Baby with Horrible Rash Under Chin Part 2 - Dallas,GA

My daughter has excema, and it's generally activated from sunblock or other creams/heat/sand (every time she plays in a sandbox), and she also has a sensitivity to eating fruit which breaks her face out. She's five now, and I use Baby Aquaphor on her face every day. After the rash clears up, try using it every day as a blocker--it's like vaseline. It works for us keeping her face clear and worked when she was a baby to keep her face/neck area clear. I also still wash her clothes separately and double rinse them as well as her linens.

I would do something other than that as well, but I totally understand getting rid of that on his face. Poor guy!!!! Here is a link where you can read up on Eczema, etc. www.herballegacy.com then click on
"Ailments" and then arrow down..it's listed in alphabetical order.

For what it is worth... Just because some of the cleaning/laundry/persaonl care products say they are better (and they are in some ways) many still contain chemicals that we can react to and that are known to cause cancer. You will not be sorry if you go to natural products that do not contain any of those chemicals, will not harm a cell on your little ones body, and will just improve your overall health as well as being better for our environment. If you want to look up any ingredient in a products you are using or are considering using you can go to a goverment web site and type in any ingredient you want to look up. The site to Visit is: http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/ingredients.htm.
THere are many brands out there that say natural and are not. This is a way you can check them out. We use only SHaklee products and have raised our 11 kids on them. We did have one with exama when we were living out of the country and couldn't get the products. A few years ago I started a business since I beleive the products are so good. There are a lot of natural companies out there now to choose from so look into them first. I hope things are improving for your little one. It is such a struggle to see our little ones suffer!

Sincerely,
K.

My daughter has struggled with eczema - usually due to dry skin. We have used the steroid cream and it works well, but we use it only when it is really bad and doesn't respond to lotion. You only need a small amount too.

Here is what works for us - We use All free and clear (Dreft may actually have fragrance and might not be better - you might want to check). We use dove bar soap and only fragrance free lotions. So no baby soap or lotion. We like Aveeno, but have also used cetaphil and eucerin. Getting away from fragrances and dyes as well as moisturizing often has really helped. We still have some problems with her chin due to drooling with teething, but overall the problems have stopped.
We try not to bathe her everyday to reduce her dry skin, but it is harder now that she is a toddler.

Hi S.,

Continue to keep your child as dry and cool as possible. Heat will trigger the eczema. With my son, I found that Aveeno did not work. He also used the steroid cream for a month to try and get it under control. I've been using the Cetaphil Cleanser and Lotion and it seems to work really well for my son and I only was his clothes, sheets, blankets, etc. in Dreft. I do use All Allergy Clear for myself and husband. Dreft and Cetaphil are pricy but the work for my son and the Cetaphil does last a while and I've been using the huge container of Dreft for about five months now. Hope this helps.

I have had eczema all my life and most recently it's been cropping up on my neck and face, so I greatly sympathize. I will tell you that very commonly, dairy, wheat and eggs seem to aggravate eczema for a lot of people. I fully recommend getting your son off of all dairy products and anything that has wheat in it. Also eliminate eggs. He can get his calcium from dark green vegetables which you can sneak into his other foods by pureeing (there is a book written by wife of Jerry Seinfeld with recipes that are awesome showing you how to sneak in spinach for example into other yummy foods). Getting him to learn to drink water early as his source of liquid instead of juices, sodas and milk is very important for eczema sufferers. I went out and bought a $130 water cooler to have in my kitchen, bought two of those 5 gallon jugs and I fill them up at Publix for $1.50 with tripple purified water. We only use this water for all drinking and cooking in our house because tap water contains chlorine. I try to avoid the steroid thing because while it knocks it out for a while, eczema often comes back with a vengeance. I do take Zyrtec and another antihistamine, however, for relief which does help. My doctors explained that my immune system over-reacts so strongly firing histamines so readily that it is often helpful to head that off with regular doses of allergy medicine. We use Castile soap in our home for everything rather than commercial soaps and detergents. For topical relief Calendula cream by Jurlique is really good and Aubrey Organics (available at Whole Foods) has two great products. One is the Sea Buckthorn facial cleansing cream and the other is the Evening Primrose body lotion (which I use on all my eczema). I have a friend of mine who has severe eczema and she has made it her mission in life to find the cure and if you want I can put you in touch with her and she can share her wisdom with you. Just email me if so. I have been using Protopic recently which is a non steroid topical medicine but there has been some link in animals to cancer with that. I wish you and your son good fortune in finding the answer.

Hey S., you may think I'm crazy about this lanolin thing but my kids had eczema too and I used lanolin on their eczema too. LOL! You must think I'm lanolin crazy but it works great as a barrier for things that can come in contact with the infected area. I don't know what other people think or say about this but my kids seem to do better with their eczema when they have more sun exposure. Don't forget to wash all the sheets, blankets and pillow cases! I thought what the one person said about acidic saliva might be something to check out. Good Luck!

From the crazy lanolin lady!!

My newborn daughter had a raging case of baby acne that quickly turned to eczema. I found an OTC product that works beautifully to clear her up within a couple of days but it is a little expensive ($18.00). It is Medela Stellatopia lotion. There is also a soap-free cleanser and some sort of milky bath oil that I haven't tried. You may find it at BabiesRUs or Bath and Body Works. Check it out on the Medela website. It saved me from having to use prescription (steroid) cream and my pediatrician was very impressed with the results. Good luck!

S.,
My first son had really bad eczema - Iknow how frustrating it is...here's what I've found thru my years of trial and error- use only free and clear laundry detergent and dryer sheets- anything else will make him break out! Aveeno is made my Johnson and JOhnson- so it still has lots of fragrances/parabens and other nasty stuff in it- try anything organic ( I personally use Burts Bees for mykids) there is also California baby products - I've also heard that Dove or Safeguard can help. Another thing to try is pure castille soap....use the thick aquaphor on his chin to keep a barrier from all the drool- or I even have used balmex before and that has cleared it up. Triggers for eczema can be very wide scaled...dairy or soy can trigger outbreaks. my son breaks out from Orange Juice, so I'd lay low on any citrus, also anything with sugar or sugar subsitutes in it- as well as red and blue dyes in it.
I know it sounds like a lot of work- but give it a week and it will start to get better. Good Luck
Nikki

Just because you say it started under his chin and is now all over his face, I will ask you this: does he drool a lot? Is he cutting teeth which would make him drool a lot? Just a thought about this, but I had a child who drooled a lot when she was teething and for some reason, her drool was very acidic and caused her to have rashes around her mouth. Went nuts over this until I figured out it was her own drool causing the rash and although there was no totally stopping it, I became extra careful to keep the area around her mouth dry -- I would wipe it every now and then to make sure it stayed dry -- and I found that keeping it dry was more helpful than creams or lotions given to me by the doctor. Even as a toddler, if she would lick her lips a lot, she would get the rash around her mouth. She didn't drink an excessive amount of juice, but I did stop the juices and began to give her mashed up bananas and less acidic fruits and that helped, too. I hope this helps.

Make sure that other people who hold him also use a baby blanket that you have washed in baby detergent to put over their clothes- you want to avoid all sensitivities! The steroid cream is a low dose and will help, time will heal as well as fresh air. Just be very careful about the type of fabrics that his clothes are made from watch the clothing of those who hold him. Dyes in clothes can also be a problem.

Good luck- mother of three,stepmom of 3, grandmom of 2- babysitter of too many to count!

Poor baby! If it's excema you know it's important to keep the skin greesy and not to wash him so much. My 5 mo. old has it too and I wash him maybe 1 -2 times weekly and that's it. Water is so drying for the skin. You should make a daily diary of whomever the baby is in contact with and where you lay him. Sometimes it could be colonge your husband wheres or your sheets you sleep in. His skin is too sensative and is definately reacting to something. Maybe the car or wherever he is spending the most time? Perhaps a family pet? Could be something your daughter is touching him with.

First of all I am NOT a Melaleuca rep.

And i was introduced to one of their products called RENEW. It has totally helped my grand daughters excema. I am sure I can get some one to send you a sample if you would like to try it.

email me off line if you want to try it.

____@____.com

K.

when doing your rewash add some vinegar to them. It helps break up the soap residue left on clothes.

Hi S.- I am sorry to hear about your son. Hopefully you can get it cleared up soon. I have been shopping at an awesome store that manufactures safer and healthier everyday products- the products are all natural and do not have any harsh chemicals, which could be causing the rash. I buy everything there (detergent, cleaning supplies, shampoo (mine and my 11 month old daughters), soaps, lotions, sunscreens, etc... you name it, they make it safer and healthier.) I would love to share more details about this with you. If you are interested, you can email me your contact information at: ____@____.com Good luck and I look forward to sharing more infomration with you!

One of my friend's kids had a horrible reaction to sunblock she put on his face - could your sun posssibly be allergic to the products you are putting on his face?? Just a thought?? Good luck and hopefully your angel feels better soon.