Help about Baby Eczema :(

[InConstantNeedOfAGin]

My DD (8 months) has baby eczema. It wasn't that bad before, but in the past 6 weeks or so, the patchy areas are getting bigger and she seems to be getting more new patches too.
Does anyone have a clue of what the possible triggers could be? I've tried to look things up online but I'm just more confused I know nothing about eczema, so I'm just trying them follow what the doctor says. I've tried 2 different prescribed creams for her (didn't work) she's had steroid cream for break outs 3 times, I've tried aveeno baby, suggested by the doctor, also doesn't seem to work, neither does E45. Im stuck! I've taken cows milk out of her diet but that hasn't made a difference. I can't think of any other food she eats that could maybe make her worse. I don't know what else to do!

My son has eczema since he was 3 months it was so bad he it got infected nearly every week, after trying every lotion and creams gp prescribed him formula which helped. Everything was going well until I gave him scrambled eggs one morning and he reacted badly to it.

Could it be eggs?.

Hello, my eldest had eczema up until 18 months and I found changes in seasons often resulted in a flare up. In winter we used to use a humidifier in his room to keep the air moist so his skin didn't dry out. We also upped the number of times a day we moisturised his skin. Every child is different but I found Hydromol bath emollient (in a bottle, not a tub) seemed to help- we had a couple of bottles on prescription but most Boots pharmacy counters seem to stock it. Best of luck x

Thanks for the advice! She doesn't really eat eggs to be honest, so I don't think that is it. Maybe the change in weather could be a cause. I will try a humidifier. Her moisturising cream is supposed to last 12 hours though, so that's a lie on the bottle! Haha.

My 15 week old DD has CMPA, but is still prone to patches of eczema here and there. I find Child's Farm moisturiser works really well.

So sorry to hear that your little one is suffering. We found using oilatum bath additive helped amd baby epiderm is really good. The best day to day moisturiser we found was the childs farm extra sensitive.

Ds eczema was connected to cows milk, but it could be the change in season. I get a big flare up usually in autumn when we start using the central heating.

My DS suffered from eczema last year, from when he was around 3 months old until about 10 months. He's also been prescribed creams that didn't really help. I also tried lots of over the counter creams that didn't really do much until we tried Childs Farm. That definitely cracked it! We still use it daily just to keep DS' skin moisturised.

Also wondering if it's the change of season and having the heating on as that was when DS suffered from his eczema.

Body Shop Hemp Cream solved our DS eczema. It's expensive but I wait for 40% off codes. They'll do you a free tester pot in store so you can see how you get on with it.

I really appreciate all these ideas, I will definitely go out and buy a couple of different moisturisers to try out with her. I do have the heating on a lot recently because it has been colder, so maybe it is all connected. I didn't realise all these things could possibly be triggers! She has had it since she was about 10 weeks old, I hope she grows out of it. Poor thing. I used to use an oilatum bath emollient, but was told by GP that it was a waste of time so I stopped. I might go back to using one, she seemed ok with that.

I get it every autumn since having DD and I have not had it since I was a young child.

Do you take her swimming? I had to stop taking DD swimming until she got older because it caused eczema.

My twins are 2 - they’re allergic to dairy and one had horrific eczema. When they were small they also reacted to soy.

When I cut both of those out, 80% of his eczema was gone within a week, the rest improved over a few months and had been horrendous.

If you’re cutting out dairy, make sure you really have eradicated it completely and keep it up for six weeks - if you’re breastfeeding you also need to cut it out. If he’s on formula he will need a prescription hydrolysed formula.

If not, try also cutting out soy - many babies who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy.

I find steroid cream applied twice a day and then epaderm af every nappy change helps but if it’s an allergy it won’t go away with creams.

I wouldn’t be excluding things from a child’s diet at that age unless under medical supervision.
Emollient. Find one that works. Dermol, Diprobase, Doublebase. Use it. A lot. Slather it on. Frequently. When DD was bad I had days when that could be every half an hour in the daytime.
Don’t bathe too frequently.
Watch what you wash clothes in. I always use less detergent than suggested and do an extra rinse.
Steroids as prescribed and when needed.

We found Lush Dream Cream good for eczema, we swapped to it at around 12 months from E45. And sudocrem for actively raw areas. I realise it sounds a bit spa-like for little ones but the lighter oat formula seems to help over E45 which seemed to cause a bit of clamminess in our case, though I know lots of people who swear by it. Wearing cotton seems to help too.

DD developed eczema at about 12 months. Epaderm (thick greasy stuff, not the lotion, looks like vaseline) and Dermol (cream, not lotion) were the two emollients that helped for us. The eczema went after we completely cut out dairy. Took about 6 weeks for the improvement to be really noticeable, and about 3 months for all traces to go. The other things I heard could be causes were soy, eggs, yeast, fruits, combinations of things (e.g egg + tomato), and pollen. I found it really frustrating how doctors only ever talked about creams etc to address symptoms, and never the potential underlying causes.

What medical supervision do you think you get? We had one phone call from a dietician to prescribe formula and that’s it - no further help or supervision.

I wouldn’t cut out all dairy without evidence it could be the issue and without professional support. Definitely not because someone online said it was worth trying.

I don’t know about diet but I have heard Kokoso baby is a wonder cream for eczema. It’s coconut oil so shouldn’t make it any worse but I haven’t tried it myself. Look at reviews or before and after pics and it does appear to work!

The thing is that different stuff works for different people. People on here always rave about Aveeno. It did less than sod all for DD and I. Made it worse if anything.

Lifetime eczema sufferer here

As a PP said, eczema triggers are completely different for every sufferers

It’s believed to be linked to an autoimmune disorder now, which is why it’s often hand in hand with allergies

I’d try keeping a food diary to see if there’s any correlation between certain foods and flare ups

For creams, again it’s trial and error. I’ve found for moisturising doublebase works well for me but if I have a flare up I just have to up the amount of times I apply it a day, maybe couple with a steroid cream if necessary

What does help to sooth the skin is an oatmeal bath - literally put some porridge in a pop sock/tight/muslin square and put it in the bath. It’s relaeases this sort of goo that softens the water and can be applied to the skin. Really helps soothe it and is essentially what’s inside aveno without all the rest of the chemical

Also....washing powders and softeners can have a big effect so maybe see if it’s worth changing that also

Again, I’m not sure what evidence people think you’d have or what supervision you’d get? With a non-IgE allergy, the type that usually causes eczema, reactions can happen within a few hours or up to 3 days after exposure so it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to establish an allergy without an exclusion diet.

The OP should absolutely go to her GP, but if you spend any time in allergy groups you’ll know that GPs generally aren’t especially useful in this area. We were still under the neonatal team when we were concerned about dairy allergies - they referred us to a dietician, I waited two months for a phone call at which point she advised we try soy formula, which I could have bought and tried while waiting. They reacted even more severely to that. Then she prescribed wrote a letter asking my gp to prescribe a dairy free formula - never heard from them again, there’s been no supervision or support. Have tried starting the milk ladder a couple of times and they fail at the first step (they’re 2 now). They’re fine with soy now though.

Unless your child has IgE allergies / anaphylaxis you’re not going to get any long term supervision or help. Of course it goes without saying that she should speak to a doctor before doing anything, but she’s already said she’s cutting out dairy.

To be honest, I haven't completely cut dairy, I was on an eczema group online and someone mentioned that cows milk could be a possible trigger, so I stopped using that in her food. She still has her usual formula. The biggest issue I have is trying to figure out what it is that triggers her. She can be fine in the morning and then covered in red patches by the afternoon, even on days that are the same to the days before. She's on non bio washing powder and softener, I wash all of our clothes in that. She eats what ever I eat, so mainly meat with veg for dinners, sandwich and fruit or yoghurt for lunch and cereal for breakfast. She has the odd couple of quavers or similar throughout the day. I might buy a humidifier for her room, and maybe try different creams. She's on aveeno baby at the moment, but no emollient in the bath, because her gp said it was pointless.

If I’m honest with you I’ve never found gp’s very helpful with eczema.

Unfortunately you will probably have to find a way to manage it yourself and what works for your DC as it will be completely different to what works for someone else

If you can try and get referred to a dermatologist if your DC needs it. They will be the only ones who will be able to help more

I know the dr said no to emollients in the bath but it’s known that water drys eczema out and makes it worse - so I don’t know why they’ve said this. The dermatologist I saw specifically told me this and said to put it in

I don’t think it’s pointless - our GP prescribed it when mine were small.

There’s no point cutting dairy out of her solids if you’re giving regular formula since that’s the biggest source of dairy in a weaning baby’s diet. In some babies, even a tiny amount of dairy can cause a reaction so if you’re going to exclude it you have to fully exclude it. If you think it might be a dairy allergy, you’ll need to see the GP about trying a hydrolysed formula which they won’t want to do as it’s bloody expensive but it’s worth trialling it if you’ve ruled out other environmental factors.

Aveeno didn’t help here. Worth trying different emollients.
And do you use liquids for clothes washing? Many contain MI which is a VERY common irritant to eczema.

My boys had eczema when they were young, they’ve thankfully grown out of it. We had diprobase, doublebase, 50/50 ointment which is like Vaseline but a bit thinner (we used it with bandages; slather on all over, then tube banadage then more over the top of that then another tube over that!) bath emollient definitely helps we used balnium plus, and hydrocortisone cream for the really bad patches. I never found a normal shop bought cream that worked tbh central heating does cause flare ups so a humidifier a good idea. No idea about diet I'm afraid