Does my DS have excema, and what do I do about it?? Help!

[Jojay]

My 13 month old DS has a red sore looking patch at the back of his knee, and one of his underarms is sore looking too, the creases are red and flaky.

Do you think this is excema?

He had a similar patch on his neck some time ago, which healed with E45 cream, but it doesn't seem to be helping much with these other patches.

What should I do next? Are there any over the counter remedies that will sort him out?

TIA

I use Oilatum in the bath and Epaderm twice a day which keeps DD's excema under control but worth seeing a doctor to be check your DS. Loads more info in threads under 'Allergies' on diet and a million tried and tested products. HTH.

Epaderm is good, as is Aveeno cream. Make sure the patches are dried well after bath and then moisturised. Maybe change your washing powder/softener - Comfort makes my dd's knees flare up.

Bump

Posted this on another thread, but DS1 gets nasty rash that turns into sores if his skin gets too dry. Doc thinks might be eczema but not 100% BUT this got rid of both the sores and the red spots/rash:

Our gp prescribed Oilatum bath oil and diprobase cream - both emollients. also said never to use soap as it dries/irritates skin (DS1 is 8wks old, so no real need for soap yet), and only bath max. once a day.

we also use neal's yard organic baby massage oil and it's great - DS1 gets a full body massage after his bath, which he loves, and it's also sorted out his nappy rash. not cheap but lasts ages and not full of chemicals!

on this thread I just recommended some things that have worked for us. Does he have dry skin in general?

If the patches don't clear up go and see the GP as they can prescribe something stronger but try the more natural approaches first as steroids (although good for tackling real problem areas) are not really for every day use.

Thanks for that thread.

His skin isn't dry in general - these patches seem to have come out of nowhere really, though DH does get drier skin in the winter and says it's the central heating. Maybe the same for DS.

Don't really want steroids either, but interestingly I did use the podrrdige oats thing for nappy rash once and it does makle the bath water feel gorgeous, and it diod seem to help, so maybe we'kll try that again.

Aveeno, Epaderm, and Oilatum for the bath all seem to be well recommended across several threads so I'll try and get hold of one / some of them.

Does anyone know, can HV's give out prescriptions for this sort of thing? Would much rather go and see her than my miserable GP!!