Scratching at Night

My kids have problems with sunscreens. My son tends to get eczema on his wrists, elbows, back of neck after sunscreen, particularly if we don't wash it off really well after he's back inside. He'll itch at night and we'll need to get out the hydrocortizone. Food allergies do the same to him. My daughter gets hives and a runny nose from sunscreen. We've had to try a lot of different kinds, none seem great, but some seem less irritating than others. We're on Clinique right now, which is too expensive. Some others that generally work are Aveeno or Neutrogena, though they both irritate at least one of my kids. But, if the itching at night is something new for your son, this could be a consideration, since it is the season for sunscreen.

Hi M.,

I wrote a response to another mother regarding rashes. Your son doesn't seem to have rashes, but the information may be helpful to you. I pasted my response below. Good luck!

My son has a lot of food intolerances. He didn't have any allergies detected by skin test but did respond well to change in diet. Even though he is doing much better (we're using the Paleo diet though he does eat some things that aren't on the diet - probably causing him problems) he still has problems. He had what I thought was eczema. It was really bad and wouldn't go away. Eczema medication would only stop it from progressing, did not get rid of it. I brought him to dermatologist. It's psoriasis and needs a different med. He is also intoerant of chemicals. He reacts to chemicals in pools - nausea and head ache. I clean with vinegar and baking soda in my house. I've changed hygiene products for more natural products. I also recently remembered that a family member of mine reacts to dark dyes in clothing (black) so I'm replacing dark colored clothing with lighter. I don't burn candles or use air fresheners.

Lots of personal care products contain irritating ingredients:
http://www.terressentials.com/ingredientguide.html
http://beauty.suite101.com/article.cfm/beauty_product_ing...
http://www.discoverhealthandwealth.com/toxic-ingredients....

Laundry:
http://laundry.about.com/od/productreviews/Product_Review...

Household products:
http://www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/
http://www.oregontoxics.org/alternatives.html

Household Alternatives:
http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm

You can find a lot more resources online.

Could it be your laundry soap or body soap? My hubby gets itchy if I use a different soaps and the itchiness gets really bad at night, enough to keep me up. And my husband has no allergy issues whatsoever.

It could be anything. Laundry soap / fabric softener residue (try putting his bedding and clothing through the rinse cycle twice). If you don't have pets, it's not likely to be fleas (and no bite marks eliminates bed bugs, too). Does he have any new bubble bath/soap/shampoo he's using? A soapy residue on his skin could get him itching if he sweats a bit. If he's had any sun burn lately, that would itch. If it were poison ivy/poison sumac/poison oak, he'd have a noticeable rash. Chicken pox would itch, but you'd be able to see the welts and he'd most likely have a moderate fever. Yeast infections cause itches, but usually only in moist sweaty body areas (a little plain yogurt in his bath water would help if you suspected yeast). Could be dry skin. Aveeno has some hypoallergenic fragrance free lotions which might help. Aveeno also has a colloidal oatmeal bath soak which is very soothing to the skin no matter what's making it itch. An itch can be a hard thing to figure out.

I agree with those who suggest that the laundry detergent may be causing his itch. My husband and I both have issues with certain detergents, and our 4 y/o daughter develops contact dermatitis unless her fabrics are washed in a "free/clear" laundry soap. I recently noticed that she develops a terrible rash when we visit my grandmother; I notice it the first morning we are there, and it lasts for 2-3 weeks after we return home. It is because she sleeps on Nonna's sheets; Nonna's detergent is one that irritates our daughter's skin. Try switching to a Dreft/All Baby/Purex Free & Clear detergent, and allow 2-3 weeks for it to improve. According to the resources I've found online, contact dermatitis will resolve naturally within 2-3 weeks of removal from the irritant. However, I do give her benadryl at bedtime to help alleviate the itching and let her rest. I hope that is your issue; it is comparatively easy to remedy and to avoid in the future. Best of luck!

My son was doing that, too, even though I hadn't switched soaps or anything. I found that if I only use baking soda and vinegar to wash the laundry, the itching stops. He was doing it for months, so he still has scars that are fading, but it's satisfying to know that I found the cause!

Check out this article, especially the last paragraph: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870380890457...