Share your tips for how to manage children’s eczema with La Roche-Posay

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Eczema is a common skin condition amongst children and at times can be very tricky to manage and keep your child’s skin from being dry, sore, and itchy. It can be especially difficult to keep in check at night and can affect your DCs sleep. La Roche-Posay would like you to share your tips for how you handle your child’s eczema or what has helped you manage your child’s eczema in the past.

Here’s what La Roche-Posay has to say: “Here at La Roche-Posay we understand how eczema can impact quality of life for your child and the whole family. We ran a clinical study which showed that 9 out of 10 children with eczema suffer with sleep issues, spending up to ¼ of the night scratching, which can easily take its toll on day-to-day life. As we are committed to a better life for sensitive skin, we are encouraging Mumsnetters to share their top tips on looking after their children’s dry, itchy or eczema-prone skin, including bedtime hacks to reduce itchiness during the night.”

So what things have helped manage your child’s eczema? Are there any particular creams, lotions, or balms that have worked particularly well at soothing the itch? Do you keep the window open at night and make sure your child is wearing light, loose pajamas to keep them cool and stop them scratching while they sleep? Perhaps you avoid scented washing detergent to prevent your child’s skin from flaring up?

Please share your tips for coping with your child’s eczema below and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks

MNHQ

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Sadly it's very difficult to stop a young child from scratching. Cold water tempering showers are one solution but you've also got to try a good lotion on skin.

I can’t imagine giving my dd a cold shower when she was 5 and her eczema was at its worst... she would have screamed the house down. She was so sensitive to temperature differences it was painful for her to get out of the bath.

Sorry to read that. I guess it's different for every child, we just have to try everything and continue with what works best xx

Absolutely ssana, I think that’s true, they are all different and eczema affects them in different ways. I think the temperature thing is fairly common, there are lots of people on here talking about cotton bedclothes. I also found a natural fibre duvet helped.. synthetic wadding was just too sweaty.

I think there is a technical explanation for the temperature thing... something to do with nerve damage from so much scratching so the skin can’t perform its temperature regulating function.

viagrafalls yes we have - cut dairy right out of dds diet and noticed a big difference.
We had her tested privately as I knew she was intolerant to something but didn't know what. It caused her a lot of sore tummies too. She's 6.

She still has dry skin tho and can't have baths only showers. Her eczema is getting a lot better as time goes on but she still gets wee patches.

We received the Roche products today and tried them tonight - they are absolutely fab!! Love the balm - we've all tried that as lip balm. The shower wash and the moisturiser are lovely too; her skin felt so soft going to bed!

Let's hope it works!!

Ah, people receiving products already; were you informed by email previously? I’m sad if I have not been selected 🙁

Using a laundry egg has stopped my child’s eczema flaring up from the use of laundry detergents. It is a definite improvement

Haven’t found the perfect solution yet by far but currently smothering in Vaseline and Aveeno which relieves but hasn’t solved

I just use sudocrem at the moment on baby on the pharmacists advice so interested to read all the posts on this

Loose, natural fibres (100% cotton pjs); kefir goats milk moisturiser; reduction of dairy consumption, which was then eventually slowly reintroduced; oilatum liquid in the bath; simple, non bio washing powder.

Eczema isn't actually a disease on its on. Eczema is a symptom! Most outbreaks are due to a few key things

1. allergies - dairy/egg/detergent etc
2. over washing - drying out the skin
3. irritation - itchy clothes etc

so finding the route course is the best cure!

Our DD has mostly grown out of it these days but when we were dealing with the worst we had a few tricks up our sleeves. It was a combination of solutions.

First we cut out every scented product from fabric softener to bubble bath. We use non bio laundry soap and unscented baby shampoo for her (she’s 7 now!).

Bubble bath seems to really irritate unfortunately even now so we still avoid it. But when she was really suffering, we found a daily bath helped. Thankfully she loves bath time so if she was sore we’d chuck her in an ’oaty’ bath. There are many oat products but this is the bargain basement homemade version.

Basically you cut about 6 inches of a pair of tights knotted at each end and add at least 3 tablespoons of cheap porridge oats inside. Throw it in the bath and let it do its thing. Oats are moisturising and soothing. They give off a kind of milkiness to the water. Our DD would rub it on herself and use it to make play soups etc so the bath was even more fun. And it helped her skin feel better. Win win.

If she wanted something different we used plain bath salts. There are some good kids ones available. A few handfuls swished around make a nice alternative.

I would also add that we wouldn’t use soap on her unless she was properly dirty. The bath itself was often enough to be clean. Better to let her soak and rinse off dirt than risk upsetting her skin with irritating soap. The oats would clean her well enough when we used them.

Finally we made sure to use natural cotton clothing and bedsheets all the way. Let the skin breathe.

I hope these tips help someone else. It can be a real nightmare and this wouldn’t be enough for the worst cases but we were lucky enough to avoid medicated products by using these tips.

Firstly if bad, steroid cream prescribed from your child's GP. This will tackle the worst. Nails kept clean and short as possible. No bathing. Warm (not hot) showers then quick pat dry with clean, soft towel followed by PLENTY of good quality emollient into damp skin until completely absorbed. I find a lotion is better absorbed into the skin. Avoid greasy emollients that feel horrible on the skin and irritate it further. I suffered for a long time with eczema and so did my DD. I have found this the best way to treat it. We are both now clear of excema

Try to allow the skin to breathe by not using tight clothing. Dermalo is very good to shower/bathe with as it’s very light and sensitive

Luckily we only had to deal with eczema as a baby, we used oilatum bath & diprobase Cream , seemed to keep it at bay & soothed

Keep an eye out for anything that triggers flare ups, keep the skin moisturised and try to take the child's mind off the itching.

We were using Avena and that’s brilliant 💕💕💕

Gladskin endolysin cream see BBC documentary on it, I think it is fabulous for my little ones who suffer!

Not been a big problem for us but my lad did have mild symptoms when much younger. It was a case for us of moisturising, keeping washed and dried properly and not using chemicals in the wash powders etc and ensuring he wore light cotton type clothes to avoid friction and sweating.

It's hard when they are so young but trying your best to soothe the skin with natural remedies worked best for us and we found mittens really good to help stop the scratching at a really young age.

Aveeno is the one for me when it comes to eczema. I use it and find it just right. Also good to try and wear cotton and not get overheated, gentle laundry products too! I think it is more managing the condition rather than curing it though, nothing seems to make it go away.

My son has eczema and has to have tar baths also tar shampoo l don’t use any scented products on him and before bed l usually cover him in E45 cream which helps moisturise the dry skin. It’s a daily battle

I recently developed sever eczema despite never having it before. I tried lots of creams but eventually researched about natural remedies which are what have helped me. I use Lucy Bee Organic extra virgin coconut oil which I melt in my hands & massage in after my shower while my skin is still fairly moist after just patting dry. Before my shower I dry brush my skin to get rid of the dead skin cells & it also gets the circulation going too which all helps with eczema problems. On my face I use a softer brush & only leave the coconut oil on for an hour before washing off with warm water. I then use apple cider vinegar with filtered water, half & half. The moisturiser I use, which is natural too is Salcura & they do a Junior range for kids.

Always keep up your skincare routine, and apply cream in the direction of the hair growth, never against it.