Is this eczema?

[Claireandrich]

Just wondered if anyone can help me out here.

DD (13 months) hashad a small patch of red itchy skin behind one knee for several months and occassionally the odd dry pink patch on her tummy or back, which I assume is eczema. However over the past couple of days she has developed several pink patches all over her back, and a little on the sides of her tummy, ranging in size from little spots to patches bigger than a 50p coin. Some of these patches seem a little dry to touch, others not so (unlike the eczema behind her knees). It doesn't seem to both her - she isn't scratching at it - the bit behnd her knee does itch sometimes. I am hoping to take her to the baby clinic on Wednesday to see a HV about it. But, does anyone here have any experience of this? Is it likely stll to be eczema?

If it is eczema - any advice on how to treat it? We already use oilatum or E45 (junior) cream and bath/shower oils.

Thanks for any help.

Eczema is incredibly itchy usually so I doubt its eczema. Maybe a fungal infection?

Thanks JimJams. I may take her to the health centre tomorrow and see if a nurse will have a look at it. She isn't poorly or off colour in anyway - in fact the exact opposite. Hope we have it sorted out tomorrow.

Hi

It sounds like it might be eczema but I'm not an expert and you're right to get your dd checked out at the clinic. My ds is now 6 months and has had eczema since he was about 5 weeks so I've managed to find out a few things about it - hope some of this is useful!

It's really important to slather on emolients whenever you can. I grease ds top to toe at least 3 times a day and his really dry patches more often than this (it helps that I'm a full time mum and I appreciate that not everyone has time to be doing this). You can get more heavy-duty creams than E45 on prescription and it's a matter of trying them all out to find one you like. We like Aveeno cream (which contains colloidal oatmeal but I'm not sure why this should help) and Doublebase emolient gel. There are lots of more natural remedies but I haven't really got into them, mainly because they're expensive when you can't get them on presciption and DS's skin is fortunately more or less under control with the creams we're using.

It's also good to have daily baths with an emolient so that the skin is properly cleansed so that nasty bacteria living there cannot get a foothold on the broken skin and cause an infection. DS has a persistent patch on his cheek that he's always dribbling, puking, wiping food etc onto and it's a nightmare to keep clean and infection-free. We have antibiotic and hydrocortisone creams for this but we use them with caution only when necessary.

The National Eczema Society were really helpful (0870 241 3604) and sent me some fact sheets explaining more about things like diet, types of eczema, caring for someone with eczema, etc. There are other interesting threads here which are full of good tips and recommendations. Let us know how you get on. Best of luck!

It sounds like it could be eczema, perhaps discoid eczema (this appears as circular patches, do a search as there are several threads that mention this condition). There is lots of advice on treating eczema on other threads, unfortunately it is often a case of trial and error.Some treatments work miracles on some children and exacerbate the condition in others. Oilatum, for instance, made ds skin really itchy so now we dont use it. If you read some of the other threads you will pick up names of other ointments and creams to try.

thanks all of you - going to do a bit more searching and will try the nurse tomorrow too.

supposed to be trying to book a holiday but have gotten caught up with mumsnet again - mumsnet don't organise holidays do they???

claireandrich- the other thing that can spread quickly and in patched is impetigo- so worth geting that ruled out.

Definitely worth taking her to the doctor, to rule out ringworm or similar.

Thanks for all the info. However, yesterday morning when she got up it had completly disappeared! Not a single sign of it on her back or tummy. So, obviously, nothing to show a doctor or HV. I am checking her every so often just to see if it returns.

I have wondered whether it might have been the Rubella part of the MMR reacting as there were spots and blotches??? Or maybe just the heat.