Preschooler with Eczema: How Do You Handle the Scratching?

Don't bathe him so much, it actually makes the excema worse! I only give my son a bath about twice a week (unless he's been sweating/swimming or is filthy) as directed by our doctor. There are some prescription steroids that are available that work great. I know steroids are scary, but I've used them on myself and my son and all it takes is a couple of days if you catch is right away. I also love Baby Aveeno moisturizing cream, not the lotion. It has the dark blue lid and is thicker than the regular lotion. Again, I use it on myself and my son. Make sure to keep him as cool as possible because it gets worse in warm, moist areas of the body. I've also noticed that being in the sun has cleared mine up in the past (may just be a coincidence). Good Luck and I hope he gets to feeling better!

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Hi A.!

I whole-heartedly agree with Kelly K's response. Please discontinue the use of the steriods if at all possible and don't use anything in your household that contains the ingrediant Quaternium-15. This is a formaldehyde releaser used in so many products to maintain shelf life. In other words, a carcinogen! Please let me know if you're interested in obtaining the products that Kelly referenced as they will change your son's skin condition guaranteed! I was amazed!

Good luck on your decision!
Tishie
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My daughter didn't get it until she was older so I have never dealt with such a young one, but I would think you would do about the same things...I keep her nails trimmed as short as I can. I also use ( on non broken skin only) the gold bond medicated lotion that is ant-itch, it really seems to help a lot. I have also for short periods of time ( over night) covered the area with gauze and surgical type tape to keep her from irritating an area that is already broken skin, this is to keep her from scratching when she is asleep, which is the only time we really have a problem with her itching.

I have tried to teach her to rub gently, not scratch, a cool wash cloth seems to help sometimes too.

Hope you find something that helps, it is hard to see our little ones uncomfortable.
B.

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WOW! You have so many great responses. Here are just a few that I haven't seen so far.

1. Oatmeal bath. Put regular oatmeal in a coffee grinder until it is very fine. Pour that into your son's bath (lukewarm). The oatmeal helps the skin stay hydrated. For more information, type "Oatmeal Bath" into a search engine and start reading.
2. Lotion. My husband's grandmother gave us this incredible lotion that we can make ourselves. She purchased Vitamin E cream, Johnson's baby lotion (or other pink lotion), and petroleum jelly. She blended it all with a hand mixer and stored it in tupperware containers. It has all the moisture of lotion with the staying power of vaseline. Strangely enough, it is not greasy at all.
3. Yes, tell your son to stop. If you do it so you're not getting visibly upset with him, he won't see it as that big a deal.

Good luck!

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I found this helps tremendously: first - do not bathe him so often - in the winter, I only bathe my daughter 2 times a week. second - I use Melaleuca products on her - bar soap, Renew lotion and when the weather is really dry, I pout the Renew bath oil in her bath. After every bath, I put the Renew lotion all over her. I've been using this for about 3 years now and it's changed the life of her skin. I am not a dealer - I have been fortunate enough to find a friend who is and lets me buy with her. My mom uses their shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, liquid soap, laundry products and cleaning products and loves all of it. So, I hope that you can find someone near you who will allow you to buy some to try it. I think you will be amazed, I sure was. http://www.melaleuca.com/Introduction/Default.aspx

My husband also has 'bad' skin - excessively dry and all - this has healed his skin to the point that we don't even have to use the lotion on his back very often.

Good luck - I think if you can try this, you will be thanking your lucky stars that you don't need the steroid creams any longer - and his skin won't be itchy to him anymore!!

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lots of good ideas on preventing/clearing the itch!

My thoughts are on your ? about drawing attention to his scratching. YES, tell him NOT to scratch....if you don't take the time to explain what's up & why it's important to self-discipline his actions.....then how do you expect him to know what's right/wrong? !!! Don't hound him, just make it a non-invasive & proactive.

In my daycare, I have a child who continually plays with her mouth. Her lips tend to be a mess if she's not watched! After watching the parents complain about it, I finally sat her down & we talked about the reasons why it's an issue. I told her that since she was having trouble stopping herself - then we needed to come up with a "code word" to draw her attention to her actions. We decided "mouth" was her code word.....& it works! Her lips have healed, it's noninvasive, & now she smiles & shrugs when I say the code word. Sometimes I can get away with just tapping her shoulder as I walk by!

This little girl began this when she was 2. My son on the other hand was PreK & still grabbing his body parts & rearranging them in public. It didn't matter what size underwear....he still felt the need to rearrange. It was very noticeable on the ball field, much to my husband's dismay/horror! Sooo, we devised a code word ....& it took only 2-3 times on the field for our son to stop his actions! Nobody else knew "what" was going on....& it solved the issue.

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I did not read through all of the answers that you got. I have a daughter whom has had eczema since she was little. We had to keep a food diary not too long ago, (that was a pain when she was in school). We had to keep it for a month. As well as the food diary we had to keep a diary as to what clothes she wore (what color underware, socks, shirt and pants). We also had to keep a diary as to what her eczema looked like. Well it really did not tell us much other than to keep an eye on her when she wears blue jeans and some pants that are blue like sweat pants. Well after I bought her a package of underware and put her in tae kwon do did we notice that she was always broke out. Well her uniform is blue and she liked the blue underware. She is allergic to blue dies. I had to ask her instructor for a different color uniform. I removed all of her blue and green underware from her drawer and her bottom and legs are looking so much better. I do not let her sit for any length of time in the tub. I use Dove body soap on her and try to stay away from Johnson and Johnson baby products. My dermotolgist recomends the dove body soap and she says that one of the best lotions is Alveno. However she does not recomend the Alveno baby soap. She also told me to only bath my daughter every other day. No matter if you have soft or hard water it will dry your skin. If you have a water softner then you are most likly using salt in it and remember that salt is also a drying chemical.
Also you can use hydrocortisone cream when ever you do not want to use the steriod creams.
Good luck. I would take him to a dermatologist if you do not already have one.
L.

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A., one of my nephews and one of my nieces have eczema as bad as your little guy, and they really suffer. One of the best things she's ever used on them is an aloe-based gel (I'm sorry, I don't know which one). Evidently, it really healed the skin quickly when scratching got out of hand, and was less irritating to each child than any of the other creams she tried to use for moisture. My nephew, now 9, still can't stand to have any moisturizing cream on him because of bad experiences when he was little.

Another trick I use with my girls when something hurts so bad that they won't let me put any medicine on (bactine, iodine or any other typical wound cleaning agent) is to use a tiny bit of "antibiotic PLUS" ointment. There are both brand name and generic versions (I currently have Equate brand Triple Antibiotic Plus in our medicine cabinet). The PLUS is a mild anesthetic, which really does seem to help with the pain and irritation. An added plus (no pun intended!) is that the ointment moisturizes at the same time! A pharmacist told me about this trick when one of my daughters had a bad diaper rash that hurt to put medication on. She said it was perfectly harmless to combine the Nystatin prescription with the antibiotic ointment. We've had great success with that for numerous boo boos.

One of my girls did have eczema outbreaks from the time she was a few months old, but much more mild than your son's. I noticed some others have said it is important to get on it at the first sign of breakout and keep up with the steroid until it's gone - and they're absolutely right. Our pediatrician did emphasize that it's important to use the steroid sparingly (especially on the face) and not to gob it on -- but to use it when necessary.

One other thing, my niece and nephew have serious food allergies that evidently play into their eczema breakouts. As your son has had problems for so long, I would seriously consider having him tested for food allergies. If that is a contributing factor and you eliminate this food from his diet, you'll see great improvement as well.

Good luck to you!!

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Our daughter is almost 4 and has had eczema that bad since before she was a year old. We have tried several sterioid creams from the doctor, and Triamcinolone works the best without bleaching her skin. There are those who say bathing kids less often is better, and those who say to bathe more often. Our doctor is one who says less often is better, so she gets a bath when she's dirty and a wipe down with a warm washcloth when she doesn't need a full bath. We "grease" her up with a rich lotion immediately afterward too. Aquaphor didn't do much for her, so we use Aveeno Itch-Relief or Mary Kay Moisturizing Lotion. I think the very best thing we've done is figured out that if she doesn't have fingernails she can't tear her skin. I keep her trimmed to the quick, and tend to find that she doesn't tear her skin anymore unless I forget to trim them. Hers is a reaction to respiratory allergies, so we live on Zyrtec and Benadryl, and have since her 2 year old checkup. Good luck!

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Poor little guy! I feel so bad for little ones with eczema! I don't know if this will help or not but every time I hear of someone with an eczema problem I have to tell this story.

When my daughter was about 2 months old she developed eczema on her face. nothing seemed to help. Just by chance, our NP prescribed Nystatin for a possible "yeasty" gut (she had no outward sign of yeast infection like thrush or vaginal yeast infection) and it totally cleared up the eczema in 2 days - it was totally gone!! I was amazed. About 2months later, the eczema came back, so we went on Nystatin again, and again it got rid of it. I think this happened like 4 times that we used Nystatin. And finally the eczema didn't return.

There are people that believe an "undetected" yeast overgrowth in the gut can cause eczema. From what I've heard, Nystatin is a very safe drug, so if you can find someone willing to prescribe it, it might be worth a try.

Good luck and God bless!

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A agree with a few of the moms who said you should treat his symptoms short term, but as a person who had eczema, the itching is miserable and pretty much impossible to avoid itching. Please find the cause. Look at milk...it's the number one cause probably. It will take a while (up to two weeks) after eliminating it for full relief, maybe longer since eczema can take a while to clear up, but you should see improvement before that. It could also be wheat, or eggs, or almost anything in his diet. My friend's sons had bad eczema, and when they eliminated all three, it went away, and also improved his behavior. If you do identify an allergen, but don't want him to live without it, there are some alternative treatments you can try. One is called AllergiCare. My daughter and I are in the middle of treatments with this system right now. It's usually done by chiropractors. Let me know if you'd like more info (no I'm not selling anything). I hope your little guy gets some relief soon.

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I recommend you try aveenos overnight itch relief cream. Put it on at night before bed and we used it during the day on my son who has had excema since birth he is 6 years old now. He has had staph lots of times from itching. I myself have excema and my 6 month old daughter has contact excema. We found with all of us that we only use tide regular laundry detergant no fabric softners etc. The baby was allergic to johnson and johnson yellow bath soap. We have tried numerous creams, shots, steriods, even suntanning booths (I forgot the name of them but it was at the dermatoilogist office and its like a suntanning bed but upright) we tried socks over the hands etc. nothing seemned to work.
The aveeno overnight itch relief worked great (I think it only stung a bit when my son had his freshly opened but thats it we blew on it).
The only other thing Id recommend that has truely worked. The beach. We had to go to Houston for my oldest childs medical appointment and we went to Galveston Beach. Let my son play in the water for bout an hour. After that his excema has been very well controlled. Wish insurance would pay for that though. lol!
Best of luck! Hope it goes away soon and your child gets relief!

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I have a younger cousin who has had it since birth and he used 2 scratch scratch and scratch he had it all over his stomach but it had spread as he got older in addition 2 the creams 2 usuallly treat it that he puts on right after a bath we started to put calimine lotion on him (I spelled that wrong but its the pink stuff that u use 2 stop chicken pox from itching) the lotion worked and he wasnt gnawing away @ his skin the sad thing is the rash will never go away but the good part is he is getting older and is managing it well

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Try the Aveeno for children that is made with oatmeal. Bathe him in it and make sure you slather his body with the oatmeal lotion. It really helped calm my son's eczema when he was younger.

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It sounds like he needs a prescription from the doctor. Both my kids have a mild case which corn starch and hydrocortisone helped. I have gotten a small prescription of hydrocortisone in the past, it is a little stronger than the over the counter kind that helped even more. good luck

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Two of my 3 sons have eczema (due to allergies). Our pediatrician told us to bathe them 4 times a week at the most. She said that water is the most drying thing for skin. We also use footed jammies and Children's Place carries light weight ones for the summer months. I always give my boys a dose of zrytec before bed because it helps with the allergies and makes them sleep better. Our pediatrician also said that oil (vitamin E or even olive oil) is the best thing to rub on them. Both of our boys were allergy tested before they were 2 (due to their severe eczema and other allergy symptoms). The treatments prescribed by our allergist have helped more than anything. We take a total of 6 allergy meds a day but my oldest is a different child now. My oldest son is 5 and still has it but we follow these things and it has become manageable. Hope this helps.

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My nephew has similar issues. His mother keeps him on benadryl during breakouts and tries to bathe him in tepid water only every other day. Like your son he had problems with aveeno. She uses aquaphor as well during breakouts but swears by lubriderm intense with itch relief. She coats him in it morning and night. I know the steroid creams are intimidating but they are prescribed for a reason you need to use them. My sister uses them right away before the rash gets out of hand and it knocks out with only a couple of applications. After avoiding their use she finally came to the realization that two or three applications at the very first signs was far better than missing skin, a bleeding miserable baby, and a week or more of steroid cream use when it could have been prevented. I know we all try to look for the best natural methods we can. I do as well. They are out there for eczema you can find many suggestions online. However b/ c of the nature of eczema they all take time. You might find it best to use medicine for now at the first onset and when he gets a little older and can learn to resist scratching go to the more natural methods. I second the mom who suggested the beach. If you are fortunate enough to be within driving distance of some sun and salt water it can work wonders on eczema and also psoriasis. There are also many food triggers and allergies that can aggravate eczema and cause flare ups, among them eggs and milk. If you do search on allergies and eczema you should find many helpful resources. :). Good Luck

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Well, since my dad was born with eczema and my daughter had it at a few weeks old, I don't agree that scratching is what causes the rash at all. I had it myself for years and back in the days I had it they did some kind of ultra violet or x-ray treatments. Not sure which I actually had but I do remember getting it at about 7 years old. It was not a good treatment, obviously. I used every cream, ointment and medicine out there in those days. Nothing stopped the itching. Whatever you do, don't use hot water to bathe in and they told me to bathe about once a week and whenever you bathe to get in and get out quickly, no playing for long times in the water. I just think unless you've had this you can't understand how saying just 'control yourself and not scratch' is ridiculous. I even used a brush at times, yes not good but I couldn't stand it. I 'outgrew' it I guess but grand kids have it now, some of our kids had it before them. Some are allergic to milk products but even at that it seems to go from eczema to hayfever or other forms of allergy. See an allergist and I hope you can get something that helps. Believe me I can relate to this. I would also not put the child in heavy clothing as the heat makes it itch worse. Cool cloths would help if nothing else. Just get them very cold and hold on for a few minutes. Then get medical help from an allergist, not a dermatologist.

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have you used the cream called aveeno to moisture him after a bath instead of the other one. I have to use dove for sensitive skin. Also can he handle benadryl for children that might help at night for him to sleep better. Even adults poor us can scratch as bad as the little one, an mine grandson had excema as a baby dr said take the clothes off of him for air to get to the skin.

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A.,
I don't how to help with the scratching.
But I know some products that may help the eczema go away. Shaklee has great organic baby products--cleansers and lotion. They also have great nontoxic laundry products that may help, as well as Mighty Smart which has EPA and is good for eczema. You can read about this at http://www.shaklee.net/healthforlife
You may also find this website helpful: http://www.bobsfiles.net. There are lots of audios you can listen to on health issues.
Good luck and God bless.
V.

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yes talk to the dr about benydril or some other anti itch relief. also maybe try not bathing him everyday. i know that is hard, but our dr told us not to bathe our daughter everyday when she had it like this. she had it so bad, she rolled over to the bumper and rubbed her face against it one night and by the next morning the crib was covered in blood. i freaked out. we bathe her now more as it is totally under control. but back then, we would bathe her once week (wet wipe her with a washcloth the rest of the week) and then immediately lather her in cream while her skin was damp and the pores were open. cream seems to work better than lotion. i tried aveeno creams and that only made it worse. i use only tide free (nor dyes or perfumes), and the california baby calendula cream (at target)was a miracle for us. we tried all kinds of creams and lotions and i did not use the steroid cream the dr gave us because it was on her face. use a humidifier at night and try to keep him in all cotton clothes. getting rid of the itching will help control the eczema so first talk to the dr about the benydril at night.

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My son had terrible eczema for the first year of his life. Our new ped. suggested we look into food allergies. Come to find out he was allergic to milk protein. We stopped giving it to him and the eczema disappeared! Just something you might want to check in to.
C.

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have you asked the derm about an anti itch cream? I love the benydril (sp?) spray-but, you cant put that on all night! and it wont penetrate aquaphor. 2 of my kids have eczema-but, never that bad. I know what you are talking about though-I know kids that are hospitalized because of their eczema infections. I wish you luck.

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I'm a customer of Melaleuca (online store) and I use their Renew Lotion and their laundry, bath and shampoo on my 5 year old. It's all I use and hers is gone and has been for over a year and a half!

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Although my son doesn't sound as bad as your child does with the skin (eventhough he is pretty bad) it sounds like you are doing everything that my doctors have suggested. Now, the only difference is my doctors have suggested not bathing every night because that helps the drying of the skin. We bath our son 3 times per week because of his skin issues. We apply the aquaphor twice a day (Morning and night) and that seems to help a bit. My son has one spot on his leg that he scratches constantly. Are you using Dove Soap when bathing him? All of our doctors have suggested that as well as head and shoulders for the head. Now, one additional thing that we do with our son is he is on Zyrtec nightly to assist. I started out only giving it to him during allergy season but this last fall his skin got so bad that I had to start him back up (Doctor says that it is fine to be on year round) and it made a world of difference. If I skip a few days of not giving the Zyrtec to him I can tell a difference in his skin. I don't know if any of those suggestions help you but that is how we deal with my sons horrible skin issues. Good Luck to you! Oh and if you decide to do Zyrtec do not give it to him in the morning. I would suggest a night dosage because some kids it makes them sleepy.

Good Luck Again!

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Like Kristin mentioned, my son's severe eczema was/is also linked to food allergies. Changing his diet has been the biggest contributor to keeping his outbreaks under control. It's so hard to see your child suffer!

While you're figuring it out, you might try this kinda extreme measure ... We put our son in extra big shirts to sleep and then sewed the sleeves shut so he couldn't scratch.

If your doctor does recommend trying eliminating some allergens, we have some recipes on our blog that might be helpful, www.welcomingkitchen.blogspot.com.

Good luck!

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