Im at my wits end with baby eczema on my 11month old. Its pretty chronic. I have followed all the recommended steps, the creams, the scratch sleeves, the sea water, limited diet (exclusion of trigger foods) and its progressively worse.
Can anyone recommend a dermatologist to me ?
Thanks
Im
I would ask the Paediatrician to recommend an allergy specialist. Eczema is an allergy response.
She was breastfed (until 3months), then she went on aptimal, Im now phasing her off aptimal and onto lactose free milk but see no difference so far (that said she is still about 30% on aptimal - Ill wait another week or so before phasing that 30% out). The eczema showed up at 6.5 months so I dont really relate it milk explicitly.
I asked my peaditrician to recommend an allergy specialist but he said that at this age results will be inaccurate - she will show up allergic to everything and a week later allergic to nothing and a week later allergic to a couple of things. That at this young age an allergy panel does not make sense. He also said that she not necessarily allergic to anything (as an eczema sufferer) but would have "triggers", which would not necessarily show on an allergy panel.
I have taken her off (or just not introduced yet in some cases) seed based fruits (kiwis, strawberries, tomatoes, bananas), egg, no milk products (other than the aptimal which is being phased out), no dairy, no gluten. However I havent seen a direct trigger/reaction relationship to any of the above if we lapse. We have re-homed our family pet, I have changed her bodies and sheets to special ones for eczema suffers, I have used Aveeno, Ecipial, Dermalex, Salcura, La Roche Posay (bad reaction to this) creams, she wears a special bolero to stop scratching in bed. I use special washing powder and do a second pure rince, when we bath her we only use aalgo and make sure the water is body temp. The eczema if anything is only getting worse and is everywhere. Neither my husband or I suffer from eczema or know of a family history here. Sometimes her stomach looks like she has been burnt. Oddly she doesnt seem to experience much discomfort yet other than wanting to scratch but Im very worried about it.
When Im back at hte paeditrician later this month Ill get him to recommend a dermatologist but I was hoping someone on the forum might have been through similiar and have a positive recommendation.
Thanks
IM
cow's milk protein (not lactose, lactose is milk sugar)
soy protein
egg protein
fish / seafood protein
nut protein
The two worst cases of eczema in babies that I have actually seen in person, were head-to-toe eczema, and both were reaction to formula. One I didn't see the follow-up, but the other one, the mum spoke to the paediatrician and they changed the baby formula and the difference was substantial, from around 95% skin rash, to about 10%. He was still really sensitive to lots of things, but it was a phenomenal improvement. I can't really recommend swapping to soy formula, because soy is also a common allergy, but there are more options in terms of 'pre digested' formulas where the proteins are broken down further.
The other baby was a breastfed baby, and the mum had to go dairy-free for the entire breastfeeding time.... for both of her children...her babies skin flared within 4 days of birth...
I do agree that open skin is very prone to secondary infections (ours got ringworm, called Pilz (mushroom) here quite often), but my daughter has no food allergies (that we've found). We used vaseline, no soap in the bath (that's fun once they're eating solid food), short baths with cool water, liberal application of exipical (it's a lotion often recommended by doctors, the really thick one) or vaseline after the bath, and cortisone as needed. Improvements took about three days and anything with perfume on the skin (sunscreen, linola fett) made things worse immediately.
Just wondering if you had antibiotics prescribed for anything before the eczema started?
If so, you could look into systemic candida overgrowth as a possible cause. Eczema is a common symptom, as are food intolerances.
Just on the off-chance that fits, I found this guy useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kk7eKWTdVQ
As mentioned, coconut oil is great - it's both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. Fantastic for both inside and out.
I find this stuff really good and soothing - they do oils as well:
as a sufferer of eczema myself I can suggest a few steps.
1. Doctors will help in the critical period, but a long term regime with much attention to everything is needed.
2. Eczema is not necessary of allergic origin, I have made all sort of tests and have never resulted allergic.
3. Eczema get worse the more the natural lipidic layer that protects the skin is removed. Liquid soaps and expecially the wipes (including ultra sensitive ones) are very aggressive in removing the layer and worsening the rush. Wash your child with a natural sponge, lukewarm water and an oily lotion.
4. Use only 100% cotton clothing in white, dark colors in particular can worsen the eczema
5. Use lot of moisturizing lotion, more than once a day
Worked for my nephew.
I would definitely not bath a child with eczema daily... maybe every third day at most. In between, normal handwashing for hygiene, no baby wipes (too many chemicals involved), and using a soapless soap product, oil or something that is nourishing to the skin (but we had a lot of trouble finding creams that made it better not worse).
If the baby is on formula milk, because of my experience, I would definitely talk to the Paediatrician about changing brands, and checking for a milk allergy. A friend of mine's children started getting eczema at 4 days old, and they were fully breastfed, and she had to go completely dairy-free for the entire breastfeeding time, which she did for over a year, because she knew that if she didn't breastfeed, it would be hard to find a milk substitute that was adequate.
I also agree with antibiotics as a trigger. I've seen it also where the mum was given antibiotics during labour or afterwards, and where the baby had antibiotics themselves (my daughter had her first antibiotics at 4 months due to a persistent skin infection in her umbilical area, nappy area, neck and ears, which was present after the birth)...
Elimination diets are extremely hard to formulate and stick to - they aren't supposed to be long-term, and I'd be worried about restricting the baby's diet heavily if it isn't making an improvement.
One resource I can recommend is an Australian woman who has a book called 'Fed Up' (with food additives) - Sue Dengate. She uses a hospital-devised elimination diet (she's considered fairly mainstream in Australia) - and gives some very clear strategies on how to do the elimination diet and re-introduce foods again.
The website is here: http://fedup.com.au/
Maybe it gives you some ideas that you could try ?
2 of my daughters have eczema and we did all the test for food allergies.
All negative.
This summer we left UK for 2 months and spent time in Macedonia and Greece. After 3 days we didn't realized that we stooped with the Oilatum and steroid cream treatment. Kids skin was OK for 60 day (no treatment at all).
After flying back in UK, after the next bath their skin went back to the old eczema reddish skin and the treatment stated again (creams applied every day).
Since follow up for that kind of problem wasn't very good where we used to live, we've used trial and error until we got here. Here's what worked and didn't work for us:
- clothing made of natural fibre such as cotton, silk, bamboo and even very soft wool worked. But even today he gets rashes if he wear anything synthetic like polyester. The worse we know of is fleece, he starts swaeting after a few minutes and the itch follows shortly. Even a polyester filled duvet could be enough to start a rash.
- as little clothing as possible in order to avoid sweating. I know, it's against our maternal instinct. On the positive side, he's pretty sturdy now and was able to figure out how much clothes he really needed at an early age.
- a good indoor climate. Not too hot, not too dry, not too humid. Easier said than done.
- no daily baths. In Norway they recommend as few baths as possible for babies and only with water and some oil if necessary. I felt a bath every 2-3 days was enough, but I used a mild organic babysoap.
- his skin doesn't tolerate mineral oils at all. Which is what most hypoallergenic brands use. He only tolerates vegetable based. On the other hand, he tolerates essential oils/scents. So we keep to organic skincare. Sheabutter works very well on him.
- hydrate the affected parts twice a day. His doctor has given us cortison cream to use if a rash gets very bad.
- we have problems with most traditionnal sunscreen (I know, not exactly the season right now). After a few days he gets a rash behind his joints. We've tried them all, his pediatrician says it may be that his skin cannot breath due to the waterproofin agents in the cream. No clue. So we keep the use of high factor conventionnal sunscreen to a minimum (i.e. When at the beach) and use organic factor 25 otherwise.
He's 6,5 years old now. His skin was at its worse between 1-2,5 years old, then it got slowly better. After he turned 4, the eczema only appeared as a result if high heat/sweating and it's getting much better for every year thats passes. We have a prescription for 2 allergy medecines that we can use in case if relapse, as well as cortison cream, otherwise it's all good. He's been tested for allergies two years ago, the tests came back negative.
If you don't mind the drive/train, I can recommend our pediatrician. Her name in Christina Weber, she's at Tiefenbrunnen in Zürich Seefeld. She's an allergy specialist in additiona to a pediatrician, her English is excellent, and she shares the practice with another pediatrician, so it's not too difficult to get an appointment.
I stick by my understanding that Eczema is an allergic response. You just haven't discovered the trigger yet. It is the body's way of trying to expel or 'peel off' the allergen from the skin...
In english, they call it 'Atopic disease'...
We fight eczema for 4 and half years. We are lucky not to have super bad eczema. But still, sleepless night, itch, scratching...
No more doctor appointments. A friend of ours, a doctor whose 2 boys had super scary eczema said to us: you cannot stop eczema with medication / creams. Boys had healthy skin only on their nose and bum, the rest of the body was scary she told us. . She barely sleep for 5 years, if she fell asleep they will scratch so badly and then is another problem. Her advice was; you only make the condition "bearable" and in time might go away. In her case, after 5 years eczema completely disappeared and her sons skin is ok now days.
For us spending 2 months on sandy beaches was definitely a natural cure - Our GP told us; Move to Greece!
As a parent you will google and read and buy every possible cream in the world. We tried them almost all.
After waiting 7 month for an appointment for a skin specialist in Southampton, a well-respected professor in the field, things changed for better after we meet the doctor. We went on this appointment with a bag full of creams given to us from the GP. The doctor told us to discard all the other products (including the steroids) and told us for our oldest 4 1/2 year daughter to use only the products in photograph. Things improved drastically. We use there 4 products 7-8 months now. Much better results.
PLEASE NOTE: Our youngest daughter cannot have the 2 creams in the middle because she is not 2 years yet. Always read the label!
I understand some creams will work on some kids and some not. For us, this was a change for a better night sleep.