Infant excema..

Okay to add to all our other problems. DS has Excema really bad.. Its covering almost all his body. The worst is on his face and back area. He wiggles on his back, which i refer to it as the "bubby dance". But now i believe its because he is itchy.

Anyhow to my question(s).. Is there anything you do to help them not itch? to help it go away faster? Any soaps that you use? lotions that you found are better?
Also, did they grow up to have excema? or does it go away?
I just feel so bad for him.

TIA

 

We did the "soak and seal" and it was cleared up in two days and we've kept it away.

Here's how:

Soak baby in lukewarm water for 5 mintues
Apply Hydrocortisone ointment on flare-ups (at first this was the majority of her body)
Slather with Cetaphil cream in a thick layer
Apply Cetaphil cream several times a day
No soap or baby wash...! I use the Cetaphil wash if I need it but I think water and a washcloth does the trick.

Now, we just use Cetaphil cream after every bath and she's as smooth as silk...she did look like an aligator!

 

I talked to the Dr about Jesse's when he was little. It was very severe and he needed a specialist. They put him on some prescriptions wchich included Elidel and it cleared up. Now at 3 he has pretty much outgrown it.
There were several times that his was so bad it bled and got infected so he needed antibiotics .. thats the most important thing to watchout for especially as the baby gets older and more mobile.
Good luck !

 

We would start out with Aquaphor and when that didn't do the job, we used hydrocortisone. Only on the flareups. Nolan had it when he was a baby, but not so much now.

 

Ditto everyone else. Make sure bath time is not extended (more time in the water aggravates it) and make sure and slather him up good after bath time and several times a day until it's under control. We use hydrocortisone on bad flare up but otherwise, I just use unscented, hypoallergenic lotions/creams or aquaphor. Like pp said, some cases require a prescription so if it doesn't get better after a couple of days of good "treatment" I'd talk to your ped.

 

Ditto but we use(d) Eucerin cream in the jar (not the lotion in a pump). Basically you just need a hypoallergenic cream that will moisturize and 'seal' the skin against losing moisture. Also be sure they are well-hydrated. I know this sounds weird but even babies can get slightly dehydrated, especially if they are transitioning to foods and decreasing the amount of bm/formula they are taking in.
It does go away, I had excema as a kid and just have dry skin in the winter now. I occasionally get little patches if I'm not hydrated and haven't used Eucerin or another lotion similar to this.
No worries!

 

Ditto the pp's. NO soaps or baby washes or anything in the bath -- plain lukewarm (not hot) water is good, or the teeniest bit of Cetaphil wash....now that my DD has hair, Cetaphil wash doesn't really get it clean, so I use just a smidge of California Baby wash (the unscented kind). Nothing on her body.

And then, tons and tons of Cetaphil cream, with Aquaphor on the bad spots....and hydrocortisone if that doesn't work. More cream with every diaper change.

No scented detergents, perfume for me, etc.

Also, keep an eye on his food -- eczema can be related to food allergies, so see if you notice a connection between something he's eating, and a flare-up. In very sensitive kids, even peas, green beans, etc. can be problematic.

 

Thank you so much ladies!!! This is very useful information. Our Ped gave is a perscription.. So we will see how that works.. I would have never thought about not washing it with soap..

Thanks

 

My middle daughter and one twin son has excema. We use only dove soap and aquaphor to keep moisture in the skin. I also use a mild hydrocort. for flare ups. It's a matter of keeping it under control so they're comfortable and so that it doesn't get infected. Also, clip nails often. Lastly, we use dreft and no fabric softener!


Lisa

 

My 5 year old has eczema. His eczema reared it's ugly head when he was barely out of infancy. I've done countless research on it. First it's important to know just what eczema is. Eczema is an inflammatory response to irritating substances, which overacts. One of the first and foremost ways to avoid it is to eliminate the irritating substances. Use all perfume/fragrance/dye free soaps, including laundry detergent. Moisturize the skin frequently with fragrance free lotions. We use Aveeno Baby. Especially after a bath (within 3 minutes). Certain food allergents can cause flare-ups like dairy, eggs, nuts. Stress is another trigger, as is scratcy fabrics.

Some products that have helped us keep eczema at bay include DermaSmart jammies (www.dermasmart.com) and FreeDerm (www.freederm.com) We use freeDerms eczema cream and moisterizer as well as their soap. The eczema cream has worked wonders. If you send them before and after photos, they'll send you a free jar. Trust me, this is some great stuff! It really works! I even took it to a dermatoligist and he looked at the ingredients and said it was safe.

Here are my son's before and after that I sent them:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/Indi...eckert_face.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/Indi...eckert_legs.jpg


Hope this helps.
edited to fix spelling

 

I wrote this for a women at my mom's work. Our DS has mild eczema and even with just a mild case he was really crabby so I really feel for any little person with dry itchy skin. I am a biologist so I always have to know "the facts" and I felt like if I knew as much as possible I wouldn't feel so bad about him having eczema!

1. Skin prone to eczema lacks lipids that help to maintain moisture. Do to this the skin is dry. Due to the dry skin allergens and irritants are more easily absorbed into the skin.
2. If she is nursing, consider taking all dairy out of her diet or the other big 6 food allergens (eggs, wheat, milk, corn, peanuts, shellfish). Usually with young infants it is dairy.
3. If she is formula feeding consider talking to her DR about switching to a non-cow's milk based formula.
4. Eczema skin must be kept clean to prevent infection (far more likely to get infections) and as such nails must be kept short.
5. Cotton loose fitting clothes.
6. Baths no more than 2-3 times a week with luke warm water and getting in and out as fast as possible.
7. No soaps, no washcloths, no rubbing (pat dry).
8. Lotion at least twice a day. Here there is some debate. Some lotions has alcohol which dries so applying too often (more than 2 times a day) can actual dry. Others say up to 4-5 times a day. I would only do that with lotion with no alcohols as all. No fragrance of course.
9. Wash everything they come in contact with in dreft or fragrance free/non-soap laundry wash.
10. Eczema can be a sign of environmental allergies - keep dust, dust mites, etc out at much as possible.
11. Maintain 25-40% humidity.
12. Most kids it gets better by age 5
13. If her baby is under 6 months she should not introduce any solids until 6 months corrected age if the eczema is bad or anyone in her family has allergies or asthma. If just mild eczema rice or oatmeal cereal is ok.
14. If anyone in her family has bad eczema/allergies she should consider no milk until age 2, no peanut butter to age 3 and no beans/peas until 1. Carrots and Rice are the least likely to cause flare-ups.
15. The lotions that we used successfully is Mustela - http://www.mustelausa.com/stelatopia.html - look under dermo-pediatics. There is a lotion, non-rinse wash and wash. We just started the wash and non-rinse wash (after feedings for his face). This lotion is said to basically provide the "seal" of the lipids that their skin lacks. You can tell it is different because you can feel it at the next application and you can see it "come off" in the bath water. They also have an oil for baths during "flare-ups" - which I don't think Eli has ever really had, just low grade rash/dry skin.
17. We also had success with Alveno - they are a cream specifically for eczema

 

Have you had your child tested for food allergies?

One of my twins was covered in excema for the first year of his life. Every doctor appointment I would ask about it and I was told to do many of the remedies you have heard here... Then on their 1-year checkup, I demanded a food allergy test because it was getting worse as we moved to solid food. It came back positive for a milk allergy. Within 3 days of eliminating all milk products and all food with the milk protein casein in it, he was completely cleared up. It's been 8 months and he hasn't had a single incident of excema since.

I bring this up because after doing extensive research on this topic, it appears that excema is a classic sign of undiagnosed food allergies and many pedis do not think to test for them at this young age. The test itself is a simple and quick blood test. Just something to consider!

 

Okay.. The excema started after i got hot here and he wore shorts for the first time in the car. Im kinda thinking its an allergy to polyester/nylon... Would that be a cause? And why would the excema start at 6.5 months if hes been drinking milk based formula with no problem? (if its a milk allergy)

 

Carlie has it, and does not have eczema due to formula. She is on Soy, but not for eczema. We use Aveno Cream Body Wash and Aveno Cream Moistorizor. What works the best is Eucrin Aquaphor. We started noticing huge differences when she gets this on her twice a day. She is sooooo much better now!!

Also, eczema usually gets worse with dry air...so maybe he has an allergy to the detergent you are using.


April

 

There is a new medication out for excema called Mymix cream. I have to use it on both of our girls due to extremely dry skin. I have noticed that if I miss a day of putting it on them Aubrey will start scratching but if I keep up with it (sometimes up to 7 times a day) she isn't itching. It has to be prescribed by their pedi and medicaid will cover it.

Oh and some pharmacies have to order it if they haven't gotten the memo about it yet. that might take up to a week.

I hope that this helps!
Meshell

 

QUOTE(AshleyLD @ Mar 20 2008, 12:53 AM) [snapback]678071[/snapback]
Okay.. The excema started after i got hot here and he wore shorts for the first time in the car. Im kinda thinking its an allergy to polyester/nylon... Would that be a cause? And why would the excema start at 6.5 months if hes been drinking milk based formula with no problem? (if its a milk allergy)


Hi Ashley,

I don't have any other suggestions except the ones that have already been mentioned here.

Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone with the whole heat/eczema flare up. One of my DD had a nasty patch on her chest this past summer when it was ridiculously hot and humid here. The pedi said typically eczema was a cold/dry air case but that obviously wasn't the case with us!

We ended up using a prescription steriod cream for a little bit and just tried to keep her little neck rolls/chest as dry as we could.

GL! Hope your little guy feels better soon.