Need mommy help...baby with eczema!

[Erin1700]

Yes we have been to the doctor! But I still need help!

My 19 month old DS has bad eczema. I thought it was coming from a possible food allergy so the dr. had him tested. Seems he was ever so slightly positive for milk (drank soy till age 1 but eczema started before that). They don't feel it is coming from that. He also tested positive for peanuts . He has never had PB or peanuts before. They don't think it is coming from that either.

Dr. said he should not be in the tub long or the pool. Well, until he told us that, DS was a water rat! Thankfully the pools are closed now so we don't swim now. I limit bath time. NO improvement!

What could possibly be causing this? Sometimes it is manageable with cream but sometimes it is soooo bad he cries and scratches! I feel the dr is kind of not concerned but I would like some relief for him! Any ideas?
Oh, this kid eats almost nothing but fruit ALL day long! I thought it was from citrus and dr said no. Seriously, he eats mostly fruit! Any ideas or remedies?

 

[stacieps]

My DS had eczema that was mainly caused by food allergies (tested at 13 months - allergic to milk, eggs, peas, peanuts; sensitive to strawberries). We were given prescription cream that worked ok, and during more severe breakouts we had to use Prednizone. Also, we had to switch to laundry detergent that was dye and fragrance free (like All Free and Clear) and used the "extra rinse" feature on our washing machine. No dryer sheets or fabric softener (although now I buy Bounce with no scent--they didn't have it when he was little).

We limited bathing to every other day and would put Baking Soda in the bath water (my grandfather had suggested it). The baking soda seemed to help quite a bit. DS will be 9 in a couple of days and still will ask for a bath with baking soda if his skin is irritated.

DS's eczema cleared quite a bit avoiding the foods he was allergic to. The milk allergy was mild, so he would have dairy occasionally (like Kraft mac n' cheese, made with soy milk, but the milk in the powered cheese mix), he would sometimes get a little skin issue with that but decided it was worth it. Strawberries, as well as peas, would cause immediate rashy spots around his mouth. Eggs were a severe allergy - so those were off limits completely. He's outgrown most of the allergies (just a slight egg allergy now), and will have an occasional issue with skin behind his knees, elbows, etc. Because he's older we just use cortizone creme now.

Good luck - I'm sure you'll find solutions that work for you. It was difficult in the beginning, but once we found what worked we stuck with it (8 years later still buying All Free and Clear; just recently stopped the extra rinse cycle, but he's doing fine).

 

[GoofItUp]

DS (23 mo) never really had eczema, but does have extremely sensitive skin and is prone to dry, itchy patches. We found a line of products put out by a company called Melaleuca that has worked for us. We only use that soap/shampoo at bath time, only wash with that detergent, and use a product called Melagel on his dry patches. (We have found very little that Melagel won't cure and never have less than 4 or 5 tubes of it around the house!) It is an all-natural line of products that has tea-tree oil in it. It has worked wonders for us. It is mail-order (kind of like Amway) but fortunately my cousin is a "member" so we just order through her. I think you can also order directly on-line, you just don't get "member" pricing.

 

[MelXThree]

My son has the same thing. When I took him to the doctor he game me some cream to try but it did not help either, so I bought some lotion from Johnson & Johnson (Wal-Mart) for senstive skin and every night I lotion him from head to toe. He is in genral a dry kid. After about 3 nights his spots started to go away. The one on his leg behind his knee waas the worst and it went away in about 5 days. If I forget to lotion him for a few days I can feel his skin getting dry.

I know how frustrating it can be, my son got it pretty bad on the bottom of his back/top of him bum. He would walk around with his hand down his diaper scratching Have to say it was kinda cute but I did feel so bad for him. Hope this helps.

 

[madmom1030]

My dd6 has had eczema in one form of another since birth. Cradle cap when she was baby, then the rash on her back and stomach when she was a toddler, now she get this smaller areas (the size of a quarter) of red peeling skin on her legs. My ped said after I put medicine on her rash to cover it with vasoline so she couldn't scratch(makes the area slippery) and to keep the moisture in.

Also kids with eczema are at a higher risk to develope asthma. dd has that also.

 

[TakeMe2Disney]

DS has had eczema since he was 2 months old. He flares around cats and during the fall and spring. He also flares horribly if he's been swimming in a pool with chlorine. Our pedi gave us topicort which has worked wonders. Within the first two days of using it the red patches almost completely disappears and DS seems like a new kid. From what we can tell he has eczema because both my husband and I have raging allergies, especially to cats. He also takes hydroxyzine (oral med) to help keep the day to day stuff.

In the meantime we use Aquaphor bath wash and Aveeno baby lotion. I find the Aveeno keeps the moisture in without being super greasy.

Unfortunatly he will have to have allergy testing as well once he's two in order to try and pinpoint his main triggers. Until then we keep doing general treatment as he needs it the most.

 

[mjkacmom]

Most of my kids had this, and a couple never outgrew it. I could never figure the cause, and the only thing that worked was elecon, a prescription steroid cream. Oh, it got so bloody at times! Sorry, I just dealt with it - seems like it's very common these days.

 

[pigget74]

WE have tried everything from scripts to over the counter and the only thing that we have found to work is called ARBONNE baby lotion. It is not sold in stores. Do a google and you can find a rep in your area. DS had a horrible res spots behind the knees---put this on and the next morning you could not tell a anything was there.

DD on the other hand has it like no other. She has it all over but mainly on her butt. It looks like someone took a meat tenderizer to her. Nothing has made it go away, but this stuff has been the best so far that we can find. You can really tell when we do no put it on.

 

[Miss LD]

DS (4) has eczema.
we went to his md and I was convinced it was an allergy. She said no, and told us to limit baths and to use Aveeno baby cream. That helped once it was going away.
But, I went to a naturopath. We cut out all dairy and that made a huge difference. But, we also did an elimination diet.
Actually, we did that for various reasons (behavioural) but really we've noticed a huge difference in a lot of areas since we cut out a lot of stuff from his diet.


My friends tease me, but really it's so worth it to go to a naturopath and have someone help you figure it out. I am amazed at the difference it has made.

 

[wrighter]

We all feel your pain! As moms (dads?) of "eczema kids," we know the heartache! Hang in there - you never know when you will either nip it in the bud or it will fade with age. My DD (now 3) had really bad eczema when she was little. We greased her up with Aquaphor (over the counter - you can find it with the lotions at any store) morning, noon and night and IT WORKED WONDERS!!! Over time her skin issues decreased, and now we rarely need it. (Although we'll see what happens this winter when it gets dry outside.) But we still use it for all kinds of other things - it's like a multipurpose ointment! Any kind of ****oo, scratch, burn, roadrash - I swear it speeds up the healing process and reduces scarring.

But now that I've done my "Aquaphor" commercial - I will wish you the best in your quest to help your little one. Many of the suggestions by pps are worth trying - you never know which one will do the trick for you!

Good luck!

 

[skw444]

My dd now 6 had severe eczema when she was an infant. She was diagnosed with a milk allergy and egg allergy. Once we eliminated those from her diet, her eczema cleared up a lot. She has since outgrown those allergies but does have a nut allergy now. She also has RAD. Her eczema flares up occasionally. When she was younger, we slathered Aquaphor all over. Like the pp said, it helped tremendously and is even great at healing quicker and not causing scarring. We use prescription Protopic for bad flare ups. She gets no more than 10 minutes in a luke warm bath. We immediately slather her in Eucerin lotion (the cream kind) and that works pretty well. We also switched to the Free and Clear laundry detergent and fabric softener. Good luck finding what works for you!

 

[tripplanner]

My daughter had terrible ezcema as a baby and toddler. We had to put Aquaphor on her face several times a day to try and control the problem. We also made sure that we didn't bathe her everyday. It helped, but didn't solve the issue. The pediatrician also prescribed several different things. I also felt the doc didn't really seem that concerned. Nothing really solved her problem until we finally took her to a dermatologist. It was the best thing we did for her. With her help, we got the right prescription for her and was able to get it under control. I was so glad that we asked our doc for a referral to a dermatologist.

In our daughter's case, the dermatologist told us that it was typically hereditary. We started asking around in the family and realized that all of the women on my husband's side of the family suffered from this.

She's a teen now. Occassionally she'll get a flare up behind her knees or on her arm. It's a very rare occurence these days. As soon as she feels a bump, we now just use Aquaphor or Eucerin (the thick version in a container). If it doesn't knock it out quickly, we take her to the dermatologist (this only happens once every couple of years now).

 

[teedisney]

Another vote for Aquaphor. Some drug stores have their own version that works as well. I also do nothing in the bath water like bublle bath. We did use a product I think Gentle Naturals or something like that (now Pooh is on the packaging) in his water when he was younger. We don't have many flare-ups now at 4.5.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Yes we have been to the doctor! But I still need help!

My 19 month old DS has bad eczema. I thought it was coming from a possible food allergy so the dr. had him tested. Seems he was ever so slightly positive for milk (drank soy till age 1 but eczema started before that). They don't feel it is coming from that. He also tested positive for peanuts . He has never had PB or peanuts before. They don't think it is coming from that either.

Dr. said he should not be in the tub long or the pool. Well, until he told us that, DS was a water rat! Thankfully the pools are closed now so we don't swim now. I limit bath time. NO improvement!

What could possibly be causing this? Sometimes it is manageable with cream but sometimes it is soooo bad he cries and scratches! I feel the dr is kind of not concerned but I would like some relief for him! Any ideas?
Oh, this kid eats almost nothing but fruit ALL day long! I thought it was from citrus and dr said no. Seriously, he eats mostly fruit! Any ideas or remedies?

Here is your clue. Most peds don't know a lot about this kind of stuff. You can be ever so slightly sensitive and it can effect you. Soy breaks down the same way that cows milk does so yes, it can effect you as well. Eczema is the result of some kind of allergy. Our dd has it. It flairs up when she has dairy or food with dairy in them. Auphor works great in soothing it. Put it on thick before bedtime and it will help. Good luck.

 

[rottiemom]

Oh Erin, I feel for you! It's tough to find the right solution and it may get worse as you go into the winter if you have dry heat. Our son's was contact related & not food related. Here's what worked for us:

Also, we had to switch to laundry detergent that was dye and fragrance free (like All Free and Clear) and used the "extra rinse" feature on our washing machine. No dryer sheets or fabric softener (although now I buy Bounce with no scent--they didn't have it when he was little)

I can't emphasize enough to stay away from EVERYTHING that has any sort of fragrance in it. It won't hurt and could possibly help if the eczema turns out not to be food related. We would bathe our son with Dove for sensitive skin (bars) and use California Baby sensitive bodywash for his hair or for bubblebaths...even Aveeno would cause flare ups. We did laundry with All free & clear, using half of the amount reccomended on the package, and a vinegar rinse (neutralizes PH) instead of fabric softener. No fabric softener, no dryer sheets, no sensitive baby shampoo or soap...even that irritated him. Kept the flare ups coated with Aquaphor. It took 4 years but it looks like we've got it beat.

Think UNscented, dye & fragrance free, etc.

And good luck .

 

[jennyL]

My son has it. Our ped was great and got us in with a pediatric allergist. Noah has since been tested and has an allergy to milk. We had started with regular formula adn then went to soy and are now on Allimentum. Let me say that has made the most difference. Its so hard to look at older pictures and see how bad his skin was. We also lotion him morning and night. The allergist said the best lotion is whichever one you are going to use. LOL We also have a perscription hydrocortizone for bad flairups. He's only eating baby food now but we'll see how it goes as he gets older. Oh as for water the ped had told us to limit but the allergist said that eczema is a dry skin condition so that sitting in the water soaking up the moisture was actually good for Noah and to just be sure to pat dry and lotion right after the bath. He actually wants us to bathe him everynight. We try but its really more like every other night but still I just let him play away.

 

[SomedayI'llBe]

I've had eczema for most of my life- and I don't know a specific trigger for mine, other than stress. Of course, I'm sure that's not your baby's trigger!

What does get me through every breakout is a prescription steroid cream- Triamcinolone. It's thick and pasty, but it works and will knock out a breakout within a day or two. Of course, I only use this when it's pretty bad, as it's potent stuff. Ask your doctor for prescription steroid creams- it works.

EDIT: Poster below has an excellent point- I have a mostly polyester sweater that I LOVE, but is terribly rough on my eczema and aggravates it. Anything with mostly cotton is much better.

 

[wrighter]

Something else that occurred to me as I was reading these posts: In addition to the dye-free/frangrance free products suggested above, my daughter's eczema also improved greatly when we put her in nothing but 100% cotton clothing. I was actually quite surprised that this wasn't easier to do - A LOT of children's clothing out there has SOMETHING other than cotton in it.

Just one more thing to try. Hang in there!

 

[skw444]

I wanted to add one thing I forgot...when bathing be careful what you use for soap or body wash. We use Cetaphil because it's good for dry sensitive skin and doesn't have the perfumes that other soaps have. This has helped us a lot too.

 

[tiggger1]

My son gets one spot behind his knee. We believe it is actually from soy, which is weird because he had couldn't digest regular milk and was changed to soy formula til he was 1. He was great on the soy except for the eczema, which we were told was because he sweat alot.. When he was 1 we switch him to soy milk and he wouldn't drink it at all so tried regular milk. He had no more issues with it plus eczema went away. It stayed away until 3-4 months ago. After doing a food diary we linked it to the popcorn oil we used..which was soy oil...

They gave him a rx for Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream. Alot of people I know wont use it because there are warnings but we were told it was safe. Especially in small doses. It makes it go away in less than an hour. We only need it about 3-4 times a month and only need a pea size spot...
They also gave the same stuff for my dd bad poison ivy on her face. They said I could use it 2 times a day for up to 10 days on her face...It cleared it up in 2 days...