51 answers

Very Dry Skin on Our 4-Month-old Daughter's Face

Our poor baby! She's been having ongoing trouble with skin on her forehead, cheeks, and chin that's so dry that it flakes off and/or gets yellow and crusty. We've been slathering on Aquaphor at night and Eucerin all day, and we use a 1% hydrocortisone cream when it gets really red and angry looking, but any improvements are temporary. Neither my DH or I have any family history with eczema, and she's still breast feeding exclusively, so it's not likely to be a food allergy. Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions? We're wondering if it's ever going to go away!

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So What Happened?™

Thank you all SO MUCH for the more than 50 thoughtful and caring responses! I am cutting dairy out of my diet for the next couple weeks, and hope that will help our dear little one. I hadn't realized how much of an effect my diet could have on her skin. We'll keep up the Aquaphor for now, and I'm also hopeful about the beneficial effects of warmer weather--many of you reported that your little ones did MUCH better in the summer once they got out of the dry furnace air! Thanks again!--L.

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My 6 month old son has had the same problem. Its expensive but triple cream has helped a bit. Do not use triple paste that is for diaper rash but triple cream is for the face. Hopefully when the weather gets better these skin issues will go away.

Hi, L.. Dryness just happens in winter. :) When my son's cheeks get dry, I use Aveeno cream and hydrocortisone as you mentioned. The other day at CVS I noticed that Johnson's makes something for chapped cheeks--it looks like a mini deodorant stick, and you roll it on. It was in a green box. I haven't tried it but I think I will.
Hope this helps. :)

My little guy has baby eczema and the dr. gave him an ointment called desonate. We put that stuff on and then put cetaphil on. It works over night.

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L.,
I wanted to let you know the same thing happened to our son.It started at 4 months as well. And our son was breast feeding too. But he is now 15 months old. We have been to dermatologists, and an allergist. He has severe eczema. And allergies, food and environmental.Steroid cream is a temporary fix at best. We have had him on everything. And just like you aquafor and eucerin does not work. We had some tests done and he has a severe allergy to dust mites, cats and dogs, and other things as well. Just like you no one in our family has this history. I have two other children that dont have anything like this either.The doctors can do blood test to check for allergies at this age. Our son is on Zyrtec now. We did have a cat and a dog, that sadly we had to find other homes for. And we had to replace our carpets with hardwood, we also implemented other preventatives for the dust mites. It has been a long hard road for us to get where we are today. If I could shed any light at all on this for you that would make me happy. Hopefully you wont have to go through all we did. Ask you Dr. about the blood work. And do you have any pets?? They could be the culprits. Our Dr told us that they didnt think a child this young could have allergies. But our allergist says children this young DO and can have allergies. If you have any other questions, please let me know. Eczema can be treated and children do get better the older they get, but our son will always have to fight this. Our son is also on a moisterizer called Atopiclair. It is very expensive but it is working. Our allergists told us not use Aquafor any longer. Also we dont use any soap at bath time.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
My son was born Nov too, in 2006 though.

D.

1 mom found this helpful

First of all, since you are breastfeeding, I would rub a little breast milk on the areas as it will help prevent infection and should help clear it up. Also, try the Baby Aveeno line of product. My son had really dry, flaky skin behind his ears, and on his eyebrows when he was younger. Also, he got cradle cap and it was scaly and yellow, like you described. I also very carefully used some head and shoulders shampoo in the areas where he was having the trouble - like maybe once a week or less. You can use the Aveeno baby wash (unscented) and gently try to exfoliate the area with your finger tips, not working it too hard to cause it to get raw. Then right after bath time apply the really thick Baby Aveeno cream (not the lotion). That cleared up my sons problems. I have atopic dermatitis and that sounds like what your daughter has.

1 mom found this helpful

There are two schools of thought when dealing with dry skin. I have lived with psoriasis all of my life and have tried everything under the sun... literally. Treating a baby however we think of delicate skin and to run amuck with different Dermatologists and what works best might be a trying situation for you. I have dermitis on my face (eyebrows and around my nose) where it is dry, red and flaky. I use PURE Vitamin E oil that you can buy OTC at any drug store for $8 or so. A drop or two on a guaze pad at night is what I do to help the relief of the flakyness and redness. At times I used to put a warm wash cloth with salt on it to help relieve it, however, if the skin is broken don't do this because it will burn. One more suggestion is to go to Oprah Winfrey's website and try and find Dr. Oz's link... he had some great suggestions and might be able to answer your questions as well. I also suggest you contact your local Dermatologist as well. They are the experts especially dealing with such tender skin. One more side note, when you start feeding your baby solids stay away from Strawberry's, Tomatoes based products and grape based juices these are the most common food allergies that occur with skin allergies. Good luck!

My youngest just went to the doc last week for this... she is 16 months old. We tried all different types of lotion and soaps (baby soaps) It just got worse. So bad to the point that she felt like sand paper.. all over her body. She cried when you touched her. It hurt her so bad just because her skin was so dry....eczema, I have it and she has it also. since we tried every type of lotion out there... the doc told us to go to "Rural King" and buy some Utter Balm. Yes it is more for animals but it works great!! We have the hydrocortisone cream also but using both of these things worked! We also went to "soft soap" and "dove" liquid soaps. The baby soaps were also drying her skin out to much. Make sure that is is not to dry in your house. we have a total of 3 cool mist humidifiers running at all times in our home. I have notice a difference since last week.

Good luck!

L.,
My son has the same problems with his skin, we use "Bag Balm" it is very greasy, but it really works magic for his skin, we put it on him anytime that we see a spot developing and by the evening or next morning it is gone. We swear by it.You can get it at Wal-mart or any drug store.

Have you tried an elimination diet for yourself since you are nursing? It take 3-4 weeks for all dairy to pass through the system so you would need to be dairy-free for several weeks before you would know if that's the culprit.

Good luck! It is very heartbreaking to see your little one in discomfort, especially at such a young age.
PS Try to keep nursing as long as possible, at least 2 years if you can! It is soooo important, especially if she is likely to have an allergy.

Hello,
My Mother had very bad dry skin. One of her doctors told her to use Criso lard, and if she didn't like the ideal of going to bed with it on, wear gloves on her hands, since it was also the worse place. After awhile, her hand were nice soft looking, so I tell all with bad dry skin, this story since she is so little, a small amount, and bandage around her face. So when she sleeps she won't be able to get this all over her and mainly in her eyes. But talk to her, and she won't think about what you are doing, and it's whats best for her, and doing it nightly, she'll be cute has a button in no time. If you want talk to your doctor about it. It took my mother years before she ran into this doctor whom told her.
God Be With You and Your, I will be praying for a fast recovery, for the sweetheart.
take care. L. A

I know this might sound weird, but our daughter had a yeast infection that sounds just how you are describing it on her neck. The doctor told us to use Lotrimin AF (Antifungal, yes the same thing for athlete's foot) and Polysporin (not Neosporin). We put the Lotrimin on and wait 10 minutes then apply the Polysporin. Do this three times a day. My daughter's neck looked brand new in about a week. The only thing that we could think of that caused it was where she drools so much and the saliva got caught in her fat rolls. Hope this helps.

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