Baby eczema - help!

[tkyes]

It looks like my 6 mo. old has eczema. He is covered in a rash and itching like crazy. We can't figure out what it's from or how to clear it up.

We haven't tried any new lotions, detergents, etc. that might have caused this.

On the advice of our Dr. we are trying a different formula and coating him with eucerin and hydrocortizone where needed.

Does anyone have any advice for what worked for their child and what caused the reaction? I'm grasping at straws and am willing to try anything. I just hate seeing the poor guy itch!

Tamie

 

[debster812]

Poor baby.

I emailed you my one and only suggestion.

Sorry

 

[lulugirl]

I always put a little Curel' on my kids itchy, dry spots.
If it's really bad perhaps an oatmeal bath may relieve some of the itching?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

could be dairy--you might look into that.

I have known some families where the baby was allergic to dairy and eczema was the visual sign of this. No dairy, no exzema. (Not sure if your baby is nursed or formula fed--so if nursed..the dairy could be coming from you).

I recently met an adult who has a dairy and wheat allergy and exzema is her sign. Sometimes she cheats--and then gets the exczema.

 

[missmulan]

my newborn son had the worst case of eczema. when he was 10 days old, his entire face was rashed and oozing out with yellow stuff. i had no idea what it was but it turns out that he was allergic to seafood i had the night before from nursing. it was awful! from then on, I had to watch what I ate (no exotic fruits like strawberry, mangoes, no seafood, no spicy food, no dairy product). As he's older now, he had been tested at an allergist/ashtma specialist. He still cannot have many things but at least he can have dairy now. He is allergic to wheat (pasta products) and seafood still.

 

[becker1123]

My DD had eczema as a baby and still has it at age 4, but we have been able to manage it by doing a few things like coating her frequently (once a day or at least once every other day) with Eucerin or Cetaphyl lotion, only bathing her every other day ( I know that sounds contrary, but our doctor said frequent baths can actually dry out her skin) and we got a prescription for Elecon ( think that's how to spell it). It's a steroid cream, so we use is very sparingly on her active spots when they flare up. It works great, much better for her than the Elidel, which is non-steroid. Also, my friend linked her DS's eczema to dairy products. After she put him on soy products his got much better. Good luck. As I understand it, there's no cure for eczema, it just has to be managed.

 

[tkyes]

I should have posted what he is eating. He is formula fed with milk based formula. We have made the switch to soy but aren't seeing any change after a week. He has had rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, bananas and sweet potatoes. Our Dr. doesn't think it's food based. It isn't hives and the rash is not around his mouth.

We've done an oatmeal bath twice. The first time I thought it maybe helped a little. The second time he started itching like crazy when he got out of the tub.

 

[disneyfam]

DS eczema started as a baby. We switched him to soy formula and the dr. gave us a prescription cream called acid mantle. It is a compound that pharmacies have to make up. I am not sure what the ingredients are but it worked.

DS is turning 5 in two weeks and now only gets a patch or two. The good news with babies that have eczema is that there is a chance are your baby might grow out of it.

Cynde

 

[dcgrumpy]

DD has eczema, I use eucerin or aquaphor, don't bathe her every day because water makes it worse, use Dove and cetaphil. I was using a hydrocortisone prescription cream which helped a bit, a fe months ago the doctor switched her to a triamcinlone acetonide ointment, which works great

 

[Kermit]

My 14 month old has eczema. It started at about 5-6 months. If you saw him today, you may not want my advice because he doesn't look all that great. But he has looked a lot worse. And sometimes he looks better. It's just taking a while to figure out what triggers it.

First of all, I'd strongly recommend visiting an allergist. We started with dermatologists, and they just wanted to give me really strong prescriptions rather than figuring out what triggered it. The allergist did a scratch test and helped me figure out where we should start with eliminating potential triggers.

Just because it started now doesn't mean that it's something new. Many babies develop eczema at about that age to things they've been exposed to since birth. Eczema is more commonly triggered by things you touch, rather than by food, but food allergies can cause it. And the baby doesn't have to have any typical allergy symptoms, like hives, diaper rash, upset tummy, etc.

We used Aquaphor for a while, but DS eventually became sensitive to it. We've been using Gentle Naturals Baby Eczema Cream for several months now and love it. They have it near the diaper ointments at Target. I haven't been able to find it at Wal-Mart. We put it on AT LEAST 6 times/day. When he's having an outbreak, I do it when he wakes up, when he goes to sleep, and every even hour (8:00, 10:00, etc.).

So far, we've identified eggs, corn, chlorine, and polyester and other synthetic fabrics as triggers. He's 14 months old and gets about 95% of his calories from breastmilk because every time I give him food he flares up again. Dairy and soy are the top 2 allergins in the US. There are meat-based formulas available. They're expensive, but you may want to try one for a month or so and see what happens. Corn is also in the top 10 list of allergies, and I think that all formulas are sweetened with corn syrup. I usually recommend that people withhold solids as long as possible and use breastmilk/formula for the major source of food for a long time, but you may want to talk to your doctor about not doing that. It can be so hard to eliminate everything when formula contains so many allergins. At about 9 months, your doctor may be comfortable with using goat's milk that you fortify with vitamins and minerals.

Good luck! It can be very hard to figure out exactly what's going on. The good news is that he'll probably outgrow it.

 

[Christine]

I agree with the poster above who said to visit an allergist.

My son started with eczema when he was two days old. We tried all kinds formula changes and even ended up, long-term, on Nutramigen. Nothing helped and he didn't get better until he got older and could use antihistamines. Zyrtec keeps his eczema in check.

Anyway, my son does have egg and peanut allergies but they aren't the source of his eczema as he does not eat these foods. He is also allergic to all the environmental stuff (pollen, leaf mold, ragweed). When these are high, his eczema is worse.

 

[ItsonlyExperiment626]

Agree with Kermit.

Definitely change his formula to soy if you are giving him a milk base formula. If he is on jar baby food, read the ingredients and avoid all dairy and eggs. It gets really hard when you are on the 2nds, but Gerber makes a line I think called Simple Meals which just has meats and fruit or veggie. If he is on wheat cereal change back to rice cereal and stick to that.

Detergent try ALL CLEAR. No perfume or coloring to detergent and no fabric softener in dryer.

Aveeno makes a good lotion, but watch out, there is one that is milk based. I also like Vaseline cream. Cover the skin since the dry air makes the skin itch even more.

Aveeno also make a baby bath that is good.

Like the others, all my babies had ezcema.

 

[TxJasmine]

My DS had a severe case of eczema when he was an infant. His face would get red and raw and he had open oozing wounds. Other parents would make disgusted faces when they saw him, and pull their infants away from him as if he had some kind of terrible disease.

We took him to a dermatologist who told us to keep his face and body as dry as possible. We didn't bathe him often and we rarely washed his face. Twice a day we put Eucerin on his arms and legs. He completely outgrew the eczema at around age 2. He is now 9 and his skin is completely normal. He never uses any kind of lotion. You would never guess that he is the same child! He does have a peanut allergy, but that is the only allergy that we are aware of.

The dermatologist told us that most kids who get eczema as infants outgrow it in a few years. Those who start when they are teens, rarely outgrow it.

Good luck to you! I know how hard it can be!

 

[TxJasmine]

I forgot to mention that we washed all his clothes in Dreft. You can't use regular detergents.

 

[Kermit]

My DS had a severe case of eczema when he was an infant. His face would get red and raw and he had open oozing wounds. Other parents would make disgusted faces when they saw him, and pull their infants away from him as if he had some kind of terrible disease.

That's the hardest part. I was at the dermatologist's office one day, and an older lady came up to my stroller and said, "You've got two in there!" Then she looked over it to see their faces, and when she saw Nick, she looked repulsed and said, "There's something wrong with his face" Did she expect to see nothing but beautiful people at the dermatologist's office?

 

[holycow]

Oh, Hugs to you and your little one....my now 17DS had the worst excema when he was just a new born and continued on for months until we were able to find what helped him...broke my heart to see his little skin bleed. Anyway...we switched to soy formula and used the Cetaphil lotion which BTW scared the holy do do out of me when I read the bottle and it said it could cause blindness if it got into the eyes! I hope they've changed the formula by now but anyway that is what helped him.

I hope you find a solution....PS...we have a newborn son now and our Ped say hold off on the cereal as long a you can since that seems to bring on allergies and asthma....very interesting...I hadn't heard that before so it may be the cereal?

I hope you find the solution and hope your little one heals quickly.

Lisa

 

[Tinijocaro]

Eczema can be a symptom of MANY things, one of which is a omega-3 fatty acid deficiency. My youngest had two years of absolutely horrible eczema- till a search turned up trying cod liver oil to increase her O3FA's in her body. Within 6 weeks, I started to see improvement, by 8 weeks, it was completely gone. They said it would take that long. It hasn't come back. I had tried all the creams, scripts, baths and nothing helped at all. Do a search for O3FA's and Eczema and see what comes up.

Jackie

 

[momof2inPA]

If the eczema just started recently, it might be the food instead of the formula. Could you stop with the foods and re-introduce them one at a time? I would avoid the bananas and the oat cereal for awhile and see if that helps.

When my son had the bad baby eczema, we bathed him less frequently ( I don't care what some people advise, frequent bathing will make the eczema WORSE), used Cetaphil soap and Cetaphil lotion, and All free and clear detergent. He has lots of food allergies that we were able to identify when he was a bit older. Good luck. Poor baby.

 

[mom2boys]

My 10 yr old had horrible eczema as an infant. He wasn't even able to sleep through the night because of it. Stangers would approach us and ask what was wrong with him. Had a medical student argue with us that he had chicken pox. He's still dealing with dry skin but is doing much better. We tried a lot of things. By the time he was 8 the only serious problem was still his feet. They were still red, raw & oozing. It was painful to look at. Finally Elecon came out & he was cleared up in a matter of days. It was amazing.
Now for a quick fix, you must immediately head to Disney's Hilton Head Resort. After a week at Hilton Head, my son's feet would be beautiful - Doc attributed it to the salty Atlantic water. Pack your bags & go!

 

[always quiet]

Do you think it's possible that it's caused by a change in the weather? Has it gotten cold where you live recently? My DD has this and I am waiting for hers to start up again as soon as it gets cold here. Her pedetrician had recommended using Dove to wash and gave me a prescription for 2.5% hydrocortisone. As long as she uses the Dove daily, she doesn't get it as bad. They even make the Dove for sensitive skin...I would definitely give that a try.

Good luck! There is nothing worse than when your baby doesn't feel well!