Scooby Snacks 23

My 2 year old seems to be covered in eczema at the moment. Not so bad on his face, but his legs and arms are terrible and he's covered in what looks like little rashes, which he's started to scratch.

He's seen the doctor 3 times in the last fortnight the the doc says it's only eczema and not to worry as lots of kids have got it at the moment, mainly due to central heating and the damp weather. He's prescribed him some hydrocortisone (steroid) cream, dipro-base and also oilatum to use in the bath, which helps, but doesn't seem to get rid of it. I know there's a few kids in his nursery have got it too, but it's not as bad. It's really upsetting

We've just bought some aloe vera in liquid form from a friend who's a bit of a hippy and she said it will work wonders in about 10 days time, but it tastes rank and he's not keen on it (even when hidden in with his fave blackcurrent juice).

Anyone have kids with the same problems and can offer any suggestions?

SS23.

Proby521

iTrader: (1)

My little 10 month old suffers slightly but not that bad. It is true that there are lots and lots of children nowadays seem to suffer. My sister suffered pretty badly as a child. I always remember her having to be dragged to the doctors by my mother. Mum found that the natural Aloe Vera lotions worked a treat, better than the pescribed stuff from the doctor! My sister is 26 now, and I don't think she suffers at all. Some children do just grow out of it.

Proby

Mogsi

My youngest, now 3, had the same problem when he was 2. We got the exact same things from the Dr, 1% hydrocortisone cream, Dibrobase cream and bath oil. These did help keep it under control but not fully.
After doing some research we also changed his milk to soya milk and swapped our regular washing power to Surcare, after a couple of months these made a huge difference.

Now 12mths down the line, other than the occasional tiny flare up, it is under control and almost gone.

Keep using the bath oil and dipro-base daily, we still use it to this day, it's free and won't do any harm....

Good luck...

lozgti

Wash him with aqueous cream.

I should avoid the steroid stuff.Though I am no doctor!

darlodge

I had eczema as a child and I was in hospital 3 times a week, I was bathed in what is basically aqueous cream not that I remember though.

My Eczema has totally gone apart from the odd flair up. I've not had a flair up in about 10 years and even then, it was only on my hands but 2% or 1% hydrocortisone cream works a treat. You can only get 2% from the doctor.

I agree with Lozgti, I'd avoid the steroid based creams unless your doctors strongly recommends them.

Darren

dtriggs

Friends of ours whose youngest has had similar probs saw an improvement by switching to soya milk but then switched again to rice milk and now the kid has cleared up almost totally.

weapon69

My Son has suffered from severe eczema since he was born, he had an allergy which is kept under control but he still suffers mildly.

I cannot stress enough how good aqueous cream can be (only use steroid cream very sparingly!). The problem is that if your child is scratching then it will become infected which isn't pretty and means a course of antibiotics.

As others have suggested, look at eliminating dairy products for a time and see if that improves it. HTH.

room 512

My daughter suffers from this and we use a product called Allergenics which is steroid free. It worked wonders on her skin. You can get it on prescription too but you might have to fight for it as the docs don't seem to want to prescribe it for some reason.

Scooby-Doo

My son had it very bad, to the extent people thought he was a burn victim. We saw a skin consultant privately that contradicted the steroids we were given by the GP !!!! Some form of Eczema requires a cream that moistens the area whereas other forms require a cream that dries the area. My son has both and in certain areas the cream was actually making the problem far worse After applying the creams for a number of days to get the problem under control we then switched to aqueous and E45 to keep it in check.

The biggest change we made was to fit a water softener in the house that has provided more benefit to his skin than any of the creams combined. If you read the Eczema society website hard water is one the biggest issues.

Good luck but it generally gets better with age.

ChefDude

Go to the Doc and get Unguentum prescribed - a tub is much cheaper via prescription that normally. it's a thick cream, but awesome. after their bath rub it all over the affected bits, then jammys on and their good for a night's sleep.

bathe the child in Oilatum.

only when it's really bad should you resort to hydrocortisone.

both my kids suffered and still do. nothing else works.

Scooby Snacks 23

Thanks for the comments guys. He is in fact dairy intolerant, and has been on prescription milk until we switched him to soya milk about 6 months ago. He has stopped drinking milk altogether now (he only has it on his weetabix).

Hadn't thought about washing powder and softener - we currently use fairy sensitive.

tonybooth

This stuff can be good: -

The Little Herbal Company Themba - yourhealthfoodstore.co.uk

Our daughters eczema has finally cleared up after almost 10 years - Not through any lotions or potions I might add - Think she has just gown out of it (fingers crossed)

T

Markus

I had pretty bad eczema when I was a kid, used to rip my hands to shreds until they became very swollen. Used to get it mainly on my fingers, neck, around my eyes/eyebrows (for a time I didn't have any eyebrows as I kept rubbing and had flare ups). I used to also get it on my ankles and on my left ankle I have a nice pure white patch due to years and years of scratching and not leaving it alone.



Unguentum sounds pretty familair, and I certainly recall having Oilatum in the bath. E45 did not and still does not work on me, I actually have a reaction to it.

Much as I loathe to say it, I think looking at your/your childs diet is worth doing. I remember being at the doctors with mum and we were discussing E numbers and then we went shopping and I started looking at my fave foods and seeing what was on them and whether they contained anything the doctor said was bad. Think this lasted a little while and there was some improvement. I think I did mainly grow out of the severe stage though, but it did take until my early teens.

As of now I have the occasional flare up, usually in the winter, or if I'm stressed. To control it I use Betnovate and Diprobase, though I have found that certainly on my neck (where I usually get the flare up these days) Extra Strength Gold Bond Body Lotion (Triple Action Relief) (it's in a green pump bottle) and Gardners Dream Cream works well. I'm not sure if they are available in the UK though, but something similar might be

Scooby-Doo

This is my one

http://www.fountainsofteners.co.uk/pdf/crown.pdf

Some info
Atopic Eczema - British Association of Dermatologists

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

We changed to a non bio washing power and didn't use softener which seemed to help, I think however it just got better as they got older, worth a try though.

It can be quite distressing for both child and parents, hope these suggestions help.

Oh, and just to add, dont use bubble bath on non Oilatum nights and keep them away from nomral soap.

Scooby Snacks 23

Some great replies here (unusual for scoobynetters to say sensible things!) and there's certainly a few things I'm going to look into over the weekend.

Thanks for everything so far

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Mate, I think its vested interest as well as a will to assist, everybody's being extra nice n helpful as they want good rep !

I am not that shallow and rise above such matters.

messiah

All the steriod creams do is recuce the redness - the moisturisers reduce the dryness, so if the skin isnt red, dont use the hydrocortizone creams. My doctor told me that you cant use enough of the moisturisers, so really pile it on.

I've had eczema since birth and the single biggest "trigger" of it is washing powder, I only use Fairy or Persil Non-Bio, everything else will set it off - switching to those 2 brands only has helped immensly. Milk can also set it off in young children.

We live in an area without hard water (Lake district) and when we go away it can often get triggered by hard water, so I'd agree with the water softener advice too.

spireite

We use nuetragena on are 2 year old , before this we used a parrafin based cram but cant remember what it was called

ChefDude

keep the dust under control too - that's a killer.

steve05wrx

Hi

Our 16 month old son has had eczema since he was born.
Our GP has prescribed him Aveeno cream - which has totally kept it under control.
The big advantage is that Aveeno is a natural product and is not steroid based - so his skin will not get damaged or thinned - as happens with steroids over time.
Aveeno actually contains colloidal oatmeal - which is supposed to be very good for skin (i think they have a UK website - Aveeno.co.uk Homepage - so you can read all about it!)
You can buy Aveeno over the counter - but it is about £8 a tube - so better to get on a free prescription!
My wife is a doctor - so she was keen to try something other than steroids!
Cheers!
Steve
We would be keen to find out whether anyone on here tries it and it works - as it is always good to know whether something that you recommend works for other people!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Drop of this, rubbed in well, before bed....



By the way, I am joking, check earlier post !

speed demoness

please please please listen to this one....
all of you with children who have eczema.... visit the local herbal shop ( somewhere like Holland and Barratts).... and purchase some ALOE VERA GEL it really does work!

My middle daughter has an isolated eczema on her eye.. it flared up regularly... until a dinner lady at a school I used to work at recommended this to another pupil's mother ( who had a bad outbreak over her body).... bought some for my daughter and made her use it a couple of times daily... within a few days it had cleared right up!
next door neighbours daughter suffered too... i let her have a tube of this aloe vera gel and it made her so much better!
it's only around a couple of quid for a large tube... and all natural products too... no steroids etc !
give it a go !!!!