Mom Seeking Some Advice for Baby Boy with Sever Ezcema

HI there. BOth my kids have pretty bad eczema as well. We only tub them every other day (unless they are filthy) and we use Cetaphil gentle cleanser. It's not soap - it doesn't sud up or have any fragrance and does not dry out their skin. Also, you can use Eucerin, that really thick vaseline like ointment which will at least relieve some of the irritation. Good luck!

Hello Monque,

My last three kids suffer with ezcema. There skin usualy isn't so bad in the summer, however now that the weather is changing the scales are appearing. I find mixing Eucerine Cream (not lotion) and Aquifar to be a thick enough combination to prevent them from scratching and flaking. I also do not bath them in hot water, cause it seems to dry their skin out. As soon as you have given them a warm bath try rubbing the combination of both and see how it works. I was also told its best not to give them too much accidic beverages or foods like orange juice or grape fruit juice. Hope this helps!

Hi M.. Have you tried Eucerin Lotion (original)? That lotion worked like a charm when my babies had Eczema. I hope this helps. M.

Yes my babies too. My daughter is 10 -- this is the routine that has kept it in check since she was tiny.

EUCERIN. The thick annoying stuff. All over -- within 1 minute of bath -- really immediately so that it keeps moisture in skin. Doctor said fewer baths, but we do quick baths daily and reapply Eucerin -- that is what we found works best. And reapply again in AM.

Also, yes to all of the NO SOAP, NO DETERGENTS. Also, don'd dress in too many clothes b/c that can make them sweat and salty sweat makes it much worse.

My daughter gets it real bad behind her knees & on her elbows (front & back). Especially in the winter when the air is so dry. We seem to be getting it more under control by putting lotion on her as soon as she gets out of the bath and every night before bed. I found a "Baby Eczema Cream" put out by Gentle Naturals - the same company that makes kiddie/training toothpaste with no floride. I found it at my local A&P & at CVS. On occasion I have used a cream with hydrocortizone in it. I know the cortizone isn't good for her, but it helps! So I only use a small amount & not daily.
I also have severe dry flaky skin on my hands & washing all the time doesn't help, but I'm a mom I always need to wash my hands! I just recently started using Eucerin Original moisterizing creme in the tub & am finally starting to see some results! I've tried everything myself & have found that cremes are more effective than lotions & for really severe, dry flaky skin, ointments don't penetrate or get absorbed so they are useless (like Vaseline, Aquafor, Neosporin, etc).
I know it is frustrating for you, but hang in there, I'm told they grow out of it! My daughter is 3, I'm still waiting! Good luck!

Hi, my nephew suffered the same way, until my sister-law tried a product that I sell called ABC baby. The company that makes it is Arbonne International. Within a few days, it started to look alot better and his skin was staying soft, not flaky. All of the Arbonne Baby Care products are certified vegan, and do not contain any synthetic fragrances. Natural oils made of orange, lemon, and cedarwood make up a non-irritating unique scent. Let me know if you want to try a sample.

Hi M.,

I understand what you're going through. My 9 year old son also suffered with eczema since birth. Like you, I tried Aveeno, Aquafor and the prescriptions his doctor gave him. I found out that the source of the problem lies in the chemicals used in everyday products (like laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, etc.). Believe it or not, formaldehyde is a common ingredient (it's a cheap preservative) used in these types of products. 3 years ago I started using a product line from a conscientious manufacturer that does not use "toxins" in any of their products and my son's eczema completely cleared up. These products are actually safer to use on your baby than the baby products you buy at the store while saving you money at the same time. If you would like more info, please feel free to call me at ###-###-####. Good luck - V. T.

Hey M.,
Wow that sounds very frustrating. So sorry to hear that. Eczema can be caused by many things. It could be as simple as diet. Check out this article and good luck.
http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&ref=647&ac....
Hope that helps
Rachel

Hi
My son had ezcema and i did all the things you did. The only thing I can tell you is that he will grow out of it. You have tried everything there is to do. But please dont use the cooking oil. I agree it's hard to see your child uncomfortable. But as i said you have tried everything.

N.

Hi M.
I would see a homeopath. A good homeopath can cure the cause of the eczema so that it will never recur. The cream that your doctor gave you was treating the symptoms, not the cause, and probably contained cortisone, which could harm your son's liver over time. It's good you stopped using it.
Ask around or search your local health directory for a general homeopath or one who deals specifically with children's ailments.
Good luck, C.

Hi M., I feel your pain!! And I know you feel terrible to see your little boy scratching so much. My 15 month old daugher has eczema really bad too, she gets sore-like patches on her skin. When the eczema is really bad, I do not bath her in water, I take a warm cloth with Cetaphil gentle cleanser and give her a sponge bath because water is super drying for skin. We have a dermatologist as a friend and she gave me samples of a foam medicine for her called Verdeso(desonide) foam .05%. I put it on the spot and within a couple of days it is gone and my daughter doesn't mind it at all. I hope you find something to help your son and if you need any more information on anything I told you, feel free to send me a personal message.
Jackie

When i was a kid apparently my mom bathed me with milk instead of water. It helped she said.

Goodluck i know how frustrating it is...

I have severe eczema, fortunately my kids do not. What I recommend is salt water. I find that when I go to the beaches in the summer time, the ocean water clears up my skin beautifully. My mom who also has it, agrees. Grab a bucket every once in awhile in the colder weather to take home and soak your baby in it. Also Eucerin ointment is great. I also find that staying out of water as much as I can helps. I try to bathe every other day, and never do dishes. Thankfully I have a VERY understanding husband!

M.. Try Aloe Vera. There is cold pressed Aloe Vera which is such a high grade of it, that some even drink it for digestion and health reasons. I don't recommend that for eczema, but I do recommend cold pressed Aloe Vera on his skin. You can find it in most health food stores. I use it, my husband uses it, and my 3 year old son too. We all went off Wheat and Dairy and our skin has improved dramatically. Now my son bearly has any dry patches ever. I think it has been almost a year (knock on wood) since his last episode.

Good luck.

-A.

I have two girls ages 3 and 18 months, they both have severe eczema and food allergies. I took them to a dermatologist. They were prescribed desonide ointment. It has steroids in in, so they cannot use it often. But it clears up their eczema. In between I use cetaphil cream. They have also been to an allergist. He suggested that i use extra virgin olive oil on them. This worked as well. When they are scratching really bad i have to give then Benadryl. I tried aveeno soap. Did not help much, i also use cetaphil soap, or Dove soap. Good luck.

My son had the same problem, he looked like a scab for a long time, and still gets small patches of excema and psoraisis from time to time from visting other peoples homes, but it is not nearly as bad as it was. You have to remember that ezcema is one symtom of a reaction to something in your house, either something that he is eating, or the skin and soap products you use on him and the chemicals you use to clean your home. Most skin and soap products, even though they say "for sensitive skin" could still have preservatives to prolong their shelf life and fillers to make the product more pleasant, and he could be reacting to them as well. (I tried Aveeno to to no avail.) I would like to help you by introducing you to a line of natural wellness products for your home that are sold at wholesale prices, if you are interested. Fill out my contact page on www.redefinework.com, and put in "eczema" in the comment section.

my son had eczema and when i took him to the dr i was told to only use dove soap, also the detergent Dreft not only for his clothes but my shirts as well because my detergent may cause him to itch and making the eczema reaapear. This worked very well, he doesnt have it anymore. also on his face i just wipe with water no soap. Whoever holds ur baby make sure they put a cloth over there shoulder where his face will lay so that the eczema doesnt reappear. let me know if this works for u too.

my son had similar issues, use cetaphil bar soap and the aquaphor cream after bath. The skin is so sensitive any scent will irritate it. My son is approaching two and we still use this method, plus the cream the doctor prescribed as needed. But for the most part problem solved. Good luck

Aquaphor worked really well for my son, although it sounds like his skin was not quite as irritated. An allergist recommended Crisco spread to me, but I never tried it... I know that you're waiting to see the allergist, but you may want to try avoiding the food groups that you feel your son may be reacting to. When we took our son off of dairy, soy, and wheat, his skin cleared up within a few days... By the way, if your son is allergic or intolerant to oatmeal, the Aveeno products and oatmeal baths may make him worse... I was originally using a milk based lotion that Johnson and Johnson puts out, and the allergist told me specifically NOT to, because of my son's reaction to dairy... I was also told to NOT bathe him every day, and other than moisturizing ointments, oil, cream, etc, which could be used as often as needed, to keep the skin as dry as possible (from water, sweat, etc.).

M.,I feel your frustration, My son has it from his neck to ankles. I first noticed it when he was 3 months old. Here is what I did to help him out:

- As I slowed down the frequency of nursing when he was about 10.5 months I tried soy formula - noticed immediately that he is allergic to that AND the hypoallergenic formula Nutramagen. I took him off both of them immediately. Now that he is 12 months he is on oat milk with supplemental vitamins.

-I use Seventh generation hypoallergenic laundry detergent. Dreft has fragrance which is a big no no for sensitive skin.

-There is an herbal preparation that many healthfood stores carry called Florasone. Some people have had success with it. It appears soften my son's skin. You have to be consistent with its use though. It must be applied about 3-4 times a day.

- I removed all citric acid from his diet(babies should not be having citric acid at this age anyway)

- I had him tested for food allergies . It is a decent guideline for his diet

-I make ALL of his baby food from scratch. Hubby bought a magic bullet blender and I make it and freeze it in containers.

-When he has bad flare ups i use this stuff bu dermarest called 'Eczema Medicated Lotion'. It literally works overnight! I use it SPARINGLY though. Cortisone is really not good for babies.

- I try to give him water as much as possible.

-I bathe him in dead sea salt and water. Sea salt is supposed to be good for eczema.

I hope this helps. Eczema is horrible. I have read that they usually grow out of it by 18 months. This very well may be true because some of his eczema spots have disappeared totally.

Try using Aquaphor right after your bathe your son. Also, make sure you are using Dreft or a mild detergent,,, and look at his diet,,, eggs, tomato sauce were culprits with my daughters breakouts. Also, make sure the suntan lotion you use is Blue Lizard, it is the only one we can use on our daughter! Hope that helps.

hey M., i hope this helps, try changing the milk your son uses, if the iron content is too high, this could be a cause for eczema as well as he could be allergic to the soap or fabric softener you use to wash his clothing. My 9 yr old daughter gets eczema if i use Tide or Downy. I now use All liquidsoap and Snuggle fabric softener, and she's fine.

i have had excema for many years and have found that the only medication that really works is Clobetasol. im unsure if its safe for his age group but i would definateley ask his dr. it works miracles for me with regualr use the excema is minimal.best of luck to you!!!!

Hi,
my son had eczema when he was little (he's 16 months now) he was really bothered by it so we found a baby eczema cream by johnson and johnson that really seemed to help him. its really thick and i would rub it all over him after his bath (even before drying him off) another thing i've heard helps, although i didn't try it, is to use vaseline.
hope your baby gets better soon

Hi M.,

My heart goes out to you and your son. I have eczema and so does my 2 year old. I am seeing a homeopathic doctor and he recommended that I and my daughter cut out any dairy and gluten products. I read that dairy is a huge trigger for eczema and I do remember that when my daughter went to cow's milk at age 11 months, the eczema began to develop. Try to change his diet from anything that contains wheat or gluten to brown rice pasta. As far as the dairy is concerned, try to have him not consume any dairy and I wouldn't recommend any soy products as a substitute since it has estrogen in it. I gave my daughter rice milk as a sub for cow's milk.

I wish you well and let me know how it goes. (as far as the skin discoloration or hyper pigmentation, it is common and his skin will go back to normal once the eczema is under control. Mine did and so did my daughters.)

Things to do:

Take your son to an Allergy Specialist and have him tested for EVERYTHING
Avoid feeding him tomato/spaghetti sauce
Use only unscented Dove
Use only unscented lotion (I suggest Lubriderm Oatmeal - green bottle)
As soon as he gets out of the bath, put lotion on him - and be generous with the amount.
When his skin is really bad, use Vaseline on top of the lotion - its greasy but his skin will drink it up.
Bathe him more often - like EVERY DAY and put lotion on at least twice a day.

Hi M.,
My son had really svere Eczema so much that doctors gave us some steroids to apply on a 7 months old baby. We used them but I used some of home remedies which helped him a lot and still do in winters when he gets it. I used them on my second son also when he started getting it at the age of 4 months and surprizingly I didnt even need to contact the doctor and he recovered from Eczema and now that he is one and a half their is no mark of eczema on his body. Here are the tips:
1. If you live in a very cold place it happens due to heat inside the houses. try to wear thick clothes and reduce heat as much as possible and try to swith it off completely during night time.
2. Dont put him in water for more than a minute (more you put him in water more dry the skin will become) and if you are in a cold place give him bath only on alternate days.
( It works)
3. Stop using any soaps on him ( Strictly no soaps)
4. Before bathing him give him massage with baby oil on whole body. The put him in tub or sink. Take warm full fat milk and massage on his body for couple minutes. Rinse him with warm water(try not to use too warm and if in a hot place use cold water. Hot water makes it worst)
5. Use Cataphil moisturizer after bath. Really good.
5. Use only 100% cotton cloths.
6. Use only Dreft detergent to wash his clothes.

Believe me these are the things that really worked for me and my second son recovered from Eczema at the beginning stage only. The oil and milk bath is most important. I wish I knew them when my older son started having Eczema. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions. I am sure these tips will help you as they helped me with both my sons.

Dear M..

Now my daughter doesnt have ezcema but I do. had it since i can remember. When i was young i broke out terribly on my face and body leaving horrible sores. I was than prescibed a cream called Dermatop and used it up until i was 13yrs age. I did pretty well with keeping it under control. I stood away from putting anything oily on my skin including using oitments. Bathing with aveeno soap and using aveeno lotion also added to the care of my skin. 100% cooton clothes and alternate baths will also help. Now that im older it doesnt affect me as bad. Im now using a cream called momentasone furoate by fougera (prescibed). I hated dealing with this myself so i can understand what you feel. i hope some of this was a help.

Both my 4 year old son and 18 month old daughter have eczema, and it is much worse in the winter. The discoloration you described is not from the cream you used, it's from the eczema itself (at least that's what our pediatrician told us). A couple of things that work for us - bathe them every other day, not every day. Put a heavy lotion on them right after the bath - in the summer, we can get away with a regular unscented lotion. In the winter, we use Bag Balm. When their outbreaks are really bad, we use a little hydrocortisone and a lotion you can order online called Stelatopia and apply it every morning and every night until the rash gets better. Then we go back to the post bath "lube job".

Good luck!

SAVE YOUR MONEY!

A lot of products for eczema trade in on our worry and don't offer much solution. Read the active ingredients in a lot of things and you will find they are brand names for basic staples. Aquaphor is Vaseline - its thicker because it has a higher percentage of petroleum but you can get the same thing by getting petroleum jelly at a higher percentage. Look for a generic with a high % on the label. Avoid nursey jelly and the like because they are diluted and have added fragrance.
Aveeno is nice - but is a hit or miss and if you find it not working don't bother. You can make oatmeal soap at home by grinding oatmeal in a blender/food processor until it is a fine powder. Then put it in a chese cloth. Colloidial - only means a finely ground powder that is then wet. Cetaphill is good to clean with out drying and there are many generic versions that work just fine.

My pediatrician recommended Crisco and it works fabulous! I told my girlfirends who laughed at first and now swear by it. one of the keys to controlling Eczema is keeping the skin moisturized. My doc gave me this routine which when I follow regularly keeps it in check on my little ones. Only bathe when necessary - every 2-4 days. If the child is dirty of course clean them but the real little ones who don't do much are fine with a wipe of crevices (ears, neck, privates) daily and a full bath bi weekly at most. When you do bath them let them sit in the water for at least 20 min. I saw some people said quick baths but I have found the opposite which makes sense when you think about it. Soaking in something allows it to get into your skin and when you do give the baths you want him to soak in something moisturizing. Dead sea salt is FABULOUS! but if you can't get it the oatmeal also gives moisture. I haven't tried regular sea salt..but you get the gist. When you take him out pat him off but don't dry all the way and first moisturize with a lighter cream. Kerri lotion works but also this coco butter cream -Nandinola- 97 cents at walmart and it works nice. Next use your heavy ointment to seal in moisture it can be the petroleum or Crisco. Finally put him in a light cotton outfit to cover but not make him sweat.
If you use Crisco you have to get the jar - the thick stuff- and not the liquid oil. I saw you said cooking oil but if it was liquid its not the going to do the job- same goes for olive oil, although you could use that as your light moisturizer- you need something that is heavy to seal the skin. One good tip someone gave me was to ask for a base from the pharmacy. the base is a heavy petroleum they use to mix there ointments. they can sell it to you in a jar and it also works well.

While the lighter cream is actually providing moisture. At least three times a day grease him with the light cream then the heavy. That should keep him moisturized and the flare ups should not be so bad.

Alot of times there also is an allergy/ food component so I would check to see if taking dairy out of his diet or your diet if nursing helps. With my son I cut back on my dairy and noticed a big improvement but by 3 months I have started adding dairy back and thankfully he is not flaring up as yet. I think keeping him moisturized is helping.

Finally, the discoloration is unavoidable with the cream but it is also the only thing that I have found that really clears it. I am thinking it must be on his face because thats where you most notice the discloration. I have researched the whole steroid issue and quite a bit of it is hype. The steroid in Hydrocortisone - which is probably what your doc gave you- is very low and been found to be safe even used repeatedly over time. Most studies have found it to be fine. You should look it up yourself before you listen to folks swearing its going to harm your child.
In the end its a personal decision. If you keep him moisturized it should be ok. Most of the time it is more concerning to us than them. My kids hardly notice it. If you find him scratching the hydrocortizone will help get it under control and then keeping it moist should take care of it. Another thing you can do is buy a lower % of hydro over the counter. You can dilute it even more by mixing it with another cream then putting it on him. I have done this and I don't see the discolorations so much when I do.
Since you have and\ older child I assume he must have not had it or not as bad as this one. Thats the way it was with me my second got it and I freaked out. Its you see your little baby covered in little patches and its hard. It does get better and when I had my third and he got it I wasn't so worried. They are gorgeous even when they are bald and scaly :)

Try to remove all dairy; Bovine IgA is an allergen found in milk & milk based formulas. I once saw a baby who skin was so raw that he looked like he was burned. The mom removed all dairy products from her diet (she was breastfeeding) and the baby got remarkably well.

If you are not breastfeeding, I would encourage you to find a lactation consultant and try to re-lactate.