ECZEMA. Can anyone answer a few questions for me please? Or direct me to a really good website?

[Cadelaide]

I've searched old threads but I'm getting a bit bogged down.
DS is 2 and is suffering his first really bad bout of eczema (had a teensy bit before). It's on his body only, not arms, legs or face.

1. Best emollient?

1. Best laundry detergent, or water only for a bit?

1. Common food triggers, could it be orange juice, cheese...?

1. To bath or not to bath? (water only, no bubbles, obviously)

Any other advice welcome.

TIA

Message withdrawn

best emoillant, whatever suits your child, but aveeno works well for a lot of people.

laundry detergent, we had to try loads before we found one that worked well for all 3 dd'swith eczema, but surcare worked well for a while (dd1 is ultra sensitve though)

for dd1`, its food additives/colourings.

bath a lot. but with added opil like balneum or oilatum.

For us Oilatum was great, but otherpeople find it worse that useless. To a degree you have to work your way thorough stuff intil you find something that suits

we were ok with Persil non bio

my kids were never triggered by food, but cold weather would cause flair ups

We bathed, but with lots of emolient

as a lifelong sufferer i do not use emollient i find it irriates

laundry any except persil

foods - no unless in direct ontact

bath yes and oddly - my skin gets more sore if there is no bubble bath in??? I know that seems odd but i feel the water seems softer and less drying

It's a case of testing things and finding out what works for your child. I found baby oil alot better than any cream. I'd put hydrocortisone on his spots, oil on after a bath to keep the moisture in, natural washing powder (ecover). This is what worked for ds though, I had to try alot of things before.

I think you have to find your own emmolient through trial and error. epaderm is fab for ds as is diprobase.
I find surcare is best for laundry.
dairy is a massive trigger ime
I bath ds a couple of times a week, as otherwise he gets really dry. and I wash him using emmolient (just started on e45 kids, but I think that is what is making his eczema bad at the mo)
Really, I think its all just trial and error unfortunately.

emollient- epaderm, can also be put in the bath, doublebase also good, sinks in well so good in the morning, baths - yes, but only if plenty of oil- soap powder- ecover or peril non bio- foods- you can drive yourself mad searching for triggers. If it's not obvious my exp is don't bother.
Good luck. National Eczema Society have useful info.

orinoco, I didn't phrase it well (never bloody do! )

I realise there's going to be a lot of trial and error but I guess I was seeking starting points, eg if loads said a particular emollient was best for their child that's the one I would try first.

best emollient was Epaderm (started with Oilatum, then double base, then diprobase)
I switched to Ecover washing powder (don't know if this helped)
Flare ups triggered by illness, teathing, rolling in grass etc, not from food.
Bath every night with Oilatum

what I didn't realise when DD first had it was how frequently you have to apply the emollient, I was just doing morning and night and it's not nearly enough. Also once it has flared up no amount of emollient will bring it back under control, and that's when you need to use the steroid cream. Go to GP so you can get all creams free on prescription.

I read a couple of good books, The Eczema Solution by Sue Armstrong-Brown and Eczema in Childhood (Facts) (Paperback)
by David J. Atherton

madlentileater: 'you can drive yourself mad searching for triggers. If it's not obvious my exp is don't bother.'

When is it obvious? I put my ds on a dairy-free diet for 2 weeks with no real improvement (the usual up and down). But then when he started back on diary yoghurt, he scratched furiously, not immediately but for 24 hours after and then was slightly better but still scratchy. i wonder if I am imagining things.

Laundry - Surcare or Ecover

Bathing - yes, in Aveeno Oil.

blueshoes - I often wonder if I am imagining things too.
like with the e45 soap - his eczema is bad when I use it, very little improvement when I stop, bad when I use it again. but that could also be illness, teething, change of temperature.
someone once said to me to stop looking for a cause / cure, and that really made sense to me. except of course if it is really opbviously affecting them, like dairy did for my ds.

also totally agree about using the emmolient frequently. I used to cream ds every nappy change (so 5 times a day or so?). and when it is bad, use steroid cream as emmolient doesnt help then. again, some advice I found useful was to apply emmolient more often than you think is necessary.

really, eczema is a pain to understand. luckily ds's is now pretty good, but it can suddenly flare for no apparent reason, and go again for no apparent reason. sometimes there IS no discernable trigger.

and also, sometimes doublebase is fab, but then stops working iyswim, so I have to change to a different emmolient. I cycle through doublebase, diprobase and epaderm.

thanks, Kerrymum, I am continuing with diary-free.

ratbunny, I am the same. So true about the randomness of the flareups - I am thinking everything is just pure coincidence. Sometimes the hydrocortisone/moisturisers work, other times they seem to make the eczema spread. I put so much moisturiser (currently Oilatum liquid paraffin) both ds and I are drenched in oil. I am awakened every 2 hours at night by ds who is distressed from not being allowed to scratch (we co-sleep) and am up with the creams and piriton so much my stomach muscles hurt from the equivalent of sit-ups from sitting up from lying down in bed.

Hi - it's a bloody awful thing. My 4year old dd has it and looks awful at the moment.

I saw a dermatology nurse last week. she said that the trick is to find two creams that work and alternate them.

E45 makes my dd's skin worse - nurse said it was probaby becasue it was lanolin based.

she suggested Fairy non bio and recommended bathing evey night

she also advised that dust mites could be a trigger - suggested wooden floors and blinds in her room and regularly hoovering the bed.

Epaderm was really good, and Oilatum helped a bit. I think it was cold weather that triggered it - he still gets a flare up if the weather is really freezing but I didn't look for a cause and he did grow out of it - but was v bad when he was a baby.

we tried so many things, dairy free, wheat free, citrus free, you get obsessive searching for easons and not finding them...in the end dd had blood tests, twas ALL house dust mite allergy, impossible to avoid.
cotton clothing was helpful. pyjamas with sewn on mittens and feet, also good.

madlentileater, for housemite allergy, was it just the exposed parts of your dd's body that got eczema? Are there any clues about what triggers it could be from the parts of the body that are affected?

It is worthwhile getting the GP to refer to a dermatologist?

Interesting blueshoes.

It's only DS's trunk that's affected, whereas I understand it's more often knees and elbows?

Emollient - Epaderm by miles, it's horrific when you start using it but you get used to it. When it's manageable you can use it less frequently and move down the greasiness range. We are now at Cetraben stage which is OK.
Bath stuff - we were prescribed Dermol 600 I think, I still only use Infacare on the basis that they gave it to me in hospital when I had her. We use Dermol 500 as a soap still.
Washing powder - have used Persil Non-Bio for years but it doesn't seem to be a trigger.
But the most important thing is if it's really bad (and with dd she was waking up in the mornings covered in blood poor thing) is to fight to get referred to the paed dermatologist. It was the only way we could get proper, structured treatment that worked in 4 days flat. You have to hit it hard and only then back off.
Good luck

Got prescribed steroid cream today and I think we'll up the emollient applications according to your recommendations.

Thanks all

try and read a book about it too, it really helps to understand how to break the itch scratch cycle and why you shouldn't tell your child not to scratch. I also didn't realise that you should conitinue using the steriod cream for a period (can't remember how many days now) after the skin has healed to allow for the deeper healing to occur underneath. I was just stopping as soon as it looked better.

Also, smooth the emollient on to the skin in the direction that the hairs are growing and do it only once, don't rub it in like you would do on yourself after a bath!

1. Best emollient? For us was Aveeno by far. E45 seemed to make it worse, greasy. It does vary a lot though from person to person, ds's was very red and weepy rather than dry skin.

1. Best laundry detergent, or water only for a bit? I used 'soapnuts' and they made a big difference. Fairy Non Bio is the best big brand I have found.

1. Common food triggers, could it be orange juice, cheese...? Couldn't figure out any food triggers for ds, but could try dropping dairy for a bit.

1. To bath or not to bath? (water only, no bubbles, obviously). Bath every other day for our ds, but with something in the bath. Oilatum wasn't good for us, but we use Balneum and it smells lovely.

I am a fan of using steroids sparingly when it very first starts up and nipping it in the bud quickly, before you have a large area to deal with. It has worked wonders for our ds anyway, and in fact we haven't needed to use more than once in the past couple of months, but he has some quite strong ones (Betnovate on body).