Eczema...

[Beach Mama]

I think Isabelle has eczema - Im going to ask my CHN next week but wanted to get some advice here too.

Its on both of her cheeks kind of near her ears - red, rough, dry and raised skin so Im assuming its eczema. She also has little dry, rough patches on her legs here and there.

Ive never had it in my life and neither has DH so we are a bit clueless.
What types of things cause it??
ShouId I try an elimination diet of certain things like dairy??
Should I take her to a paediatric dermatolgist?
Any product recommendations??? - Ive used moogoo on it I was using it for her cradle cap which has since cleared up but even that doesnt fully clear it up.

TIA

[christy]

Tan, coming from personal side of things...

Ezcema is highly suspicious of an intolerance or allergy. Jovie has had severe ezcema. You could do an elimination diet, in the meantime change bathing habits & use only sorbolene in the bath to soothe the ezcema. With elimination diets it can take a week or two to see any change, and then you can reintroduce after things clear up & see if that works.

For us, I went on a 6 week elimination of dairy to see if that was the problem. Things cleared up and then when I introduced dairy, she flared up again. So I stayed off it and every few weeks I'll have dairy and see if it works.

We were going full natural for a while there & I was putting oats into the bath for the ezcema, only to find out a week later that both my girls are allergic to oats and probably caused the ezcema .

[Beach Mama]

Thanks so much Christy - I thought it was just dry skin for a while but then realised the spots on her cheeks or her legs werent going away. We have been using Amolin or Aromababy pure bath wash in the bath, do you mean sorbolene creme in the bath? I will use it on her legs and face too and see if it helps.

Things we do for our kids hey - I love everything dairy but anything will be better than seeing it get worse so looks like no cheese and milk for me!
Thanks again.

[*las*]

We had a terrible time with Trent's in his first 12 months. It started as a small dry spot on his back which got bigger and quickly infected. Suddenly it spread across his whole back, legs, arms, tummy and face.

We'd no longer clear it and he'd get it back again and it would end up in infected and he'd get really sick and we'd end up in RCH seeing the allergy specialists. One time he even got a staph infection in it after we took him to a local hospital initially.

For months we used sorbolene or natural goats milk soap in the bath, lathered him in Dermaveen after a bath and tried to dress him only in natural fibres.

We saw the dermatologist outpatients at RCH for a few months before we finally saw David Hill for testing when he turned one and he came back clear on all foods (which we knew he would, we had eliminated them and he still got it), and nothing really stood out. The best he said we could do was 'manage it'.

We moved out of our house and into one with floor boards and his skin cleared straight up, so they put it down to fibres in the carpet! He has occasional flare ups now, but nothing major and only really gets them around my parents pets or older carpets.

[shar]

Moo Goo!!!! Very weird recommendation but my sister had terrible excema (fingers so scarred she had no fingerprints left!!) and it worked for her. Sounds gross but it was originally produced as an udder cream, and still used as one however the farmers discovered how wonderful their skin was after using it and it was introduced as a skin cream.

[Beach Mama]

Shar - Ive been using it on her head for cradle cap and on her face too but it doesnt clear it right up - makes it a bit better but not completely clear.

Lisa - poor little Trent - we have floorboards thank goodness so will see how we go withthe dairy elimination and if needed will go see a dermatologist too.

[Lucy]

Charlie had shocking excema on his face and chest and it cleared up when we moved house.....I am suspecting fibres/dust in the old carpets.

However, Lexie has very bad excema on her face and legs, poor little chook. I have pretty much gone down every avenue to try and clear it, and we have a referal from the gp to a dermatiologist any day.....

However, our gp made an interesting comment that some infantile excema can be managed (until they grow out of it) by extreme moisturising. Since he said that I have experimented with Calendula and it has quite remarkably cleared the legs up and her face is massively improved and so much smoother.

I am really aware that what works for some sadly doesn't work for all, but worth a try perhaps?

[Michelle71]

Aromababy has a barrier cream with calendula in it and it seems to be working really well on Oscar's skin - really thick stuff but smells lovely with the essential oils. His skin is just dry at the moment but there is the odd area on his ears that looks suspiciously like excema so we are trying to keep it at bay with the heavy moisturising that Lucy suggested too.

[Ambah]

I agree that heavy moisturising can work wonders with eczema!

Aidyn has always gotten mild eczema on his legs during winter... I think due to the drier weather. He does have some mild food allergies which may be related, however in this case I suspect its the weather that causes it the most, as he is fine for the rest of the year...

[Liviam]

Tan I've just had Olivia at the GP with the exact same thing (and I do suffer from eczema). He had a really good through look at it and thought it might be more dermatitis and gave me a cream to pop on her skin. It's worked wonders. He and my MCHN also suggested using QV bath oil and moisturiser. Do you or Al get asthma or hayfever? Ashtma, hayfever and eczema are all on the same gene/allole thingy (genetic stuff, can't remember the exact word) so normally if you get one of these you are more likely to get otheres. Maybe pop into your GP and get them to have a look.
Let us know how you go.

[Beach Mama]

Michelle - I have the barrier cream we use it for her bot! Might have to try it on her face and see if it helps! Thanks so much everybody - might have to get some QV too - now Im not sure about the dairy? Might see what the CHN says too.

[~clover~]

I just found out my 2 yo DD has exzema. I got a steroid cream from the gp, but as well as that I bought a sorbelene cream & cover her in it 4 times a day. Its fun, but it has kept the dry patches away. I use goats milk soap & a soap & fragrance free shampoo & conditioner in the baby section at the supermarket coz her scalp got all flaky & started to peel just coz it ws so dry.
Til you get something else use good old corn flour. I was at the in-laws the other day when DD started to get a flare up under her arm & we put corn flour on it. She didn't touch it again for the rest of the day. That stuff works wonders!

[~clover~]

Hi again. Just thought I'd post again to let you know the brands I use incase you end up needing to know. The shampoo & conditioner is 2 in 1 Curash. But it isn't no more tears! & the goats milk soap I got off ebay. Just remember to look for soap free stuff. It will really help even if it's not exzema & just dry skin. & those QV products aren't too bad either. Mother in law also used olive oil for her youngest.

[christy]

Sorbolene can be used as a bath wash too, so nothing other than sorbalene in the bath & afterwards.

[Michelle71]

I used the Johnsons baby sorbolene and Oscar's dryness and excema type rash appeared worse. I now just use water and the barrier cream. And yes Tan - use it on the bottom AND the top!!! Works great for either