I think ds has baby eczema - advice needed for temporary relief

[Bouncingturtle]

He's 11 weeks old, has had this red rash appearing on his head, and face, HV said it was probably heat rash. It has been getting worse though, and looks dry and flaky and he has been scratching at it so it is clearly bothering him. I have an appointment with gp for Monday morning, but what can I do to relieve it in the meantime? I've been putting loads of olive oil on it (hope I don't bump in to any Italian food lovers as he has so much on he maybe mistaken for Antipasto!) and scratch mitts on his hands, but has anyone got any better suggestions?

TIA!

WHich olive oil are you using? Not the cooking one!

Aqueous( water ) based creams are very effective, you can buy a big tub from boots.Just check though if suitable for 11 week old.

Thanks!

And yes, cooking olive oil - MW recommended it!

Waitrose Bottom Butter has soothed mine no end, and is very mild.

nothing wrong with Olive Oil, it's all the same. cooking and 'non cooking' it's all squeezed out of an olive's bottom.

My DD had this at around the same age... i think it is quite common. I used acqueous cream (can also get at pharmacy) and it soothed it. Went away after a while, think someone told me at the time it was just a usual baby thing, where their skin gets used to some natural bacteria's. Still always scary with rashes, isn't it.

So probably going to have gp doing and thinking "Yep clueless first time mum!"
But hopefully he'll give me the aqueous cream on prescription - i seem to remember getting it on prescription for myself years ago when I had contact dermatitis!

beware that aqueous cream can sting

I was always told you had to use the stuff from the pharmacy rather than cooking one. There is a difference, cant remember what though.

Hercules - no my MW said there wasn't a difference - both 100%

TheAntiflouce - really? Ooh hope he can offer something else. Sadly I live Oop North and Waitroses are rarer than hen's teeth up here!

I always had to pay a hell of a lot more to buy mine from the pharmacy after being advised by my mw [oh, for mws who know what they are talking about!)

don't buy the extra vigin either, as it's a bit sticky. Buy the bog standard yellow stuff!

a lovely mner sent me my botty butter, I will cry when I run out!

Sounds similar to what dd had (she's now 8).

We used:
aqueous cream
olive oil
apricot oil
sudocrem

they were all OK and I can't say whether one was better than another.

HV also suggested using aqueous cream instead of soap; I still do that sometimes. It's really nice but the bath gets v slippery!

I use aqueous cream instead of soap myself occasionally, and once in a while I cover myself with olive oil (don't walk on lino, though!)

DS had this at a few weeks - it was so bad I didn't want to take him out anywhere. HV suggested something, the name of which escapes me, but is basically like a very thick vaseline. It's slightly yellowy as it has not bleach or anything in it. It really seemed to ease the dryness and itching and it had gone completely within a couple of weeks. Will try to remember what it's called... [wanders off feeling old and rubbish.....]

Found it! www.skincareworld.co.uk/pharmacy/our_products/epaderm/epaderm.htm#Benefits

Aveeno cream is v good tis v expensive but available on prescription. Its made from oatmeal or something. See your GP or HV as some areas have specialist eczema clinincs hat are really good.

The main thing is to moisturise, every nappy change..also use oilatum or other emollient in the bath as water is v drying.

I was told by the eczema ckinic that the youner they get it the more likely it is hat it wil clear up. Both my DS and a friends dd had quite a bit of eczema when babies and they have both got v little now at 2 years 4 months old.

Wave him under your gps nose, he might need some steroid cream to get it under control then aveeno/aqueous/epaderm to keep it under control. Having the same with our DS2, once its bad enough for them to be scratching at it there's a risk of it getting infected so need to get it sorted quick. Having said that its not usually that serious and most grow out of it

try using aqueous as a soap substitute, as it often irritates when used solely as a moisturiser.
Hydromol or Epaderm are great for moisturising but see GP as planned as may need to use some Hydrocortisone 1%( mild steroid) to get it under control. Make sure you get ointment though rather than cream as tends to work better and less preservatives etc.
Good news is that most childre grow out of it so fingers crossed.. but it is miserable when they're itchy etc
Nails short and scratch mitts good plan and keeping him cool makes you feel less itchy.

sorry "not makes you feel less itchy"! but will make him feel less itchy!!

Hi, sorry to gatecrash but DS is nearly 14months and has only recently started getting patches of eczema, mainly on his shoulders and back, but now spreading down his arms a bit. At first it didn't bother him but now he's scratching his shoulders. The doc gave us some hydrocortisone and but said not to use it for too long continuously, so we've used it for a week and it calmed it down a bit but you can still see where it was bad. And after not using it for two days and using lots of E45 its coming up red again already. Any suggestions?
Thank you