DS 5 itching backs of knees, inner elbow at night

[TheStuffalo]

DS 5 itches the backs of his knees and inner elbows at night and has been doing so for the past two years. It's been getting really bad recently and he's scratches so much he's been drawing blood.

we've been to the GP twice who prescribed a mild steroid and cetraben. The steroid worked for a couple of weeks but that was all it was prescribed for and the GP told us to continue with the cetraben when we saw him again.

DS is under the care of the asthma team at hospital as he had an episode of difficulty breathing and was blue lighted to hospital in feb this year. Following that they found out he had a severe dust mite allergy (nurse said it was 6/6).

Following this, I've been changing DS bedding once a week washing it on 60 degree cycle, hoover his room every other day. There is nothing under his bed. I hoover his mattress 3 times a week with a special hoover I bought. I open his window to air out the room every day.

DS no longer coughs at night like he used to but I think this is due to the inhalers. The scratching just feels like it is getting worse. He's also started scratching near his groin and I'm really worried the scratching will spread.

Is there anything else I can do to help him with the scratching? He does it mostly at night when he's asleep so it's not like he can help it. I really am at a loss as to what to do or if it is even related to dust.

he has a soft toy he takes everywhere with him and I try and wash this on 60 when I can but it's not as regular as I would like.

any tips would be appreciated as

Just to add the GP told us DS would grow out of it and asthma nurse told us to speak to GP when we last saw her so not sure where to go from here. I'm worried he's going to get an infection from all the scratching.

I use a zeroderm ointment on him too. He wears loose clothing and cotton PJs. He does have a waterproof mattress protector - could this be the issue??

Hang his bedding up to air out every day.

I would try an exclusion diet. I work in health care and often this is linked to diet (often milk, less commonly citric acid intolerance).
Or reaction to washing powder or certain materials.
Bathing in oat water (oats tied in tights) can help.
My DC also all had this and annoyingly for each of them it was a different culprit!

I assume its eczema causing the itching. Could you remove the carpet in the bedroom and replace with floor boards? Ideally remove from the entire house and look up other ways to reduce dust mites. Get an air purifier for his room.

For the itching, would he wear long johns and long sleeved sleep wear so he is only scratching on the top of the clothing? Short nails and mitten gloves?
Private allergy specialist?

The mattress protector could be making him too hot and sweaty, depending on what it's made of, so that could be causing more itching.

If you can afford it, you can buy protectors that are brushed cotton with a rubber layer encased. We used them as DS got too sweaty with the plasticky ones and it helped a lot because the cotton fabric could absorb his sweat and it generally made him less hot, so less itchy.

This is where we got ours from years ago.
https://www.thelittlegreensheep.co.uk/organic-cot-bed-mattress-protector-70x140cm/

Dc scratches her inner elbows, backs of knees & front thighs, if not treated she will scratch until they crack & bleed. It’s worse at night & she does flail & shout because of it. It started when she was 5, she’s now 6.5 but mostly under control however swimming flairs it up. She has a steroid cream for outbreaks. She has a prescribed showers cream/soap to use applied in downward strokes, followed by cetraben, applied on damp skin and left to soak in. It takes weeks to work after a flair up, and we apply several times daily, getting sweaty, sun cream and chlorine are the biggest aggravations or if we stop any of the soap and cream we end up back to square one. Our GP prescribed other creams prior which didn’t work, so maybe try Gp again. Breathable fabrics help, make sure it’s not a wash powder/bubble bath that’s irritating it.