babies with eczema

[NIfirsttimer]

if your LO has eczema when did it first appear, and what way did it manifest itself?
So far Ruby Roo hasnt shown any signs of it, but im concerned that she might has i had really really bad eczema as a child.. to the point of hospitalisation for the old style wet wraps (euughh - i still remember that feeling!) my dad also had it bad as a child, so its obviously hereditary with us, and i really really dont want Ruby to go through that. My HV said its way too early for any signs of it to show, but my dad is pretty sure i had it long before now (shes 6 weeks old now) so im confused about when i can relax a bit about it lol!

 

[sublime_ivy]

dex started getting his at about 8 weeks, he doesn't have it bad, just some patches on his front and legs. i didnt have it that bad as a child. I think boys tend to take their mother's ailments and vice versa so maybe she wont get it?

 

[mommyof3co]

I really think Landon's might be caused by dairy but it isn't SO bad that we have stopped it, we will have him tested soon though to see for sure. But he was on lactose free formula until 6mo but then went back to the regular stuff, I didn't think about it until years later that that's about when it started to show up. First he had it really bad around his mouth and on his cheeks. It was so red and chapped. By a year old he was getting patches on the rest of his body. He's 6 now and still has it, pretty bad, but not severe. We treat it with soaks in the bath, creams, prescription lotions when needed.

 

[caggimedicine]

Harry started getting his when he was about 6-8 weeks old. It was REALLY bad on his face and took various GPs and paedeatricians some time to diagnose. I spent a couple of months buying and trying out various emolients and bath oils until I found the ones which were right for Harry. Harry is 6 months old now, I wouldn't say he's growing out of it (although i hope he is), but he now just has a small red/dry patches on the inside of his arms and backs of his knees. His face is the worst and takes a lot of keeping on top of.

 

[bibswy]

Billie started getting it at around 3 months, started on her tummy (all over) and cleared up. Then she got it all over her back - quite nasty and some big red patches on her bum . Ended up getting some prescription creams from doctor and thankfully it seems to have done the trick.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

thanks guys! so from the sound of it, it might appear any time soon if its going to! im sure treatments are probably way more advanced than they were in the 70's / 80's when i was having them, so im trying not to worry too much, but its hard as its not a nice thing for kids to have when its really severe.. you guys are lucky that you have been able to get on top of it in your LO's

caggie... out of curiosity, what products did you settle on?

 

[bibswy]

by the way... a lot of the creams you buy like Oilatum and Aveeno you can get on prescription so keep your pennies in your pocket!!

 

[acherontia87]

My lo has eczema, it started to show up when he was 8 weeks old, it's been quite bad over the past couple of months and ive been to the doctors 4 times...its better atm. I use epaderm i think its good, better than diprobase. His skin looked quite irritated so I googled washing powders and alot of people had wrote about cutting out fabric softeners (even ones like fairy), which i did and now his skin is much better already!

 

[AHB238]

My LO has eczema, it started when she was about 6 weeks old, on her tummy and behind her knees, I 1st reported it on 1st May and kept reporting it to the HV and kept getting fobbed off with "it's Heat Rash", anyway on 1st July I saw a different HV and she took one look and said it's eczema, she prescribed Doublebase cream... didn't work (although works on DP's dermatitis and my eczema), then she changed it to Oilatum Junior Bath and e45 cream, the cream seemed to make her skin alot dryer (??) so now we have Oilatum Junior Bath and Cream and (fingers crossed) seems to be keeping it at bay, although behind her knees are still quite sore at the minute but much better than they were.

I found that Johnsons bath products and lotions aggravated it but she's OK using the Baby range from the Body Shop (Buriti Baby Body Butter... makes her skin really soft and smells lovely), so now we use the Oilatum Bath stuff and the body shop baby butter over her body but the bits where her eczema is we use the oilatum cream.

We get the Oilatum stuff prescribed by the Health Visitor for free.

Sorry for the essay. Hope this helps?!?

 

[Lara+sam+bump]

Noah has eczema, it appeared at about 3-4 weeks, it was a dry flakey red rash, but also had yellow oozy stuff which went crusty. Is 100x better now tho, has oilatum in his baths and is cremed with E45 morn and nite, still has occasional flare ups, but nothing like he used to. Used to have to put mitts on him 24/7 cos he used to scratch at it and make his face bleed, he would also rub his face on you given half the chance, lil monkey xxxx

 

[Becky]

Jacob has eczema it started as just small bits of dry skin and has gradually got worse my problem is he seems to allergic to every cream I have tried for him all I can use is the steroid cream for the doctors x

 

[Sarahkka]

Simon's eczema coincided with starting to use fortified formula as a supplement when my milk supply was really low. He got it on his cheeks and arms mostly.
We tried the hydrocortisone creams and they didn't do much, so we decided to try Evening Primrose Oil. We mix a squeeze from a capsule in with his food once a day and rub the rest on his cheeks and arms. The eczema has cleared up almost entirely.
Someone from the UK posted about using Equazen Eye-Q for babies at the advice of their doctor and said that they had really dramatic results with that. You could try that? We don't have that product here, but the EPO seems to have done the trick.

 

[annijo]

hi sarahkka,
when did u start noticing improvement in ur LO's skin after starting evening primose oil??
i have just started it 2 days back , as my LO's skin seems to be getting worse day by day and no emollient seems to be helping

 

[Jem]

Ollie's ezcema started at 6 weeks but his was down to a dairy allergy. It's alot better these days x

 

[channy3232]

My 4 year old niece has it severely. To the point where she bleeds and scabs. She wakes up in the middle of the night scratching and crying. Oh I feel so bad for her. Anyway, my sister noticed that it started when she stopped BF and started FF. She was taking her to the pediatrician who said it was possibly dust mites causing it. She did everything to keep her house dust free and it didn't help. Finally she took her to a dermatologist who said she has a milk allergy. Which explains why it started when she started FF. Now she has her on a milk free diet which has helped the flair ups drastically. She still has it but no where NEAR where it was.
Maybe keep an eye when you stop breastmilk?

 

[Sarahkka]

hi sarahkka,
when did u start noticing improvement in ur LO's skin after starting evening primose oil??
i have just started it 2 days back , as my LO's skin seems to be getting worse day by day and no emollient seems to be helping

Simon's skin showed improvement within a week and he was almost entirely eczema-free after about two weeks. I think it takes awhile for the EPO to build to an effective level in the body.
Eczema is tricky. What works for some won't for another, but we've been really lucky with this home remedy. I researched EPO online, through my doctor, a pharmacy and a herbal hotline (one that is there to consult for dosages, advise about mixing herbs and meds, etc). I couldn't find much info that scientifically backed up EPO as an effective treatment, but I sure found a lot of anecdotal evidence. It's working for us. Hope you get the same results!

 

[charlie07]

I wouldn't say it's WAY too early, as my sisters LO is now 2 months and she has had it for about a week!! Here eldest has very small patches, but her youngest has it quite bad at the moment.

Both my sister and me had eczema as a baby/child/adult!!! Ours is hereditary. My mum says mine started as a baby as we went through the pillow cases taped to our arms and hands but we always managed to get them off to have a right good scratch!!

I was worried that Gabbi might get it, there's still time I guess, but I'm hoping that the clean air and climent will help her NOT to get it. After all, I had asthma, hay fever and eczema in the UK. I've not used my inhaler for almost 4 years, only slight hay fever and my eczema is almost never here, just the odd bit!!

Back in the 70's and 80's, like you, the treatments were a bit naf. (e.g. one medication left me with stained teeth!!!!! After spending loads on products from Boots, etc, my mum finally told me that nothing would work!!! Oh joy!). Oilatum helped Gabbi when she had dry skin, this may be good. Different treatments will work better and worse for different children, think all us eczema suffers know this! I also found, me personally, that different products worked, but after using for some time, my body seemed to get immune! For now, I think the Oilatum products might be your best bet, some natural products too. E45 never worked for me. Sudocrem helped when my eczema was really dry, but I never used it much.

Let us know how you get on x

 

[charlie07]

Simon's eczema coincided with starting to use fortified formula as a supplement when my milk supply was really low. He got it on his cheeks and arms mostly.
We tried the hydrocortisone creams and they didn't do much, so we decided to try Evening Primrose Oil. We mix a squeeze from a capsule in with his food once a day and rub the rest on his cheeks and arms. The eczema has cleared up almost entirely.
Someone from the UK posted about using Equazen Eye-Q for babies at the advice of their doctor and said that they had really dramatic results with that. You could try that? We don't have that product here, but the EPO seems to have done the trick.

YES YES YES!!!!! I was trying to think what else was good. This can work really well, but I think it's like when you take them, it takes a while for your body to absorb it (when you take a capsule, think it takes about 1 - 2 months to get into your system). I give this a thumbs up!