My 6.5 month old isn't sleeping and she has severe eczema

[EmilyIslasMum]

My 6.5 month old does not sleep and hasn’t been for about 4 months. She has severe eczema and we think that this may be the reason she is awake at night as she wakes up scratch at her face. We have tried the following:

Change her milk to prescription milk
Changed her bedding to bamboo bedding
Weaned her onto solids as advised by the dietician
Cut strawberry, bananas and wheat from her diet
Using diprobase cream
Using dermal 600 bath emollient with no soap

We’ve established a bedtime routine, she has a bath every other day, we give her milk and then she has lullaby’s sang to her at night before she goes to bed.

Really have no idea what else to do to get her to sleep! Any advice would be amazing 

have you been prescribed a steroid cream?
piriton?

poor baby.
one of my dc had exzema like that as baby.
steroid cream helped clearing up the inflamed skin and piriton helped with the itch so baby (and I!) could finally sleep.

in hindsight it's a pollen allergy. have a look at the pollen calendar for your area. keep the house as pollen free as possible.
mould is also a common allergen, check the walls behind furniture in your home if there is no other visible mould.

Poor you, I've been there. It's very hard. It is the itching that's preventing the sleeping.

Have you had a referral to a dermatologist and an allergist? In my experience you need both to get on top of things. Skin prick tests will help identify all allergens, it's probably more than just CMPA if it's taking a while for the eczema to clear. Have you tried more than one prescription milk? Some still have dairy but broken down - you might need one that's totally dairy (they are more expensive so NHS tries the other ones first).

We ended up paying £150 to see a private dermatologist. Best money we ever spent. If the itching can't be controlled you need a steroid cream to get on top of it - sleep is so important.

Are you on any Facebook groups such as CMPA support? I found these really helpful. My little girl is 3.5 now and her skin is totally clear. We're working on the milk ladder but she still carries epi pens for egg.

Make sure you reach out to other allergy/eczema parents online... it's such a hard road and lots of people simply don't understand xxx

I can't advise you how to get her to sleep or what to do with her eczema but have you got the means to pay to visit a dermatologist privately?

I grew up with eczema where I would scratch my legs raw. I never wore skirts growing up and I think it really affected my confidence and socialising. I managed it but managed it badly with a bit of GP help which actually wasn't very proactive and I've found GP's to really not have a handle on eczema much at all. In my first pregnancy I had a big flare and was so desperate I paid to see a private dermatologist. He changed my life. He is absolutely brilliant and was able to explain what was going on and how to break the cycle. He prescribed very strong steroids (and diagnosed a genetic condition which no one had picked up on before). He just had the confidence to totally manage it and since then I've been able to control it much better myself. He also referred me to himself on the NHS to have allergy testing done. I've since taken my 4 year old and again he was brilliant with advice and proactive management.

If you can afford it then make sure you get some good recommendations of who to visit. I'd you can't then I would push abs push the GP to be referred to a dermatologist in the NHS. I mention private first just to cut down the waiting etc because the situation sounds awful for all of you. I found mine on a local mums group. I really hope you can get some help.

If its to the extent its keeping her awake, I would also push to be seen again, especially as it sounds like you have tried most things. My brother had similar when he was little, thankfully he largely grew out of it, but he had to be soaked every night and bandaged up otherwise he would scratch himself raw.