Eczema

[Firstbaby1234]

My 5 month old son has had eczema for a while now and has been to the doctors 4 times over his eczema. Does anyone have any tips on what they used for their child’s eczema to help? I have attached pictures below. A couple of weeks back we were prescribed hydrocortisone, Epaderm and dermol to be used but nothing seems to be working.

Aw poor baby, it’s horrible having to watching them suffer.

Have you tried aveeno dermexa?

oats in the bath can be soothing.

Wash all his clothes and your clothes with a tiny amount of surecare washing powder and avoid using fabric softener. Add an extra rinse cycle on the end to remove any traces of washing powder.

Wash and change bedding at least once a week.

All clothes must be cotton and all bedding must be cotton.

Avoid wearing any perfume or scented products.

Eczema can be linked to diet. If you are breastfeeding it could also be something you’re eating such as dairy or eggs.

Try and keep him cool. Central heating dries the skin also.

scratchsleeves are good to stop them from breaking the skin.

Lots of vacuuming and damp cleaning.

keep a food diary when you start weaning him to see if there is a link between his diet and his eczema.

That's clearly an allergy, dairy/egg/soya are the most common.

Looks like allergy rash which is common to appear blotchy on the stomach arms etc with small red pimples. My son had similar when he ate eggs/wheat but grew out of it

Mine was a cow's milk allergy. I lasted until I was 19 and then suddenly disappeared.
I would try removing things from his/your diet (,if BF) and see if it changes anything.

Thank you all! He isn’t breastfed he is formula fed. I am going to ring the doctors again today. I have mentioned it maybe being an allergy to them before but they kind of fobbed me off! She said it was infected eczema in the past but the steroid creams aren’t doing anything to it.

Poor thing, it's really hard with eczema because sometimes the flare ups don't seem connected with anything. We got prescribed steroid cream but it stings my son, doesn't help the skin and makes my hands and arms come out in a rash. Just wanted you to know it's not just you it doesn't work for! A knotted sock full of oats in the bath really helps temporarily. Smearing loads of Vaseline onto his wet skin straight after a bath and getting him dressed straight away, without rubbing it in helps hugely too. Sometimes Aveeno cream helps, sometimes Epsom salt baths help. Definitely non-bio laundry detergent and an extra rinse setting on the washing machine. Good luck!

Thank you! We have a doctors appointment at 9.30, he itches his tummy so bad it’s sad to see. I hope they can give us different creams to try. I will be mentioning allergies too. How many times a week do you bath?

I meant bath your child!

A lot of the lotions & creams sting but ointments don't. Steroid creams come in different strengths so perhaps you need a stronger one for a few days. I am not pro steroid but I'm 10 years into managing my son's eczema and think that whilst you do have to find triggers you first have to deal with the flare up and then go into a management phase whilst identifying the triggers. For us, we go in with a higher level steroid cream (still minuscule amount, let that stay on skin for 10-15 minutes before deluging in Hydromol Ointment. Do this twice per day. Can do another deluge of ointment in between.

Don't bathe every day - can wash parts of body separately. Get a a prescription bath emollient for bathing every few days, not any of the ones off the shelf. Again, you can try those if you wish once the flare up has gone.

The most crucial part is to keep treating even when skin looks improved. For example, 7 days above regime followed by 7 days on lower strength steroid cream followed by 7 days on just ointment. You must keep treating or the emerging affected skin will just deteriorate and put you back to the beginning.

There is wonderful clothing you can get that keep the creams working between doses. Look at skinnies/Comfyfast/Clinifast. You can get them on prescription but I think only via consultant - you can buy them online. They are really effective and definitely use mitten to stop the impact of scratching.

I really wish I had known this when my son was small, we got so much bad advice - often from GPS. Only other thing I'd ask if whether your baby is very drooly right now and the clothing is wet. Eczema will flare if in wet clothing. Keep the skin wrapped in cream and clothing.

Good luck.

What @Hope54321 said plus what worked for us as an allergy family (DD has several and eczema like me):

• using the steroid creams just to get it under control then stopping and switching to MooGoo udder cream/full fat cream. It was recommended on here and I've never looked back, amazing stuff.

• we don't use soap powder, just soap nuts and we have to wash on a 40 minimum to cleanse clothes of cream and skin build up. I also bleach wash the washing machine /clean it once a quarter and vinegar wash it once a month to keep it clean.

• scratch sleeves in the day (the Velcro ones are best) and scratch sleeve pyjama tops for night time. It is expensive but they wash well and sometimes you can get cheaper factory rejects from the actual company off eBay!

• having her allergies under 100% control. One bad day can impact for a few days. I had to cut a lot of foods while breastfeeding

• oat baths (whole oats in some old sheer tights) turns the water creamy smooth. Or a plain water lukewarm bath no more than 5 mins and Pat the body dry not rub. Cream on within 5 minutes!! Locks in moisture

• and some will disagree but I genuinely believe steroid creams have their time and place. You need to get to the root of the eczema.

• short nails at all times, cut and file for a softer edge

• shampoo has irritants in so we only condition hair (curly hair anyway so this works best)

• check ingredients in all creams. We were prescribed an oilatum bath additive type thing , used it once and it made things worse, turns out it had peanut oil in which is one of her allergies ! Not sure if it does not but check everything. A lot of creams have a load of rubbish stuff in. That's why we love MooGoo. It doesn't irritate either of us and we react to EVERYTHING.

Also I do second about central heating. DD does so much better when it is cool inside and not too dry.

Also, before and after meals, barrier ointment around the mouth such as Vaseline to stop contact rash (has worked a wonder at nursery where she eats all sorts of stuff we don't usually cook at home)

Also fight hard for allergy testing if you believe that's what it is!

I have many allergies and I had to fight for 5 years for testing and the consultant literally said to me 'it's all in your head' - lo and behold it came back with egg/peanut/fish/ allergies 😂 He didn't apologise.

With DD I was on it immediately as I didn't want her to suffer a lifetime of bad skin and embarrassment that I had, never showed my arms or back due to patches of discolouration. I was persistent and firm and eventually got loads of suspected allergies confirmed

@Firstbaby1234 with my little one i spoke to the GP hundreds of times each time being told its not a allergy its just eczema. When i persisted to get a allergy test done they said it would not show clearly what allergies he has or that it was unnecessary needles and pain as i can just keep a diary. We were just in the process at going private to get the tests done and his eczema improved significantly. He still has patches so we are going to see a dermatologist and get the necessary tests done privately just to make sure its not allergy related. Hope his skin clears up soon, i know how stressful and upsetting it is seeing them so uncomfortable. I bath my little one every evening as its part of his routine but i use cooler water and oilatum products followed by epimax cream and hydromol ointment. I also have hydrocortisone which i use on any skin which is really red. Wish you all the best!