10 week old dd with red raw skin. Any help gratefully received

[silkcushion]

Dd has had dry skin on her face for 4/6 weeks now. Hv suggested getting oilatum to put in the bath. This seemed to make skin on her body go dry too.

Steadily this has worsened over the weeks until week ago last monday gp said he thought it was eczema. Prescribed a hydrocortisone cream. This did seem to be helping but not now.

Since yesterday her skin has become really bad. Chest, legs and arms are covered in red scaly patches. Face and eyelids are looking very sore.

Been back to gp today who has said he doesn't know what is going on. Started her on a course of antibiotics and we've to go back on thursday. He says if she's not improved then we'll be referred to hospital.

I have tried the following:- e45, diprobase, normal baby moisturiser, reducing frequency of baths.

All clothes and bedding are washed in non bio powder. I am running out of ideas and it 's getting worse. DD, who is a laid back cheerful little girl, is starting to be miserable cos I guess it must hurt

Not sure if this will help but when DS was born (2 weeks late) he had very dry scaly skin. We used to olive oil him every night after his bath and it really helped. After a few weeks his skin was lovely and soft.

My other recommendation would be aloe vera gel and cream. We use it on DS's nappy rash and it clears it up pronto.

Thanks Sunshinemummy. I've tried olive oil but not aloe vera

here are some products i tried and they all worked in their own way. its a matter of getting them at the right time with our DS

Unguentum, Aveno, E45 Junior (if you can find it), Hydromol bath oil,

you could try these.

Thanks Nip can I buy them over the counter? Or they on prescription?

We have been battling with dry skin/excema/scaly patches since dd was around 3/4months (she is now 6mo).
Have you tried changing to a differeent wash powder - like Surcare?
We have also used:
Aveeno
Epaderm - 3x per day
Dermol 500 as a soap substitute
Grapeseed oil
Oilatum + (tho says for not for under 6mo)
Bag of oats under the bath tap
As Nip says - they all work in their own way.
At the moment the Epaderm seems to be doing the trick - either that or dd is growing out of it.
A friend of mine had to get rid of all clothes that weren't 100% cotton.
It sounds really nasty for your poor dd - can you insist that she get seen by a dermatologist - maybe she is allergic to something?
I do remember that at about 4/6 weeks my dd was covered in wee spots and had a dry flaky chin - it did go away by itself though.

Meant to say that all the creams we've had were on prescription

Unguentum, Prescription - it actually has NOTHING in it that should help, no secret ingredient etc, but it just does. It was a suggestion from my SIL and it baffles my Dr to this day, but it works!

Aveno, I think you can get this from boots and prescription

E45 Junior (if you can find it), I used to buy this from Toys R Us but they stopped stocking it, cannot findit anywhere - it is different to the normal E45 though and worked wonders - if you find some please let me know!

Hydromol bath oil, Prescription

There are loads more and its best to keep trying, but give them all a chance, some take time to have an effect. And as your lo gets older there are more available to try.

Sweet almond oil. Worked for DD but she wasn't as bad as your DD sounds.

2 hv have just told me to switch from aptamil to wysoy in case she's allergic to formula

shameless bump

We had similar (although not as bad as your DD by the sound of it) with DS. Diprobase, E45 etc. Aveeno was only thing that made an improvement. E45 contains lanolin which can irritate a lot of people with eczema. Would also thoroughly recommend only bathing her in plain water, or with the oats, as someone else said. No oils or cleansers. The only thing that made a real difference was changing the formula to a goats milk formula. I know loads of people will grumble about that.

Are you breast or bottle feeding? A friend of mine has a ds with really sore skin, she was breast feeding and it turned out that he was allergic to lots of the things that she was eating/drinking.

I'd asked to be referred to a dermatologist as soon as you can- eczema in a 10 week old baby that's just getting worse isn't good. Plus, you don't want it to keep getting infected and having to give antibiotics often to such a young baby.

Dru - we'll see about changing the milk, I'm hopeful
MrsL - see below re ff - could be the problem
Lucie - I agree that we should see a specialist sooner ratehr than later - I'll see what gp thinks tomorrow but I will be fairly forceful

What did the GP say?

He has referred us to a dermatologist - we are going privately so we can be seen on wednesday.

I asked for Aveeno on prescription and he gave us a different (stronger) hydrocortisone cream. He also said to continue with antibiotics until tonight. Aveeno seems nice and natural but no change yet.

Have been wracking my brains to think what might be causing this. One possibility is a change of washing powder. I use fairy non bio liquitabs but I have done 3 washes recently with the free persil non bio tablets from my bounty bag - poss cause?

dd has started scratching now - has woken this morning with several cuts over her left eye - I shall have to put her in a babygro that covers her hands at night.

You could try soap nuts for washing? No detergent whatsoever. Although in your OP you say this has steadily worsened over the weeks so unlikely to be a change in washing powder? Can you think of anything that changed at the time the dry skin first appeared? With DS it was when I stopped BF and went on to formula, that was why we tried the goats milk formula, because cows milk exacerbates my eczema. Feel so sorry for you both, I went round in circles trying to think what was causing it.

cow's milk allergy is a common reason for eczema in babies.

i had a lot of success with:
epaderm in the bath water ( do not bath for longer than 5 mins and not a hot bath.) do bath daily as it moisturises the skin and the epaderm seals in the moisture.

then moisturised with aveeno.

then apply hydrocortisone. in ointment form worked better than in cream form.

Did this routine 2x a day (not bath but the dermatologist said it is fine to do that but who has the time to bath a baby 2x a day).

As the eczema lost its redness, I continued the routine without it. apply the hydrocortisone before it gets angry red and then you apply for shorter time periods.

Dru - what on earth are soapnuts? I have realised a small change in washing powder. DH pointed it out to me last night. I used some free persil non bio tablets that cam with bounty bag (was using fairy non bio) - it just hadn't registered with me that I'd done it. Will rewash all her clothes tomorrow in fairy (will check if tescod has something milder first)

Kiskidee - how long did this routine take to start making a difference?

dd never needed antibiotics but her eczema was on its way to becoming weepy (infected) in places when we started.

tbh, the hcortisone starts to diminish the red and itching right away but you must continue with the routine till the skin has cleared up. and it doesn't start to look red in a day or two or three if you stop the cortisone. withing a week I saw a great improvement. you need to apply enough of the cortisone so you can see a slight sheen on the skin.

a lot of people are fearful of overuse of cortisone and gps go on about it. the dermatologist said not to worry as the problems with cortisone dates from our childhood when the dosage was much higher than now. It has since been found that, like the pill which is a type of cortisone, lower dosages are just as effective.

oh, dd did at first get Fucidin which is a hydrocortisone with fucidic acid which was to get rid of the weepiness that was just starting. It was good stuff. (GP prescribed it)

the dermatologist we saw months later prescribed Vioform which was hydrocortisone with an antiseptic - which was used instead of the plain hydrocortisone on weepiness. it worked great for the few times we needed it but it does stain clothing so old babygros only.

the regimen really made things better. i hope you find one for your baby.

Thanks Kiskidee very useful info

soap nuts! I've never tried them but some people on MN have! Kiskidees post is good advice, especially re the bathing every day. Have you been told about applying emollient before steroids?

i wouldn't even use Fairy, TBH.

Since dd's eczema started, we have used Surcare, which is perfume free, non-bio, and no fabric conditioner. if you have to have things softer, tumble them dry.

We bathed dd every other day, and NOTHING in the bath, then used Elena's Natural collection cream (look on google) it's not cheap but seemed to be effective in dd'd case.

No baby wipes at all, just water on a flannel.

I've bought some surcare today. Skin was looking better this morning but disaster has just struck!

I went out to the gym when I got home dh was really worried. Dd's skin on her abdomen and round to one side has suddenly blistered. Very suddenly. DH changed her nappy and it was fine. 15 minutes later when he was changing her for bed it was really bad. It looks like it may have been caused by him - sort of where you would hold her iykwim. I am wracking my brains could be soap - he washed his hands with antibac soap after doing her dirty nappy or it could be chlorine - he went swimming this afternoon. DH feels like sh*t but it could have been either one of us. She hasn't had this happen before and it doesn't look like eczema. I've put hydrocortisone on it and taken a photo to show the dermatologist on wed.