How long does baby eczema last?

[birthofawoman]

At around 6-weeks (last week), my DS developed what I thought was heat rash which appeared as raised bumps on his cheeks, arms and back. The bumps very quickly turned into dry skin and it was apparent that it was eczema. I also noticed that he'd developed cradle cap at the same time. Now, very suddenly, his just-the-other-day perfect skin is covered in about 4 different kinds of eczema/dry skin on the above parts of his body. On his cheeks, the skin is tight, dry and scaly (which has actually lead to pigmentation). On his forehead, it's very rough and 'corse' - probably the driest of all the eczema regions. On his arms, it's flaky, scaly and still a bit raised and bumpy. On his back, it still presents as bumps/heat rash but I'm pretty sure it'll soon morph to have the same kind of appearance as that on his arms. On his scalp and eyebrows, he suffers cradle cap.

My question is the following: is this likely to persist for long? I know that some babies go on to have eczema into toddlerhood, or even childhood, but I'm really hoping that this is just a brief, one-time thing. Does that happen - that a baby may get eczema once in his/her early weeks of life and not go on to have a long-term problem with it? Really hoping that's the case, and that it'll resolve on its own.

Just to add, he's exclusively breastfed and my diet does not include dairy as I'm vegan (I know some people suggest cutting out dairy). I'm currently in the process of cutting out gluten, hoping/suspecting that his eczema may be the result of an allergen from my diet (I've read that the root cause of eczema is an allergen). I'm trying to locate a potential allergen by eliminating certain foods from my diet.

Thank you!

In the bit where I describe the eczema on his forehead, I should've written 'grainy, rough and corse'.

It's most likely just your son's skin reacting to everything around him that he is being exposed to for the first time. That's certainly been the case with my baby, she is 10wks tomorrow and in the last week or so her skin has significantly improved. Her scalp is still a bit flaky but not as bad. She had terrible rashy flaky sore skin everywhere from about 4wks - 9wks. I thought it was never going to go away and could have been something serious/allergy or something I was eating (I do eat dairy) but the HV said it is just a first reaction to the world and would go away and she was right.

I can recommend Eucerin cream, it's fantastic and really helped with DD and with my older child's excema. He had bad excema between the ages of about 12 and 24 months but it's much better now. Also try an eco egg for your baby's laundry.

It’s really hard to know. There’s so many extremes of it but my daughter still had on/off outbreaks of it behind her knees and elbows. Red and painful. Now at 4 it’s been a while since an outbreak but I think she will always be susceptible. She’s the only of my 4 kids to suffer badly with nappy rash, viral rashes after illness, sensitive skin, dry papery skin, cradle cap (still now it appears at times).

I had a childhood friend that had it to adulthood.

It really depends. My dd certainly had it in patches until she was 3 and still occasionally gets some now. My ds is nearly 5 months and still has it on his face and occasionally on his torso. My understanding is it isn’t necessarily related to an allergy but often environmental triggers. Heat really makes it flare up and it’s been plenty hot lately.

I really recommend aquamax cream. It’s helped more than anything else. I ordered it on Amazon but you may be able to find it at the chemist as well.

In case it's helpful this was DDs skin at 4wks and today at nearly 10wks. It has just cleared up of its own accord.

My eldest DC (3) developed eczema at about 8 weeks and sadly still has it though mildly and DC (7 months) seems to have slightly rash prone skin, looked like eczema to me but doctor didn't think so. Child's Farm moisturiser and shampoo has made a big difference to both, it could be worth a try. Youngest DCs skin cleared up completely in 3 days. We also only use Fairy Non Bio, a small amount and I do an extra rinse on every load of the children's clothes to wash as much out as possible. In case any of this helps!