Eczema?! Help!

[mjbc_1979]

My 3 mo old has typical eczmea patches behind her knees and elbows and in her neck. My ped assured me that it was heat rash when I first showed it to her in my babe's neck. She has also had a persistent, but not always awful, diaper irritation/rash. A couple of days ago I realized she was developing the rash on her calf and suspected eczema. I read the Dr sears website and mothering sticky on it and am wondering two things.
1. Dr sears said usually does not occur in the diaper area. Is it very usual for her to have it there, or could that be something entirely different? I use cloth.
2. I slathered her with Aveeno baby and in some places it seemed to help, but in her neck area it got really inflamed - more than ever It also seems to have irritated the diaper area. In the past, before suspecting eczema, I used 100% kaolin clay in those areas and it helped and am going back to that now. Does this sound very atypical?
I want to have a good idea of whats going on (if possible) because I'm not so sure that my ped will do anything other than give me steroid cream. We just moved recently and I'm not so sure about her yet... though she's tolerant of my selective vaxing and supports breastfeeding.
Wow this is was way longer than I had intended. Thanks for any suggestions!:

[Jaimee]

I was and am in your shoes!! First, the diaper rash. I, too, use cloth, specifically Fuzzi Bunz. At about 3 months my dd developed a persistant diaper rash that I treated in every way possible: rash cream, lotrimin (anti-fungal), airing out, sunshine, hydrocortisone, etc., etc. Nothing touched it. It looked like dd was "wearing" a red diaper. My ped just kept telling me to use steriod cream. My cloth diapering friends told me to switch brands because dd must have a fleece allergy. As it turns out, the solution was simple! I needed to strip my diapers! Detergent build up causes the irritation and then when you apply creams, you exacerbate the problem by essentially waterproofing your diapers, keeping the moisture against the skin. First make sure you're using an appropriate detergent (Charlies, Allens, Planet, etc.), give your diapers a wash, then rinse, rinse, rinse in hot water until all the suds are gone. I would also suggest laying them out to dry in the sun. If you can't get all the suds out because you have a front loading HE washer, use your dishwasher. Then when washing your dipes in the future do extra rinses everytime and wash less dipes at one time. If this doesn't work then it is possible that your dc has eczema in the diaper area.

Second, the eczema... My dd also has angry red patches behind her knees and elbows, in her neck creases, and around her ankles. My ped, too, told me that it was heat rash and that it would go away when the weather cooled. Not so. She also prescribed steriod cream and it only helps for a while, thins the skin, can lead to asthma, and doesn't solve the underlying problem. Two other peds wanted us to use elidel on her (which has a cancerous black box warning). My recommendation to you would be to pursue allergies now rather than later. Start with dairy and egg (together) and see if that helps. Check out the other eczema posts in the allergy forum for further advice and support. Good luck!

[mjbc_1979]

Thanks for your reply!
You pinpoint what I felt was going on, which is that it is a combination of things. Today my ped assured me that she had eczema on her elbows, knees, diaper area, but that the neck crease rash was yeast. This makes sense to me, as it has been really hot, she drools a lot and there is always a lot of milk dripping down there. SO, I got an anti-fungal for the neck and bought some Eucerin for the eczema. At this point, the eczema isn't that bad, so before going to the "cortaid" that she recommended I will try to get it under control in all the other ways I read - using Purez free and clear, Eucerin lotion, flax seed oil via breastmilk, etc. Because one of my twins was colicy, I was off dairy when nursing them and have been staying away from it nursing the new babe. I have not been vigilant, though, so I will start to be and will also avoid eggs. Hopefully all that will help.
As for the cloth diaper issue... ARRRGGGGG. I switched to cloth for this one and am beginning to regret the decision : I started using Allen's and after DD#2 got a yeast infection and they always smelled like urine after the washing, I felt it wasn't really getting them clean. So I switched to Purex free and clear. After my pockets started wicking, I realized I have some build-up and did several hot washes with just baking soda and vinegar. BUt, I do have a HE front loader and NEVER see suds. So, I suppose it is possible that there is still build-up there. I suppose the dishwasher is next? Do I just open it up mid-cycle to see if there are suds and keep running it till there aren't any? What a pain! What detergent do you use? Anyway, thanks so much for your reply. It helps to know that I'm not the only one in this situation.

[wenat]

One of the aveeno baby creams has milk ingredients -- something I noticed *after* I'd been slathering DS with it for a couple of months.

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by mjbc_1979

I suppose the dishwasher is next? Do I just open it up mid-cycle to see if there are suds and keep running it till there aren't any? What a pain! What detergent do you use? Anyway, thanks so much for your reply. It helps to know that I'm not the only one in this situation.

You can check out this link for detergent suggestions, but I have been very happy with Planet (which can be used in HE washers- just use half as much). Charlies can cause skin irritation and I have never felt that Allen's gets the smell out, but they are always highly recommended.

If you have cream residue, you'll want to get rid of that first. You can try a few different things to do this. One, soak and wash in oxiclean. Or two, wash in Dawn dish soap (yep, regular old blue Dawn) in your washer (just use about 1 tsp). Or if the residue is bad, scrub your dipes with a stiff brush (I used a grout brush!) and Dawn, then rinse, rinse, rinse with hot water (some recommend with boiling water, but be sure to avoid snaps). Alternatively you can give them a preliminary rinse and then throw them into the dishwasher for serious stripping. You put the dipes on the top rack and run the cycle. Definitely open it up midway to see if there are suds- you will probably be shocked by how many. I've heard that if you have jet dry you have to cover it with plastic wrap. If this doesn't appeal to you, you can run hot washes over and over again without soap in your washing machine (turn up the hot water heater for even hotter water). Lastly, if your dc was dealing with yeast, you will want to treat your dipes just to be sure. Stripping in the dishwasher or with super hot water should take care of this and some people use just a little bit of bleach in the wash (though I don't). In the future, laying them out in the sun is the easiest way to rid your dipes of unwanted bacteria and simply add some lemon juice to bleach out stains at the same time! I do this every couple of months. Oh, and do you have hard water? If so, the minerals can get caught in the fabric and hold on to the detergent, making everything worse. Vinegar actually makes the dipes smell worse if you have hard water. If this is the case for you, add a water softener like calgon to fix this problem.

Fwew! I know all that sounds overwhelming, but hopefully, once you strip your dipes, possibly change detergents, and get a washing routine that consistantly works for you, you'll be lovin' the cloth again. With the HE, you'll just need to wash less dipes at one time and add an extra rinse. Good luck!!