Sleep advice and eczema

[als13]

Hi, really need some advice on sleeping! Our nearly 7 month old was a really good sleeper, from 2 months she was sleeping through and not needing a night feed. Since Christmas her sleep had become really disturbed, with her crying out in her sleep, not really waking properly but just getting upset. She also developed eczema which was I think the cause of her disturbed sleep. We’ve been working hard to get the eczema under control, currently giving comfifast vests a try. She’s itching much less than she was but still rubs her head and face a lot, not sure how itchy she is and how much it’s turning into a habit. But her sleep hasn’t settled down, from around 1 in the morning she cries out m, we go into her, sometimes give her her dummy but sometimes there’s nothing to do as she’s asleep but is still crying out. My husband wants to move her back into our room so it disturbs is less by not having to get up, but I’m not keen on this. Anyone had anything similar, and advice would be really appreciated!

Have you tried Child’s Farm Baby moisturiser? Aparantly it works wonders on people’s eczema. Have a google at reviews.

Sorry i’m Not much help.

Are you getting advise from a dermatologist to properly control the eczema? Assuming you are I highly recommend these www.scratchsleeves.co.uk which are scratch mitts which come in various sizes and actually stay on. They are silk on the hands so that she can’t do damage by rubbing herself either. Once you have stopped the scratching then I think it’ll just be a case of waiting out the disturbed sleep. If she is still asleep just moaning you might have to learn to ignore it - it’s probably habit and will fade eventually.

My LO has awful eczema all over her little body. We tried everything - epaderm, E45 cream and steroids from the doctors. In sheer desperation I popped a little Aveeno Spothing Relief on her cheeks as they had started to flake and looked awfully painful. Literally sat and watched the redness diminish over an hour or so, it was mad.
We got a prescription for Aveeno from the doctors and thought yes - finally we've cracked this. The prescribed Aveeno did nothing and she flared right back up again. For some reason it is just the soothing relief stuff that we are getting any success with.
We are cosleeping now so that I can stop DD itching in the night and that seems to help. We've been battling with this for a while now and all I can really think is that until this is less itchy for her, nights are going to be disturbed sadly.
Keeping an eye however in case someone has a wonder suggestion. Good luck OP 🙂

She has probably developed the excema due to an allergy. The easiest one to try and elliminate is dustmites. Put a dustmite cover on her mattress, and wipe down her hole cot in hot soapy water. Dont let her go on any upholstered furniture for a week and see if it improves. The next step after that is to go to the GP and organize scratch testing to see if it is a food she is allergic to.
To treat the excema, slather her in a hypoallergenic unscented moitsuriser just before bed and while her skin is still damp after her bath. (Make sure it doesn't contain lanolin as ahe could also be set off by wool)
Put her to sleep with socks over her hands, so she cant scratch. Dont dress her in anything that is not 100% cotton and that is washed in a sensitive baby washing detergent and double rinsed with no softener (including the cot sheets). Consider bleach free nappies, but if she doesnt have excema in her groin area, this is less likely to be a trigger

Thanks for all your suggestion. We’re just seeing the gp at the minute for it, she’s given us steroid creams to use which work really well, but then as soon as we wean them down and stop using them it just comes back again. We use aveeno cream for the dr but might try the soothing relief one, also just got some child’s farm as a few people have suggested that one.
Her dad had eczema as a child and he was allergic to egg and had goats milk when he was old enough which cleared it up, so I guess it’s pretty likely to be linked to an allergy. But our gp is not keen on that route, do you just request an allergy test?
I do think a certain amount of it is becoming habit though which is tricky, my husband is a softie and wakes more to her and goes to her, which I’m not sure I making it worse. Think I might try some of those scratch sleeves so I know she’s ok and try and ignore to see if we can break the cycle.

I asked for allergy tests and our GP was really flakey about that too. Said they wouldn't refer until I'd kept a diary of flare ups and issues and been back to discuss it with them, which surprised me as ideally getting allergies tested for is surely a better idea than keeping up the eczema, scratching and pain cycle going with no real change.
Good luck with the creams you've got 🙂

IF the GP wont allergy test her, try and go private and get it done. steroid cream shouldnt really be used on the face (or the genitals) as the skin is so thin there. Eventually it damages it and the child is absorbing too much steroid-ness.

The more excema and scratching they do when little, the more likely they will have skin damage when older, broken blood vessels, uneven skin, red patches etc.

Also if she is allergic to something, you are just winding her immune system up and up and up by continually exposing her.

I would suggest starting with scratch tests before blood tests, but you should definitely be pushing to be seen by a specialist pediatric allergist.

Thanks, our gp just keeps saying it’s not worth trying different mills so hasn’t suggested allergies even though it seems likely. I’ve got another appointment soon so I’ll see what she says then. If not I think like you say, might be worth going private if only to eliminate it.