Benadryl and babies?

[Shy0717]

In early Dec. we had a wbv with our pedi (who is very holistic and who we love) and the main issue we discussed was his excema. DS has had pretty bad excema since around birth. I specifically remember asking if there was anything we could do for his itching as he seemed to scratch and squirm constantly at night. We came up with a regimen for his skin before bedtime that included rubbing him down with EPO oil and pure shea butter to help soothe the itching but she said to try Benadryl if it got too bad. I've had that in the back of my mind but never thought it was an issue until I started doing the No Cry Sleep Solution. After documenting ds waking patterns and the details around them I've come to realize that he's absolutely miserable at night. The majority of his waking aren't due to nursing or anything like that. The majority are due to his itching. He squirms and fusses and I've noticed that if I scratch for him he will relax and settle down. The past few weeks though he's gotten progressively worse so I'm looking for options. I'm thinking of doing half of the dose the pedi recommended of Benadryl just in case it gets bad. I know how horrible being itchy can feel and I want to help as much as possible. I'm wondering however if there is something he can take that's not so sleep inducing. I'm also going to cut out dairy in my diet and see if that helps his excema. Anyone else have experience with bad excema in your little ones. Anything help with their sleeping?

[kdtmom2be]

My DD had excema due to dairy allergies (and it resurfaced thsi week after being rash free for 9 months! darn vacations!) but not so bad that it was super itchy. I do know from my own personal experience that Benadryl won't cut the itchies from excema enough to be comfortable. Also, it can cause a "rebound" reaction when it wears off (much like you can get headaches after taking tylenol for a couple of days) which will cause the itching to be worse. I would try to find out the cause of the excema instead, though it may be difficult.

[haydn'smommy]

benadryl doesn't seem to help well with eczema itchies. otoh, atarax, another antihistamine, works beautifully for this. you might ask about that if nothing else works. if all else fails, i'd ask to see a pediatric allergist to find the source of the problem.

[LadyCatherine185]

I would look into allergies for the eczema. If you cut out possible allergens he will probably sleep better too.

[fawnanddoe]

Have you tried some tea tree oil? Earth Mama Angel Baby has a great butt salve that has all sorts of organic goodness in it, including tea tree oil, it might help the itchies!

[Shy0717]

Originally Posted by fawnanddoe

Have you tried some tea tree oil? Earth Mama Angel Baby has a great butt salve that has all sorts of organic goodness in it, including tea tree oil, it might help the itchies!

Thanks for all of the wonderful advice everyone. No Fawnanddoe I haven't tried the tea tree oil or the Mama Angel butt salve. Perhaps I'll pick some up and try it out. I think allergies is probably the culprit but an elimination diet seems so overwhelming to me. My diet has become progressively not the best so I think I'll start with that and see if that doesn't help. Thanks again for the great advice ladies.

[purplepaperclip]

I've found that when my dd's excema flares up some plain old Lansinoh nipple ointment works AMAZINGLY well at clearing it up in a day or two.

[lthw]

Our previous ped told us to use Benadryl to stop the itch/scratch cycle for dd's eczema when she was just a baby. Benadryl did nothing for my dd's eczema and her sleep was awful until we discovered that gluten was the culprit (did a one-week elimination and it was obvious) when she was 3. She's slept great since. Also should mention that we've come to find out that use of steroids (which we also did on recommendation from pediatrician) made things worse, resulting in nasal symptoms down the line (it morphs the symptoms somehow). We're working our way through it all. I wish you luck. Oh, and I saw the eczema symptoms in ds within a week of his birth last summer -- I cut out gluten and not a problem since then. Clear skin, sleeps great.
Good luck good luck!