[thundersweet]

My poor baby is in agony every night. I feel like I have tried everything. He has eczema. We are working on NAET with him but just started. He is fine during the day but at night all hell breaks loose. He scratches all night long with only short sleeps inbetween. I don't know how much more I can handle. Dh works at night so I am here to take care of it every night. I'm pregnant and tired and ds is suffering. I have tried different things to stop the itching.<br><br>
benedryl before bed<br>
cortisone cream (from doc) and hydroxyzine<br>
baths followed by moisturizer<br><br>
I am not giving him any of the above meds anymore. They worked for a week or so and then stopped. We are bathing him and appying cream. This seems to help the most. Oatmeal bath followed by aveeno lotion. He is still itching all night though. He is on a few homeopathics for eczema but I don't think they are doing anything. My NAET person is not a classical homeopath. She has him on a mix of sorts.<br><br>
Please tell me what worked for you to stop night itchies. He starts the night in his own bed. Sleeps for a few hours and then comes in my room and it all starts. Tonight I am going to take him back to his room and sleep on the floor next to his crib to see if it might be something in my room causing the itching. Well not causing it but aggravating it. Maybe I should go buy an air cleaner for his room. I just don't know what to do.<br><br><br>
When I try sprays or lotions they burn. Last night I tried to spray him with Eucerin anti itch. Oh my, he screamed bloody murder. Dh was home last night and was able to hold him and get him to calm down. He didn't want anything to do with me since I am the one holding the spray.<br><br>
What is it about eczema that makes it so intense at night? The other thing I could do is try sleeping downstairs on the leather couch where there are hardwood floors. Could dust mites be bothering him?<br><br>
Please tell me some things to do to relieve the itching until we figure this out or clear him wit NAET. He tested allergic to all of the basic 10. That will only make sense to NAET people.<br><br>
Thanks!

 

[kittynurse]

Definately sounds to me like it is something in your room that is causing the problem.<br><br>
Things I can think of off the top of my head:<br><br>
Reaction to laundry products you use for your bed<br>
Other scented products in the room (air freshener, perfume etc)<br>
Carpet trapping allergens<br>
New furniture, window coverings or carpet off-gassing<br>
Pets<br>
Dustmite allergy<br><br>
Can't write too much right now since hungry babe calls. You could start by washing your sheets in HOT water and sticking the pillows and comforter in the freezer for 24 hours (only possible if you have a chest freezer obviously).<br><br>
I will write more later as this is a subject I have been learning a lot about lately.

 

[attachedmamaof3]

My son who has terrible eczema, also does this...our specialist tells me that it's not really worse at night, it's just that the baby NOTICES it more at night because they're not distracted by activity like they are during the day. I have noticed that as DS#2 gets tired/ready for his nap in the middle of the day, he does the same thing and scratches himself bloody. After about 9 mo of trying the natural thing and MANY days of my son scratching himself until he literally had his own skin gunked up under his nails, we caved in and got steriod cream. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Duck">: I know, I know...I apply it VERY conservatively with a Q-Tip and only if his outbreaks get really bad. I put it on under pants in the am so that it can soak in during the day and I've found that really helps...nothing else even puts a dent in it...After the initial round of having to put the cream on every day, we only put it on every few months. Maybe 1to 2 days out of 60...and the deal with the cream is, it doesn't make the eczema not itch, it heals the wounds up quickly so the child doesn't make themselves bleed by constantly scratching the scabs...and if you can catch it, it can prevent an outbreak right when it starts. It was really hard for me to finally cave in and use this, especially given my outlook on doctors as it is, but I got to the point where I was pretty much willing to do anything. This has worked for us.

 

[thundersweet]

kittynurse, you would think it's something upstairs. Like attachedmamaof3, I have also been told it has nothing to do with the fact that's its nightime. Gosh, I have such a hard time believing this. I mean, this kind of itching is soooo intense. He breathes really hard ect. He does it when he gets up from his nap too. I don't think the dustmites ect are as bad in his room where he starts out. The dogs are not in there and the carpet is just cleaner. WE do have carpet upstairs. We no longer allow the dogs upstairs because my german shep is allergic. Go figure. We do have all hardwood flooring covering the entire downstairs. As well as shutters, no fabric curtains. Here is my plan of action for tonight to see if this helps.<br><br>
I will put ds to bed at 8pm in his room. I am washing sheets galore on the allergy setting in my was right now. Blankets too. I am going to strip my ds's bed of all the wool moisture pad, cotton cover ect. His bed and pillow are organic. I am thinking I will cover his mattrss with some plastic and cover that with a clean blanket and clean sheet or two. Wipe down his room ect. Bathe him as usual in the aveeno followed by eveeno moisturizer. He always gets up within 2 hours of going to bed itching. If this above doesn't do the trick, I will already have plan B in forse. lol<br><br>
Our family room has leather couches, hardwood floors, shutters ect. So much cleaner that a carpeted room. I am cleaning/dusting/mopping with microfiber and water in a few minutes. I have an aerobed thatis basically just a big plasticky blowup bed. I am going to get that out, wipe it down real good and put several sheets over it. After ds goes to bed, me, dh, and dd will set up camp in that room and watch a movie until ds gets up. Assuming he will at some point. When ds gets up he will come downstairs and we'll shut tv off and he can climb into the aerobed for a hopefully good nights sleep with dh. There should be no dust or dustmites ect in there. All sheets, blankets, bed clothing will be washed and dogs will not be allowed in the room at all.<br><br>
I am hoping and praying this makes a difference. Would I see an improvement in one night if it were something upstairs?? If I find out this is the cause of his eczema, I will rip out the carpet and put shutters in his room instead of curtains. I do have an organic dustmite crib mattress cover and pillow cover on the way in a week or two. Then I can do away with the plastic I put on his bed tonight under his sheets. I wonder if the plastic is safe to do??? Maybe I should just strip the bed of all the extras and put on 2 clean sheets.<br><br>
What do you think?<br><br>
EDA...I decided not to even start ds upstairs tonight. We will all just sleep in the family room from the start. Dh rented a movie for everyone so it should be fun. It's funny because he itches almost zero downstairs during the day. Hmmmm! I think I am talking to myself here. lol

 

[kittynurse]

I have some more comments but babe and toddler are calling - be back later.

 

[Gitti]

The two things to avoid like the pest are all nuts, nut oils, and goats/cows dairy.<br><br>
Those are the things that are worst for kids with eczema. And if you are nursing your child, please avoid it also.<br><br>
You have to check labels to make sure nothing from a factory which also produces peanut oil is eaten by the child or nursing mother.<br><br>
That basically did it for my grandson. He is virtually eczema free unless he comes in contact with those food items.<br><br>
And the other trigger is vaccines.<br><br>
I am sure there are more. But vaccines are a big one for some kids.<br><br>
Does your child drink a glass of milk before bed time? That can very well be the culprit.

 

[SAmama]

Completely different direction, but are you giving him essential fatty acids (cod liver oil, flax seed oil, borage oil, evening primrose oil)? And probiotics. I think there is some evidence that gut flora influences allergies (seasonal, etc. not just to food). I have also read that vit A is good for skin issues. Natural though, not synthetic. You can just get a good high vitamin cod liver oil and that will take care of two things at once.

 

[thundersweet]

Yes, I am giving him cod liver oil, either homemade kefir or a probiotic, and primrose oil. I have discovered he likes to pop the caps in his mouth. I was squeezing the oil right onto his tongue, which believe it or not is the only way he will take the oil. I just bought some high dose fish oil for myself because I am pregnant. He will actually take those and pop them in his mouth, suck the oil out and then spit out the empty cap. YUCKO! He just started the fish oil a few days ago but he has had the cod liver oil every few days or whenever I remember it since he was a little thing. The fish oil is giving him 1200 mg of epa/dha in addition to what he gets from the cod liver oil which is not much. I may up that.

 

[thundersweet]

Update on last night. He did better but still itched like mad. Not all night but some. If he was allergic to his enviroment upstairs, wouldn't I notice a complete turnaround as soon as he is out of the situation? Or will he continue to scratch for a few days? He didn't sctatch at all until I turned the lights out. He has a wool filled organic cotton childs pillow. Should I get rid of that for a bit? The wool doesn't touch him at all. He just got up and his skin does look better today even though he itches a lot last night. Ugh, I just don't know what to do. One more thing I noticed was he began itching imediately following his bath. I used the aveeno oatmeal bath and then the lotion. I just figured it stirred up the itchies. He did stop itching for a few hours though until we turned out the lights.

 

[thundersweet]

Gitti, he does drink milk before bed but we took him off dairy for a full week with no change. He is being treated with NAET for milk products this week. If he is truly allergic, this should eliminate his allergy to milk. He has to stay away from it for 25 hours following his treatment. I have an in real life friend who's both kids had terrible eczema. There allergies were cleared using NAET and now they are eczema free. We'll see.

 

[Gitti]

If dairy is the cause, he has to be dairy free for 6 weeks in order to see a change.<br><br><br>
NAET - could you tell me in a few words what that is? I am not familiar with it.<br><br>
Can you wash the wool pillow? If so, I would wash it. Although I doubt that it is a part of the problem. Don't use dryer sheets. They are full of chemicals.<br><br>
The oat bath never did anything for my grandson and we never put any lotion or other cream on his eczema. We tried it a few times but saw no difference. The best was to expose it to air as much as possible and hydrate whenever it got bad.<br>
We wanted to get rid of the cause of eczema not cover it up.<br><br>
I read a long time ago that eczema has to be eliminated from the inside out. The cause is most often on the inside (food or vaccines) unless it is a chemical reaction but then it is always the same when the body comes in contact with that chemical.<br><br>
If eczema is treated topically, it will turn inward and cause asthma. So, from the inside out. Not the other way around.<br><br>
Allergies to wool or dust etc. or the environment in general, usually present as runny nose/eyes, sneezing, whizzing....

 

[thundersweet]

Gitti, here a little info from the website....noy just a few words but here you go.<br><br>
What are Nambudripad's<br>
Allergy Elimination Techniques?<br><br>
Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques, also known as NAET®, are a non-invasive, drug free, natural solution to eliminate allergies of all types and intensities using a blend of selective energy balancing, testing and treatment procedures from acupuncture/acupressure, allopathy, chiropractic, nutritional, and kinesiological disciplines of medicine. One allergen is treated at a time. If you are not severely immune deficient, you may need just one treatment to desensitize one allergen. A person with mild to moderate amount of allergies may take about 15-20 office visits to desensitize 15-20 food and environmental allergens. Basic essential nutrients are treated during the first few visits. Chemicals, environmental allergens, vaccinations, immunizations, etc. are treated after completing about ten basic essential nutrients. NAET® can successfully eliminate adverse reactions to egg, milk, peanuts, penicillin, aspirin, mushrooms, shellfish, latex, grass, ragweed, flowers, perfume, animal dander, animal epithelial, make-up, chemicals, cigarette smoke, pathogens, heat, cold, other environmental agents. It may take several office visits to desensitize a severe allergen.NAET® was discovered by Dr. Devi S. Nambudripad in November of 1983.<br><br>
I can't wash the pillow. I think I will go buy a small pillow today for allergy sufferers and try that. His skin looks better today.

 

[Gitti]

Sandy, I hope it will work but personally I don't see how? But I will do some research to get better informed.<br><br>
Personally I don't see how anything can desensitize a body except to incrementally inject the allergen into the system. Which is mostly used for environmental allergens. (Dander, pollen...)<br><br>
To desensitize the body to some other things we have to put the body under a lot of stress which is of course you wouldn't do with a child. For instance smoking, alcohol, certain drugs....<br><br>
That is how some vaccines work btw. (Tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough...) we inject some of the poisons and desensitize. This way the body doesn't recognize the poison and pretends not to be sick. LOL<br><br>
But for food allergies, too much is involved. I would think a much better would be to identify the problem and eliminate it. Actually the more I think about it, the more <b>I believe that is the ONLY way</b>. And if vaccines were the trigger (which is often the case), the ingredients (not the virus) have to be removed from the body.<br><br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>thundersweet</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7990664"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I can't wash the pillow. I think I will go buy a small pillow today for allergy sufferers and try that.</div>
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Anything new should be washed, so I hope you do buy 'washable'. There is a LOT of dust in those factories where things are produced and we get a good amount of that dust when we buy new clothing etc.<br>
I wash everything before using/wearing in warm water and a wee bit of soap the first time since it is just to remove the factory dust.<br><br>
I hope your lo has a good night tonight. I feel so sorry for kids with eczema. That should never happen to children. They deserve better. But a lot of people are making money off that now.<br><br>
I would never believe that to concentrate makes the itching worse... those are explanations that are like grasping for straws.<br><br>
When a child's skin is healthy no amount of concentration will make that skin itch. And on the opposite side, when a child's skin is itching, no amount of distraction will keep that child occupied for very long.<br><br>
We have to be fair to children with eczema. And doctors, especially so called 'specialist' ought to be ashamed to give that as an explanation or a possible theory. It shows me how helpless they really are with their little black bag of tricks.

 

[Mama2E&O]

One thing that helped ease our dd's eczema is switching to organic cotton clothing- especially underwear, undershirts, and pajamas.

 

[thundersweet]

don't know how good tonights going to be. we have been in the er all day with christopher. he fell and needed stitches for the 3rd time. he's sleeping right now.<br><br>
gitti, i know what you mean about naet. thats why i have never done it until now. i know someone that is has helped personally. i am going to the same doctor as well.<br><br>
Mama2E&O...we do use all organic for him. i wish i could say it helped. maybe he would be worse without it.

 

[thundersweet]

Last night was awesome!! We had one episode during the night when he started scratching. He went to sleep with no scratching. We all stayed downstairs again on the erobed (my kids will never go back to their own beds). I did a couple things differently. I ordered a bath ball to get the chlorine out of the bathwater. I gave hime a quick soak in the sink with this and then smeared him with aquaphor. I don't like this stuff since its a petroleum product but its my only option right now. I am ordering the natural type aquaphor this am to use in its place. He has the dry type eczmea so he needs something. His skin hurts otherwise. The other thing was I took away his wool stuffed pillow. Thats it.<br><br>
My mom seems to think its the wool. His organic bed is filled with cotton and wool and he sleeps with a wool filled pillow. He never touches the wool. I am inclined to think its more from the decrease in dust mites from sleeping downstairs. Anyone???

 

[kwren23]

all i have to offer is that i cannot have wool anywhere near me. it doesnt matter if its touching my skin or not, if its on me in any way shape or form, even if its the top lining of a jacket that is on me over three other layers of clothing, it makes me itch like crazy.<br><br>
his good night could very well be from the decrease of dust mites, but dont write off the wool just because its not actively touching him.<br><br>
i am so glad your little guy had a better night! eczema is just awful!

 

[thundersweet]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>kwren23</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/8004364"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">all i have to offer is that i cannot have wool anywhere near me. it doesnt matter if its touching my skin or not, if its on me in any way shape or form, even if its the top lining of a jacket that is on me over three other layers of clothing, it makes me itch like crazy.</div>
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Really! I can't find anything on the web regarding wool allergies near the patient causing itching. It's all about touch. Thank you for posting that. So, if you slept on a wool filled pillow, do you think it would make you itch? what about if it were stuffed in the mattress layers. Same thing?<br><br>
I have rewashed the sheets and blanket on the erobed for tonight. I had 3 sheets and a blanket on their to keep him away from the plastic. I am wearing myself out trying to keep this one room clean. lol<br><br>
Thanks!

 

[Chinese Pistache]

I was going to ask if you were bathing him right before bed. If so, unless you lotion him with something thick that will seal in that moisture, his skin will dry out. We give dd long soaks at night until her skin gets prune-y and then, we lotion her with straight petroleum jelly or mineral oil. I know that most here thing petroleum is evil, but in our case, dd is allergic to corn, which means that most every lotion is out of the question. And the one or two that are okay, are not nearly thick of moisturizing enough to help her.<br><br>
Also, as Gitti said, dairy can take 6 wks to get out of your system. It is the number one culprit for infant/toddler allergies and eczema. I strongly urge you to eliminate all dairy. BTW, we did NAET (dd was allergic 5 of the 10) and it didn't work for us. Not saying it won't for you, but be prepared to examine alternatives, too.

 

[thundersweet]

Yes, we bathe him and then put on moisturizer. The one that works the best is aquaphor. That seems to help with the itching. How do you figure out what is causing the allergy? Our dermatologist won't even do any testing on him. She says he's too young. He is 2. I have no idea what to eliminate or where to start.<br><br>
May I ask if you went to a doctor listed on the naet website? I have read that the doctor really needs to know what they are doing for it to work. When I tried to eliminate dairy, it was a nightmare. he loves milk ect and it was really a struggle for that week we eliminated it. He still drinks a night baba. Now, if there was a test that said "yes, he is allergic to milk" then I would be more inclined to make him go through with it. Maybe I need to find another doc that can do testing. My ped wanted to do a blood test but I have heard that it is not accurate.