Baby with eczema waking every 2 hours (on a good night!)

[noneshallsleep]

Ds, now 20 weeks, has never been a great sleeper, but is now waking every 1 or 2 hours. I would love to put this down to the 4 month growth spurt, but unfortunately I think it's more due to his eczema, which started in early January and although improved is still pretty bad, particularly on his scalp. We're co-sleeping, and when he wakes he rubs his head madly, and can only settle if I bf him. He wears scratch mitts at night to limit the damage he does to himself, and I've tried using medised to try to reduce the itching, but neither are helping much.

Does anyone out there have any experience of this, to commiserate, have any suggestions, or tell me (please!) it will get better at some point?

Did the excema coincide with his injections? Certainly ds's did and his was terrible. Here is what we did. He did eventually have piriton prescribed to him to try and relieve it. BUt you need to keep the skin moisturised all the time. If it means applying it every 5 mins then so be it. Try burts bees baby milk lotion or something from www.akamuti.co.uk their natural shea butter is very good. Babies skin needs to be tacky to the touch so slather it on. Put socks on his hands instead of scratch mitts.
We went to a cranial osteopath and a homeopath who cleared it up in no time. I was totally amazed. I do sympathise as my ds's excema was severe and he does not have one bit on him now.

Did the excema coincide with his injections? Certainly ds's did and his was terrible. Here is what we did. He did eventually have piriton prescribed to him to try and relieve it. BUt you need to keep the skin moisturised all the time. If it means applying it every 5 mins then so be it. Try burts bees baby milk lotion or something from www.akamuti.co.uk their natural shea butter is very good. Babies skin needs to be tacky to the touch so slather it on. Put socks on his hands instead of scratch mitts.
We went to a cranial osteopath and a homeopath who cleared it up in no time. I was totally amazed. I do sympathise as my ds's excema was severe and he does not have one bit on him now.

I can totally sympathise with you. My ds suffered really badly and was the same as your ds.
We were referred to a consultant and he was given something similar to medised but it really worked. Also we got some special gloves as my ds got wise to getting his mitts off and scratching. Cover him in cream and cut down on the baths.
My ds's cleared up at about 14 months old and he's totally clear now

Hope you manage some sleep soon xx

DS was exactly like this at the same age. It was the worst period for both his sleeping and his eczema -- both are now vastly improved, if that's any consolation (he is 12mo though so it was a bit of a long slog!).

What treatment is he receiving for the eczema? Have you been referred to a dermatologist? There are things like wet wrapping that can help at night. Also we were prescribed Vallergan to help him sleep, although we never actually used it.

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We got diprobase from the Doctor to slather on, which we did as often as necessary - we were lucky as mostly on his torso and arms / knees so easily to cover up. The good news from us is that ds was bad at about this age and now rarely has any problems - every now and again we have a slight problem that we can sort out - we're just careful of bathing, detergents etc.

I know that if we'd been co-sleeping (banned due to me regularly getting squashed by dh) we would have disturbed ds who would have also disturbed us - ds slept better once we moved him into his room at about 5.5mo, and we know from sharing rooms occasionally when away that this still happens - won't necessarily be the same with you - just what we have found.

Oooo - and you can also try running any bath (which you will probably want to limit anyway) through a muslin bag of porridge oats - I've not tried this, but I understand that it is really soothing for inflamed skin, and is obviously very natural.

Hi, my dd is 21 months and we are still co-sleeping. We started mainly due to the same problem your ds is having. She developed eczema at 2 months and it gradually got worse. I think the worst time for her was between 5 and seven months old. She never developed a good sleep routine because of the constant itching. The eczema moved from her face and body to her legs and she used to scratch them raw. We got a couple of sleep suits for her but to be honest most nights I would have to take it off so she could have a little scratch because other wise she would get hysterical with frustration. The good news is that now at 21 months old she usually sleeps 8pm to 8am. Her eczema has cleared up a lot and she rarely wakes up itchy. I do notice that when she is upset or unwell she scratches her ankles, just from habit I think.
I went through months of researching, doctor's visits etc. to try and find something to help her but in the end I think it was time that helped her. Also we stopped mosturising her so much because it seemed that all the emollients made her skin softer and more vunerable to the scratching. Everyone told me that because she got it so young she would probably grow out of it but in the tough months when none of got any sleep I found that hard to believe but here we are a year later and things are so much better.
I can totally commiserate with you. All those times people told me 'she'll grow out of it', her eczema isn't that bad really' etc I just wanted to scream because I was so sleep deprived. Just keep telling yourself it will get better.

Many thanks for such quick responses! I'm going to try to get a referral to a dermatologist - I've so far been relying on a paed consultant at a children's walk-in unit at a local hospital after I lost faith in our GP practice. We're using emollient(cetomacrogal) and 1% hydrocortisone to control any flare-ups. He's massively improved, but his scalp is infected at the mo so we're on anti-biotics too. I've asked about other anti-histamines but have been told he's too young.

Tipex: I believe the Sids link was with Phenergan (promethazine), which is different from Vallergan (alimemazine).

My son also has eczema and used to wake regularly through the night, but only wakes once now. I really recommend swaddling your baby so he doesn't wake from the scratching, also keep your baby cool, not too many blankets and make sure he is sleeping on and wrapped only in cotton and is of course only wearing cotton clothing.

I used the steroid cream but found after a while he become resistant to it. I found a fantastic cream call Chickweed Ointment, it basically works like the steroid cream but as its herbal so it will not thin the skin and you can apply it as much as you want. I bought it at a local health shop, so you'll have to search on the net for it. Another cream thats good is Hope relief cream which is also herbal. Just so you know i have tried all the creams - Aqueous, Diprobase, Doublebase, Oilatum and E45 so i know what i'm talking about. Saying that, those creams may or may not work well for your son. If you're like me you'll try anything to clear it... i feel you pain, its a nightmare!

The other thing is make sure before you put your baby to bed you put loads of cream on. Oh and don't bath your son too much, water dries the skin.

Good luck, I've been told most babies grow out of it so fingers crossed.

Tara

hi, my ds2 is 6months and has exzema although i don't think its as bad as some of the others on here, his doesn't flake. Having said that his is obviously extremely itchy as he is constantly scratching especially at night. Its mainly on his neck, face and head(some behind his knees but that doesnt seem to bother him so much). Aswell as all the creams etc, we also swaddle as he was waking himself up by scratching. the swaddling has definately helped although by the early hours of morning i think he gets a bit hot(we co-sleep from bout3/4 for bf).
Hope you find something that works for you

Ohh I so feel for you. I am co-sleeping with DD because I don't want her to scratch. By the way it is my the daddy, since mommy can't sleep with DD because both move too much..!

Anyways. I am cosleeping with her since she is what 6 months or so.. For a long time it was good, she was sleeping from 8 to 1-2 AM, sometimes 4 (rarely). But lately, she has been waking up at 9 or so or then I sit down with her again then 1 hour later she is up again (she is a big bed now) she does this until 11 or 12 that I eventually go and sleep with her. I try to keep the rule that if I am not in bed, then I sit down.

My DS also had eczema all over his torso arms & legs, plus cradle cap on his head which started at around 5 weeks old & just got worse over time. He cried a lot of the time & was also spitting up a lot. It all got worse when he started on solids & he was getting rashes all over his face & it turns out the cause of all his issues was cows milk intolerance. Which is why it got so much worse when he started solids & I gave him yoghurt & whole milk. We got a prescription for Aptamil Pepti & within 2-3 weeks he had stopped spitting up, the facial rashes were gone & his eczema & cradle cap cleared up. I have to say I was amazed to discover how common it is for LO's to have milk allergy/intolerance, and also how closely linked MPI & eczema are. Just a thought.xx

We were in the same situation. We were prescribed steroids, and i was close to using them, just so my 5 months little girl can get some rest, but we discovered the bioderma range. Their intense cream was really good and her skin improved a lot in just 2 days ( i used a little more than recomended, morning, evening, and middle of the night ). Fingers crossed we will keep it under control, last night, she only woke up twice

Has your DS been tested for food allergies?

dc was similar at that age. same time of year as well.
in hindsight it's a symptom of their hay fever.
anyway, piriton before bedtime helped as did dressing less so the skin kept cooler.

My DS1 had horrible eczema as baby, neither he nor we got any sleep and our GP just wasn't able to help. We eventually went private and saw a paediatric dermatologist and it was worth every penny. One appointment, a repeat prescription. We saw Dr Atherton and I really recommend him.

My DD had eczema at the same age which the GP thought was a food allergy. Paed referral led to a prescription for Elocon (mometasone furoate) with Aveeno and paraffin/water mix and it was gone in 5 days. Sadly many GPs don't seem to be aware that the latest research suggest strong steroids for short periods are the best treatment, hence the hydrocortisone which will be doing very little. Try asking the doctor for Elocon and if they refuse ask them to look it up. I feel your pain, it's horrible especially when they are too young to understand that scratching makes it worse.

Sorry if I sound stupid but can someone tell me what a " ds " is ?