Natural remedies for DS's dry patches?

[LackingCommonSense]

18mo DS suffers with dry patches of skin. I'm not sure it's eczema (except for a patch on the back of one knee). The only place you can see anything is on his cheeks, otherwise you only know it's there when you touch it. On his cheeks it's red and blotchy and it gets worse when we're out in the cold for any length of time.

Our Dr prescribed us Doublebase cream, and also a 0.1% steroid hydrocortisone cream. We're supposed to put each on twice a day. Needless to say, getting cream all over him 4 times a day is nigh on impossible!! We also don't feel they're doing much.

Is there anything else we can do perhaps? I've read that maybe Epsom salts in his bath might help for example, or perhaps coconut oil as a moisturiser?

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? TIA!

Hi there

My sisters little boy suffered with skin allergies and my new little man getting dry skin. We cut muzzies into four and fill with organic porridge oats and tie with elastic band/string. Put this in a warm bath and allow oats to go all creamy and squeeze so this makes the water cloudy, leave in the bath. Get your little one to stay in as long as possible. U can reuse each sac a few times. It's worked for both of us, my sister complemented with creams from GP too when bad. Also the Green People website has organic creams on, the lady who started the company had a child with eczema and so look out for original cream.
Xx

Not natural but what we found helped with ds's eczema was E45 moisutising oil for the bath and Aveeno baby as a moisturizer. How long have you been using the steroid twice a day? If it hasn't cleared up after a week or so of that I'd go back and get something else.

We used it twice a day for a week, maybe a little more. We currently use it once a day.

E45 as a moisturiser didn't do anything...I'll have a look at the bath oil then.

I like the idea of using something more natural so porridge oats in the bath sounds good! Took me a few minutes to work out that 'muzzies' is muslins?!

We were prescribed loads of creams and things for DD2.. Her skin was so sore, some of the patches bleeding and looked horrendous.

Aveeno cream has been the best of all, it clears up her redness now in only one or two applications.

DS seems to react to a lot of bath products and I find almond oil the best thing for it. Just a quick slick after the bath when getting him ready for bed.

Hmm maybe we'll give Aveeno a go. is it special baby one?

Sorry just read previous post that says it is!

They didn't have the Aveena one in store but got the e45 bath stuff to try!

You can get Aveeno on Amazon.

We got Aveeno on prescription for DS- we were getting through several tubes a week at £8 a go so it actually saved us a lot.

It may also be worth going back if it doesn't clear up with the hydrocortisone. I only say so as we tried really a lot of steroid and when it didn't clear up our (fantastic) gp prescribed ProTopic cream and his eczema, which had been terrible (he had patches where the top layers of skin had just rubbed off) for months was gone within a week.

is it the eczema Aveena cream or just the normal one?

the Dr implied we'd be looking at a higher % of steroids next and I'm not sure I like that idea

Long term use of steroid creams can thin the skin.

Have you tried coconut oil? Agree with pp that aveeno very good.

Am going to try coconut oil tonight.

Can someone let me know which Aveeno it is pls and will order from amazon!

When I was a teen I used to bathe in an oilatum bath, rub baby oil on, and rub in evening primrose oil to the worst parts, I found they were the most soothing at the time. My eczema was so bad if I put steroids on it I'd be screaming in pain. Also switching to non bio washing powder made a huge difference, and not letting bio be used in the machine (I used to pay for uni housemates to switch to non bio, as I'd break out if they used bio in the machine)

I use coconut oil daily on my hair, face and body.
My skin looks better than it has done in years. I've had dry knees for years but they look almost normal now

I buy coconut oil on Amazon and it's very good value. I hope it helps, the whole family can use it. You can even cook with it, eggs fried in coconut oil taste delicious. But I digress!!

My husband has eczema and has been using Dream Cream by Lush. Its calmed his skin in just a day or so, amazing results. Its made with natural, soothing ingredients like oat milk, chamomile, rose water and olive oil. Obviously use caution on sensitive baby skin, but it really does seem to work very well, and he's had many steroid creams and emollients in the past.

www.lush.co.uk/products/dream-cream-self-preserving

Sorry if I'm suggesting things you are already doing, but I found that cutting baths back to one or two a week helped, and so did having a clothing barrier so DD couldn't scratch (e.g. polo tops when she had a flair up on her chest - appreciate that's not helpful for your DS's cheeks, but maybe for other spots). Also, applying diprobase really, really thickly (which makes a big difference) and often. There's no maximum usage for it, so I was applying it every couple of hours on problem areas.

update - seems to be getting worse since stopping the doublebase.. have ordered the aveeno cream so fingers crossed!

I don't think we'd have much opportunity to cut back on baths - he somehow seems to desperately need one every day!

I'm not sure of the research but a great eczema nurse said you only need to apply steroid based cream once a day. I would be cautious about using it on his face and do so very sparingly? Have you tried aveenoit's oat based I think. We found epaderm ointment was what eventually for ds1.

We've only been putting the steroids on in the morning so have been unwittingly following that advice..! I made use of my amazon prime membership and the aveeno cream is arriving today. Fingers crossed for that one

Just wanted to update to say we're loving the Aveeno! Going to ask if it's possible to get it on prescription. He still has reddish cheeks, but we think they've improved and everywhere else has improved loads so I'm chuffed. Thanks ladies!

We use epaderm as a moisturiser and in the bath. Can get a big tub on prescription.

Coconut oil is magical!

Also have you tried waitrose baby bottom butter? It's 100% natural and is a great moisturiser - I use it on myself too.