Eczema........

[Mumof2x]

Hi,
Does any of your LO's suffer with eczema? Both my children DD age 4 and DS almost 2 suffer from this and its becoming a nightmare!

DD started when she was about 6months and it coverd at least 70% of her body..... Now she has bits on her body on her neck, arms and legs.

DS has not long started with it and its on the back of his neck, arms, legs and very bad on his cheeks.

We have tryed loads of different things..... steroyd after steroyd and im not happy using them to be honest. DD has the pink bandage type things with oil to go under.

Both children find sleep a problem they just get so itchy and I feel helpless the GP told me to give them piriton and it helps for my DS but not for my DD. Im sure I cant keep giving them medicen for ever and the thought of using steroys all the time scares me we have been using it on and off for a long time with DD, evey time we stop or go to a lower steroyd it just comes back worse and more of it!!

Any tips on what else I could try would be very helpfull!

Thanks xxx

Have you tried eliminating dairy from their diet? I have eczema and my DC's did have it when they were younger (are 6 and 4 now) but thankfully seem mostly clear of it now. I'm sure that dairy was a trigger for them but it's not the same for everyone.

I've heard homeopathy can work wonders for eczema, especially in children, why don't you give it a go?

My son had horrid eczema and then his GP gave me Calmurid, which is a very thick emulsion cream, to apply 4 times a day. It worked a treat and now he just gets a few spots now and then.

I do use 1% hydro-cortisone on the very worst of it, but mostly the Calmurid works with no other creams needed.

Thanks guys, yeah we have tryed no dairy and it didnt really make much differnce to be honest. Calmurid is something we havnt had.. maybe I could mention it to my GP x

Just a quick note on dairy, you need to have it out of the diet completely for atleast 3 weeks, for it to not be in the system.

The really thick emulsions are great. Also worth thinking about getting rid of carpets if you have any - they hold LOTS of housedust mite, worst culprit and any cats/dogs/harsh chemicals. Makesure 100% cotton bed linen and clothes where possible. Maybe think about food allergy testing if you've removed all obvious allergens and it's still bad.

Thank u mamasunshine. We cut it out for around a month I think it was. We have no pets anymore and everything is 100% cotton but we do have carpets. I cant afford to remove the carpets and get the wood but hopefully we will save and do that as we were told house dust mites are worst. Thanks x

DS suffered terribly with eczema from the age of 1. It got to a stage that it was so bad our GP send us to see a specialist.

We used various emulsions, epaderm worked the best for him and 1% hydrocortisone on flare ups (0.5% on face) and something for the bath (blue). A nurse showed us how to dry-wrap, covering ds in epaderm and dress him in tubifast garments. We bought some eczema pyjamas with mittens so that he couldn't scratch himself to bits at night. We also got prescribed an antihistamine that worked as a mild sedative to help him sleep. The nurse suggested to vacuum everyday, damp dust a few times a week, wash bedding, soft toys etc on 60 with unperfumed washing powder and use extra rinse. DS eczema was manageable by doing this but we still got stuck in this circle of itch, scratch, antibiotics, clear, itch, scratch,

We persuaded the specialist to do a simple allergy test and that came back showing DS was a highly allergic child. We saw a dietician who put him on an exclusion diet (excluding dairy, wheat, tomatoes, eggs, soya, nuts, fish) for at least 6 months before putting things back into his diet. And whilst nobody expected it, the diet worked! Wheat and dairy were the last things we put back (12 and 18 months later)and he was almost clear of eczema by his 5th birthday. 3 years later he seems to have outgrown the food allergies and his eczema only flares up with hayfever and cold months and than mostly on his hands.
When I look back at pictures from when he was 3 (just before the diet) I can't believe how poorly he looked.

Sorry for the long post but I just thought to share a positive story.

Thats fab and im so glad you and your DS got a result in the end! I really want my DS testing for allergies because I think he will have some, hes no good round pets etc..

My DD was put on a wheat free diet at 1st then weened bk on then a dairy one and it didnt really make much difference. The hydrocortisone does nothing at all for ither of them. My DS has Fusibet for his face it calms it down but never clears it. They have just given my DD mometasone furoate that seems to be taking it down but Im always scared to use them always have been lol on the leaflet it says for 6yr olds and adults and shes only 4. I guess we must trust our GPS lol.

Thank u for ur help I think I will ask for allegy tests next we already do all the washing vacuming etc xxx