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

blue shoes- sorry not to reply-
the house dust mite- she has it all over, but was worst in creases of elbows, behind knees, round waist. The mites are everywhere, even in bed, so all parts will be exposed to them. I remember the immunologist saying the pattern was very typical of hd mite allergy, but tbh looked like most eczema to me. Took a long time to get a referral (I'm talking years) and key seemed to be that she didn't really respond to usual treatment of steroids plus emollient. There are things you can do, especially keep humidity down, get rid of carpets etc, but a lot of the advice is unrealisitic and guilt tripping, IMO.
Regarding other allergies, I know that her other allergies (nuts, rabbits) have been very, very obvious and immediate.

thanks, madlentileater. My ds gets it around his neck (bad, bleeding from scratching) and insides of elbows and knees.

If it takes years for a referral, I'd better start pushing now.

forkhandles, do you have any books to recommend? My GP is not big on strategies beyond changing the emmolient. I had to ask her for a piriton prescription, when I thought she should be the one suggesting it since ds was scratching himself to ribbons at night.

The best thing I have found for my daughter and myself is to have a bath in Dermol 600, using Dermol 500 as soap every other day. Then Doublebase all over face and body. These are on prescription. This keeps the worst of the eczema away for us. I have been battling this all of my life and since I have been using those it has been manageable.

We use Surcare or Ecover laundry detergent.

I have rice milk in my cereal instead of cow's milk.

I use shampoo without cocomidopropyl betaine which is extremely difficult to find, even in health food shops.

I use Akamuti Island Flower liquid hand soap.

Hello,

Of course the first place to look is the washing powder/soap/cleaning products you use. Ditch the lot and go for bio products. Then contact www.avena.co.uk for his excellent E.C.Z.Ointment. Tell him it is for a child, give the age, and he will make up the right strength for you at no extra charge - the personal touch still works in Yorkshire.

1. best emollient - eucerin (not sure if available in the U.K.), thick and sticks! Cetaphil also good, but a lighter formulation. Aveeno was too light and contains milk proteins (DD allergic to milk - oops! we persisted with it for a while...).

1. laundry detergent - when in the U.K., we have used Boots non-bio

1. food triggers - milk and egg triggered an allergic response (tested at hospital). Legumes caused hives. We found that different foods seemed to elicit different responses e.g. the pattern of response, where and how the eczema/rassh appeared. Verdict is still out on tomato, fish, nuts.

1. bath - we found regular baths were very important but it depends on the skin. DD's eczema tended to get wet and infected and washing helped a lot. We started to use oilatum and found that good.

As other posters have mentioned, teething and illness can cause flare-ups, as can cold weather (drying). At one point we were moisturising 6-8 times a day, head to toe (each nappy change). Sounds like a lot of work but it easily becomes part of a routine.

Keeping a record can be useful (food, illness, any changes to usual habits) and we found this important for the food-related issues. We were brestfeeding and in desperation I took milk, egg, wheat, soya, legumes, nuts, fish out of my diet as she was an oozing and infected mess. It took a few weeks but the change was unbelieveable and since she is no longer BF, we have a few flare-ups but much less.

Be prepared to try a lot of different things and, as has been mentioned, this too can change over time.

ds has eczema which only flares up if he is exposed to topical vitamin E (eg in creams). I was quite lucky to find this out quite early on, but it's in everything (usually listed as tocopherol acetate or similar). Apparently it's a well known irritant (although vitamin E is good in the diet) but was in a massage oil we were given at baby massage classes

There's only 2 types of sun cream I can use on him (E45 and Cyclax) and when I used another one in an emergency he flared up immediately.

Best of luck

balneum pump dispenser is very cooling and does not itch good on the body availble from doctors on prescription