratching but snuggled up, nightie on and cosy. Good Luck.

The nursse from the hospital showed me how to "wet bandage" hands at night.
Basically they gave me a roll of child size tubigrip bandage. You take a longish length wet half of it and put it over the hand and arm once creamed and moisurised, twist the end and double it back so that fingers are sealed in and then put tape on to tape it to the bandage and pyjama sleeve.

Oh and I should add that I came back from the hospital yesterday after skin tests for allergies - it turns out DS has loads (dairy wheat soya sesame almonds) so I'm off to scour the supermarket shelves. Anyone who has similar problems if you have any advice I'd love to hear it.

That's a good idea - I think I will give the wet bandages a go. Actually made an appointment to take dd to the docs next week - going to demand referral - wish me luck everyone!!!!!

tubifast is better than tubigrip as its thinner, less restricting and easier to apply. The sizes are colour coded with stripe down the side. I seem to recall red or blue being the smallest size followed by green then yellow the packaging tells you which ones to use. Also washable and cheap to buy from the chemist.

my DD has just been started on doublebase a week ago by her dermatologist her skin is so lovely and soft now no dry patches. I think its quite new.

susebabes ive just remembered something important in regard to wet wraps. My health visitor told me that wet wraps shouldnt be used on infected skin as it can exacerbate the problem (germs love moist envoironments) so make sure the infection has cleared up first.

Thanks trudles I'm so glad you told me that - the infection has almost gone so I will wait until it has cleared up totally before trying the wet wraps.
May also ask the doc when I'm there next week about doublebase.

I was given doublebase, it was good for a while but soon as we had a flare up it just couldnt cope, not enough moisture.50/50 cream has been the best and we are still using it.

Forgot, my ds also reacted to lots of the creams but as 50/50 is pretty pure he hasnt reacted to it one bit.

Both my children have eczema and it seems what helps one is not necessarily going to help the other.As far as creams are concerned ds has been fine with oilatum. We tried alsorts with dd and we now swear by Aveeno. You can get cream and the oil for the bath. The other thing that makes a difference is the hardness of the water. We invested in a water softener and it made quite a difference to the childrens skin.It seems near on impossible to identify all the triggers. Both children are bad on hot windy days with lots of grass blowing and pollens. I find a dose of piriton helps to settle things down.Good luck.

I take back eveything I said about double base It doesnt work. Her skin became dry and blotchy. Ive gone back to using neutrogena body emulsion and her skin is now 100% better all the dryness is improving and the blotches are dissapearing ( all within 48 hours)

I have had eczema since I was 3 or 4. It's calmed down alot now, but I carry a pocket size vaseline round for when I do get an outbreak - it's the only thing that works! Also works a treat on 1 y/o niece's face (she gets it on her cheeks).

Cherry 50/50 cream is the only thing that has worked for ds which is just like vaseline.

Well, we went to the doc's on Monday. DD has yet another skin infection - big style this time! We were given an oral antibiotic and antibiotic cream and told to go back in 2 weeks. I went back the very next day and saw a different doc. She said it was happening too often and she took swabs of the "weeping skin" - in case they were missing something and told me to finish the course of antibiotic and go straight back to see her and then she would see about a referral for DD to a dermatologist. YIPPEE - we are finally getting somewhere!!!! I made my views very clear and told her that I would not take no for an answer this time - so we are going back next week to see if we can get a referral. Meantime, we are struggling with the infection. Have to tape on cotton socks over her hands at night to stop the scratching.... the piriton (i got from the doc) doesn't seem to help her sleep - she has to be practically lying on top of me with her arms round my neck to fall asleep. Just as well dd2 (who is 1 on Sun btw!) is a good sleeper otherwise I don't think I could cope with 2 dd's clinging to me every night.

We will persevere with the docs and not take any more of their crap..... they don't seem to realise how much pain the poor wee toot is in! Will let you know how we get on next week - if you have any more suggestions on how to help dd sleep I'd really appreciate it !

Good Susiebabes keep at them. Once we had the right stuff to suit ds he was clear in a couple of days, and he had a slight infection too.

Piriton is ok but can have an effect on them the next day as it has sedative qualities which can make them feel a little hung over the next day and quite grumpy. I took ds off it and was better but the hospital did give me another medicine that just helped stop the itching so he got natural sleep.

Hi all

My son is 19 months and has had ezcema since about 12 weeks. He was on soya milk until a year, and we just use Sudocrem at the moment as this normally keeps it at bay. However, he has just had another bad flare up, and also he has been waking now in the night for the last few months.

I am waiting for the HV to call me back, but just wondered if anyone had any good tips on how to make my ds more comfortable.

Sal

SallyC - How's your ds doing now? Has the flare up settled any?

I am having terrible time with dd1 (33months) - we got the results of the swabs they took and yes they confirmed she had an infection! Like we didn't know that........ anyway, they told me that the medication they had given her was the right kind to treat the infection. Ok, maybe the infection has started clearing but it hasn't greatly improved. I phoned the doc's last week to say that dd's skin wasn't any better - they told me (on the phone) to persevere with the Fucidin H cream for another 10 days!!!!!!!! So, we're going to see a different doc tomorrow afternoon - we simply can't go like this. She is totally shredding her skin to bits! It looks awful and must be painful for her....

I noticed at the weekend that dd2 (12months) who has had perfectly clear skin up till now, has a bad bit on her thumb and behind her knee - I pray to god that she isn't going to get the same degree of eczema as dd1. Don't think I would be able to cope with that.

Funny isn't it that they tell you that breastfeeding can help prevent eczema etc etc etc. I breastfed both my dd's till they were 10 months. Certainly hasn't worked in our case....

Another thing, on the subject of Piriton. I was giving dd1 a dose of piriton at night to help prevent the constant scratching and to help her sleep but when she got up in the morning she was so grumpy and miserable - I couldn't handle it. So, we have stopped the piriton and at the moment are putting up with dd scratching during the night. The socks on the hands do help a little bit. Will just have to give the doc tomorrow a piece of my mind. We can't go on like this for much longer.

Wish me luck and any suggestions will be welcomed with open arms.