My 4 month old's skin - pic attached

[fee1234]

Hi, I'm worried about my 4 months old DD's skin, I showed the nurse earlier this week when she was getting her jags and they think it's eczema and prescribed zeroveen emollient which I've been using every couple of hours but it seems to be getting worse. Clothes are washed in small amount of non bio, and she's formula fed. It's only really on her front and small amount on back.

Does this look like typical eczema and does anyone know how else I can treat it? She itches it at any chance she gets. Thanks

Looks like eczema as DD had it as a baby. The only thing that worked was Childs Farm moisturiser (and we had tried every sodding emollient on the market).

It does look like typical eczema. Which non bio do you use? Yhey're all different, my kids and I can only tolerate Fairy non bio for example. Its trial and error with creams, my son can't tolerate anything with petroleum in it. Also have the drs or HV mentioned dairy allergy? My kids eczema is triggered by allergies so its worth looking into that.

I would want this assessed by a doctor rather than a nurse, preferably a paediatrician (hard to actually get seen by one in the UK though).

Mine had eczema and it never looks as bad as this. He's now grown out of it.

Ours was eczema but she had a diary allergy which made it 100x worse. She went on the dr Aron regime and now age 4 it’s pretty much all cleared up. We still get flares on the very odd occasion that we treat with the dr Aron cream but nothing like it was back then. Your LO looks pretty much identical to how my Dd was at the time.

As an aside use a laundry egg not a small amount of non bio. They can’t have any of the chemicals on their skin.

I use fairy non bio and only use a small amount with no fabric softener. It started up about 4 weeks ago but has progressed to look like this. I have a 17 month old and he never had this issue so it's a bit new to me.

I did think about allergies although not dairy as she's never had any issues until this.We do have a cat but she never goes near the bedroom so I hope it's not an allergy. House is always pretty clean and dust free as I have a cleaner who comes weekly and is quite thorough.

Looks like my son after an eczema flare up but worries me that he has only been diagnosed based on photos. His was presumed triggered by a virus. Can’t comment on treatment as only just starting.

Aww love her that looks sore, it does look like eczema. My lo used to get it on her legs, I’ve had it all my life.
What are you putting in her baths? Is she too hot/sweaty? little things can set up a flare.

We had epaderm, cetraban and eventually had to use steroid cream and piriton to stop the itching. The steroid cream cleared it up in no time. I then used the epaderm and childs farm products going forward.
Even some of the eczema creams can make it worse, so use on a small area first just in case. We had movelat gel and she really didn’t get on with it, I used it on me and it stung (mine was broken skin though). Didn’t like dermol cream or Diprobase either.

My son has similar and the GP said it could be 2 things

1. Sore skin due to dribble rash. He suggested zinc and castor oil cream
2. Blocked pores causing excess oil glands activity. He prescribed an anti fungal cream

We’ve been using both (zinc around his neck area and anti fungal on his chest/tummy) and it’s getting bit better

My gp was very good doing a telephone appointment and diagnosing via a photo

What do you wash her in? For ds we used aqueous cream instead of soap or shampoo and it cleared up within a week.

Thank you these are all very helpful replies. I try to keep her cool and not sweaty, and In her bath I just use plain water. Her skin hasn't cracked or anything but to be honest it doesn't look far from it. I will give it another few days and if it stays as red then I will phone GP.

Looks like eczema. My DS was like that - all over. Looked horrendous and all over his face too. He was referred to a dermatologist. He was allergic to dairy , so after I stopped breastfeeding at 4 months he went onto Nutramigen formula which I got on prescription.
Then when he was older he had soy formula.

I was given a routine of wet wrapping. So each morning and night he had a bath in oilatum, and then I soaked full body bandage suit (so a long sleeved top, and leggings - stretchy like a bandage ) smothered him with emollient , put wet bandages on, more emollient, then on top of that put a dry bandage layer. All bandages and cream on prescription too.

Did this for seems like ages - a year ? More?, cannot remember .

He had grown out of eczema by the time he went to infant school, and grew out of his dairy allergy as a teenager. He has lovely skin now

that is very widespread for a 4 month old baby - I think you need to see a GP asap (I mean not an emergency but I certainly wouldn't leave it any longer)

how long has she been that way? any history of dairy allergy in your family?

a GP needs to look at it to determine if it is eczema or something else but she's v young so I would get a doctor to look at it

I have been washing her in this - it was prescribed by the nurse at the same time as the zeroveen emollient.

I wouldn't give it a few days @fee1234, i would make the appointment now

if it is caused by something like an allergy, it's not going to get better till you sort the cause

@HappyThursdays

I wouldn't give it a few days *@fee1234*, i would make the appointment now

if it is caused by something like an allergy, it's not going to get better till you sort the cause

Thanks I think I will phone tomorrow morning. No history of dairy, or any, allergies in family and she has been this way for 4 weeks but it has only looked this bad since about Tuesday. She had her jags the same day so I showed the nurse while we were in.

I’ve got a little one with very sensitive skin- as have I. We both get eczema and I’ve had a few flares of psoriasis over the years-

Stop using fairy. Completely. Re-wash clothes washed in fairy. Surcare was okay for us. Laundry egg etc also good.
also put your washing machine on a wash cycle with no clothes or detergent in to clean it out. Make sure you add an extra rinse and spin if you use any powder, even 0% like Surcare.

Child’s farm moisturiser is good - apply liberally at night and in the morning.

Cotton clothes only next to skin, and don’t let her get too hot.

No shampoo or soap of any kind in the bath.

All my first port of call if one of us flares- and usually sorts it out.

Poor thing, If it's eczema try bathing her in oats (Aveeno sell oat bath satchets which work well). Also get a good moisturizer with colloidal oatmeal, and apply regularly. That's the only thing that helped get rid of eczema on my hands.

poor poppet, let us know how you get on

Thanks I'm going to wash all her clothes again. She's about to move into 6-9 month sizes so will wash everything before it goes against her skin. I've attached another pic without the flash on to show the contrast against her skin.

is it rough or smooth?

Yes, this looks like my son's skin when he has a flare up too. You may need steroid cream to get on top of it - I would go back to the GP. Is it possible she's coming down with something? Viruses often seem to trigger eczema for us.

Different creams have worked for us at different points, but Child's Farm and Cetraben are consistently best. Make sure you're only dressing her in cotton clothes, and don't let her get too warm especially at night. Rinse cycle after washing clothes. Oilatum in the bath once the skin has healed.

It's trial and error to manage eczema, but you'll get there.

Very similar to my DD, I saw the GP who prescribed some hydrocortisone which cleared t quickly & now Im keeping on top of it with zerobase twice a day, still use the hydrocortisone occasionally if theres a bad patch somewhere. Definitely get a GP appt asap x

@HappyThursdays it's rough, feels very dry.

Oh bless her.

My ds2 had eczema when he was tiny. We found that fairy non bio was a no no and changed to Persil non bio and have been using it since (15 years) without issue. I would also say she only needs washing with water and doesn't need any soap etc at this stage.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Poor love, it looks so sore. I'm an eczema sufferer and so are my kids, although neither of them have had it severely. I would definitely see a GP as you may need something prescribed to tackle the worst of it (although with such a large area on a small child I'm not sure what they'll do). I've found that with the kids, bathing in Oilatum Emollient and then covering the affected areas in the junior oilatum cream - while they're still damp from the bath (v important) - helps to lock moisture in and gradually soothes and sorts it out. Neither of mine can handle any Aveeno products.