Eczema in 8 Month Old

I have excema and so does my niece.. I have the 3 A's. I use Arbonne nothing else has ever worked for my niece or myself. It is all botanically based and I have known people who can't use anything else but Arbonne.. www.passion4more.myarbonne.com or www.arbonne.com to learn more. The baby line is all I use on my kids or my niece. What is nice is people don't even know my niece or I have excema. It has healed it!! Yes if I go off the products about a month later I start to see signs but I don't have to lotion 10 times a day to keep it down.
Good luck,
K.

I actually have the same problem, personally. I have at a patch on my leg for about a year. The truth is the itching makes it worse no matter what you are doing. Try keeping the spot covered.
i know it easier said that done. I am 32 and keep myself from itching it.
J.

My son has a slight case of eczema and I found that Aquaphor works really well. Also you could try Shea and Cocoa Butters for soothing and for any scars. Best wishes!

Hi I.. My little one has a mild case of eczema, not as bad as you are descibing. We have dealt with it since he was like 2 months old. He just developed it when day and the doctor just told us to keep the spots hydrated and eventually he would grow out of it but if it got worse the last result would be a prescription. I have adult eczema myself but I only get a spot now and again, but I use Eucerin for it. I tried it on little boy but in the cream version (I use the lotion version for me), and it helped. I have tried different products since like Aveeno which I didn't notice any difference and Gentle Naturals which I think works pretty well. My little guy doesn't seem bothered by the spots, not like they itch or anything which can be a characteristic of eczema and his gets worse when he is in the sun or heat. I would say if your child has that severe of a case there is something else going on like an allergy. The things is allergy tests are not commonly given to children under two... but I believe the name of the test is PAPST (or something like that) so I would definitely ask your doctor to get a test done. Since it is getting windy and cold outside make sure to his face covered because eczema babies are likely to get windburnt which will make his eczema flare up. My little guy is 14 months now and his eczema seems to be getting better. My guess is that eczema is not as common with two year olds are up. Just a guess but you might want to research it and ask your doctor. I hope something I said helps a little bit. Another thing - whenever I mention allergies to our doctor is kinda short with it like we shouldn't be looking at that right now... if your doctor is like that - be persistant, after all you are his mother and know what is best, you are with him more than your doctor and obviously are more intuned with your child's particular case.

-J.

hello I.,
i hope that your son is doing better and i hope your doing well also!! i know how you feel as well. my son's excema came out at about 5 or 6 months of age and it was of course the winter months. my doctor had him on elidel but took him off of it after hearing of some bad side effects. we did the cetaphil and the lotions and vaseline seemed to help the best. i wouldn't even really dry him after his baths and i would start to rub the vaseline on at the end of his bath. i know you have to be very careful because it can get slippery. i just have towels everywhere. he has a breakout every couple of months and i use cortizone cream and lotions and when its really bad i use a steriod perscription ointment. it will usually get better within the week it says to apply it on them. i also let up on the baths every once in a while but during the winter it's actually good for them if you are moisturizing them during or right after the bath. i think the trick is to dry their hair and then start the vaseline right away and have everything ready to get them dressed. i know it's seems like they are freezing but it is better for them. i wish you all the best of luck and i thought my son would outgrow, but it has been better!! i'm so sorry you all have to go through this and i hope you find somethig that works for you and your son!! take care and your in my thouhts and prayers!! have a great day!! :) K.

I am going to bet you $100 your child has food allergies. Been there, done that. I also have a nephew who was treated for his horrid eczema by a dermatologist and to no avail. Guess what? He also had food allergies. He was breast fed and was allergic to nuts, milk, soy, wheat and eggs. My own son is allergic to peas, cats (which we had until my son was 9 mos. old because we had NO idea...eczema went away two weeks after cat died!!!), and the mold found in dirt in grass.

My nephew was not diagnosed with allergies until he went into anaphylactic(sp) shock. By the time he left the hospital he was already clearing up. As soon as they changed his diet, his eczema was GONE!!!

Also, the call Allergies, Adermitis (eczema,) and Asthma the THREE A's because they are all usually related to one another in a child. NONE of those meds worked for my son or nephew...and there is research that Elidel can cause cancer.

I am not trying to scare you, but you need to ask you doctor for an allergist referral. Dr. Ryu is a pediatric allergist at Midwest Allergies and she is wonderful! Good luck!

My son has had eczema his whole life...He is 2 now and I took him to the dermatologist and they prescribed a higher cortisone cream...I didnt want to put my son on Elidel because it has been known to cause Cancer in the lymphnoids!!! Take him off of that immediatley!!!!! My son is also on Mimyx! Works great....Put it on him right after his bath! If you have insurance, my dermatologist is great and is located in Twinsburg. Respond to me and I will give you all the information you would need to take him...My son won't grow out of it because allergies and ezcema go hand in hand.At least it is under control and he only breaks out occassionally...especially fall and winter. Usually clears up in the summer because there is moisture in the air. I would take him to the dermatologist even though your doc said not to....it doesnt hurt to get a second opinion and you dont want him to suffer with the itch!

I.,
I feel you pain. My son has been cursed with eczema since he was a couple months old also, he is now 3. We did all the "suggested" things like you mentioned above. We got all the presciption creams. There was one cream once that we could only use for one week then had to take a week off. The week my son was on it, it would begin to clear up. As soon as we had the off week, it would come back with a vengence. His pediatrician finally suggested an allergy medicine because he thought perhaps it was an allergy induced eczema. We start Davis, my son, on 5 mg of the melt aways. HOWEVER, he was over 2 when we started him on it. Since we have started him on it, the eczema has all but disappeared. We get some flare ups now and then, but he is no longer scarred on his elbows, behind his knees, and on his face anymore. I would contact a pediatric allergist and get their opinion.

Good luck. I know how frustrating it is.

I am sorry if pp have mentioned this, I don't have time to scroll down through to see.
We found two things that trigger our dd eczema; milk and chlorinated water. She drinks filtered water and takes showers, not baths. This helped dramatically. I would suggest playing around with what might trigger the rash. Common triggers are the foods that people are often allergic too; strawberries, nuts, milk, and wheat or eggs. You might consider going to see a nutritionist? Also if you are feeding him formula, that might be part of it too. You could play around with different brands.
We use Weleda Calendual Cream. Now, our dd doesn't sound as bad as your poor dc. But it works for us.
Best Wishes! It is so hard to see your child in pain. :( Know that you are a great mom to really take the time to research this.

Eczema runs in my family. I grew up with it and my son has it too. My son has has it since he was 6 months. You are doing everything that you can for him. I currently use elidel and Aquaphor. I really love the aquaphor, I prefer it over the cetaphil lotions. It works well. It was prescribed from my doctor. I tried aveeno, but it seemed to not help in my son's case so I stopped using it. The best thing to do is to keep him moisturized and make sure his skin does not get infected. Try to keep socks or gloves on the baby's hand to prevent him from itching. Also, the doctors can prescribe oral medication to help with the itching. I hope this helps!!!!

my kids are older than your baby, but my son gets eczema as soon as the heat goes on in the fall. I won't use elidel because now I've been told it isn't safe, so I started giving my son aveeno baths , no soaps- period, and as soon as I towel him off, I cover him with Gold Bond Ultimate Softening Lotion and he was cleared up within a week. I keep the program up so it won't come back on us. You may want to give that a try. I know every case is different, but hopefully you'll get some good results too.

i have had eczema since i can remember. i am now 30 years old. over the years i have found remedies of my own that i wish the doctors wouldve told me over the years. just little things. the only lotion i can use is vasaline intensive care the white bottle. you have to apply lotion right away after getting wet. taking a shower, swimming, etc. i also have used cortizone cream which helps sometimes and sometimes not. there is also a new cream that is steroid free that i had to use while i was pregnant. called locoid lipocream. it works when cortizone doesnt. lotion and humidifiers are key.

Hello ,
It makes me so sad to hear these little ones are in pain from having mild to severe cases of "itchy skin". And they are having to get shots, and creams that burn. I am a big believer in doing and fixing stuff the most safest and gently. I would highly recommend all mother's to take a look at different items around the house and really find out what chemicals are in your home. That is the first step! Second, I would recommend anyone with skin irritations to use Renew lotion. It really out does Eucerin, Lubriderm and Aveeno. It is the best! Also, your laundry soap, that's a big factor too. And what about the tub cleaner you use? Isn't that a "harsh chemical"? How do you know that after you cleaned the tub you rinsed it all away, you don't really know. So that too could be a factor. There are so many products out there that say they are "safe", but are they really? I inform people on SAFE products. That is my job. If you want to know more info, on safer, non-toxic, non-caustic products to make your family and home a safe environment please let me know. Without the knowledge, we cannot fix the problems we are having. I am here to help. Just ask! God Bless and Good Luck!
-G.

I think going to a pediatric dermatologist is definitely a good idea if it is as bad as you have described. I can only tell you what I have used and what works for me. Calendula cream is definitely the most moisturizing thing that I've used so far on affected spots. Gentle Naturals make an eczema cream that's ok. They also have an eczema wash. I buy it at target but I've also seen it at CVS. Burt's bees make a lot of natural products that do not contain fragrance. They smell good from the natural extracts. Their baby apricot oil smells really good and is almost 100% natural maybe it will work if added to bath water. Burt's bees baby products are worth checking out. I use the rescue cream on my own knuckles because they get very itchy and scaly and it works wonders overnight!

My son is 5. For the last few winters and occasionally into the spring, he developed eczema on his chin. I could not find any lotions or moisturizers that would clear it up. I finally took him to the doctor, she told me it was eczema and gave me a small sample of elidel. He was 2 or 3 when he used it (I believe) but it cleared it up very quickly and the sample size was all I needed. As far as I could tell, it didn't bother him at all when I put it on. I hope this helps! Good Luck!

My sons Dr @ University Hosp. recommended plain old fashion Vaseline. Not the new scented kind. I also didnt bath my son as often because it dried his skin out even more, but when I did I used Olive Oil in the bath tub. When he was really itchy I added Aveeno Oatmeal bath to his wash as well. I also used a small amount of 1% hydrocortisone on the places he hadnt scratched raw. Hope this helps. By the way...my little guy grew out of the really bad phase. Now we just do some hydrocortisone here and there when needed.

Both of my sons have dry skin and I even suffered with eczema my entire life, my skin looked like I had been burned - that's how bad it was. I used the cetaphil creme - the lotion does not have much substance, because it didn't work for me. I used the creme and I am happy to say that after about 2-3 months of consistent use - i have not had to use it since, my legs, arms and neck are completely cleared up and I suffered with eczema since I was an infant and i worked on my 2 boys also - the creme works great - hydrocortisone (I don't know if I spelled that right) works good also - that is prescribed by the kids pediatrician. Also, my kids doctor suggested after giving them baths - don't dry them off and put vaseline or petroleum jelly on them while they are wet - that helps to keep the moisture. That helped too!! I thought it sound a little crazy - but it did help.

Good Luck !!

try hydrocortizone which works really well or try eucerin lotion. both of these products works wonderful. I have found that the hydrocortizone is the best. Just keep applying it like you have been the other stuff.

My Daughter who in now 14 months old, has been on Elidel since she was about 2 or 3 months.... It seems to work pretty well for her... Hope it works.....

My baby had eczema really bad when she was about 3-6 months old. A friend of mine told me to not give her a bath for 10-14 days and to only apply Baby Aveno or any other type of oatmeal based lotion on her several times a day. I think I put it on her 6-10 times a day. Then after the 14 days was over bath her about once a week. It took a couple months but it progressively got better and better. She actually looked 50% better after the first 14 days. She is now 1 years old and her eczemas has not returned. I still do not bathe her everyday. Probably only like 3 times a week. I hve started using normal laundry detergents and normal baby bath products. The whole bath thing is because water can dry out the babies skin and cause the itching and dryness to become worse. Also i had a friend who this did not work for and she put crisco on her son 3 times a day and his eczema went away as well. I believe she switched with olive oil every other day though. I hope this information helps and that it works. it horrible seeing your child in pain.

My daughter is 21 months old and has had exzema since she was 3 weeks old! my doctor told me to us "free" products such as tide free and so on. Baby Aveeno body wash worked great as well along with baby aveeno soothing relief cream, the coordinating wash is fantastic! she still has bouts but nothing like before.

Hi, my son has the same problem. I tried everything. Elidel worked well with him. I used moisturizing soap such as dove or oil of olay....liquid soap, not bar soap. He is 9 and still has eczema, but it runs in my family. The lotion I noticed that worked great with him is the swiss norwegian formula, over the counter lotion. I will look at the bottle when I get home and give you the more proper name of it, but it works great!! I couldn't use any prescribed lotion with him simply because it burned his skin.

My son had some strange rash issues when he was a little (under 1) and he had eczema, but not anything like you are describing. He was on elidel for the rash for just a short time, and it worked great, but I was told not to put it on his face or his bottom, because the skin was thinner there.
I took him to see Mark A Bechtel, at Capitol city Dermatology. He specializes in baby and small children and was recomended by my Pediatrician. He is hard to get into, I waited 4 weeks to get into him the first time. He told me that next time my son had a flare up, to call and if they could not get me in that week to ask to talk to the nurse, then explain to her how young your son is and ask her if she could please speek with the dr. to get him in sooner. He said he always makes room for baby's.

He was realy great.

Hi I.,

My son had a mild case of eczema. It appeared mostly on his face with a little on his arms and legs. His face did get quite bad at one point, red, crusty bumps on his cheeks. I tried lots of creams and gentle soaps. Nothing helped. It would clear up for a few days and then start again. Finally I set an appointment with the doctor and in the meantime tried to cut out the new foods I was giving him. Of couse by the time his appointment came up his face was drastically improved. But the doctor prescribed hydrocorizone to be used sparingly as it is a steroid. This helped clear the rest away. What I think was the culprit was peas. Even now if I give him peas he'll get one or two bumps on his cheeks the next day.

Hello I.!

My son (now 5) had horrible eczema from the time I brought him home! So I do know wht you are going through. After many ideas and failed attempts of my peds doc - started experimenting on our own. This is what worked for me:

Bathing - Oil of Olay bath wash/shower gel for sensitive skin.
clothes - Cotton & I changed his when we returned from being out side for long periods of time (I thing allergens effected it)
Laundry - any dye free perfume free ( you don't have to pay big $) no dryer sheets
vasiline - on real bad spots when he slept (not to bug him) and vailine intensive care lotion for cracked severly dry skin. I would put this on as needed. Right after baths is key.

short baths daily are better than longer,fewer baths

After speaking to my dermatologist, he added elidel which helped during the colder months. My son has grown out of it, except for a small bout he gets each winter. For the most part it faded at around 15months. Good luck! F.

My son had eczema at a very early age....about 2 months old. He had horrible red rashes all over his head, face, and body, so we went to the pediatric dermatologist at Univ. Hosp. and she had to put him on cortisone cream because it was too bad to just let it go. It cleared up after a few weeks of treatment and he hasn't had any flare ups since (he is now 2 years old). I highly recommend going to a pediatric dermatologist.

When he had eczema, I used Vaseline all the time on his rashes, which did help some. I also HIGHLY recommend the Aveeno baby lotion for extremely dry skin (it has a dark blue cap and comes in one size...a very small tube). It is the only moisturizer I used on my son for the first 2 years because it really helped his rashes. I also washed him in unscented Aveeno baby wash.

Also, the dermatologist said to only give him baths every 3 days or so when his skin was flared up. This really seemed to help as well.

I will let you know that my son was put on Elidel at a very early age also. The cream does help alot. He has never once complained/cried when I apply it. He will be 3 in December and has probably been on it since about 10months old. The cold weather makes it flare up really bad, but after a day or 2 with the Elidel, it's much better.

Hope that helps!

This might not have anything to do with it, but from my experience of being very frustrated with my son's pediatrician & dermatologist we ended up at an allergist - they did a simple "rast" test on my son's blood that was drawn and found that he had all sorts of food allergies. Once I eliminated the foods - his skin and the itch was completely gone within ten days!!! It gave us a whole different issue to deal with, however it was much easier than not knowing what was making him so uncomfortable. My son's eczema began at about 4 weeks of age and was cleared up after eliminating certain foods from my diet (I was breastfeeding) by the time he was five months old. During that four month period we had used at least ten different products trying to clear up his skin and nothing lasted. If you have tried everything else...give Children's hospital's allergy department a call.

i am new to this site and just noticed your post. you may have already found answers you want but i figured any little bit would help. We found that my daughter developed numular excema when she was a year old. (at christmas none the less) it was all over her little body. That is great for your son if he doesn grow out of it but every doctor we have seen for my daughter has said excema will never go away. First they gave her an antibiotic with steroids and it hurt her so much we quit putting it on. After alot of trial and error we found that Dove unscented bar soap helps with her baths. They put her on elidel and she would always say it hurts and start screaming so we tried to cut down on using it. in the winter months my now ex-husband limits our daughters baths to every other night so she isnt so dried out. I personally let her shower (shes 5 now) then i rub her down with eucerin(*Spelling) lotion before dressing her. Mostly i look for the start of dry skin and slather lotion on. also, i found that making sure she stays very hyrdated by drinking lots of water keeps it at bay. Every child is unique in their own way though and i hate to say it but trial and error is pretty much the only way to find what works best for your lil one. but i hope these things ive said helps.

Hi I.,

My children have had little bouts with eczema, but my good friend has had a huge problem with eczema! Her son is 2 and has problems with eczema since birth. I called her and this is the information that I got from her.

She HIGHLY recommends going to see a dermatologist. Tell your doctor that you would like to have a second opinion. This is your child and you have the right to see someone else. She takes her son to a dermatologist in Cincinnati named Dr. Ann Luck at the Christ Hospital. You do have to have a referral to her. The first thing she said is DO NOT USE AVEENO PRODUCTS. The only product she uses is DOVE soap. Also use AQUAPHORE overtop of the prescription that you are putting on your baby. This can be purchased at Walmart, and she suggests getting the big tub for about $14.00. For the itching she gets a prescription called Aterax which is a liquid form. But Benadryl also works for itching. Her doctor highly suggests Benadryl for itching. There is also a website alled Eczemaclothing.com that will give you good ideas for clothing for the baby. She use to put tube socks over the babys hands (after he went to sleep) to help with the itching. She also used pajamas that snapped in the middle so they could not itch the skin.

Eczema goes hand in hand with food allergies, allergies, and asthma. My friend sees a breakout on her son when he has something that they later find out he was allergic too. Since your baby is 8 months old are you trying new foods? This may be an indication that he may be allergic to something.

I hope this all helped, and remember BE FIRM with the doctors. It is your right to see a specialist. I persisted with my daughter and I'm glad I did because she was misdiagnosed for 9 months.

Good luck and let me know if any of this helped.

N.

I., I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this - it's hard when something's not right w/ our babies and we have to play detective to get to the bottom of it.

Though your son's eczema might be caused by something else, I'll share with you what our experience was. I have an almost 9 month old son who from 3 weeks old onward had horrible eczema on his face. At first I just thought it would go away, like baby acne or something. But it got worse, more red, more crusty. Our ped suggested lotion, too, then hydrocortisone + lotion, then maybe some other prescription topical lotion... but my gut told me that lotion wasn't going to fix it. We tried the lotion, but nothing prescription, and I kept reading things and asking around. Finally I read about food sensitivities & allergies, asked my ped about eliminating dairy (one of the biggest culprits) and he said it certainly couldn't hurt to try that. Well, it turned out that my little guy was (and still is) allergic to cow's milk protein (milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, anything w/ casein or whey in it). I breastfeed my babies, which meant that *I* had to cut *all* cow dairy out of my diet - and I did so starting when my son was 5 weeks old (and now he's almost 9 mos) - and his face cleared up within a week, his sleep improved *drastically* (more than 20-30 minute stretches, able to be put down while sleeping) and he became happier and much less fussy. [Stop reading here if you don't want to hear about baby poop!] His pooping improved, too - before he was explosively gassy w/ sometimes green and mucousy poop, and he just seemed uncomfortable (bunching up, seeming crampy) a lot of the time. I was pretty surprised that dairy was the culprit - my daughter had no problems (and I breastfed her, too) like that at all.

Again, I have no idea if cow's milk dairy is the culprit in your case, but food allergy in general is certainly worth looking into. Sure, it's a bummer to have to give up cow's milk products, but it's really worth it --> it's *so* much easier to parent my baby when he is not reacting to dairy. He's really much, much happier & healthier. Even though I miss my yogurt and ice cream (I love dairy!), I remind myself that it's such a short period of my life (a few years at most) and my son has a much greater chance of outgrowing the dairy allergy if I don't expose him to it (either through my breastmilk or by giving him anything w/ dairy) until he's 18 mos or 2 or 3 yrs old.

Also, a note about most (but not all!) pediatricians and pediatric specialists - it's worth it to ask about dietary modifications, elimination diets, etc., FIRST instead of going right to prescription medications. Why? Because if the problem is food, the prescriptions would just try to alleviate or mask the *symptoms* not actually correct the problem itself. For allergies, the key is to *remove* the substance from the diet so that the intestines, skin, etc. can heal. But a lot of folks just want something fast, like a cream, to fix it - sure, it's tougher to dig deep and find out if it's food, but in the end I think it's worth it.

Anyway, for more info, check out Kellymom.com which is a fantastic, evidence-based site that provides information and resources for breastfeeding moms who have babies w/ dairy or other food allergies:
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

Hope that things get better soon, that you are able to find some good answers, and that your son's eczema goes away!

HI I.

I have struggled with this with all 3 of my kids. You typically do not need your doctor's permission to see a dermatologist although I would also recommend a pediatric allergist. He is probably allergic to something you are not catching.

My best friend has been aquaphor ointment. Expensive but very effective. my son has been on hydroxyzine(atarax syrup) since he was an infant to relieve the itching.

You know your child better than your doctor and if your insurance allows, seek other medical advice.

This is a really challenging problem. My godson had the worst eczema I have ever seen. His face looked gory all the time. The reason that elidel is not prescribed under 2 is that it can cause dwarfism.
For my godson and many babies, the cause is food allergies. I suggest you find a good food allergist. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny is very active and helpful in this area.

Check with your doctor, but the main therapy for eczema should be topical steroids except on the face and then elidel if used sparingly. And lots of moisturizer. Excema doesn't cause pain so much as itchiness. Again, check with your doctor. If you are worried, any dermatologist should see a baby. They are trained to do so. They may or may not add a great deal more to your therapy.

I want to be honest with you, I would take him to get tested for allergies, i think children are treated for issues, but arent being treated for the real problems.

I have used someting called Calendula cream on my son, its a marigold based homeopathic cream and it works great. I would seriously consider finding the root of the problem, like a milk allergy etc...before using any harsh meds on you peanut.

Good luck with all of this, I am sorry he is in so much discomfort : (

Hey I.-
My daughter also has exzema. She has had it since she was very young as well. She is now 22 months. We have found that Cutivate has worked miracles for our daughter. Nothing else had worked until we tried this prescription lotion. She was literally cleared up in a matter of days. It did wonders for her. Here is a link...http://www.pharmaderm.com/physician_info/cutivate/cutivat...
Good luck to you!