Eczema

Do any of your kids suffer or have eczema? My girls have it and for the most part we have kept it under control with cortizone. One of the girls gets it worse the then other though and it really broke my heart the other nigth when I walked in to check on them before I went to bed and saw he scratching her back and chest in her sleep. I was just wondering if any of you use something that seems to work better then other. We have their 2 year old appontment next month and we are going to bring it up again and hopefully something can be done. Thanks for the help.

 

We use cortisone, too, and it has gotten a little better with age.

Other things we do:

in the winter, only 2 baths a week, lotion right after;

use additive-free detergent and fabric softener (no dryer sheets, they make it worse);

run a cool-mist humidifier in their room;

keep the heat down to 68 in the day and 62 at night because it dries the air to run the heater;

make sure to rinse her off entirely before she gets out of the bathtub so no soap is on her skin anywhere (we have a showerhead with a hose attachment, which is how I do this).

 

Have you had the kids tested for food allergies? One of my sons suffered from eczema for a year until I demanded a food allergy blood test. it came back positive for a milk allergy. Within 3 days of eliminating milk products, he was completely free of the eczema.

The reason I mention this is that the doctor at the hospital told us that eczema is very often caused by food allergies and most people (including many pedis) do not think to test for allergies. Just something to consider!

When our son had eczema, we used a product called Gentle Naturals "Baby Eczema Cream" and it seemed to help a bit.

 

I'm so sorry your daughter is suffering. If you have tried many OTC products, and if your child is itching and scratching a lot, I suggest that you take her to a dermatologist.

My son has eczema that we tried everything on when he was a baby, and he would itch and scratch himself horribly. We finally took him to a dermatologist who gave us a detailed regimen to follow to reduce the eczema symptoms. [In our case this was more bathing rather than less since we live in a very dry climate.] He also prescribed an antihistamine that relieved the constant itching.

HTH.
Omega

 

I asked this awhile back, and I took the advice of one of the TSers. She suggested Aveeno. My Tyler's skin is so much better now!

PS: I asked my pedi if he was getting it because of an allergy. He told me that it isn't caused by allergies, rather you are more susceptible to allergies if you have eczema.

edit: spelling

 

The twins started getting it around 18 months and my DD1 a little over 2 years around their mouths. I know I don't do so well on wheat so I tried cutting it out of their diets and it seemed to clear their faces up. I keep it mostly out of their diet, but if they get wheat a few times a month, I don't stress out about it. I also run a vaporizer in their room at night during the winter months.

Another thing, DD1 has bumps and dry patchy skin on her arms, torso and legs. I started giving her Cod Liver Oil and Vit-A to increase her intake of Omega oils. Within a few weeks her skins started getting better and the bumps started going away. Its not completely gone, but definitely better! I have an issue with dry skin myself and DH has bumps on the backs of his arms and legs. I'm sure its and Omega problem for me too.

Something to think about.

 

My kids all have allergies (food and environmental) and get eczema as a result. If I catch it when it begins to flare, I use vanicream (personal choice, it works tons better than aquaphor or eucerin for us). If it's gotten a little worse, I try the hydrocortizone. When it becomes really bad I have a prescription steroid cream called aclivate for it. I also give my kids an allergy medicine called hydroxizine. It not only is an allergy medicine, it actually helps relieve the itching. I used to see that bedtime itching thing, too, and it broke my heart as well.

 

You have gotten some good suggestions so far, but I will throw in my 2 cents also. First, what do you bath her in? Johnson's & Johnson's and Baby Magic (oranything with scents) can aggrevate eczema. Once I changed my boy's to cetaphil bathwash and lotion, that helped a lot!! (FYI Walmart has a generic brand). This was suggested by our dermatologist. I actually bath them every day or every other day - TO HELP with the eczema. The hydration from the water is good for their skin as long as I apply lotion immediatly. It helps mositurze them and helps with the eczema. Then when they still have spots I use Desonide, it is a perscription from our dermatologist and works great! It is also NOT a steroid so it doesn't cause the skin to thin. It works better than hydrocortisone (even perscription) for our boys. Good luck! Also, I would look into allergies. My boys had RAST tests done and we discovered peanut allergies (when they were 18 months, so they hadn't even had peanuts yet, BUT I did eat them when I nursed and their eczema was MUCH worse when I was nursing).

 

We have some here and use the Aveeno intnse overnight relief lotion every night before bed and don't have an issue with it any more - at least since we've started using it. We wash with Eucerin baby wash.

 

I found that Iris's eczema was totally due to allergies. We went through a trial and error phase till we identified some foods that aggravate her eczema and also wash the girl's clothing with a gentel detergent and her eczema is totally under control. We had skin and blood tests for allergies which pinpointed some of the culprits as well. We bathe her every day and put aloe gel on her (which was the only thing that worked for her- everything else made her worse) and use a very gentle aloe soap once a week.
Try not to use the cortison cream unless you really have to. It seems to thin the skin and have long term side effects.
Drs were all telling us we need to learn to live with this for at least a couple of years.
I remember endless nights were she would cry and itch and scratch till she bled. It's amazing how some simple changes changed everything!
Hope you find a way to manage your girls' eczema.

 

Our pedi suggested Eucerin or Cetaphil cream. We have been using the Cetaphil cream in the jar and it seems to work wonders, as long as we use it regularly. She suggested using Dove soap for baths, but we haven't switched yet. She told us that it is the most mild soap and shouldn't irritate their skin. She told us that the baby lotions are pretty much uselss and evaporate almost as soon as you put them on the skin. I haven't tried the Cetaphil bath wash, but I may get some and see how it works.