Non-itchy Eczema?

My son is 6 and half weeks old and started developing this non-itchy rash all over - on his face, thighs, back of his shoulders and under his diaper. It's not quite as bad as you described above - skin is not weeping and no crusty/ flaky bumps. He just has these tiny slightly reddish bumps all over and his baby soft skin is not so soft any more :(
I took him to the pediatrician yesterday and she said it's a mild case of eczema and asked me to start using Eucerin cream. Also advised Dreft laundry detergent. A friend of mine had also recommended "California Baby" products instead of johnson's and aveeno so I plan to start using baby wash, etc by California Baby. Hope this helps and hope his skin gets better soon.

my son was diagnosed with Eczema about a month ago (he is 1 years old). From what I can tell it doesn't itch him but he is definitely fussier when it is flared up. We went to the doctor and they gave us a steroid creme to get it under control. Now that it is in control we put cedaphil lotion all over his body once a day. In addition in his diaper area we put neosporin on the spots that are red.

Just so you know they mentioned removing wheat from his diet because we have another child with Celiacs however this treatment seemed to do the trick.

I hope this helps.

This message is to everyone that has a child with this condition. I would like to share my experience, from a different perspective. My daughter had the non-itchy eczema that were just little patches on belly and legs. At age two, we took her to a Naturopath in Portland, that was trained in Classical Homeopathy. After a series of questions, Dr. S was able to determin what natural remedy was correct for our daughter. That is when I learned that Eczema can be a precurser for Asthma. It was also advised that we cut out sugar, wheat and dairy. We noticed over the course of the next days and weeks, is that not only did the Eczema go away, we say her low blood sugar improve along with her behavior. It seems that these natural remedies that are given once in the doctors office, work to help bring the child back into balance. If we had gone the route of some creams, it may have just surpressed the symptoms, and the inbalance may have presented itself in a different way or worse down the road. Our daughter is now 8, and has been well while others in her class have been getting flus, strep throat, etc. There has been no sign of any respertory weekness. She just has a patch of Eczema show up recently, and that was a signal to us that we needed to get her another remedy and relook at her diet. She also has her first cold in a long time.
Maybe there is someone out there that can explain this better than I can. Just wanted to suggest taking a look at a more natural route. A book that I have found helpful, that uses both conventional and natural medicines, is
SMART MEDICINE FOR A HEALTHIER CHILD by Janet Zand.

My son had what sounds like the same thing - the red spots with the white in the middle. Our doctor told us it would just go away. But with the "weeping" I think it is definitely good to go in. I have a friend and her son got that on his face and they did link it back to allergies. As far as the rash on the back of the neck and the face that could also be heat rash - which our son also got. Our doctor told me to make sure I unwrapped him to nurse him because he was probably overheating. Well I did and it got much better. hope you get some answers! Good luck!

My daughter has eczema and it's never seemed to bother her, but it also isn't nearly as severe as your describing even when it's most flared up. I'm glad you're already seeing the ped!

My son gets these circular rings every now and then....he had one on his face and the pedetrician said that it was exzema and to use 1% hydrocortotizone anti-itch cream....but that was when he was well over 1year 1/2 almost 2 years old.....for a baby baby - I think that it is great that you are asking questions. Good luck.

My son has eczema (and I had it when I was a kid). He is now 9 months old but had it pretty much since birth and he has never itched it. The doctor recommended that we bathe him only every second night, and that we use aquaphor ointment (made by Eucerin). The aquaphor has worked amazingly well. You can buy the big jars pretty cheaply at amazon.com.

There is indeed a link between eczema, asthma, and hay fever - it is genetic and runs in families (like mine, unfortunately). This is something recognized by western medicine. It is indeed true that if your son has eczema he will have a higher probability of having hayfever and asthma. I wouldn't say that one leads to the other, as much as they tend to co-occur.

My youngest has bad eczema and had cradle cap as an infant. For the cradle cap & baby acne, use dandruff shampoo just be careful not to get it in his eyes. It is totally safe, I have had at least 3 peds/doctors recommend this and it worked great for my son.
With regards to the dry skin/maybe eczema... it could very well be eczema even though it doesn't appear to be itchy. My youngest doesn't seem bothered by his eczema and it gets pretty scaly and dry at times. Only when it is really flared does it ever seem to bug him.
My summary advice... see if you can get a referral to a dermo if this stuff continues. My youngest had all the issues you are describing and when he turned 1 we got a referral to a dermo who has been extremely helpful in getting the eczema under control.

Your symptoms sound similar to what I experienced with my first son when he was 6 weeks old. He had a terrible rash on his face that I thought was baby acne. Didn't bother him. Turns out he had really bad cradle cap. (He had tons of hair and I actually couldn't tell very much. Plus I was a naive first time mom. :) ) Anyway, once I treated the cradle cap, the rash was gone.

2 of my 3 kids have eczema and one has food allergies so I'm also familiar with those things. But this sounds more like the cradle cap. My pediatrician suggested the following daily:
1. Olive oil or vegetable oil all over his scalp for 15 minutes
2. Comb through the hair with the oil in it
3. Wash hair with the dandruff shampoo in the blue bottle - I'm forgetting the name
4. Apply hydrocortisone cream all over his head

As I recall, it didn't take too long to clear up once we started the routine - maybe a week.

good luck!
C.

My youngest daughter had the same "non-itchy" eczema. You might want to look into your little one wearing a hazelwood necklace.
My DD has had eczema since she was 3 months and though it wasn't itchy, it covered a large part of her body. Nothing really helped until I found out about these necklaces. Since she’s been wearing it (abut 1 year now)she hardly has any breakouts at all. Only when I take off the necklace or the wood has absorbed as much as it can. It took a couple weeks for the eczema to completely go away but I know that’s what is helping because it comes back when I take it off and goes away again after I put it back on (within a day or so). They work by absorbing excess acid in the body (the wood has that natural property) which can be a factor in what causes eczema.
I know it sounds weird but it's worth a shot!
You can find them at www.hazelaid.com
They're really cute too & safe for babies to wear because the clasp is made special.
Hope you find something that helps.

Hi! My son Isaiah has struggled with eczema his whole life (he is six years old), both itchy and not. After numerous creams, ointments, changes in eating, bathing etc., I have found a few things that work great. An ointment called Auquafore (spelling?) which comes in a big container and costs around twenty dollars works great for the serious dry, red areas. You can buy it at any grocery/pharmacy I imagine. Also, he is precribed hydrocordizome ointment (not cream) 2.5% I believe and that works really well for the tough spots.

I find ointments work better than creams, and using dove (unscented) soap for bathtime works well too.

Hope this helps!

ps- for the cradle cap, my son had it terribly! I put olive oil all over his head and massaged it into his scalp at night, put a beanie on him all night to let it soak in and keep it off the pillow and such, and then at some point the next day, I gently ran a comb (thin) over his scalp and through his hair. It made all that brown dry skin come off with out hurting him. It took a while, but after a good washing, his hair wasnt oily and his scalp was beautiful!! This really works great!

It sounds like he has what is called "weeping dermatitis". I am interested to hear what the pediatrician has to say. Please update us when you know more.

Hi L.,

My dd had excema on her face and back of her neck when she was a baby - she also had cradle cap. At age 3, it will pop up behind her knees, back of her neck and arms from time to time, but it's very mild.

For whatever reason, she never tried to scratch it when she was a baby. It wasn't until she was about 20 months or so that she ever showed any discomfort.

I don't know if that is what your son has, but it surprised me, too, that she never seemed to be bothered by the excema as a baby.

Best of luck! M.

It could be eczema, My son had bad excezma and he only itched his face, but not his other areas. not sure if that helps or not. Please update.

Hi L.,

It's good that you're having him checked out with the doctor then you'll know what's going on. I thought you might want to know about a soy-based soap that many people say has helped their skin problems. If you would like more information visit:
http://www.BellaMiaCandle.scent-team.com

You are welcome to contact me if you'd like to try some or would like more information.

I honestly think that it is possible for infants not to be affected by itching. My third child has eczema, and had it as a newbborn. IT never seemed to bother her and she never scratched at it. Now that she is 8 it drives her crazy. Her Dr should have some suggestions for you! I used to rub my daughter down with Vaseline after her baths when she was a baby,and it helped (it seals in the moisture in her skin). I know Aveno has a lotion for baby eczema, I never used it but a friend did. She liked it bec it was safe to put on her newborn's face.

First, I just wanted to point out that since a 7 week old baby cannot scratch, you wouldn't know if it itched. Be sure to try switching to sensitive skin baby soap and laundry detergent as a possible irritant.

Our son started getting eczema at about 5 months and he never really scratched at it either. His never really progressed past the red bump/scaly patch stage. He did have a pretty nasty yeast infection at the same time(originally thrush that didn't go away with the drops and spread to the diaper area) that made him more miserable than the eczema. I had cut out gluten, dairy and caffeine while breastfeeding to try to get it to go away but none of that seemed to help.

Although most dermatologists will tell you differently, based on our results and my research, I strongly think that this condition is due to an allergy. We finally had him tested at about 7 months and he came back highly reactive to eggs (the one thing I didn't cut out!). Ever since we cut that out, started him on a probiotic and saw an accupuncturist a few times, he has not had any problems. I also started taking an omega-3 supplement while breastfeeding to help get the oils into his body. Now at 19 months he even eats eggs without issue. We use CeraVe lotion at least once a day all over to help keep him moisturized and he still takes the probiotics at least once a day. Hope this helps - I am a big believer in probiotics and natural solutions to fix these kinds of issues!