Bath Oil and Moisturiser for Eczema

[Life is Good]

So our poor little man has just been diagnosed with discoid eczema

His paediatrician said to use bath oil ("the one that turns milky when added to water") each day in his bath, to apply moisturiser straight afterwards and, if the rash is still red / inflamed, to apply hydro cortisone cream.

I understand the risks of using cortisone and, hopefully, once the eczema is under control it will only rarely be necessary. In the meanwhile I am trying to get it under control by hydrating the rash effectively.

I am really against using any harsh chemicals of my boy and wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions that do not involve commercially-produced bath oils and creams. MooGoo would have been my first choice, but because he is also Milk Protein intolerant (yes, it is never simple, is it?!), we can only use the MSM cream and nothing else in the range.

I have looked into Dermaveen, but have a sneaky suspicion that it contains all of the bad stuff anyway because it is commercially produced (please let me know if I am wrong). I am off to the chemist later to check the ingredients, but in the meanwhile wanted to ask any ladies with babies / toddlers that suffer eczema what they use.

I really appreciate you help. thank you!

[~clover~]

I use QV, which has been fine for DD2 & DS. DD2 gets eczema & DS is really sensitive to soaps. I'm not sure of the ingredients, I just know it works for us.
Olive oil is good. You could just use that on its own if you like, in the bath & to moisturise.
I just bought some oatmeal shampoo & conditioner for DD. Have a look, I think I remember there being a body wash as well, but I don't use soaps of any kind on my kids, so haven't used anything else.
I have used a glycerine based moisturiser on DD, but can't remember the brand. I just made sure it said ok for eczema on the bottle & that there were no perfumes etc.

[Miss E]

I've always gotten a little bit of eczema here and there but over the last couple of months I've started getting it on my eyelid and around my eye. I went to the GP last week because it had gotten unbearable and it turned out that I had a staph infection. She put me on AB's to clear it up because it is so close to the eye and said that the best thing to use was Pawpaw ointment and to bathe it in a salt water solution. I've been doing that and it has cleared up heaps. I've also found in the past that the QV washes and moisturisers are good. But maybe you could also try bathing the area with a cotton ball and salt water solution after the bath to kill any nasties and then apply the pawpaw to protect and heal.

From what I know it is pretty common for eczema to get infected because it's an open wound that you can't help but rub or scratch. Not to scare you, but my little brother actually ended up with rhuematoid (sp?) arthritis when he was eight from the eczema on his legs getting so infected, there were a couple of weeks there when he couldn't walk and was in a wheel chair. So I tend to think that the best thing you can do is prevent any infection and that is where bathing it in a salt water solution works so well. HTH

[~clover~]

Yeah, my DD got an infection in her eczema early last year. She needed abs to clear it up.
I'd bought a cloth nappy off ebay for her, but it was cheap & I think only had PVC in it (the old pilcher stuff) so she reacted instantly, & cos it was a nappy area rash, so easy to get infected.
I've never cleaned it with salty water though. I thought that'd dry it out & irritate it more

[human bean]

My sister uses a natural tasmanian product on her two boys that she swears by, I've never used it or seen it, but if you google tasmania bees baby bath I'm pretty sure it should come up. I think it's called Honey Bath or something like that

[Miss E]

I've never cleaned it with salty water though. I thought that'd dry it out & irritate it more

Yeah that's what I thought too, but I'm actually finding it really soothing. It definately takes the itch away for awhile and it's not drying it out either, mind you I think that because I'm putting the pawpaw ointment on straight after that is probably preventing it drying out.

[Life is Good]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I went to the chemist this afternoon, only to discover that ALL of the eczema bath oil treatments have a mineral oil base. Even QV is paraffin oil based. We haven't used any chemicals on his skin since he was born so I am really hesitant to start now - who knows how he might react

I did manage to find some MooGoo eczema cream that doesn't contain milk protein! So as of his bath (5 minutes ago) we are using olive oil as his bath oil, MooGoo MSM cream to moisturise and then the hydrocortisol (just short term to get it under control) - and when it is less inflamed, the MooGoo eczema cream.

I will be sure to let you know how this works for us

Thanks again for all of your help x

[Life is Good]

Just a quick update and product recommendation for those interested. After some additional research, I discovered Graham's Bath Oil which we have used for the past 2 nights and it seems to be working a treat along with the MooGoo creams. The good news is that it consists of only natural ingredients: Emu Oil, Manuka Oil, Apricot Kernal Oil, Olive Oil, Vitamin E Oil, Almond Oil. Unfortunately the Grahams Calendula cream that they suggest you follow on with contains some (in my opinion) less-savoury ingredients - so we will just continue with the MooGoo. In other news, my skin has never looked or felt better! The perks of bathing with your baby LOL!

Just thought I would share