Eczema

[Mizzy19]

Hi guys,
Just wanted your opinion, views.
My little boy is 8 months old.
Since month 5, he's developed eczema. So legs feel like thick and scaly. He wants to constantly scratch himself, his scalp, his face, legs and belly when trying to do snappy change. No way can I put him in shorts or t-shirt or so, as any bare skin, he seems to want to scratch away, leading to bleeding and then scabs. At night I put socks on his hands, but he's getting the idea on removing them.
I can't watch him scratching 24/7. Been to the Gp who fobbed us on zerocream and zero base. Both don't do anything. Almost like there's no moisture in these creams, just not absorbing little ones skin.
Steroidal cream has been issued too, but that works for abit then stops. And don't want to keep using it.
Epaderm ointment given, which helps but once again, you put it on, within an hour, it's gone and baby's skin very dry. I'm literally covering him in this ointment every hour to no luck. Skin is red, scaly and sore. Some days worse than others.
Been to dermatologist whose recommendation is same as gp. Epaderm ointment, steroidal cream and bathe in Oilatum.
Any advise would be appreciated as to what to do.
Baby has been on formula, kendamil since birth. Now I give him fruit purees and veggie purees with daily porridge in addition to his milk. Can't see anything there's he's allergic too.. Hmm
Any recommendations on what to try out next would be much appreciated as it's stressing me and my partner out.

Kind regards,.
Nav

Hey, didn't want to read & run. I agree with not carrying on with the steroid creams, as they thin the skin.
Have you heard of child's farm sensitive baby moisturiser? That's mean to be really good for that kind of skin, and rumour has it that it's a little miracle worker. It's not medicated, it's just a normal moisturiser.
I hope he heals soon.

Meant** to be really good. Damn typos

I would talk to dr (dermatologist if you still have access) or gp about possible cows milk protein allergy and whether going CMP free will help. Special formulas are available. Might have to buy them though. Definitely consult a doctor first.

Also, you need to use steroid cream right. Use a high concentration one to reduce the inflammation until it’s gone and then stop. You shouldn’t ideally be using it every day. But with the moisturisers use every hour like you have. Go back and request different moisturiser. Epaderm is good for us right now but previously Aveeno worked better. Now Aveeno doesn’t work at all.

Keep going back and trying different creams/ointments.

Personally I wouldn’t bother with lotions like child’s farm for serious eczema. But others seem to like it. Generally lotions are least moisturising, and ointments are most moisturising with creams in the middle. We step up and down between creams and ointments depending on how things are.

Keep going!

Also, don’t bath every day. Water dries skin, even with bath additives

Poor little mite. Lifelong eczema sufferer here. Lotions and creams usually contain preservatives which can be irritating. I wash with Boots aqueous cream as a soap substitute, (but you need to wash it all off), then Vaseline while the skin is still damp to keep the moisture in. Ointments are best in my experience. I was allergic to Oilatum plus 🙄. Try to keep on the dermatologists list as they are so much better than gps with eczema. Cotton clothes are best and nothing woolly against the skin. Mild laundry detergents (Surcare). I find being too hot can aggravate eczema too. My own son had it but has grown out of it. Good luck to you and your little one.

Doublebase cream has worked for my son.
I get eczema too and find bathing every day aggravates it.
Sensitive everything. Child’s farm products are good but I found the cream didn’t work on certain parts of my skin- it’s slightly scented so be careful of that

This has helped me enormously

Quite a bit of experience here battling the same scenario. Things that worked for us to make it manageable:

• Dermatologists
• explore food allergies eg our little one is allergic to dairy and oats, amongst other things (hence not been able to use Aveeno etc.
• Dermol cream for washing
• Dermol bath additive for bathing
• keeping little one on the cooler side (if really itchy, in the Pram for a walk to get some cool air)
• scratchsleeve sleeves or pyjamas
• recently tried a probiotic again and feel that it’s really made a difference, where previously unsure it did.
• Epaderm it is a case of creaming every hour. Make sure the pot of cream itself is kept scrupulously clean to avoid infections. So use an old medicine spoon to scoop it out into your palm. Also, we used disposable gloves (like the ones you get at petrol stations) when out to apply the cream so we know effectively the hand area applying it was hygienically clean.
• long acting antihistamine (talk to your gp) using piriton whenever they have a flare up so they can get some proper rest and bit a bit more comfortable due to its sedative effect (only if go is ok with doing so)
• Stopped using any detergent or conditioner on clothes, only a tiny drop of surcare every few washes for anything that is heavily soiled
• exfoliant very basic cheap sponge from supermarket (not to actually exfoliate but to squeeze the water over the skin and if really itchy to move it over the skin once or twice very gently, find it soothing (kinder then them itching) and when the skin is really bad over a few days very gently moving it over the skin once or twice helped removed the excess build up of dry lose flaky skin and found the Epaderm was able work better due to this.

Bathing everyday, for 5-10 mins max.

@MilkHunt50 hey! Can I ask the reason for the bathing everyday? My lo has bad eczema but we avoid too much contact with water- just wondering if we're doing the right thing.

So we use moogoo and find it amazing, aside from that non bio washing powder, less showers a week and an antihistamine at times. I'm starting to see that it flares up with, in particular too much bread or cereals. Considering allergy testing at this very moment. I hope something here helps, op, hate it!!

@heywassuphello I think it depends what works for your child. We were told initially to avoid bathing, and just a quick rinse when it was absolutely necessary. We were holding on for as long as possible between baths, and found not bathing was causing the intense itching to be worse, and was exacerbating the situation. When we reverted back to daily bathing it didn’t make the day to day situation better but wasn’t making it actively worse (like when we weren’t bathing daily). This may be linked to the type of eczema one has, wet or dry, don’t know - but my little one has the dry form.

Also, I found creaming with the Epaderm whole body immediately before getting in the bath, including neck and face really made being in the bath more comfortable for our little one, as it meant the skin was not getting wet and immediately air drying every time the area was not covered in water.

An obvious one is keeping nails short, but another tip that helped when they have a particularly bad patch that they keep scratching is in addition to keeping that area creamed with Epaderm, is to put a little bit of Epaderm at at the tips of the fingers and cream them well. It makes it a bit more difficult for them to give it a good scratch as their finger tips are more likely to glide and slip due to being greasy.

Thanks everyone for the tips.

Little one is under dermatologist and dermatologist advised to bathe regularly to get rid of dead skin as we were washing him every 2-3 days, so now it's more frequent and have noticed it does help.

Will try Moogoo and see if it helps, thanks.

Am thinking of letting GP know about possible cmpa too as noticing itching is worse after he's had his formula milk (Kendamil).
Did try him on Aaptamil Pepti 2 in past but unfortunately no success and little one is so used to the taste of Kendamil (it's very creamy and doesn't smell like other formulas) that each time I tried Aaptamil, he would cry nonstop, like he knew it wasn't his milk and then he wouldn't consume milk at all. So had to revert back.
I've spoken to pharmacist who says to try SMA Althera, so will look into that.

Have tried Childs Farm lotions but unfortunately they are not moisturising and didn't do much for his skin.
Aveeno Dermexa helped and also Epaderm now. So will keep on top of moisturising

It's tough seeing them like this, no one in the family has eczema so it's a new ball game.
I'm hoping he does eventually grow out of it.

Thanks everyone, very useful and informative tips and advise.

Allergies can be a very common cause of eczema in children including diary/cows milk.

I would advise speaking to a qualified nutritionist who has experience working with babies. In my experience GPs often ignore nutrition altogether.

Another one saying see a dermatologist. They can refer to an allergist if needed - ours did.

I really recommend Scratchsleeves, babies can't get them off at night. They helped us.

Don't be scared of steroid cream. Used properly there are no side effects, it's been borne out in many studies. Your dermatologist will show you what to do. Eczema is like a fire, it needs putting out first before you can start maintaining healthy skin. Emollients actually made our daughter's skin worse!

We've been there, it's awful, I remember my 5mo daughter waking up covered in blood where she'd managed to scratch herself in the night red raw. But she's 3 now and you would never know. For us, it was food allergies. An experienced paediatric dermatologist and a course of steroid cream far stronger than anything the GP could prescribe changed our lives.

Sorry I've just seen you are under a derm. Good!

Both of mine have seasonal ezcema (eldest more affected than DD) and it's a right slog to get the right combo of creams, bath stuff and don't get me started on sun cream!

Things I've found help are:
Not bathing every night - it's usually a bath every 2/3 days but a good flannel wash the other days

We switch up products fairly regularly - currently we have aveno for the odd bubble bath for DS, dermol cream and hydromol emollient in the bath

We use a flannel for washing them that helps get the dry skin off, this gets changed after every wash

Non bio washing powder and sensitive fabric conditioner and an extra rinse on their clothes to get all the product off

Hi, I’m in exactly the same situation as you with my 9 month old.

You need to identify and eliminate the eczema triggers as much as possible. The following triggers affect my baby:

1. diet - dairy, citus fruits, banana, others which I have yet to identify as we are weaning. If you are breastfeeding you may need to eliminate the trigger food from your own diet.

1. Clothing material - anything other than cotton irritates my baby’s skin. Cotton prevent babies from overheating.

1. Washing powder - avoid fragranced washing power. Use surecare or ecover and put and extra rinse cycle to remove any traces of washing powder.

1. Fragranced products - avoid fragranced products even what you and your family wear on your own body can irritate your baby’s skin if he comes into contact with you. Even what you clean your floor with can cause a flare up of your baby comes into contact with the cleaning product. Avoid products with harsh chemicals.

1. Dust - wash bedding at 60. Remove carpet and fabric sofa if possible. If not, then steam clean regularly and fabric sofa can be covered with a throw which can be washed regularly. Vaccum and damp clean frequently.

1. Central heating- we still haven’t turned the heating on as it causes an immediate flare up.

Use scratch sleeves, the ones with the velcro are best as they stay one.

See if you can be referred for allergy testing as this might help in identifying some triggers.

We still have a long way to go with my baby’s eczema, but we are trying our best and hoping he will one day grow out of it.

Good luck mama. I know it’s soo tough. Look after yourself as it can cause a lot of stress for caregivers as well.