tips for eczema?

[NewMoonMum]

DS has had this on and off since he was a baby. He's 2.5 now.
It is not related to his diet, which has not changed much in a long time. His dad had it bad as a child and it just flares up in the heat of the summer.

We just saw his ped, who put him on an antibiotic ointment as parts were getting scabby. We finished that and it improved a bit, but is still bad, and the ped said we're doing everything we can.
We:
-bathe as infrequently as possible, using Mustela Stelatopia when he's having an outbreak, and moisturize immediately after
-keep his nails short
-moisturize many times a day, with Aquaphor.
-If needed, use hydrocortizone 1% for 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off
-keep the rashy areas(mostly tops of feet and knees) loosely covered whenever possible, to help prevent scratching.
-If it's severely itchy, we give him Benadryl-though in the last couple months it's only been a few doses. For good or bad, it does not make him at all sleepy.

It's just not improving, and it's actually making it difficult to get out and do as much as we used to, because we need to avoid baths like the plague.

I'm most interested in knowing if anybody has found a solution when you have a child with eczema, who really needs more than a couple baths a week?
It's especially bad since he is used to about 3 miles of walking a day, but being 33 weeks pregnant I really need to give that up, trying not to do more than a mile a day.

Any tips are appreciated! Thank you!!

[Juvysen]

Dd's cleared up a bit with zinc butt cream on it (like diaper rash cream). I have a friend whose daughter had it really bad, but she noticed after using zinc sunscreen on it it cleared up quite a bit and asked her dermatologist about it and was told that sometimes the zinc in it clears it up pretty well. Might be worth a try...

[fruitfulmomma]

My oldest dd has non-diet related eczema. We gave her cod liver oil or flax seed oil which really helped.

Apricot oil or California Baby Super Sensitive are good moisturizers.

Also, FYI, anyone with this condition should not be in close contact with anyone who has recently been vaxxed with smallpox - http://www.bt.cdc.gov/training/small...ns/ec_vac.html

[ellairiesmom]

we had a medium case over the winter, along with SEVERE cradle cap (on an over 2 yo with hair down to her butt-tough to deal with) & the derm gave a script for both that had some pretty serious warnings.

i decided to take some advice from someone & moisturized her skin while wet with aquaphor several times/day. i know this hasn't worked for you but i have read tons about putting the aquaphor on damp skin??? and we added hemp milk to her diet for a couple months...

(and the darn cradle cap that i battled for 2 years went away when i switched to head & shoudlers shampoo. i was bummed to be using that on her but nothing else worked & it beat putting this awful stuff they wanted to put on her head)

[mariaz]

I know this sound totally ridiculous but it worked wonders for us on a baby who was covered head to toe in eczema...Crisco.

We would bathe him in lukewarm water every night, pat dry and then slather him in Crisco (the lard, not the oil). Them we would put him in one piece pajamas and a hat (as he was bald and had eczema on his head as well).

The NP in our peds office, at the time, recommended it as a cheap and effective alternative to expensive lotions. It worked so well that I have recommended it to every I meet who mentions problems with eczema.

[nolansmummy]

We use Eucerin original cream(not aquaphor- that bothered her) on my dd. Hers is mostly on her feet and backs of her knees.
For her bad outbreaks she has a prescription just for the spots.
This summer we realized that letting her go barefoot (in sandals) was making it worse, so she wore socks all summer.
At night we cover her feet with a thick coat of the eucerin and then put the socks on, we also bathe her less frequently. If she is dirty, sometimes she'll just get a wipe down with a wet washcloth. In the bath we use aveeno eczema/advanced care body wash, and no bubbles or anything. I wash her hair at the end so she isn't sitting in her shampooey water, and I don't turn the water up really high (even though she likes it hot!)

[jump mama jump!]

I get terrible eczema every winter, and in recent years have been using Badger Balm if I get spots. It works super well for me. My dd also has it, and I have recently started using it on her spots, and it's really helping.

ETA: when I tried eucerine on myself last winter, it actually made it worse. It's what I used when I was a kid though.

[Quinalla]

Some tips I've heard/tried:
-Hydrocortizone cream on any parts that are dry and a regular moisturizer on top on all the skin
-Moisturizing with lotion or bath oil on wet skin (I do this myself with bath oil and it had eliminated all dry skin problems for me)
-Dove bar soap (the unscented white one) only for baths
-Air drying after a bath, no towels

[LynnS6]

Our doctor actually recommended Cetaphil (the kind in the tub, not the lotion), and I think it's better than aquaphor.

I wouldn't avoid baths like the plague, nor would I quit doing things because my daughter might get dirty. My kids bathe once a week, and that's OK for my kid with eczema. Between baths, we spot clean with a damp washcloth. Really, if you wash face, hands and feet during the summer, it's OK. Also, my understanding is that it's the soaps that were mostly the issue. So, I'm not seeing how a bath (without soap) followed by lotion would hurt.

Are you sure it's not diet related? My niece had horrible eczema that cleared up when they went gluten free. Anytime she eats gluten, she gets an outbreak. Benadryl helps, but it's not as effective as gluten-free. I suspect my dd's is either gluten or casein (dairy) related. Hers isn't bad enough for us to do the work to go gluten free right now, but I will try that if it gets bad.

[momtoTnT]

My ds (6) had bad eczema - this is actually the first fall of his life we haven't had to deal with it. (thankfully!) - his also wasn't/isn't diet related.

We actually found that VERY frequent baths help the best - like at least once a day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. This was recommended to us by our pediatric allergist who specializes in eczema - he told us that it is a myth that frequent bathing makes eczema worse. Then we moisturize using aquaphor while he's still damp. For severe outbreaks, we had to use a steroid cream because 2% hydrocortisone wasn't doing squat for him. We also (when it looked like it was getting infected/turning to staph) would add some bleach to his bath water every few baths and it cleared it up right away. We tried every type of lotion/thing marketed to help clear it up and aquaphor worked the best and hurt the least - everything else stung his skin to the point of hysterical crying.

We also do not ever use soap on him (unless he's disgustingly dirty - then it's in the shower so he doesn't have to soak in it) and we only use dye free/perfume free laundry soap.

For him, he also needs to be kept cool - when it's humid out, and he's sweating more, he itches more, the itching breaks down the skin, which causes him to flare up.....the itch causes the rash, which then itches. It's a terrible cycle.

[velochic]

My dd (she's 8, btw) has severe eczema due to food intolerance. The diet was key to making it manageable.

However, for us, it was my homemade LYE SOAP that really helped. Just lye, lard, and H2O. We tried the suggested soaps by the pedi, but my lye soap really has helped her eczema. That and keeping her moisturized.

[homemademom]

My dd has mild eczema that flares in the summer due to grass (she runs around barefoot and barelegged in the the backyard) and chlorine from the pool. During the rest of the year, she doesn't have eczema per se, but her skin is drier than her siblings' skin and she does have allergies to pollens. Anyway, we bathe her everyday and let her soak for a long time. She doesn't use any soap, and when she gets out, we immediately slather her in lotion to seal in the moisture of her bath. We use unscented Aveeno lotion (we've used others, like Eucerin and Vanicream, but Aveeno gives us the best and longest lasting results). She also takes fish oil daily.

[NewMoonMum]

thank you so much for all of your responses!!
I will try to up the bathing, lukewarm, and avoid soap whenever I can. I'll also try some Cetaphil. One biggie it sounds like I was missing-we would always moisturize within minutes of a bath, but not on DAMP skin. I'll give that a go!!
Back to the park for us!!

Thanks again