Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

Just want to know what your putting on your baby...my son has it bad...REAL bad it looks like I put a lighter to his face....but on the rest of his little body it is mostly dry skin here and there...I have him on a steroid cream weekends only..and during the week the dr. Gave me a cream called pro topic..I really hate using these creams on him it's been about a month...so if you have ANY suggestions I will try them...Aveeno baths did not help...also aquaphor Really didn't help..thanks ladies

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

We switched to All free and clear detergent, California Baby body wash and lotion and when it's really bad, Cerave cream (expensive but really works). After every bath we later him in the Cerave on his body and the California Baby on his face because the Cerave is really thick it was causing baby acne so we don't use it on the face. I also cut back on dairy (I EBF) and we later found out he has a dairy allergy which from doing research, a lot of times they get bad eczema if they are allergic to dairy. Aveeno sunblock also made his skin bright red even though it said for kids with eczema on the container. We didn't have an issue with Earth's Best, Babyganics, or Badger.
After all these changes, we haven't had an eczema outbreak in over a year.

Message edited 8/10/2012 7:48:28 AM.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

My dd had it pretty bad. Hers was related to food allergies and sensitivities. Dr. Hayman is our ped. dermatologist and he was able to clear it quickly. I never use anything except unscented dove for sensitive skin on her body, use neurogena sunscreen (it doesn't seem to bother her), and keep her moisturized.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

I know you have probably tried this, but would a humidifier help? When dd had it bad we only bathed her 1x a week, and the 1x we did she would flare up all over again no matter what cream we tried. Surprisingly for us the best thing was constant Aveeno cream. It also improved afer we turned off her fan at night, i dont know if that was making it worse or just a coincidence. Aquaphor didnt work for us either. Really it just got better with age. I hope your little guy improves

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

I use Vanicream sunscreen and moisturizer.

Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

Do you BF? Is so maybe try cutting out milk products, he may have an allergy.

Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

First, Make sure you are using a dye free and perfume free detergent (all free and clear, ARM & hammer free) NOT DREFT as it does have perfume in it.

On DS I use cetaphil wash and cream and it has worked wonders. The wash you can get store brand, but the cream you can't. The tub that it comes in lasts at least a few weeks though.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

wash with a mild soap - white dove bar, nothing else.

we used cerave and then aquaphor on top

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

DD#1 had the same thing but all over her torso. It was also related to food allergies, she has dairy and egg. I was EBF and once I cut both her skin cleared up within 2 weeks. She is now 5 years old and still has those allergies and not a speck of dry skin!

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

My DS would scratch his face so badly it would bleed. I tried covering his hands at night, but then he just rubbed his face with whatever was on his hands.

Nothing helped initially until the dermatologist gave him a steroid creme - put it on twice a day for a week, and after that, only with a bad breakout. It started clearing up almost immediately, and following the initial use, I only had to use it sporadically. I had mixed feelings about a steroid creme, but I felt like we had tried so many other things that didn't work.

Once you have it under control, you may have to try a lot of products until you find one that works. We use Cetaphil liquid cleanser and cetaphil creme in the tub. DS is 4, first had a problem at about 4 months and I still have a stockpile of lotions we tried that I am trying to use up on myself.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

Make sure you are not using anything with perfumes on you or them...

We use all free & clear
No fabric softeners or dryer sheets
Avveno bath works for us...and some lotions do more drying than good..the petroleum base stuff works better...and of course the medicated ones should be a petrol base as well!

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

My nephew had it horribly until my SIL switched him to Alimentum. He was like a different baby!

He still has some spots (but not on his face/head anymore) so she uses Cetaphil cream and dove soap. She uses all dye and fragrance free products for him.

GL!

Message edited 8/10/2012 11:35:48 AM.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

My hippie babysitter told me about trader joe's coconut oil,and it works very well. It's $5.99 and it's a huge jar.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

CeraVe!!

I use it on both of my kids head to toe 2x day.

I also have a steroid for my DD, and protopic as well.

Also the neutrogena eczema cream helps too.

my son who is very sensitive, he doesn't have eczema, but very sensitive skin, I use aquaphor soap.

Message edited 8/10/2012 2:42:00 PM.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

I've been there and it's horrible. I use Neutrogena eczema and renew lotion. It has helped so much. I have tired everything and I mean everything. I also bathe him with Cetaphil Restoraderm and the Cetaphil bar soap. I use aquaphor shampoo. This is what I have been doing for months and he is so much better.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

DS has bad eczema -- turns out, it was indicative of a food allergy -- Once we got that under control, his eczema got a lot better -- now I use cortisone cream when he gets a breakout for a few days and then he's good. But our normal routine is aquaphor all over his body a few times a day and cetaphil restoraderm body wash and a bath every night. Since we've switched to a hypoallergenic formula, he's been much better -- i suggest having you LO checked for food allergies!

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

If DD gets close to anyone who uses a scented detergent, she gets a bad eczema attack. For a while, it seemed like non-stop flareups for weeks on end. It got to the point where the sitter and head teacher for the infant room at daycare had to change their own detergent. I felt really bad mentioning her detergent issues, but they had no hesitation switching what they use. It worked like a charm and now she does not have flareups as frequently. When she does, I use steroid creams. We also use CeraVe everyday (costs a lot but works wonders).

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

Question- how old we're your DC's when you realized they had excezma? ddmhas bad dry skin in her face and next. She is 5 1/2 weeks old. I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow. Do you think it's excezma?

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

Is he teething or sick? DS goes through really bad patches at both of those times. The only thing that helps is the prescription creams. He recently wascon a combination cream that worked really well.

Message edited 8/12/2012 8:20:06 AM.

Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

That sounds like my younger DD. Hers was so bad, it looked like I'd peeled her skin off. She was about9 weeks when it started.

We had to take a two pronged approach with her which was to figure out the cause (food allergies) and treat that (Neocate) and clear the skin/stop the itch (steroid creams with daily baths with Cetaphil or Dove sensitive, vaseline/aquaphor right after) We also changed detergent to All free and Clear.

We saw Dr Kristal for her skin and her skin started improving within DAYS. We are in CT now and our new Dr has her on similar steroid creams when she has a flare up and added in a bleach bath which kills the bacteria on the skin (1/4 cup of bleach in the tub.. or if you can go swimming in chlorinated water).

Eucerin's calming cream seems to help her when she starts to get the itchies too.

Re: Baby with VERY bad excezma ....

Ds had awful eczema all over but his face and neck were the worst. We had him in the er at 6 weeks old because it was oozing all over his clothing and soaking it. We ended up seeing dr hayman and using the steroidal ointments he prescribed different ones for different body parts. It would take a while clear up and come back and he still gets it but bot nearly as bad (he is 2.5) . It turns out he was very allergic to several foods he was ebf. He is allergic to dairy wheat eggs nuts but dairy was the big one to this day he can't even touch it. I tried eliminating the foods and kept bf-ing but it is hard to tell with eczema because it is a delayed rxn and takes a long time to clear up. Good luck it gets better I know how hard it is.