Cradle cap/eczema conflicting avice

[Flower3545]

Our current lo has very rough dry skin on her forehead and around her cheeks, she also has slightly rough skin on her body but not as bad as on her face. She also has a flaky scalp/cradle cap.

Last week my health visitor suggested I use E45 cream on her skin even in her hair and to bathe her as little as possible.

Yesterday I had to take her for a looked after medical and the doctor recommended Epiderm cream on her skin and scalp and to bathe her in the stuff twice a day at least!

Any idea which is actually better for her skin anyone?

Oi who pinched the d from my thread title

I presume both have 'barrier' properties, to seal in moisture. My HV said you can use barrier/moisturising creams in the bath, like 'soap', ie you would be using the bath to help apply the barrier cream. So perhaps your HV was meaning bathe as little as possible because of avoiding soap? The Epiderm looks much more technical - perhaps give that a try in the first instance, and if it doesn't work after a couple of weeks, get second opinion? Or call HV and ask what they think about Epiderm?

sorry if this post doesn't make much sense!

My ds had bad cradle cap and eczema. He was assessed by paediatrician, and the advice I was given was:
do not bath every day - every few days is enough. I was told to use oilatum or balneum.
They made up a special cream for my baby's skin, and to use this twice a day, which helped.

Go with your docs advice - iirc E45 has lanolin in which could be exacerbating her skin. Diprobase is also a v good emolient.

Have you tried olive oil on her head for the cradle cap? Leave on overnight and comb through the next morning.

I used E45 on advice of GP. A friend who is also a GP said that often makes it worse because a lot of babies react to the lanolin, as MissisBoot says.

From reading lots on here it is clear that different things work for different people. However I saw lots of recommendations for Aveeno bath oil and cream. Both are available on prescription and have been brilliant for our DD.

Olive oil is a good suggestion for the scalp too.

ds had a very slight eczema (really pre-eczema patches) that we kept under control putting a little epaderm in his bath and he only got a bath every 2-3 days.

However his cradle cap got totally out of control, it was like a little helmet and eventually grew in his ears! This was because I kept trying the olive oil suggestion which totally didn't work for us. Eventually he was prescribed a shampoo, first a tar-based one that made him scream it was so strong, then another one that did the trick just nicely - you could get it at Tesco but I can't remember the name any more, sorry. (will probably lie awake trying though!)

hth

The other thing that we were told was to apply the cream all the time. Every nappy change and to apply it thickly to problem areas. You need to keep the skin moist. The conflicting advice about bathing seems to be because bathing dries the skin especially if you use soap or even just plain water.

I read on here that a consultant at GOSH recommended regular bathing for bad eczema with emolients in the bath to prevent infection and for other reasons that I can't recall.

I asked a pediatrician that we saw about a different issue and she said she'd never heard of that advice and that as bathing dries the skin, to do it as little as possible.

All very confusing I know. The best thing to do is to keep trying things until you find what works for you. Cut out fabric softeners and try using non-perfumed washing liquid such as Surcare.

Was it T-gel phdlife?

oh and my dsis sent us some of this which was fab on my eczema (I got it from being pg with ds) and which I have since used to keep dd's scaly face patches at bay.

Isn't it amazing how different the health profession advice is, it's like everyone has their own take on the subject.

I started using the E45 when my hv suggested it but it has made it a bit worse so I'm going to give the Epiderm a go, still not sure what to do about bathing though

no niggle, it's infuriating - I can see the bottle (white with green writing, it was cheap too) but not the name arrrgghh

Flower I think the reason ppl give different advice is that different things work for different ppl. As I understand it there's a sort of scale of emollient, if one thing doesn't work they can prescribe something stronger, and so on. God knows I had to go back about 4000 times trying to find something for my bump, it was utterly horrendous.

water can dry lo's skin out, no question, so if it was me I'd (a) bathe lo as little as possible, and (b) always put some kind of emollient in the water when I did bath her.

phd that sounds like Dentinox - smells of roses turkish delight, yes?

that's IT!!!!! cleared his cradle cap within a week - and it had been a horrid thick crust for months.

Try all above DO NOT use anything at all made by Johnsons. Throw it all away. Oilatum or Balnium are good. If it gets bad you need a dermatologist. Good luck.