Help with Baby Eczema - Tampa,FL

Hey A.,
Hope this helps. My son is soon to be 3 and has had eczema all his days. He's been to the dermatologist, allergist, pediatrician and everywhere in between. He's been on every cream, antibiotic, steroid topical as well as oral and everything worked for only a limited time. But recently I've tried a home remedy of aloe vera plant from my yard and vaseline and my sons skin has never been so soft and clear. Sometimes you just have to go back to nature. Try it. Good luck,
A.

1 mom found this helpful

If you look in the first aid aisle at your local Target or Walmart, Aveeno carries a line of lotion and bath wash that is called "eczema Care". My son had a lot of problems with eczema when he was a baby due to acid reflux. Our GI said that there is a correlation between the two problems. We also used a prescription cream, Cutivate, on his body to help with the itching, but our pediatriciain had us use just straight Cortizone on his face because the prescription cream was too strong.

Also, you might want to consider seeing an allergist with her. I have a good friend who had the same problem with her son. Her pediatrician finally sent him for allergy testing and found that he was allergic to nuts and eggs..and with her breastfeeding, he was getting it into his system, which was causing the eczema reaction. As soon as she stopped eating those things, his rash cleared up.

1 mom found this helpful

My son has severe eczema. We have been battling for the last three months to get the latest flare-up under control. We finally started giving him Benadryl or Zyrtec every night to keep his allergies to a minimum and it has helped tremendously. We also use triamcinolone and aquaphor 2-3x daily. We also switched to washing clothes in All Free and Clear and bathe him ONLY with Dove body wash for sensitive skin. It is kind of a pain to do all this and I really hate giving him medicine every day, but it is worth it to keep his skin under control. He still has some scattered spots and flares up if he gets hot. My son is 21 months old, so the pedi was okay with the oral meds. I am not sure they would want a 7 month old taking it. You could try the other things though and see. Hope this helps because I feel your pain!

K.

1 mom found this helpful

All three of my kids have had eczema... luckily 2 of them out grew it quite early - the youngest at 5 is still dealing with small patches. Elidel or Elidol... something like that was the miracle drug that we started using with #2 and #3. The eczema patches cleared up in just a few days. It was a salve. We also used a ton of aquaphor.

Just so you are aware... there is a high likelihood that a child with eczema will go on to get allergies, especially environmental allergies (dust/pollen/molds/etc). I'd advise that you start taking the typical environmental allergy precautions now to either lessen impact on the child or just so you are used to them.

One thing that is hard on the child is if they have a room full of stuffed animals... having to get rid of them. Do simple things like store all but one or two special ones anywhere but in the child's room.

Put dust barriers on their pillows/beds. If they are used to that feel they won't mind... my son HATES his pillow with the dust barrier just because it is different than what he was used to.

No pets in the bedroom

bathe at night (to remove pollen - especially this time of year)

Use a hepa air filter in the bedroom

if you are remodeling anyway... don't put carpeting in the bedroom. We have carpeting and thus have to do a dust mite treatment every 4-6 months. It is a pain, but hardwood or tile for all the bedrooms just isn't in the budget. The doctor asks every single time... "Have you removed the carpet yet?"

If you are lucky you won't have a child with allergies... but if you do you are prepared. Unfortunately all three of mine have allergies - the oldest has mild allergies that don't need to be treated except for using an OTC antihistamine. The middle one is highly allergic to just about everything in the environmental panel. There are probably 100 things they test for in that panel and he didn't react to SEVEN of them. He is doing immunotherapy and is greatly improved. The youngest is going in next month to the ped to have a blood draw to start allergy testing.

1 mom found this helpful

My nephew had this problem from the time he was born. The only thing they could bathe him with was a special oatmeal cleanser. The doctor told my sister in law, NO SOAP of any kind. Also she could not use regular laundry detergents or fabric softeners on his clothing or bedding. The good news is he did out grow it by the time he was a teenager. Hope this helps.

My son had this issue. We found he was allergic to most baby soaps. Either glycerine or fragrances. We use only Publix baby wash and Cetaphil lotion.
We would slather him down with lotion after his bath at night.
You can also try coconut oil from the health food store. Keep some out in a small container in the bath and the rest in the fridge. It has something that helps if there is any fungus involved- like cradle cap.

If you are wanting support in dealing with the lovely world of food allergies, run a search on Yahoo Groups for TerrificKidsWFT (terrific kids w/ food allergies). Its a great group and some members on there could really help you with the skin issue.

Your daughter might have more allergies than just the milk, has she been tested for anything else? Have you tried keeping a food journal for her, noting what she eats and any reactions that occur. It could show you if there is another trigger you are not aware of. The members on this board have kids allergic to foods ranging from corn to milk to pnuts to apples...its quite extensive

HTH
P.

Try the eczema cream at www.faceofthewave.com - I know several people whose kids have/had bad eczema, and they swear by it!

Our grandson is 18 months old and has always had the same problem. Their dr. says to use dove body wash & it does make adifference.

Try the California Baby line. I use that on my daughter and she never has dry skin. They sell it at Target, Whole Foods, and their website. I've heard the calendula cream is good for eczema. Their calming scent smells absolutely delicious. Try everything, it's great. It's kind of pricey, but their formulas are very concentrated, so a little goes a long way.

My daughter had pretty bad eczema for a while. I remember it being that way, too--it got better or worse, but never really cleared up. Her drooling because of teething was aggravating it--both my kids drooled a lot!

We used Mimyx cream three times a day (after she ate!) and were careful to only clean her face with water--no soap or wipes. We gave her oatmeal baths, too, which really helped. The oatmeal gets them pretty clean without having to use soap, but when we did use soap (not on her face) we used Kirk's castile soap, which is really mild. We always did her shampoo right before she got out so she didn't sit in the shampoo water.

It still took a while to clear up, though. It seemed awful at the time, but I barely see it in pictures now when I look back--and it was worst around her mouth!

I hope this helps! Good luck--