Eczema?

SPJ&E

New member
Does anyone have any experience with eczema? Pacey has had it for quite a while, mostly around his mouth and on his face. He has a few patches on his body as well, but nothing like around his mouth. Around his mouth gets really red and dry and gets worse when he eats and anything touches it (especially anything acidic like tomatoes). Some days it'll look like it's almost gone, others it looks terrible. When it gets really bad, he does start scratching at it and act like it bothers him...he also says it burns/hurts when I put the lotion on. As silly as it might sounds, I'm afraid his face is going to scar.

When we bathe him, we wash him at last minute, so he's not sitting in soap to dry him out more. We put lotion on him right after his baths and I put lotion on the spots before he goes to bed. On his face/mouth, I use a baby eczema cream...I can't remember the name, but it has Pooh Bear and Piglet on it. It's very similar to the consistency/feel of Aquaphor. It helps better than regular lotion or anything else I've tried, but some days it's still looks horrible.

He has 2 blankets he sleeps with and he sucks on the silky part when he's tired and while he's sleeping. I know that adds to the problem, but taking them away is not an option! I keep his blankets clean as I can...I wash them in a small amount of a gentle detergent and dry them with no dryer sheet.

Oh and we use Johnson's Baby Wash on him. I've tried 1 other type of wash and it was the Jonhson's Baby Lotion Wash and he broke out it huge red welts ALL over his body...so I've been afraid to try anything else.

Is there anything I can do to help prevent the worse times? Could it be something he's eating or drinking (I've heard milk can make it worse when you have eczema)? Any tips/advice you all have would be very very much appreciated!!
 
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Tara

New member
I've started using Dr. Bronner's mild baby liquid castile. 2 of my critters have what I believe to be a mild form of eczema. They have patches on the backs of their arms and each side of the face. It's just a dry, bumpy area that sometimes flares up, which means it may be slightly reddened, MORE bumpy and spreads across the area more.

Anyway, I am now paying more attention to triggers for the flare ups. (Only a week into this.) I got some of that Dr. B's soap mentioned above. It only takes a tiny bit for washing. Pat dry then slather with lotion. For this I got Nature's Gate fragrance free. A very light but moisturizing lotion. I love it! It has already seemed to make a difference in the kids' skin. And no one mentioned any stinging/burning sensation. I am sensitive to lotions on my face, things burn my eyes easily and this didn't bother me at all.

That's all I have to offer *shrug*
 

rlsadc

Senior Community Member
i had eczema on my arms as a child (all the way through middle school...yuk) i honestly dont remember the cream that i used, but it worked for about a day and it would come right back. i do remember that lotion seemed to irritate it more though... eventually i think i just grew out of it. but it was rough to deal with..so i feel your pain.
 

Amaris

New member
Micheal has eczema and his doctor told us a few things to try. He can only bathe or shower every other day because water actually dries out the skin. We made sure we used only unscented products for washing and lotioning. Also, eczema can be a reaction to a food. Usually it's dairy or eggs. You might try lowering his milk consumption for just few days to see if that help. Also, eggs were the culprit for my DH, no more eggs=no more eczema! HTH
 

arly1983

New member
We have two years experience with eczema with Jackson and also 20 years experience with my sister. Oh, the stories I can tell you. Adele and Jackson both have it so bad that is crackes and oozes in the creases of their arms, legs, ears, mouths, wristes and necks. Unfortunitly there is no cure for eczema. It is all about management. First of all, use a scent free, dye free detergent (like all free& clear). Almost all brands make a free & clear detergent (Dreft and Baby All have perfume in them, do not use them) This might be what is making your sons eczema worse with him sucking his blanket. As far as soup u have to get a perfume, dye free there as well. We use the baby aveeno unscenter or Aquaphor unscented. After bath while the skin is still damp I rub him down head to toe in Aquaphor, or Vaselin, or Wal-mart brand Creamy-Patrolium ( the Aquaphor is $17 a tub, WM brand is like $4) Then I use whatever steriod cream the doc has proscribed. Jackson and Adele are both so sensitive our entire extended family has stoped using Gain detergent, they breakout if some one in the room has washed their cloths in it or wore perfume( we have a fun time at church) If your son has "true" eczema it will get worse as he gets older and then better once he hits his twenties. Some babies have it the first couple of years of their life only.
Food does cause eczema breakouts. Tomatoes is one of those foods, neither Jackson or Adele will eat anything with tomatoes. They are also both extremely sensitive to whole milk. You need to talk to your ped about the milk if you think it is a problem. We had to use Isomil2 until Jackson was 2 so he could get his calcium and nutrients and then he started on Rice Milk and a multiviatmin daily. Soy and eggs are also common triggers. Sometimes of the year are horrible, down south it is spring(when things are blooming) and late fall( when things are shedding) My sister is extremely sensitive to pet dander. The doctor encouraged us to keep a journal listing what he ate, when he had outbreaks, what he was around, anything that struck us. When u look back it will probably be easy to see a pattern. Everyperson with eczema is different with different triggers. I think what I hated the most was when he had bad outbreaks he would have red circles under his eyes, my sister too. People were always like what is that, does he have poison ivy, chicken pox? He is so misrable to and will scrach until it is bleeding. I hope this helps.
 

LuvBug

New member
Ive read eczema is the bodies reaction to an imbalance. I had asthma as a child and whenever I had an asthma flare up I had an eczema one. I didnt realize they were linked until later. I am also allergic to milk, yet never avoided it.
Now Im cowmilk free and my asthma is gone and my eczema is next to none. I still have overall dry skin and patches if I let myself go. But I make my own soap and shower every other day so Im not consistantly drying out my skin(especially in winter).
DS has had skin problems as well, including eczema. His derm said the dove sensitive was good for it. He bathes every other day like me and with homemade soap usually. He does take a bubblebath and then will get lotioned. He likes the johnson bedtime milk one or whatever, and it doesnt bother him. So we use that. It doesnt seem to make it a lot better, but it doesnt make it worse and he likes it. Our struggle is getting stuff on him, so I cave when he likes something.
He is having issues with his face now because he is wiping it with his sleeve and licking his lips a lot. I put chapstick and aquaphor on him because I havent ordered any more lanolin cream. I try to stay up on him about not doing it and so he will go to do it and sometimes stop halfway, but sometimes hes just too busy to remember not to. It upsets him to see his face red and chapped, so that is helpful. But yours is younger, so that wouldnt help.
Im at work or Id go look in the cabinet at the empty tub of lanolin cream. It worked wonders though! It is homemade as well, and its been a long time since I bought any because it lasts so long. Not sure if they are in business anymore. But you can probably google lanolin cream or something and find stuff. Oh I just remembered it was called eczema something... now its going to bug me that Im at work and cant just look lol!
 

Splash

New member
Eczema is part of the allergic triad, but what most people consider "eczema" is really just dry skin.

Charlie's been hospitalized before because his got so bad. He was wrapped in silver and gauze and put in isolation on massive antibiotics. THAT'S bad.

What we do is bleach the house top to bottom a few times a week (used to be daily) and bath him 3 times a week in diluted bleach (down from twice daily) and daily in olive oil. We lotion him every hour, and what we use for that varies. He gets oral antihistmines three times daily and topical steroids twice daily. Luckily we've been able to avoid oral steroids for several months. Once a week or so, we do the "wet pajama" routine. We put a pair of cotton footie PJs on him, and then throw him in the bath. Once he's soaked, we cover him with fleece pajamas. We wake up in the middle of the night to take off the wet pajamas (normally leave them on for about 4-5 hours) and then cover him head to toe in elta cream. He hates this, but it's life.
His legs are always open. He has had open sores on his legs for over a year now. What we do with those is keep them clean and dry, and wrap them in silver a few times a week. They likely won't close, but there is nothing we can do about it. His legs are constantly cracked and bloody.

We never use soap on his body. He gets washed with plain water. The only time we use detergent or soap in laundry is on his diapers, but none of the clothing or linens get detergent.

Now, none of what we do is necessary for you, but those are just our routines!

I'd stop using soap on him altogether, and keep that area nice and moisturized. It can be a sign of an allergy (eczema IS an allergy, actually) but not necessarily to milk, it could be to anything. Keep a food log and try to avoid processed foods for a few weeks at least. Record what he eats and when he has flare ups and narrow down what you think is causing it and remove that from his environment. Also, keep a humidifier on high in his bedroom. We have two in our bedroom and fill them twice a night. We've looked into getting whole house humidifiers put in, but the cost is prohibitive at this point.
 

CrabbyBunchX3

New member
Nicholas has problems with eczema when he drinks cow's milk.
I can show you pictures(if interested) of his poor face from when he was comsuming milk on a regular basis, to when he got a stomach bug and was off of milk for a week(this is when I found milk to be the culprit), to now(he drinks organic soy).

To help with any discomfort I was putting aquaphor on him(very little amounts since it was very close to his eyes). We also have an RX for Liskey's Mix, a mixture of 1% hydrocortisone and aquaphor that I was using only at bed time. Also, he only gets a bath every other day or every 2 days, because more frequent baths made it worse.
 

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
Eczema is often caused by food allergies.

My kids have food allergies and both have eczema.

Here is a great link
http://www.allergicchild.com/infant_eczema.htm

We only use cleanser if the kids are REALLY dirty, we don't wash them every day, but they do take a daily bath with warm water, that's all that's needed to get them clean. Immediately after the bath, they get slathered with Aquaphor. I read labels and watch their diets.
 

mominabigtruck

New member
Both my kids have exzema and I use the big tubs of cetaphil creme on them everyday and if they break out I use elidel. Its a prescription and is very expensive but it works.
 

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