Eczema: What worked for you?

[Jesswith6]

I, myself, haven't got a child with excema but my brother who is now 28 suffered with it for many years.
When he was born he was covered in white gunky stuff(my mums description, not mine!), it was only a couple of months later when she washed him in Johnsons baby lotion, that his excema made its appearance.
We also found out he was allergic to cows milk, so we changed him to goats milk and then changed him to soy milk.
When he was young we lived in Sydney, at the Army Barracks in Holesworthy. We used to go to the beach and collect lots of buckets of salt water to bath him in and mum also says she washed him in oatmeal baths as well.
When he was older he went onto the cortisone creams and that made his excema clear up to the point you can't see it. He still does have attacks but never as bad as what it was when he was younger.

Hope some of that helps

Jess

[sportychick]

we had to go to hospital with hives once, and the nurse said "wow, that;s bad excema. I'll give you a script for something that will clear it up in a day". We normally use Alpha Keri oil in the bath and lots of sorbolene. Sigmacort if its bad, but if its really bad, this crem called Advantin clears it up in no time. Only allowed to use once a day for 3 days running, but we've only ever had to put it on once! We have a dermitologist appointment in 2 weeks.

Hi. My 11 month old niece has had ezcema since she was born and sometimes scratches until she bleeds. The doctor has given her cortizone creams since she was six weeks old but they didn't work for her. Now she has a new doctor and he said to try Kremelta (which is Copha in Aus) on it. He said it is a good ointment (I guess it would be like cocoa butter). Now it is not weeping and she is no longer trying to scratch it all the time.

[melbee70]

sorry i dont have to time to read all the other replies but my nephew has bad ezcema & my sil swears by fish oil - he takes it from the teaspoon & it has been great at clearing it all up - she found creams didnt work especially over summer - HTH

[Ambah]

Ever since winter has started, Aidyn has gotten eczema all over both of his legs. Its not at a really bad stage yet, but it is irritating and itching him... so many suggestions have been offered here that I am confused!
He has an allergist appt made for August anyway, so we will see if its a food that is triggering it (although it really did just show up with the cold dry weather)
Atm I am using a natural lotion on him made from the oils of plants and seeds, but it doesnt seem to working that well. I might try simple sorbolene first, and then move on to other people suggestions if that doesnt work.

[min]

I have started using a new one on Jackson today, he has a constant flare up on his back that ends up getting weepy and sore, and I dont wont to use cortizone anymore, doesnt seem to work anyway. This stuff is all natural by Bod For Bubs, is called Bubaloo's Miracle Dry Skin Balm. Was reccomended to me by a friend whose daughter gets terrible eczema and she swears by it. I drove up to Olinda today to get some from a shop called Verve, you can also get it from the urbane baby website at pretty much same cost with P&H. Is full of all natural stuff like pawpaw and wheatgerm and just melts onto the skin.

We tried all the natural alternatives, then Sigmacort, nothing worked. So I got a prescription for Advantan (which is a stronger cortisone) and used it and it cleared it up really fast. She had a couple of flare-ups so used it again sparingly, she hasn't had any sign of eczema for about 6 months now I think. She just turned one, but I still bath her in QV bath stuff.

[Ambah]

Well just posting here to say that that sorbolene hasn't done much... it has cleared up the dry beginning of eczema on the rest of his legs, but the large red angry patches behind his knees still remain.
I bought some Dermaveen 3 days ago, so am trialling that to see how it goes... I think I can maybe notice a slight improvement, but will post again if that is definately the case.

[nic]

Ambah, wondering how Aidyn's eczema is doing? Did you manage to get rid of it?

Nic

[Lil_Aussie]

Hi girls, sorry i didnt notice this thread before, and thought i would sare my experiences with my two youngest having eczema.
When my DS#2 was around 2, he was suddenly convered with huge patches over both legs, both arms, tummy, back and face (basically EVERYWHERE!!)
I took him to the doctors and was told after the doctor just gave him a casual glance over his desk,,,,"it is school sores",,,,and he told me to put a cream for it on him, and as he said he had a severe case, to wrap him in glad wrap for an hour at night just after we had put the cream on, then take it off. By the next day, the red patches were weeping, and he was in agony with the scratching and soreness of it.
So off to yet another doctor,,,,this time, the new doctor also took a casual look over the desk,,,,and told me it was scabies (like wtf????) I was horrified at the thought that my child had something like that. I ws prescribed another cream for him, and was told he needed it for at least a week.
Within seconds of me putting the cream on him, he started full on screaming and screaming. I pannicked, and rushed him to the hospital thinking he was having a reaction to the cream.
It was at the hospital I met the most lovely doctor towards kids, who stripped him off to his undies,,and got his light thing with the magnifier on it, and actually LOOKED at my son.
He then shook his head in disgust, and told me it was eczema, and one of the worst cases he had ever seen thanks to the other creams, that had just burn away his already fragile skin.
I was given some pretty strong cortisone cream,, and had to yet agai wrap him in plastic every night for a week for an hour at a time. (the plastic clingwrap allows the cream to soak into the skin more effectively for really bad flareups).
Within a week, his skin was clear except for the pale patches of coloured skin from wher the raw patches were.
Since then, i only use an allergy washing liquid (cant think right now the name, but it is a tea tree based one formulated for allergy/ashma/eczema sufferers. I also use QV bath oil, never let him (or his little brother who also gets it now too) wear wool as it flares it up badly. they also must try to avoid sand, although this is a really hard one as the preschool and the primary school they both go to both have sandpits, and they love to go diving straight in.
I have often wondered however if one of their main triggers is dairy, as they both had problems with cows milk when weaned,stirring up their tummies and causing diarroeah etc.

[T&GsMum]

Hi there!

We swear by old fashioned Zinc Cream if the eczema is weepy. My son and I are the eczema sufferes in our household. It makes a big difference and is great in hot weather. For myself, I have not needed to use a hydrocortizone cream for about 10 years now! Also, QV Wash and Oil for baths and becoming a soap free household.

[Ambah]

Nic - I'm on the last remnants of the Dermaveen tube... it has worked ok, not perfectly, however the eczema that remains behind his knees is quite mild, so I dont think I will go for a cortisone cream unless it gets worse again. I am also hoping now that the weather is warming up that it will disappear for the summer. Btw, with the Dermaveen, it works much more effectively when applied many times per day - ie. 4 times, as I have notice a marked difference to when I only apply it twice per day for a set period.

Lil'Aussie, OMG at those doctors getting the diagnosis wrong TWICE!! You would think they could get it right seeing as eczema is more common that scabies or impetigo, which are actually caused by microscopic mites and bacteria...

[nic]

Hey Ambah, good to hear that Aidyn's Eczema is getting better. I have a little lipgloss pot that my xma cream came in, was going to see if you would like me to fill it up again and post it to you to try out? It's only a little pot, but you might be abkle to try it out on the eczema behind Aidyn's knee?

Nic

[Ambah]

Gosh Nic I'm so sorry I missed your post, I dont know how I did??
Thats so nice of your to offer some to us to try out! Did you say earlier though that they send trial samples out? I just checked the site but couldnt find anywhere that said anything about a trial pot of it?
I'm happy to pay for postage etc too, thanks for the kind offer!

[nic]

Yeah Ambah I checked out their website and I can't find the sample pots on there anymore? They must have taken it off?
PM me with your address and I'll send it off on Monday. don't worry about postage, it's only a little lipgloss pot...it's all good

Nic

[Marydean]

Hello, Prevention is better than Cure!!!

Since we have a lot of topical allergies in my family (hayfever, eczema, asthma) I was concerned about passing this on to DD (since she had a very early outbreak of eczema). So we were very careful about how we introduced foods, saw a pediatric dietician and until she was 14+ months fed her a restricted diet based around those foods low in salicylates and amines. This also meant delaying the introduction of both dairy and eggs. Since then we have introduced all normal foods with no problems whatsoever. This can help prevent early onset of topical allergies generally and she's very healthy, 8 YO and no troubles. Particularly grateful that we avoided the whole hayfever asthma thing since that runs very strong in our family...

Worth considering if it's an issue in your family and you haven't yet started bubs on solids...
:-)

[shell_l_d]

My daughter has developed eczema just recently. It started just as she was fully weaned at 6mths. Used 2 cans S26Gold, on 2nd can Amcal formula & have 1 can of Heinz Nurture unopened. Have only given her rice cereal & apple for solids so far, rice cereal was started 3 days b4 I noticed the first sign of eczema.

Not sure if they might be a problem, but also noticed it seemed to flare up worse when she ate apple. It's around her mouth, chin/cheeks/neck. As she has 2 teeth & more on the way, she dribbles alot so it's very hard to keep dry.

GP prescribed Elidel cream (twice daily) which is not cortisone based as she said not to use cortisone on a baby's face. She said after that clears it up then use 'zinc & castor cream' on the area to prevent it from coming back. Use a basic one with as few ingredients as possible. I'm also sorbelene in between. She screams whenever I apply creams to it, it's scaly, red, itchy & hot. She also rubs her eyes alot which get a bit red. Wondering if formula or apple could be a cause, have no idea.

Also we had used J&J bath products around the time it started too, & have used Alpha Keri oil before but suspected it was adding to her red cheeks (crinkly skin look). Now I just use sorbelene instead. Have been applying the cream since Fri & seemed to lessen the redness but then gave her apple last night & early morning feed today it was extremely red & seems to have spread more.

I hate seeing her like this, constantly rubbing her eyes & screaming when cream applied, she's not been herself since it started, sooky & hard to get to sleep sometimes, but she also appears to be getting more teeth, so could be a bit of both.

MIL said her babies had it up to 1yo (had prescribed cream) & DH also had childhood asthma.

I still use Lux soap flakes.

She also has some cradle cap which has come & gone a few times but worse lately.

Nappy rash started at the same time as the eczema & just can't seem to budge it, sometimes looks like it's under control then it just comes back worse again.

[simone]

You might find that baths/showers irritate the eczema more,e i keep these to a minumum, my son Xander is allergic to soaps and eprfumes (no johnsons, nothing. cant use any of it.) even QV made him break out. Went to baby's expo on weekend, found a product called 'boofheads' and no probs yet. they have a full range, we got samples of the shampoo and conditioner, and body wash. Declans allergic to strwberries, we just dont let him have them