My 5 month old has had eczema for almost 3 months now mostly on his face. Little by little it has gotten better, I cut out all dairy,soy, fish and nuts and that seemed to help a lot but it didn't totally go away. Of course it might not be any of these things, the weather might just be helping it too...sigh! But my question is, we FINALLY were given the go ahead to used hydrocortisone for a week. It has worked wonders. My question is, when I finish the week,is it just going to go back to the way it was? Justwant to be prepared... Also, how long would you wait until you use it again, I know it thins his skin and I don't want to overuse this. Thanks so much for any advice you have!
Thanks to everyone for the advice. I did use the hydrocortisone but it came back worse. I found that using it 3 weeks later everyother day and then once after two days and then once after three days worked much better! Also, the lady that said to put on the Aquaphor really thick was SO RIGHT! That gets rid of new eczema within a few days, and Max's is actually almost GONE! (for now!)
Hi K.,
The safe and effective answer for babies and anyone with eczema is Renew, a product that I whole-heartedly stand behind. I would also gladly send you a sample. For more information, contact me at ###-###-#### or at www.LiveTotalWellness.com/L.
Hi K.,
I suffer from eczema as did my children. I found that the chemicals and toxins in my home, that I cleaned w/and bathed them with, caused a lot of dammage. I have found this new store to shop at, and have converted my home. What a difference! They have this lotion called Renew! It is miraculous! If you would like more info about this company, Melaleuca, you can call me ###-###-#### or email me for more details.
M. Romahn
My 11 month old has really bad eczema too - has since about 8 weeks old. I pulled out all the stops and tried everything! He's been to 2 dermatologists and an allergist. The dermatologist keeps telling me that there is no underlying cause. I had him allergy tested and it turns out he's allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts. BUT, this does not effect his skin at all! He isn't getting ANY of those products and he still has the usual flare ups. I've tried Atopiclair, Arbonne products, Aquaphor. None worked when his skin was really bad. Now I just use them inbetween flare ups. My point: just use the steroids. Everyone makes such a big deal out of them but if they're used appropriately then its not going to be a problem. I usually use them for about 5 days and then off for 3 weeks.
Good luck.
R.
I completely agree with Rhannie Q .
In addition, these lotions/creams are just masking the problem, not making it go away (solving it). Your son has eczema because of either a food ingredient (most likely dairy, soy or wheat/gluten or yeast) or outside allergens. Although this time of year, the outside allergens are very low.
I would either try to eliminate ALL sources of the food allergens (there are some hidden ones - look them up) Example: Dairy -- whey, cassein....
Good luck. When you stop the medicine, the symptoms will come back. Need to eliminate the source of the problem, not mask it.
I see a naturopath -- they can test for food sensitivities. It might not be a food allergy, but sensitivity.....
Hope this helps.
J.
Hi K.,
I see that one of the moms recommended Atopiclair. I just wanted to add that I also use it on my son. He is 13 months old and has eczema on his face. I like this cream because it has NO Steroids! It only needs to be used 2x a day, and at this point I hardly ever use it. If his skin starts to look bad, then I try using Eucerin or Aquaphor before I use the Atopiclair. Now that I look back at photos of him from over the winter I can see such a huge difference in his face from using this cream. I'm sure that if you tell the Pediatrician that you would like to use a cream without steroids, they could give you a prescription for it. Best of luck to you!
Try 100% pure organic rose hip seed oil.
I get mine at norabloom.com
works great for diaper rash too.
First of all, congrats on your little miracle!! I have two little miracles after 2 years of trying. Well worth the wait right!?!?! My son who is about to turn 1 has had eczema from very early on suffered for months before they gave us prescription hydrocortisone. It cleared up in a few days and for the most part has stayed away. He gets a flair up every once in awhile when his drooling gets worse (usually followed by a new tooth). I then use over the counter cortisone, the 1% you get in a drugstore. That usually prevents it from getting worse. Hope this helps and congrats again on your miracle!! :)
If it does go back to what you were experiencing before you are either missing hidden dairy (whey, casein (deli meats) etc), soy (lecithin, tococepherols (sp?), vegetable oil) etc in your diet or health care products (check soaps and detergents for whey) Or your son is reacting to something in your diet that you have not removed (possibly gluten/wheat) in addition to something you have already eliminated. OR he's reacting to something in the environment--this one is hard, nearly impossible for many people to track down and even harder to eliminate.
But I would start by researching all the other names for the items you removed from your diet and double check EVERYTHING in your house for those ingredients. If you don't know what an ingredient is look it up online or call the company and find out. Also check for possible cross contamination (eating out is a big one here: cut a sandwich with butter with and then cut your sandwich . . . )
Once you get your son's skin clear without meds you can try re-introducing the things you eliminated, one at a time, 3 days apart, to find out what the real culprit was. Then just leave that out of your diet.
Good luck tracking things down.
K.,
My middle son had it the same exact way when he was a baby. My oldest had it too but it didn't affect his face. My middle son's face would bleed often and just looked horrible.
I tried all sorts of things...over the counter, prescription, the hydrocortisone which I HATED putting on his face, and various direct sales products. It wasn't until Arbonne we saw results. I now use Arbonne's Baby Care line on all three of my children and my oldest who is almost 8 will not use anything else because he says everything else makes him itch. My middle son's face is also beautiful. He didn't scar one bit!!
If you'd like a sample, let me know. I'd be happy to send you one.
By the way, unlike most other products, you do not need to apply Arbonne's lotions twice a day. Now that my sons have healthy skin we only use the products as we need them of course always using the wash when it is bath time.
L. ____@____.com
My first outbreak of eczema was about the same as your son ... until I reached puberty the only soap i was allowed to use was phiso stuff .... and still have the same situation today. My daughter has had outbreaks at various times ... when that happens, we give her cortisone cream for a few days, till clear; we change the detergent for everyone and everything ... even the kitchen towels & tablecloths. Nothing gets dry-cleaned during that time also.
The good news, is it goes away ... the bad news, is it might come back. But after the infant stage, its much easier for everyone to deal with.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Dear Kim,
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S.
I would not use the hydrocortisone. Read the insert on the medicine and you will see why. Pretty scary stuff. Anyway, my son's ped ordered an allergy test and we found out he was allergic to wheat, corn and egg. His eczema improved dramatically when I cut these out of my diet. I thought it was diary and nuts but he passed with flying colors on them. We have an appointment with an allergist to see if there are any fruits and other things he might be allergic to. In the meantime, I would use Eucerin or some other REALLY thick, like vaseline consistency and put bandaids over it to keep the moisture in. This also helps protect the area from scratching also. Allegy testing should be your first step though. Best wishes! Norby
HI,
My daughter had eczema when she was an infant, and we used a Swiss product called Mustela. They carry it at most Babies R Us stores, and I truly believe it worked wonders for her. She had a dairy allergy, but has outgrown it (she's now 2 1/2). On the other hand, my six month old son sounds like your little one. We're still using the Mustela, but it's not working like it worked on our daughter. In fact, his eczema seems to be a lot worse than hers was. The pediatrician told us to use cortaid and that seems to be working. My cousin, who is a pharmacist, said to use very little and that his dry skin will improve. Hope this helps!
M.
I started using Gental Naturals eczema cream for my son, who has it in patches all over, esp. his face and legs. It has worked wonders. I put it on right after a short bath and within 2 days, it was virtually gone! I usually only give him a bath every other day and use it then, still gone! Its expensive, but a little goes a long way!
Hi K.,
When my son was about 4 months he had really bad eczema (mostly on his face) just in time for his christening :-(
The hydrocortisone worked wonders and yes, it did come back after not using it for awhile. Laying off of the baby lotions and only using aquaphor after a bath helped keep the outbreaks down. Also trying to limit baths (i gave him one almost every night b/c I loved how he smelled after) made a difference. Luckily it seemed to be just a phase, lasted a couple months and that was it. We went back to our regular bathing habits and baby lotion once we seemed to be in the clear. I am pretty sure his was weather related. Occasionally he gets a little rash at the back of his upper arms, but I haven't had to use the cortisone since his outbreak as an infant.
Good luck!
C.
The Arbonne baby skin care line works wonders for eczema. I used it on my daughter this winter and it is really great. They also make this skin conditioning oil that is awesome for those hard to heal patches. I highly recommend it. I buy through www.forthecause.net
my daughter has it only behind her ears but its so bad, the skin gets crusty, yellow, and stinky. poor thing actually itches her ear at 5 months. aquaphor did help but it didnt help enough, kwim. last checkup we were talking to the doctor and i explained i didnt want a cortizone or steroid creme(i just dont think the side effects outweigh the pros. if they were a cure, ok, but since they just provide temporary relief, why bother). she gave me samples of a new crema called atopiclair . i have only been using a week but it has made a HUGE difference, even after just the first application. heres the website http://www.atopiclairus.com/index.jsp they say no age or duration restrictions. before going to the cortizone, you might check this out. good luck
Melaleuca is an online company which sells healthy products for you and your home. Household Cleaners that are made organically and for people with allergies and sensitivities. And vitamins/lotions and other general health and beauty things that we use every day. The products are great and everything is organic/natural. My son had exczema rather badly and the only thing that helped was a lotion called Renew, sold by Melaleuca. Hydrocortizone hurt him. And the aquaphor just made it worse because greasy products are actually more harmful than helpful. When I took him to the dermatologist he said I should never put Aquaphor on him so I stopped. I suggest you try Renew. My son hasn't had a problem with his exczema in forever and I use it too for my dry skin and again, it works wonders. I will gladly send you a few free samples if you'd like. They sell the lotion in regular 8 oz. bottles and the sample size is 1 oz. Message me if you would like some or call my at ###-###-####. And good luck!!
Hi K.,
I would highly reccommmend Arbonne's line of baby care! The baby oil - which contains NO mineral oil (aka vaseline, petroleum etc..) why would anyone ever want to put petroelum (think oil, cars EW) on their babies? Mineral oil exacerbates excema by coating and sittingon the skin doing nothing to make it better - it acts like a suffocating glove on the largest organ of our boday (our skin!) that doesn't let anything breath in or out! Check out www.TheSkinYourIn.myarbonne.com for more info and email me w/ your address for a free sample of the baby line - it's 100% pure, SAFE, & beneficial with ONLY botanical ingredients. Good luck!
:)
My daughter and I have eczema. The cortizone is the only thing that truly works, but the side effects might not be worth it on his face. My eczema is on my hands and my daughters is on the back of her knees and in her elbow creases, and so we are not too worried about thining of the skin because it still looks better than the eczema. Over the years we have used a few products to help with the symptoms. We use Cetephil cream and wash instead of any kind of soap. Sunscreen really irritates the eczema and so we have found a few that help. Right now we are using Blue Lizard Sensitive. Try to keep him cool because sweat causes breakouts. When my daughter is beyond control with itching and the eczema looks really irritated, I give her a little benedryl to calm it down, and it works wonders.
Hi K.!
My son has eczema too. You definitely don't want to overuse the hydrocortizone because it weakens the skin. There are a lot of expensive products people are going to tell you to use. What worked for my son was simply unscented Dove bar soap, Aveeno unscented lotion, and Dreft detergent. Avoid anything scented on his skin. No fabric softener. When you bathe him, make sure you rinse his body with fresh, clean water to get all the soap off. Put lotion on twice a day and after EVERY bath. If ever the lotion is not enough, mix it with a little vaseline.
You shouldn't need to spend lots of money on expensive products! Good luck to you...
K.,
I know a fair bit about dealing with eczema, and what finally worked for us wasn't cortisone, steroids, or controlling diet...it was Renew lotion from Melaleuca. Check them out at www.melaleuca.com I completely swear by this lotion, my husband's eczema is totally cleared up and it is a safe product, even for your little baby.
D.
