Eczema :(

fro9etb8j5qsl2

My 3 month old was born with dry skin that developed into eczema at 4 weeks. My gp first advised me to was to add aqueous cream to her bath and apply liquid paraffin after. The aqueous cream made her flare up so we stopped it and switched to diprobase, which also made her worse. Next thing the doctor suggested was Aveeno Dermexa which worked amazingly and cleared all of the eczema in a matter of days, only for her to come out in a spotty allergic rash from it a few days after :rolleyes:

I'm breastfeeding and the doctor suggested cutting out dairy so I've been very strict with myself for the last 8 weeks but the only benefit I've seen from that is in my own waistline There isn't anything else that I can see in my diet that could be causing it.

Anyways, I'm just looking for some pointers that might help. Thankfully none of the eczema has broken open, it's just scaly inflamed and dry but the poor mite has it all over her chest, back and knees and has a new patch on her face since this morning. I only bath her every 3 days unless she really needs it and only use plain water. I'm still applying the paraffin which seems to moisturise a bit and stop the patches getting worse but it doesn't clear it either.

pwurple

Hiya. My eldest gets it. It's trial and error unfortunately with the creams.

It's a two pronged approach for us.

Part 1 is to identify triggers. So, we know now that a lot of natural fabrics trigger her. Wool etc. so we took out all carpets. No wooly jumpers etc. i know for other people pets hair or dust mites might do it. As a baby she had egg and nut allergies and got flare ups from exposure as well as the immediate reactions. (apparently eczema can be a warning sign for this, so watch out for it when weaning).

Part 2 is the symptom treatment. I think different things work for different children. For us, bath twice a week, just water. We have to use some shampoo at this stage (she is 4 now). I have yet to find a brand that works well there. Working through them! The adult shampoos seem better than the children's ones though. On the skin, coconut oil works best for her.

Sligo1

Hi Mrspostman, sorry to hear about your little ones eczema. I don't teally have any advice on this one. However, a girl I know has started selling these Forever Living Aloe Vera products. She swears by them as her kids had eczema and the aloe Vera products seemed to clear up their skin. Anyway I haven't a clue about it at all, but if you've already tried a load of things and want to try something else I could pm you a link to the website. Just let me know

The Mulk

Hi as pwurple said identifying triggers is a big one. Our 5 year old is doing really well at the moment but last year was admitted to hospital for a week due to a very bad infection related to eczema. He's currenly being seen by an allergy specialist and dermatolagist. A few tips they have given us I'll list below (all non-medical) .We're practically free from using any steroids at this stage.

• Tumble dry all their bed clothes, this kills all dust mites that a 40 C wash doesn't
• Apply all creams in a downward motion, this prevents the pores and hair follicles getting blocked, which leads to angry red spots
• Add a small amount of milton to bath water once a week. We used 1/2 a capful to a 5 inch bath, that's for a 5 year old though
• Try to use pump action or sealed moisturisers, any large tubs get rid of after 1 month as they are usually contaminated and cause infection

I was a bit apprehensive about the milton baths but they used them every day in Our Lady's and he had no ill effects, but clean water is prob. just as good. We bathed him every day when his skin was bad.
We installed a water softener which we heard was good for people with eczema and only use non-bio washing powder.
The best cream i've found is Avene Xera Calm, €20 but lasts a month .
Ask your pharmacist for samples of recommended creams, that's what we did.
There's also a method called wet wrapping using tubifast bandages, we tried this when his scratching was bad to break the cycle of scratching/irritation
As they get older keep their nails short.

Our little man is grand now, started school last Sept. goes swimming every week and plays football on Saturdays, everything his older brother does.
As they get older, avoid any food or juices that are purple(this came straight from the allergy specialist!)

Sorry for the brain dump, it's just everything that sprang to mind.
Our pharmacist is brilliant at recommending creams and giving samples which was/is a big help

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Thanks girls Pwurple just as you mention it I did put some coconut oil on her last night (the stuff is magic and I use it on my own skin all the time) and her skin was a little better today. I don't have any food allergies myself but there is a history of eczema and asthma in my family and they were always triggered by dairy and eggs so like you said, at least I do know to be careful while weaning. Sligo, a friend of mine sells the Forever Living, I'm a bit skeptical of their prices but I'll ask her for some samples and see if they work

I was in at the doctors again this morning and he reckons that since she reacted to the Aveeno, it might be something to do with wheat so I'll try cutting that out for a while too and see. I'll be a skinny malink by the end of it!

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Thanks Mulk I have heard of the Milton baths, apparently small amounts of bleach diluted well in water works brilliantly on eczema but I'd be waiting until she's a bit older to try it I think.

pwurple

Can I just ask you mrspostman... was she full term?

Pure curiosity. I'm asking because my eldest was born at 42 weeks, and had such very dry skin when she was born. Red raw she was. But her sister was born at 38-39 weeks, and still had the white waxy vernix coating when she was born. Never a bother with her skin. Now I know allergies are thought to have some genetic factors at least. But I am wondering if the longer pregnancy have some effect on her skin.

pwurple

The Mulk wrote: »

As they get older, avoid any food or juices that are purple(this came straight from the allergy specialist!)

Eeek, we live on beetroot from our garden and have about 3 years supply of blackberry jam hanging around.

What's the theory behind the purple?

The Mulk

pwurple wrote: »

Eeek, we live on beetroot from our garden and have about 3 years supply of blackberry jam hanging around.

What's the theory behind the purple?

I don't know, to tell you the truth, she just told us to avoid it as it seems to drive most eczema sufferers mad, blackcurrant juices and cordials are the big offenders.
I'd stick with the beetroot though, as it helps with detoxing and we were advised to get him to try it.

with our kids our eldest was full term and has 90% perfect skin(small patches on legs and elbows and our youngest was 38 weeks he suffered bad.

http://www.avene.co.uk/XeraCalm-AD

This is the stuff we use,
the best thing we have found in 5 years

fro9etb8j5qsl2

pwurple wrote: »

Can I just ask you mrspostman... was she full term?

Pure curiosity. I'm asking because my eldest was born at 42 weeks, and had such very dry skin when she was born. Red raw she was. But her sister was born at 38-39 weeks, and still had the white waxy vernix coating when she was born. Never a bother with her skin. Now I know allergies are thought to have some genetic factors at least. But I am wondering if the longer pregnancy have some effect on her skin.

Isn't that gas?! My girl was almost a week late and was born covered with very dry flaky skin whereas her brother was born at 38 weeks covered in the cheesy vernix and he's never had so much as a blemish! I wonder....

fall

Both of my children had this. My son at six months ( he is now 8) my daughter is 19 weeks and she had it from 4 weeks but it is under control now. Just to let you know what I did
Paraffin gel on her and him before they get in the bath, seems to create a barrier from hard water.
Avoid any cream that has ethanol in the ingredients, caused flare ups.
When my son got really bad used wet wrapping/ tubifast for three months. That cleared him up and he now uses paraffin gel after every shower but other than that his skin is perfect.
I think I nipped hers in the bud quicker because I moisturised her twice to three times a day as soon as it appeared. I had to use a little steroid cream on a couple of very bad patches. Her skin is now very clear.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Just wondering what kind of washing powder do ye use? I use persil non bio, my doctor said initially that she couldn't possibly react to it and that it was the best he had ever heard of for kids with eczema but now I'm starting to wonder?

fall

I use fairy. How is your baby now?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

The coconut oil cleared up her last flare up but it wasn't moisturisung her enough so the phn suggested trying hydrobase on her bath and epaderm to moisturise. Started her with it this morning and had to apply it again at lunch but so far so good

The only definite trigger I've found is eggs but there must be something I'm missing That's why I'm wondering about the washing powder. I used fairy with my first baby and it gave me an awful rash so I stopped using it. I might try switching back to it for her clothes and see will it make a difference.

tinkerbell

Does your washing machine have a Rinse Plus button? Sometimes some detergent can be left over in the clothes which can irritate the skin.

Also, a lot of the products for sensitive, irritated skin have SLSs in them and other bad stuff so it can make the problem worse. Eucerin Aquaphor and Earth Mama Angel Baby products are good. The EMAB products have no irritants at all in them. Now I don't have any first hand experience of exzema but those products are worth a shot.

fall

Interesting on the eggs, I am breastfeeding and find my daughter has wind problems when I eat eggs. It's so hard when you are trying to pin down the triggers. Hope it clears up.

Ginny

I was told to keep our son off the eggs as it can cause flare ups. I find la roche posay lipikar balm the best cream, or there is a chemist on Parnell St who will make up a cream for you. Bath wise we can only use the simple 4 in one bath, plus I try and bath him one a week at most as I know from myself the more baths equals bigger flare ups.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I think the same about the baths Ginny but the PHN said the new advice is to try and bath everyday if possible :eek: I stick to once or twice a week though and daily I dip a washcloth in a basin of hydromol/water solution and wipe her down with it. She's a lot better now thank god If I could only get her to stop scratching now it might clear up altogether

fall

Bathing everyday was a disaster for us. Once every three or four days is the best for my baby. I used the bandages to break the itching cycle. I really belief it is the only way to eradicate it. You can keep on clearing it but once they scratch it will come back. We bandaged daily for eight weeks and that broke the cycle. Tough going but so worth it in the end.

mirrorwall14

It's not eczema but I have psoriasis and definitely showering every day was destroying my skin in flare ups. Once/twice a week on average now and freshening up as needed and my psoriasis is way more under control with no med changes. Just my two cent

DAN19

Hi, try this cream ebay.ie/itm/321800285899?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 my eczema disappeared in 2 weeks after 5 years of suffering. Add www. before the link.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

So, after a lot of trial and error, we have finally gotten her eczema under control. We are using hydromol in the bath and cetaphil restoraderm lotion and thankfully it's going really well. Funnily, the cetaphil wash brings her out in an immediate rash which us strange since the cetaphil lotion is the only thing that will calm her skin down When her skin was bad, I would have to bathe her every day and put the lotion on all over 3-4 times daily but now I can get away with bathing every 2-3 days and moisturising all over once a day and on the face 2-3 times.

She is 6 months now so we have started weaning in the last 2 weeks and she has been getting on fine with chunks of sweet potato, bread and banana. I was being super cautious because of what pwurple was saying about weaning and allergies. However, this evening we said we would chance her with some heinz baby oatmeal, I put a few teaspoons into 3oz of breastmilk so it hardly even thickened it but after 2 mouthfuls, her whole face, head and neck broke out in an awful rash We put her straight into the bath and slathered her with cream and thankfully the redness has gone down a bit. She had a smimilar type reaction last month from a spoon of baby nurofen but that made her sneeze and cough more than anything.

I suppose we'll just have to be super vigilant from now on. Does anyone know how to go about allergy testing for a baby? Could my gp refer me on?

cbyrd

Bananas and pears for my one flare it up, it's trial and error with food, I'm keeping her off wheat grains and dairy. I got a nutribullet about 2 weeks ago, she goes mad for the smoothies, the first one I had spinach avocado apple a few grapes a carrot Chia seeds gogi berries cacao powder and then the water. It was mucky and a bit bitter but she drank about 5ozs out of a glass. She couldn't get enough, I literally watched the red go out of the patch under her chin over a few hours and the big one on her arm is gone.
It also had the side benefit of curing her constipation ( one big hard poo per day
To 4 soft normal nappies..)
I can't believe the difference in her, the phn and the consultant were delighted with her.
A gp will refer you but allergy testing can be very hit and miss.

pwurple

Oh gosh, sorry you got a reaction mrs postman. It's so scary!

First port of call is to talk to the gp and pharmacist straight away so you are prepared if it happens again. The reactions can get more severe. Zirtek was what we were advised to use, it's an over the counter antihistamine. We used that to manage reactions, but that was 4 years ago now, I don't know what it is now. Ask doctor.

We've been through the system on childhood allergies and are now out the other side. No reactions to anything anymore. The most recent advice I've had is to make sure you do introduce the food as normal during weaning. They now think withholding foods can make the allergies last longer, or be worse later.

Get referred as soon as possible for testing. The waiting lists can be long, unless you can go private (or you get into a study, like we were lucky enough to get on).



That being said, if you've not done egg yet with her, make sure it's well very cooked, and start with yolk only. Work up from there to white, and then soft-cooked. Egg is a REALLY common one here.

Another thing we found useful was to go for foods with a very small list of ingredients. It makes it much easier to identify the triggers. I'm not familiar with the heinz oatmeal, but there might be barley, oats or milk in there, but you won't know which of those caused the reaction. Might just be barley and oats could be ok on their own? Or it could be cross contamination with nuts in a factory. So hard to tell. Keep it simple for yourself.


Also, there are some indications in the last talk I went to that the allergies seem to be linked to the skin barrier. So keeping the eczema under control, and the skin well moisturised might also help?(And that sure can't hurt anyway)


You're a bit away from it, but in case you want to know how it works when you get into the system... They do a few things in the hospital under supervision. Skin prick test is the first. This is a basic indication of the allergy. They break the skin slightly with a pin, and put a measured amount of the allergan on top. A hive appears if they are allergic. We got loads of those done at the hospital, a huge range of foods, insect bites etc. Then they take blood to confirm it. After that then they do the food challenges, where you come in for a day and they feed the child small amounts of the food and monitor for any reactions. That was repeated every few months for us, bigger amounts each time. She can now tolerate everything she originally reacted to, including nuts.

If you go to someplace where they wave vials in front of the child to smell, or look for arms or legs to move in response to an allergan... those are fakes unfortunately. Skin prick test and blood tests are the valid tests.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Cbyrd when you say wheat grains, do you mean bread etc? I'm fairly careful about introducing new fruit, we have been getting on ok so far with bananas, avocados and apples but there is a history of serious fruit allergy (mainly bright fruit like kiwis and strawberries etc) in OHs family so I'm very wary. I love the idea of smoothies though

It is scary to get a reaction :eek: We had another one last night, she grabbed her brothers sippy cup and shook a few drops of milk onto her face and her whole head broke out in that red hivey rash again :eek: And the Heinz stuff had milk powder in it too. Funny thing is, I have given her toast with a small bit of butter on it and she has been fine with that so it doesn't seem to be all dairy that affects her I've started a food diary and I'll definitely go to see gp this week to get a referral. We are lucky to have a fairly decent health insurance plan so hopefully won't be waiting too long. I take Zirtek myself for hayfever, is there a special child's version or is it all the same I wonder?

Pwurple it's great to hear that your little one is doing fine now, it's brilliant that they can build a bit of tolerance to the allergens I wouldn't trust anyone except a medical professional to do the allergy testing, I remember almost getting scammed by someone who did vega testing a few years back :rolleyes: When you say introduce the foods as normal, do you mean I should keep giving foods even after they have shown a reaction? Not sure if I have the nerve to do it!!

sm213

My baby was born with very dry skin and was two weeks overdue. Aquaeous cream is not always moisturising enough so silcocks base is usually recommended after. I used the olive oil from the chemist and it really helped a lot. My little one doesn't have eczema though. My oldest had some dry red patches that she still gets now and then and we get a steroid cream. Although its used sparingly for a short period of time so you would probably be better off finding a natural solution for long term use.

josip

Our son had eczema and none of the over the counter creams in Ireland were effective, so we were on steroid creams when it got really bad, then off, then back on again. We eventually found a French moisturizer, Mustella, to be very good and regular use meant no more steroids. If we stop using it however, it will flare up again. Mustella is only available in continental Europe or via internet order.

pwurple

Salma Nice Scoreboard wrote: »

When you say introduce the foods as normal, do you mean I should keep giving foods even after they have shown a reaction? Not sure if I have the nerve to do it!!

No sorry, I wasn't clear. If they react, stop.

I mean don't withhold food just in case. We had been hearing advice from random people on our second child to avoid all allergens until she was two... like wheat, eggs, dairy, just in case she reacted to something. But that's wrong apparently. We were now told to introduce everything when weaning, and only stop if there is a reaction.

orchidsrpretty

My baby girl has very bad eczema. She is also allergic to peanut. She tested positive also for egg allergy which is very common however she is able to eat egg without any issues, just a clinical reaction to it. I had her tested privately first and the peanut allergy did not show up(skin prick test) but when she ate peanut butter she had anaphylaxis so am now going through the public hospital route. Have found them great. Like another poster said for little babies, zirtec is used in the event of mild reactions. An interesting thing is that food allergies do not cause eczema it's the other way around so the chances of having allergies/intolerances are extremely high.
If you like pm me and I give you the info on the private clinic who carry out the skin prick allergy tests on little ones.

lunablau

pwurple wrote: »

Can I just ask you mrspostman... was she full term?

Pure curiosity. I'm asking because my eldest was born at 42 weeks, and had such very dry skin when she was born. Red raw she was. But her sister was born at 38-39 weeks, and still had the white waxy vernix coating when she was born. Never a bother with her skin. Now I know allergies are thought to have some genetic factors at least. But I am wondering if the longer pregnancy have some effect on her skin.

Our 11 mo suffers with an awful eczema too, and we too, have been told that it's more common in overdue babies (our son was born at 42+3, C-section).
We've taking him to Our Lady's to see dermatologists, etc. and we've 'treating' him with different stuff.
We have tried EVERYTHING (coconut oil, aloe vera, honey, paraffin gel, emulsifying ointment, silcocks base, Elocon, Hydrocortisone, Aveeno, Fucidin, Le Roche Posay, etc.), changing formula, detergent, but unfortunately nothing works :-(. We use steroids & cortisone when his dry patches get really bad and it does the job for a few days until the cycle repeats.
What we've noticed is that the eczema gets worse when he is teething, so I wonder if it is somehow related to stress/anxiety.
It's heartbreaking to see how itchy he is and none of us get a good night of sleep because of it, and not even to mention when his skin gets irritated/infected.
Very frustrating. A total nightmare for us :-(.

Macha

Have you tried Eucerin? As an adult who suffers from eczema, it's the only thing that works for me without fail.

Also maybe check if there's anything like wool or your detergent or toiletries like shampoo etc that could be causing it by contact.

Avoiding overly long baths with very hot water should also help.