DD has eczema

Hi All,

My DD has bad eczema. I have seen a doctor a few times and he always goes that it will go away, but after 2 months it seems to get worse.

Her skin on her face and head is so red, dry, itchy and oozing with liquid.

I have checked out the eczema site (Eczema Association of Australasia Inc) and have tried so many creams but nothing seems to work.

I just wished she had nice skin like most babies =(

Can anyone give me advice on creams they have tried that have worked?

I have already tried the following:
Olive oil
baby oil
baby sorbolene
QV lotion
Johnsons and jonhsons sooting naturals intense
Dermaveen ezcema cream (stopped the oozing but not the redness and dryness)
Hydrozole
Sigamcort
Hydraderm

YES Thats a long list and nothing seems to work!!!

BTW, she is 3 months old

Thank you all in advance!

that is so terrrible for your DD :(

tried hopes relied - it supposed to be really good
HTH

You port thing - and your DD!! My DD has it too but not that bad. My doc said she will grow out of it but maybe because you have tried so many things you might need to see a skin specialist. Does it hurt her? Keep her nails really short - maybe even use mittens so she doesn't scratch and give it airing time though if it's on her face I;m sure she gets that. Maybe someone will have some fantastic home remedy! Hugs:hug: to you

Thanks!

I always have mittens on her and they get dirty sooo easily and she still rubs her face so badly =(

He phionix...seems you and I are in the same boat on alot of issues. I posted information in your thread "Rashes"
Don't know if you read the info.
My son has eczema aswell.
Here is what I do for him:
I use a solution in his bath called Pinetarsol. It stops the itchiness and takes away the redness. The bottle says to use 5ml for a baby bath (one cap full) But I just use a quarter of a cap because it is very strong and his skin has cleared up. Make sure you don't get it in her eyes. After the bath I use QV moisturising cream on his body. You said that QV lotion doesn't work?? For how long did you try it? I use it every nappy change, all over his legs, arms, torso and back! I use Ungvita Vit A ointment (smells a little fishy but is AWESOME!!!!!!!!) on his face and he now has the most beautiful soft baby skin!!!
I hated it cause it took a while for it to change his skin, about 2 weeks and I really felt for him, but like I said it is sooo gorgeous now!
You can get all the stuff from the chemist. You don't have to use any of this information, just letting you know my experience. Take or leave what you will. I hope you get some help out of it though.

Hi Rustygirl,

THanks for the reply.

I used the QV lotion for a few days (I think 2 days), at least 3 times a day (whenever it is dry)

I wonder if there is a difference in the lotion and cream. Maybe the lotion is too diluted for her.

I might go get the cream and ask about the vit A oil.

Thanks!

Def stay away from any J&J products and baby oil - its terrible for the skin. It should be banned.

I've heard very good things about the stuff Rusty suggested. You may also like to try Milk Bath which you can find at The Body Shop. It is sooo soft and contains milk protein and avocado oil (you can pinch some for yourself too). The other suggestion is the Hemp Range from TBS too. You might only want to use a little bit but its chock full of fatty acids and I literally had hundreds of customers that used it with great success.

GL!

Phoenix, talk to your GP about a cream called Elicon. Its a cortisone based cream which I had prescribed by a pediatric allergy specialist for my DD. It works really fast, you only need a very small amount and after 2 years I very rarely need to use it. When I do, just a tiny bit on the affected area and its gone by morning. I know how frustrating it is, just hang in there and hopefully your GP can talk to you about the cream.

BTW - I tried all that stuff too, spent a fortune and nothing worked!

Another natural cream is Medihoney excma cream. WOrks WONDERS on DD1 but not DD2, so can't gaurantee, but I do think it's worth a try. Good luck and hope it goes soon xoxo

I watched an episode of A Current Affair a few months back and a woman has developed a goats milk soap for her son which works on him. Apparently it is about $7 a bar but is supposed to be very effective. I can't remember what it was called but it should still be on their website.

My niece also had very bad eczema when she was a baby and toddler and we used pawpaw cream (not oil or lotion) from a natural foods shop. It worked really well for her. We had to slather her in it about 3 times a day during the worst outbreaks but other than that, once a day on average took the redness and itchiness out of it. Also a warm bath also seemed to ease her discomfort during the worst times. Oh, and she did outgrow it but it took a few years for her.

Just for interests sake...

It seems like there are plenty of options out there, maybe some will work, maybe not. For those that have tried and tested, how long would you suggest to try one product before declaring it successful or not?

Oh my goodness, the amount of money I have spent on creams and lotions and natropaths for DD's eczema is just incredible! I usually try things for at least a week before moving on if I don't see any improvement. Some things worked a little but truly, if your baby is suffering just go to the doc and get a prescription for a cortisone cream.(I second the Elecon) I definitely DID NOT want to go that road, but it gets impossible to watch the suffering/scratching/bleeding of a bad flare up. Usually you can get it under control within a few applications, then can go back to a natural oil in the bath and a good quality natural moisturizer applied at the very least twice a day to keep things under control.
Another thing which is often overlooked with eczema is the internal side where all problems start. We have had great results with a baby probiotic powder and a product called Mega Oil - both in the fridge section at chemists.
Personally, I think there are a million wonder products out there, and many probably do provide relief in the long term, but a baby doesn't know to stop scratching in the meantime so you just need to jump in and squash it with the big (not so natural) guys.
That's my rant done. :lol:

Sacha - I totally agree with you (on everything LOL!!!). A week is a good gauge or sometimes less if the cream is causing more irritation. I tried one cream which was designed for ezcema and it made it so much worse! You just need to be careful if trying a new product to do a small patch test. I went to cortisone as a last resort also, heard all the horror stories etc but it made the difference and she became a much happier (and less scratchy) baby.

DS has a heavy-duty mosturiser called Doublebase. We use it every nappy change, and we get his daycare to as well. If you do use it 4-5 times a day on the area it DOES work, but you have to be really strict about it.

I also dress DS in popper vests so he can't scratch his back.

He has had steroids once, but he has not grown an inch since I applied them about six months ago. But there was nothing else that was working at the time.

Oh you sound so much like me when my DS was 3 months old! I have always been hesitant to recommend the lotions and potions that worked for us because it seems that what works beautifully for one eczema baby seems to do nothing for the next eczema baby.

However...I couldn't resist posting because your list of failures is nearly identical to mine! I also tried all the "natural" stuff with no success. Everyone always says "QV, QV" but that, for us, was one of the worst of the lot. My DH likes Medihoney for his eczema but it didn't work for DS, grrrr.

What worked for us was:

A squirt of Aveeno bath oil in the bathwater, and washing body and hair with Aveeno fragrance free bodywash (DS was a baldy so not much hair to wash). You can get this at the chemist.

Straight after bathing applying Dermeze ointment. This comes in a big white tub from the chemist (not all chemists have it but they should be able to order it in). It is made by the Melbourne Royal Childrens Hospital. It has a consistency similar to Vaseline and leaves your poor baby looking all shiny and greasy but it doesn't stain the clothes. (REALLY! I promise). Once we got the eczema under control we used Hydraderm after the bath instead of Dermeze (I know that was on your list of failures - we found Hydraderm was great for maintaining the skin, but it didn't work initially when the eczema was bad. If DS' skin started to flare up again, we'd use Dermeze for a night or two and then go back to the Hydraderm). I hated him looking all greasy but it really worked for us.

Also have a look at the laundry detergent you are using. We used Omo Sensitive for ages and ages. Anytime I reverted to "normal" powder eg Omo, Drive - the eczema would flare up again within a couple of washes. I eventually found that DS was also fine with BioZet in the plain green box.

Only dress your DD in cotton. Cotton sheets, cotton blankets etc etc. No wool. Layer for warmth if necessary.

For any small, nasty little patches of eczema you can try a THIN dab of an over the counter ointment called Dermaid (0.5% strength). DS had a patch on his belly button that was very dry and cracked (I think from memory it bled a bit if it got very irritated) that we couldn't get rid of and the Dermaid did it. Has cortisone in it so shouldn't be used liberally or over large patches of skin. Only apply it to the face if you absolutely HAVE to - cortisone can thin the skin.

How long did this regime take to work? Hmmm, we noticed an improvement within a few days (within a week). He was virtually eczema free within a month.

DS is now 21 months. We use Cetaphil bodywash and moisturising lotion (in the pump pack) these days because I was sick of cleaning the oily film (from the Aveeno bath oil) off the bathtub all the time. No bubble bath in the water. His skin seems to have generally calmed down, however, we still moisturise, moisturise, moisturise straight after his bath. We notice that if we skip the moisturising for more than 2 days we can see the eczema starting to flare up again.

He has a lot more hair these days so we use MooGoo shampoo (google MooGoo). They have a lot of testimonials from eczema sufferers and I love the MooGoo soap but their creams and bodywash didn't do anything for DS as a baby. The shampoo however is great, but DS doesn't ever get eczema on his scalp anymore anyway, just his face.

When he was very little I thought the eczema on his scalp was cradle cap and I tried cradle cap lotions with no success. Once he started bathing in the Aveeno, his scalp cleared up. He used to scratch his poor little head till it bled, poor darling.

Good luck, sorry for the long post!

DD#1 had really bad eczema and we tried alot as well. The cortisone creams, the QV etc etc....but the most effective cream was actually Dermaid. This worked in a matter of a day or two - really took the redness out. We'd lather with moisteuriser as well. The other cream we used was a natural cream Calendulis (the guy who created this cream as well as his son were also chronic sufferers) - the down side - really expensive but we were very sparing with it. This natural cream showed postive results after about a month so we'd use dermaid for flares and really bad sections and calendulis for the moderate areas. DD#1 is now 3&1/2 and may get one teeny tiny spot every blue moon - DD#2 had a touch of eczema but seems to have already grown out of it. hth :hug:

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies. It seems everytime i try a cream, it works for a day or 2 and then doesnt anymore! like the skin adapts to them.

What happens if you use too much of the steroid creams? beacause i think ive been using too much of hte hydrozole and sigmacort. Now im a bit scared it might affect her!!! Her skin seems soo broken now (like little red veins)

Hydraderm worked for me in stopping her skin from being too dry but it didnt stop the itching and redness.

Ive seen 2 doctors many times and they always say the same thing to use hydrozole and that it will go away with age. very annoying when u see it not helping!!

ill give some more of these remedies a go before i go to the specialist. cant stand her being so itchy.

thanks all,

Phoenix, the sigmacort is a very, very low level cortisone. I found this did absolutely nothing. Cortisone creams do thin the skin but my paed said you would need to be smoothering it all over for a long period of time for it to have any affect. He explained that once I got the itchiness/redness under control, it would only need to be used to put out the flare ups, if and when they occur. There is another non-cortisone one which I used for little while called Elidel. He suggested that I could use the Elicon initially then follow up with Elidel. Only downside is that Elidel is very expensive.

Just thought of something else...Is your daughter formula fed?? If so, ask the Dr. about changing formulas. Ask about trying a goats milk formula or something like Pepti Jr. My son is on the goats milk. Also something my Dr said was that for some babies, creams don't work and when they don't ointments seem to work better for those babies. It is just trial and error. Don't let it get you upset, I know it is hard not to when your daughter is suffering and you can't find something to make it all go away for her, but keep persevering and you WILL find something that works for her skin.

Curly mentioned changing your washing powder. It is true. We changed Cohen's washing powder. We use ECOstore. It is plant and mineral based with no chlorine, bleach, phosphates and all those yucky things. Having said that you will have to wash all your things in the same washing powder too. Your clothes, sheets and so on because your baby comes in contact with everything in your house.Otherwise there is no point. We don't use any fabric softener but found out that we don't need to, the clothes are all soft and squeaky clean.

Forgot to add, someone mentioned the MEDI honey eczema cream....I was going to buy that too but like the pharmacist said to me be careful because she is still young you don't know if she has allergies to bees. You don't want to have to take her to hospital because she has had an adverse reaction.

Yeh i was reading up and it said that breast milk can prevent eczema.

I started weaning her off, she is on full formula now. The eczema flare up did coincide with when she started on the bottle.

The doctor asked me that question but didnt say anything after that.

Also, I read up that I shouldnt wash my baby in water. What should I use then? I have tried olive oil in water but I think that makes it worse because her skin became more red.

use a specific bath oil that is safe for babies. it is very moisturising. no soap!!
Alpha keri oil, dermaveen bath oil, qv bath oil and so on. go into the chemist and ask.