Managing Eczema

Pebbles81

Hi all,
Just looking for some advice or tips from other people who have toddlers with Eczema.
My little girl is 10 months old and has had eczema for about 6 months now.
We have been using a steroid cream on her body for flare ups. We don't use any soaps instead we use Silcox Base as a substitute and I also moisturise her daily with same.
I've been using fairy non bio and comfort sensitive when washing her clothes.
I don't think it's being triggered by any particular food either.
Despite all this it seems to be getting worse though its not at a scale where it's causing her a lot of discomfort, I don't want to let it get to that stage, so I'm hoping someone can help me out.
Thanks

pwurple

Hi Pebbles, No use to you, but ours seems to have just grown out of it slowly. Basically gone by the time she was 18 months. The odd patch of dry skin now and again, but nothing like the start.

We found it was a lot worse in winter when she was wearing more clothes. She was never great with wools or any natural fibres. Have you wool carpet or any pets?

Pebbles81

pwurple wrote: »

Hi Pebbles, No use to you, but ours seems to have just grown out of it slowly. Basically gone by the time she was 18 months. The odd patch of dry skin now and again, but nothing like the start.

We found it was a lot worse in winter when she was wearing more clothes. She was never great with wools or any natural fibres. Have you wool carpet or any pets?

That's great that yours grew out of it, hopefully the same will happen here!
No carpets, just tiles and wood floors. No pets either.

notahappycamper

Hi,

My son is nearly 10 months and has had eczema since early on, he had a reaction to silcocks base so my GP referred us to the skin clinic in Temple St.

Here is all the advice/instructions they gave us (that I can remember):

• Apply steroid cream (only if required am and pm) and emulsifying ointment (many brands, you choose what works best for your baby).
• Bath every night for 5/10 minutes. Dilute a tablespoon of emulsifying ointment in a pint of boiling water and add to the bath. Pat dry after bath, not rub. Do not use sponges or faceclothes. Apply steroid cream if required and then emulsifying ointment. We use epaderm.
• All cotton clothes, no wool. No short sleeves or shorts, if there is an itch this will make it worse.
• No eggs, peanut butter or nutella until 2.
• Do not let them get too hot.

Looking at him now you wouldn't know he has it, it's not gone but we have it managed. We don't need to bath as often and he can wear shorts and short sleeve tshirts, so once you have it managed you will know what works best for your baby.

Hope this is of some help

javagal

Doctor told me to bath every night too and my daughters skin got worse.
stopped the nightly baths because Our water is so hard and now all we do is use silcocks Base twice a day and put it on after baths heavy,while she's still damp.
all she has is a few patches now at one versus it being in her belly button,ears,everywhere at 6 weeks.

its not always Allergies,just sometimes its genetics. My daughter eats eggs and peanut butter fine.
basically its finding what works for you.
not bathing every might was a huge turning point for us.

CrazyRabbit

Long exposure to moisture and/or heat has always triggered it for me. Certain fabrics make it worse also (any that aren't breathable, or 'itchy' fabrics). Some foods, especially chocolate also aggravate it during outbreaks.

My feet have always been the worst, so I wear runners with lots of ventilation and only light cotton socks. As soon as I get home, the socks are off and I'm in slippers or barefoot. Really makes a difference.

When it gets bad, which thankfully is rare these days, I run cold water over the affected area for a min or two, and let it air dry. The cold water is unpleasant, but brings a lot of relief.

One of the worst things about it though is that it affects everyone differently. There is no one guaranteed trigger or treatment which makes it very frustrating.

wmpdd3

My partner has eczema since he was a baby and I agree with all the advice here, but there's a lot of try and see, even with the consultant he will try something for a few weeks and then change. Like bath every day / shower / emollient / no emollient.

What he found that really helps is a sock with porridge (seriously) dropped into the bath. It turns the water milky and it calms the itch for a few hours.

What I could never understand is how it is linked to stress, within 3 hours of a stressful situation, his skin flares up.

Gee_G

My little man has a touch of it too for the last few months, he's now 11 months. Two doctors have told me that babies get it a lot while teething, my little man flares up when his teeth are cutting through. Also, we have cut baths to about twice a week(obviously a bit more in this weather. We also now wash his hair separately before he gets into the bath so there is nothing at all in the water except his emulsifier.

Pebbles81

Thanks for all the feedback, plenty of food for thought. I have also noticed that her eczema flares up when she's cutting a tooth and there are two coming through at the moment, so I guess that's the stress of teething that's causing flare ups, she has 8 teeth now!

lonestargirl

Teething definitely made it worse on my guy. We had various flare ups but then in January this year he got chicken pox and it was much worse afterwards (he was 2). We attend the excema clinic in Crumlin. Contrary to expectation they recommend daily baths with emollient and then steroids and emollient cream. They did tell us to continue the steroids past the time that it appears to go away to make sure you've got all the layers of skin. We had a 3 month regime tapering from twice daily to every 2nd day. I use non sulphate shampoo when washing his hair and a sulphate free shower gel after the swimming pool. I would have very dry sensitive skin myself and always use non bio and cotton garments.

Pebbles81

lonestargirl wrote: »

Teething definitely made it worse on my guy. We had various flare ups but then in January this year he got chicken pox and it was much worse afterwards (he was 2). We attend the excema clinic in Crumlin. Contrary to expectation they recommend daily baths with emollient and then steroids and emollient cream. They did tell us to continue the steroids past the time that it appears to go away to make sure you've got all the layers of skin. We had a 3 month regime tapering from twice daily to every 2nd day. I use non sulphate shampoo when washing his hair and a sulphate free shower gel after the swimming pool. I would have very dry sensitive skin myself and always use non bio and cotton garments.

I actually meant to ask anyone's advice regarding swimming, we've only brought her once and her skin seemed to have a bad reaction to it, so we decided to leave it for a while. I must look into buying non sulphate gel and try that after our next trip.

wmpdd3

My partner can't use the swimming pool at all. I have seen kids in the pool with their full leg and arm suits though, so it may be possible.

Emcm

My little one is almost 4 and has had eczema since she was 6 weeks old. Basically the dermatologist just told us the advice you have been told here the daily baths with emulsifying oil and to use silcocks base and steroid cream for bad flare ups. She advised us to use Elave Shampoo for her hair.

Her advice re the swimming pool was to smoother her in a good layer of silcocks base before they go in so that acts as a barrier to the water.

Another thing to be watchful for is Sun cream it can be hard to find a suitable one. I have used La Roche Posay it's expensive but excellent for my little one. Boots have introduced a new Soltan kids sensitive and I said I would give it a try as it is about a 3rd of the price and so far she has reacted well to it.

The non bio washing powderbis also essential and stick to good brands I made mistake of buying a cheap lidl one and we were all itching and scratching and it was supposed to be non bio

Good luck it isn't easy when they are suffering

javagal

we use a full body suit over A layer of cream with no problems.

the boots sensitive Sun cream is great !

aknitter

Ditch the fabric softener, even the comfort pure, its full of chemicals. give the childs clothes an extra rinse and keep the clothes 100% cotton. Oilatum in the bath is easier and better than melted silcocks base - you'll get it in any chemist, use it with the milton.

My son is 2 and had it sine birth, its awful but it really is a case of trial & error. I was recommended not to use aqueous cream - too much soap in it. Good Luck.

lonestargirl

Yep, no aqueous cream here either. As an emolllient I use hydromol, it's parafin based (just like oilatum and silcocks base) but is the colour of vaseline rather than white and I find it absorbs quicker.

For swimming we apply a layer of emollient 15 mins before going into the pool.

I do actually use the Tesco non-bio and have no issues with it - i would break out myself at a lot of washing powders.

aknitter

lonestargirl, where do you get the hydromol?

lonestargirl

I got it in McCabes pharmacy in Dundrum. It's not out on the shelves you have to ask for it but you don't need a prescription. It comes in those same 500g tubs that you get Silcock's base in and it was in the €8-10 mark.

This is waht it looks like
http://www.hydromol.co.uk/hydromol/home/

Supercell

As a lifelong sufferer of this(since birth) the single most important thing for me is to keep the skin cool, hot sweaty skin is itchy skin.

I would strongly recommend cotton only clothes and as loose and airy as possible. Definitely never ever wool, that is unbelievably uncomfortable. A baby won't be able to resists scratching an itch so i agree with what others have said - no shorts and no short sleeves, at least if they are full length there a barrier between the babies skin and their fingernails as they scratch (keep baby's nails as short as possible too).

In the hot summer weather make sure the blanket in babys bed isn't too thick, again you want them to be cool and not sweating - signs of being to hot in bed will be a rash on their back in particular.

You mentioned that you use Silcocks base to moisturise which is fine. However I find if I use one moisturiser all the time I start getting itchy to it too so i find it helpful to rotate the moisturiser i use - emulsifying ointment, silcocks base, vaseline, baby oil (though scented seems to be OK for me) etc. I can't use e45 but other people seem to be fine so maybe try working that in too.

I'd also recommend keeping hair reasonably short and it helps keeps the scalp cool and thus lessen itching and scratching.

Hope thats of some use to you.

Xidu

E45, it helped my son. N there's a liquid u add into bath, can't remember the name, any pharmercy carries it. My GP said don't bath baby everyday, it dries their skin too much.

aknitter

I'd also recommend 100% cotton bedding, and I got the toddler duck feather and down pillows and duvets - homestore & more had the pillow on special offer for €10 (got it after christmas) and I got a duvet in cork can't remember the name but its over next to smiths on the kinsale road and it was €70

happywithlife

All of the above plus
Avoid all fleecy pjs etc in the winter - it drove my 2 mad
I avoid putting anything into bath as gp warned me it would eventually block the pipes - when it is very bad i dig out the baby bath and use that and dump it outside - I live on a half acre site so can do this thankfully :-)
Re e45 check whether its the cream or lotion - avoid the lotion at all costs!
I find leaving my fella in shorts and t shirts until the weather gets very cold works well at keeping him cool
Teething definitely aggravagates it and it does get better as they get older :-)

Xidu

oilatum emollient, bath liquid w paraffin. U can add in bath or just rub on skin w coot on wool. It takes 1 wk to getting better.