Sea salt does wonders for eczema (well it did for me as a teen)
If you get a chance, do take him to a holiday to the sea.
My DS (9) has had mild to moderate dermatitis from birth (including whilst 100%) breastfed.
It doesn't seem to be related to any foods but is worse in centrally heated homes, eg in the UK and when he is stressed or worried about something. We now don't need to treat on a daily basis ie with lotions and potions in the bath or with emolients. However, when he does have a flare up a couple of days of a steroid cream (or the ointments are actually better) does the trick. You can start with the weaker steroid but don't hesitate to move to a stronger if needed. Or on the rare occasion steroid and antibiotic combined cream. The was the advise we received from a dermatologist we first saw when DS was 3mths old.
With a experience we have found using a steroid sooner rather than later really shortens the length of flare up and sort of 'knocks it on the head' before it really takes hold and the secondary infections and impetigo etc can take a hold. We have had to use steroids creams on the typical places back of knees, elbows, behind ears and on his cheeks and after on and off use since age 3mths, there is no evidense of thinning skin, discolouration or hypersensitivity to sun etc. As he has got older the number of flare ups has really decreased.
I recommend speaking to your paediatrician, and forget about OTC treatments. The paed we saw here was great and really seemed to know what she was talking about and was able to Rx useful steroid and emolients, which we only had to use for less than a week and the dermaitis was gone again.
HTH and wishing your little one a bit less itching.
x
What sort of washing powder do you use? Can you cut down the amount and add a further rinse cycle, after using (very little) softener. That can help. And make sure you avoid using any bath/shower product, apart from something like Oilatum and Doublebase instead of soap. Modern bath products can be a disaster for exzema sufferers.
Coop sells a extra sensitive washing liquid and also powder I think. I was told that liquid detergent are not a good option, but I use these ones.
Same is valid for softeners. They contain an agent that is quite harsh to baby skin.
I cannot recommend enough a product called Salcura Gentle Spray, available mostly online, I buy mine at www.pharmacy2u.co.uk . It has CURED my daughter's eczema. I have tried everything over the last 18 months to help with her eczema, to the point of obsession; special diets, new washing machine, every washing powder under the sun and spent hundreds of pounds on a variety of creams, oils, sprays, soaps etc. Some have helped suppress the eczema but nothing has actually cured it, until I found Salcura.
I read about it in a study by Melbourne Uni into childhood eczema. You must ditch the hydrocortisones, double base emollients etc and go natural with Salcura. It isn't cheap and for the first three months I was spending £50 a month, now a £25 bottle lasts me a couple of months as I only apply it once a day. I stopped using it for a couple of weeks when we went away and I forgot to pack it and her eczema reappeared. After a couple of days and a handful of applications it vanished again. The stuff is brilliant.
The Swiss Center for Allergy, Skin & Asthma - AHA offers courses for parents and kids on atopic skin condition or neurodermatitis.
[HTTP://www.ahaswiss.ch/dienstleistun...ngen-und-kurse](HTTP://www.ahaswiss.ch/dienstleistungen/schulungen-und-kurse)
It's not for free (250.--), but the insurance might pay and it's worth asking them.
In addition they developed a skin care line for little ones together with Migros.
Here some links:
http://www.ahaswiss.ch/aha-d/schweiz...kte?sprache=de
Oats (probably the bio) is good for bath as most has already mentioned. Try also and extract the milk of the oats and apply it after bath. When my kids have itching i just drain out the oat milk and use as body cream only. And sometimes with NATURAL OLIVE OIL afterwards. I hope this will help.
My daughter also suffered from severe eczema since she was nearly 2. I looked for alternatives to cortison, and what helped her was a diet change together with medications from Weleda: Conchae to strenghten her digestion, and Equisetum arvense (horsetail) cream to apply to the affected skin. Their theory is that eczema in kids is usually a sign that the digestive system is not fully matured yet. I don't know if it is true in general, but for our daughter it has worked. She is 7 now, and has not fully overgrown it yet, but mostly so.
I have to ask, are you reviving all health related threads? Is there a reason for this?
I hadn't been visiting the EF for a while - so all these threads were new for me... I started writing about the omega-3, as I learned a lot about those in the nutrition education that I have just finished, and then had a browse around for other topics that interest me. I thought my experience might still be interesting for Carlos, as he wrote: 'We're not particularly keen to use any heavy-duty products on him (e.g. topical steroids), so would welcome any advice from parents who've been through this and found successful cures/treatments, whether these be lifestyle modification or other treatments.' I was in the same search 4 years ago, and am really happy that I found what seems to be the underlying cause for my daughter. I realize from some other threads that you are a strong proponent of fully depending on the doctor's wisdom (being a doctor yourself). I definitely think 'regular' medicine is very powerful in many cases, but also think it has it's limits too. Both my daughters have had health problems for which the pharmaceutical medicines could only suppress the symptoms. With my older daughter it took 3 years before I ventured to try something alternative (being a molecular biologist, I was not into alternative healing at all). Since that had an amazing success, I was a bit more open to look around when my younger daughter developed the eczema. I have seen major changes not only in her health, but also in my own, when we changed our diet to a whole foods approach. Now I try to follow Hippocrates advise:
Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.
PS I see that you are in Basel-land like me, I'd be quite happy to discuss in person - just message me if you are interested