Experience with Excema

All three of my children have eczema. I know that if you contiuously use hydrocortizone, the skin will get used to it and constantly need it. Also it makes white patches on a childs skin. Maybe you should see a dermatologist--they are the specisalists in the field and know what will work the best.

1 mom found this helpful

I have not had to go thru treating a child with eczema but I do feel for you. I know anytime a little one isnt feeling good is horrible to watch as a mom.

What I have heard that triggers eczema sometimes is food allergies ... like milk.

There is a website earthmamaangelbaby.com that sells organic products on there is a testimonial on the site saying their products helped with the customers eczema. Maybe it could help your little guy ?

My daughter and I both have excema on several body parts. A few ways that we have dealt with the problem are...

1.Water softener- if you don't have one get one, I lost hair due to having such harsh water, and it dries out your skin reguardless of lotions. (home depot)
2.Oatmeal baths-We've used this when nothing else seemed to work, our skin felt smoother and didn't itch (grocery stores may have these otherwise search online!)
3.Change detergents-the easy solution for us was to switch our detergent to a free and clear (many brands have a free and clear version in the grocery stores/wholesale)

I hope these help you and your son!

L.

My son also has Excema. My family actually has a history of a skin condition called icktheosis(sp). It is a bad type of excema. So far my sons has not turned into that Thank God. I use Cetaphil cream on him all the time. It really helps. I also only use Dove sensitive soap when I wash him. I do not use baby shampoo or anything else because that made it worse. The Cetaphil cream is expensive. It is about $12.00 for a pound of cream. If you get Cetaphil do not use the lotion use the cream that comes in the little 1 pound tub. It works great for my son. I have to put it all over him because he has excema from head to toe. The Dove soap helps keep his head moisturized enough I don't have to put the cream on his head but I have to keep it on his ears because he pulls and scratches at them until they bleed at times. The Cetaphil cream has helped more than anything I have tried on him

Hi D.,
My son has had eczema since he was born. He i s3 yrs old and still gets it once in a while, with the weather changing he tends to flare out. I was told that the hot weather helps out, I have used elidel in the past and I loved it you should talk to your doctor about it Im sure they will give you something.

Hi D.!
My son had eczema when he was a baby, and I switched to Dove soap (because it's a mild soap), and used Eucerin Cream. Didn't take but a couple of weeks, if that to get rid of it. We also use ALL Free and Clear Laundry soap,(works great because it has no dyes, and it's not a harsh soap), for our laundry. Luckily our son has had no more outbreaks since. We stopped the Dove a little after he was healed up, and we have been using the Huggies Wash Cloths to give him a bath. Not only are they convenient, but it's mild soap and soothing to the skin. I hope you find something that works for your son. My niece who is now 16, has had eczema her whole life. Nothing has worked for her. She has it on her feet and now it has recently started to spread up on her legs. She's tried everything. Hopefully that won't be your son's case and it will soon go away. Try the mild soaps, and the Eucerin Cream and see if it works if you haven't already. Take care, G.

I'm going to second the response on using ground flaxseed. My daughter had eczema badly when she was younger. None of the creams worked & we were already a low chemical fragrance family. Within two weeks of giving her a couple tsp ground a day (mixed in applesauce, yogurt or oatmeal) she was completely free of it. I found a wonderful bread that is unfortunately not available in AZ (we're from MN) that I used for the next 3-4 yrs that contained ground flax in her sandwhiches. I've got her on an Omega 3 kid supplement from www.vitacost.com, and so far she's had no further problems with it.

my son is almost 4 years old and has always had excema all over his body. We use the hydrocortizone creme, but I understand that long term use of this makes the skin thin. So we cut out dairy. Apparently some people are allergic to milk rather than lactose intolerant. The milk proteins are too large for the body to digest properly. Since we are still breast feeding, I don't consume dairy either since the milk protein passes through the breast milk into the baby/child. We occationally have treats like chocolate (our favorite!) because he is old enough now to tolerate a tiny amount of dairy. When we go a little overboard or there is another irritant, like soap, then we use the hydrocortizone creme for about a week, twice a day.

One of my good friends has kids who had really bad eczema. They keep it under control with some cream from Earth Worm Herbals. They always use bath oil in the tub and only use soap when it's really necessary, not all the time--and then make sure it's really soap, not something with a detergent in it. They also have to keep him distracted when it flares up to keep him from scratching, which makes it worse. When he was a baby they'd wrap his head in a big bandage before they put him to bed so he wouldn't scratch in his sleep!

One of my kids has ichthyosis, which is similar in that it causes dry skin but the treatments are different--steroids don't work on it at all. It is frustrating with skin disorders, you just have to keep trying things until something works.

Also, keep an eye out for food allergies. They say 20% of babies with eczema develop peanut or egg allergies by age 2.

Hi D.. I know how difficult it is to watch your son suffer like that, and not know what to do to make him feel better! Believe me, I've been there before too with my nearly 3-year-old son!
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D.,
My doctor prescribed Tiamcinolone Cream, I put that on my daughter who is 21 months and then I put the aquafor on top of that. I also give her a bath using Aveno. It seems to help.

My sister's baby has excema and my son gets it on his face sometimes when he's drooling a lot and teething...We tried Aquafor and it didn't do anything, so we switched to Eucerin cream and it cleared it up in a few days.

my son had excema when he was a newborn. he is now almost 3 and has grown out of it. but I used Aveno baby. its all natural and they make different kinds. I used the oat kind but it worked wonders. also Eucerin lotion is what my mother uses and she has had excema all of her life. I hope that this helps.
E.

A lot of wonderful advice for your baby's exzema. It's painful to see your child suffer. There are a lot of mothers that have been helped with a product from Melaleuca Inc. called Renew Intensive Skin Therapy. It clears it up and keeps it cleared up and is very natural and healthy. No greasy mess to worry about. Just thought I would share this. i have seen it work wonders on my grandson who suffered terribly. It's not an expensive product either.
My best to you!

My daughter suffered from eczema when she was a toddler. She is 7 now and thankfully has grown out of it. I would try to avoid elidel if you can _ we were prescribed that but I didn't like the sound of it.
Our miracle cure we found for eczema is ground flax seed. You can buy it in the flour section of most grocery or health food stores and is actually cheapest at Trader Joe's. It's natural and healthy - we only put about a tsp in some applesauce and noticed a huge difference in just about a week or so. (she was older than 8 months old though so you might want to check with your pediatrician). I have to say that most doctors do not believe in remedies like this - our pediatrician certainly didn't! It might be worth a try.
The other prescription one doctor prescribed to her was liquid zyrtec which also works amazingly well. It's for allergies but worked great on her eczema. We only gave the zyrtec to her if it was a bad flare-up - otherwise we relied on the flax seed. Good Luck!