My DD also has eczema which started on her chest at 8 weeks old and quickly covered the rest of her body from her scalp to the bottom of her feet. She's 5 months old now and it is almost completely under control--I can hardly believe I'm writing that
. We've been to hell and back with this eczema thing including rough sand paper skin, red, scaly, oozing everwhere, and two staph infections requiring antibiotics. People were afraid to look at her and I would cry every time I saw a baby product commercial with a baby with smooth, soft, beautiful skin.
Anyway, I also did the Dr. Sears diet for over a month with no improvement and I experimented with things in my diet for the next two months with still no improvement. My DD also did not have the red ring thing so maybe that's why food eliminations did not work. I found that two baths a day worked the best for her (maybe environmental allergins I was washing off her skin?). Also, the sand paper skin didn't come and go. It came and stayed until about 2 weeks ago when I started giving her cod liver oil. Here is what we do now:
*2 baths per day, no soap, wash hair with ceraVe wash.
*Rub EPO or Borage oil into her scalp and diaper area.
*Coat her body in ceraVe cream after each bath.
*On the bad spots put a mixture of ceraVe and steroid cream. I found that I have had to use perscription steroids on her (as little as possible!) to prevent her from getting staph infections. Found that out the hard way.
*She gets approx. 1/8 tsp. CLO twice a day
*I take fish oil, flax, borage oil, and probiotics
*All Free and Clear detergent with extra rinse
*All cotton clothing
*She sleeps swaddled with miracle blanket so she doesn't rub her head and face raw. I tried mittens but she would just rub herself with the mittens on her hands until everything was raw. So that didn't work for me but I've heard that it works for a lot of people.
It was a lot of trial and error getting to this routine. I think you just have to keep trying things until you find what works. Be patient and keep a journal of different products/supplements/experiments. You'll get there. Aquaphor and Eucerin didn't help my DD at all and actually made her a little worse. I tried shikai and CA baby calendula cream and I liked them both, especially the calendula cream but neither seemed to help significantly. Although the calendula cream did take away the flaky skin on her face. I've tried so many creams and lotions and washes--they know me by name at Whole Foods-lol! Nothing made a significant difference until the CLO and when I discovered the ceraVe cream. I LOVE that stuff!!!!! I rarely have to use any steroids on her now!!! And I just found that at Longs.
GOOD LUCK!!!!! Your plan of attack looks good. I don't know about amounts for different things so I can't really comment on that but I do know that I only give my toddler 1/2 tsp. CLO per day based on what I've read here.
Let us know how things go. It's so awful watching a sweet baby suffer!
Kristin
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