Baby Exzema

My daughter has it too! She started out the same way, mostly the bend of her elbow and a little on her face. Then it progressed to her back and chest. It wasn't raise and red like some of the other spots, but her chest and back would feel rough.

We have a perscription medicine for the really bad spots (I don't know the name and it is in her room right now) and it helps. But, I only bath her in Aveeno Soothing Relief Creamy Wash and Soothing Relief Creamy lotion. It has really helped! When she is broken out really bad I put Eucerin on it. It is thick like Vasilene and messy, but it helps!

I hope it clears up. Mine daughter is now two and scratches it!

I use Aquaphor on my kids with eczema (2) and it seems to help. I usually apply after their bath and at bedtime.

Hi T.-
My little boy is almost a year now and he too had patches of exzema. My pedi told me to use dove body wash and regular johnson and johnson shampoo (not the head to toe). He also gave us a RX for a foam lotion that we could use 2x per day. Now we just have to use the lotion when we need it.

Exzema is typically allergy -related. I would use only ORGANIC products rather than natural--big difference. Also, try eliminating the main allergy triggers such as dairy, wheat, egg. You didn't mention if you were breast-feeding or not. Either way, try eliminating dairy first either from your diet if you are nursing, or switching baby formula to non-dairy and see if that helps.

Hi T., I have a 23 month old which has had exzema from birth as well, the only thing I have found that helped Brooke is baking soda in her bath water...I saw emediate results, it almost if not completely got rid of her exzema. It softens the water...My cousin recommended the solution to me, as her two boys had severe cases of exzema as well. She would put a cup of Armond Hammer Baking Soda in ther boys bath...try it, you will be amazed, and it's all natural:) God Bless, TammyT

I am an Arbonne consultant and almost weekly have someone contact me regarding the Arbonne Baby Line that I promote as it is very beneficial for eczema and psoriasis. The products are botanical, pure, safe, and beneficial. I would love to mail you a sample, if you like. You must be using fragrant free products on your baby in order to control the eczema.

Eczema is ALWAYS an allergic reaction to something. Switch all body, household cleaning, bath, and laundry products to organic and non-toxic. A good book for learning what ingredients are toxic is Gorgeously Green. It's at Target, WalMart, Sam's, Costco, etc. You can also go to www.cosmeticdatabase.com and enter the brand and product name, or enter each ingredient separately to learn if the product has any toxic properties. Next, examine what he is eating. If bottle fed, switch formula types. For example, from cow's milk to soy or vice versa. If both of these are a problem, like they were for my son, switch to goat's milk and add a whole-food based organic multi-vitamin. A powdered goat's milk is available at Whole Foods, which is just as easy as formula. If you are breast feeding, examine what you are eating. Wheat, cow's dairy, soy, and corn are the 4 most common allergens, and they are in nearly everything. You may need to go to a very simple diet of natural or organic meats, veggies, and fruits, and absolutely no processed foods to completely avoid these allergens. I had to do ALL of these things I've listed, and it was a pain in the rear at first, but I acclimated and now it seems like nothing at all. Something else to check out, which seems very weird but worked for me and my son is NAET. Google it. It's an allergy elimination technique that is based on the principles of acupuncture. My husband thought I was a freak and was wasting our money to try it, but he saw how it worked for me and my 2 boys, and now he wants to do it, too!! I had to do all of this to get rid of my son's severe eczema and horrible food allergies. He had problems from birth. He recently turned 2, and is totally eczema-free. It took about 6 months to do the whole NAET stuff on him (didn't take me as long, but his allergies were much worse than mine). I did all of the products and food stuff over the course of 6 weeks and saw immediate improvements from that. Good luck!!

noxzema should work.....call your pediatricion though. It was developed for exzema...hence the name "knock out exzema" (noxzema). Babies who usually have a lot of problems with exzema as a baby develop asthma b/c the thing that causes exzema also causes asthma. I'd say go see a doctor right away!

One other thing....it might be some kind of irritant in your home...doctors are quick to say it's exzema, when in actuality it is possible that it might be something in your home that baby is allergic to.

My son developped eczema lately and here is what I was told. A trip to the allergist is not mandatory, could help to figure out if it is an allergy that triggers the eczema. My son was tested (before I saw the dermatologist) and everything came back normal!? So he was on Desonate (prescription) for flare ups and I use Aveno for Eczema twice a day and it helps. I could only find it at CVS here in Katy and it is not in the lotion aile, it is with the anti-itch cream/tubes. I love the Aveno because it doesn't have perfume.
Good luck!

See an allergist, as it could be an allergy to milk and wheat, if he is eating cereal already.

My son had mild exzema as a baby and we used cetaphil soap and lotion. If your son seems to be getting worse then try calling your son's doctor to see if it's allergy related. Good Luck.
p.s. My son grew out of the excema but I take no chances. I still use laundry detergent that is dye free, fragrance free and the cetaphil products for him.

I have a 7 month old daughter with eczema. She has it worse in some areas and not at all in others. Sometimes her skin will split from the dryness under her arms, in her neck folds or on the back of her knees.

I use Mustela brand Stelatopia bath oil (bathe every other or every 3rd day)
http://www.mustelausa.com/stelatopia_bath_oil.html
and their body/hair wash also
http://www.mustelausa.com/stelatopia_cream_cleanser.html

The main thing that I have found that seems to help a lot is I completely cover her with Aquphor before bed and then dress her in long sleeve, long legged, footed pajamas. It is part of her bedtime routine. This more than anything seems to help since I can definitely tell a difference if I have to skip it.

I do take her swimming almost every day. When we get home, I either bathe her in the Mustela bath oil or I apply Mustela Stelatopia lotion.
http://www.mustelausa.com/stelatopia_moisture_cream.html

Good luck!

Excema is an allergy- it could be milk (if he has formula, try switching to soy formula or if he's on soy try switching to dairy) or if you are nursing eliminate milk from your diet. I did this and my baby's excema went away within a month. I did not reintroduce cow milk until she was over a year and she didn't get excema again. But your son may have a longer lasting allergy to milk.

Sun can cause a problem. Water typically causes a problem as it dries the skin out- he does not need a bath every day. Most drs recommend only bathe when he is dirty or maybe once every one and a half weeks or so. I did this too and it helped. My cousins all had severe excema when I was a kid so I already knew this but many new moms don't.

Do you or someone in the home smoke? This may aggravate it.

Hope this helps,
S., mom to 1 in Heaven, 4 on Earth and 1 in the womb

My daughter had some pretty severe exzema. I was not a big fan of the steriod creams. My dr. also told me that bathing once a day wasn't necessary, but it was important to me as part of her nightly routine. SO.....
I used the cetaphil soap and Eucerin lotion. I also used fragrance free dryer sheets and dreft in her laundry. I would lotion her 3x a day. It helped tremendously! Now, she only flares up in the drier months, when she's been in too many public pools, or when we use regular dryer sheets or febreeze. Hope this helps. :)

You could try this awesome botanically based lotion from Arbonne. I started using it on my family and we all are benefiting from such a great product. It is free from all dyes and chemicals and our skin is glowing. The products sooo great I became an independent consultant so I get paid to sell and use these products. I am so happy with them. Go to my website if you need more information or you can contact me and I can get you a sample for you to try! It is worth trying! I look forward to hearing from you!

www.MoreTime4MyKids.com
www.CorissaBell.myarbonne.com

My Grandson was born with eczema from head to toe. All the male children in his Dad's family have it. The Pedi said no water, only Cetaphil on his skin. It does help.

Best wishes, T.. Have a great week !

Hi! My oldest is 17 and struggles with this. Before you bathe your son apply a good lotion like Aquaphor by Eucerin first, then wash. This is a good skin protector & will help big time. Also, watch what you use for laundry det. and softener. When my daughter was a baby we couldn't use any of the baby smelling stuff. We had to go to a clear soap like Pears (hard to find but worth it) and use a good moisterizer free of fragrance. She can get away with Dove soap for sensitive skin. Also, you might have to change the wipes you use. Try using the Aquaphor after the bath too.
I hope this helps. J.

I know you've had a lot of responses, but I just want to add mine. My first and third had eczema as babies, and my oldest still does. It still comes when the weather changes. She does not have it related to allergies, but I would check him for allergies as soon as he's old enough. In the mean time use the Aquaphor by Eucerin. We tried tons of differnt lotions including what the Dr gave us, but this is the only one that helped, and did not sting her when the rashes were bad. To help keep it at bay, always use the lotion morning and night. Bath him with a little baby oil in the water. It helps keep the moisture in the skin. Put thr lotion on as soon as he gets out. Don't bath him every day. He's little and doesn't get into much. Every other day is more than enough. And don't let him play in the water. We set a timer for 10 min. She knows that when it goes off, she has to get out. And gon't use bubble baths. Those tend to dry out the ski, too. Good luck! Some eczema goes away when they get older, but most sticks around for life.

T.,

My baby had eczema when she was a baby also. It came when she was weeks old and the peds gave me multiple creams but it never went away fully. I tried everything in desperation of clearing my baby girl's skin and nothing worked. Finally my mom saw the baby and said I was the same way but it was the milk giving her the eczema. She had milk allergies and after I changed her formula to soy (Enfamil soy) it completely went away. After she turned one I gave her regular whole milk and it came back all over her body again. I started to give her soy silk milk and it went away and now she is 2 years old and have completely outgrown the milk allergies. She is now on regular milk. Try giving her the soy milk for one week and see if it changes.

Hi Tiff, my 3rd son had horrible exzema, I took him to a dermatologist who put him on topical steroids but never did any testing on him for anything. months later we discovered that the cause of the exzema, for our son anyway, was allergies. my suggestion to you is to not go to a dermatologist at all, its a waste of time for this, find an allergist that sees kiddos and get your baby checked out by someone who can tell you WHY he has this. Ive found that once we were with the allergist, we could control his allergies to other things..dogs, dust, pollen with oral steroids, it totally keeps the exzema in check. Plus they've told us that exzema is a precursor to asthma and if we control the exzema we reduce his chances of getting asthma at all! best of luck!

Aveeno's oatmeal products worked wonders for my nephew and he did eventually grow out of it. So it possible.

I've been told that Jojoba Oil works really well with exzema. It is natural and the closest thing to the skin's natural oils. If you would like more info please email me at ____@____.com. I hope this helps.

you may not like this. our doc.said avoid bathing as much as possible. c

My daughter had a mild case with patches on her arms and legs and my pedi told me to use Dove soap (it has extra moisturizers unlike baby cleansers) and use Eucerin lotion all over and the Eucerin Plus body creme on the dry patches. It has really helped. Good luck.

Hi T. I had the same problem with my daughter when she was first born. I switched her milk, detergent, lotion and body wash. We made several doctor visits because it would come and go and they gave me every cream there was and they worked. But what i use is extra emollient night cream from Mary Kay. My daughter to has a mild case of exzema but it can be very uncomfortable for her, and this stuff clears her skin within a few hours. best of luck to you and your son, I hope he is fortunate and grows out of it.

Switch your laundry detergent to Charlie's natural soap. No residue, no perfume and no softeners. It cleans really well.
It's very economical as well.

Many have had success by completely converting their homes over to GREEN products and Melaleuca's Renew Lotion. It does no good to bath in a natural product and then put clothes on them washed with toxic laundry detergent. That'll just irritate their skin again. Many of my customers have switched and after the conversion have never had the problem again.

My grandbaby has had exzema since birth she is now 1 years old. We bathe her in dove soap, starting off with sponge baths. Gave her a bath sitting in the tub once a week. We use Ecerine Lotion...you can purchase at grocery or drug store. We used Triamcinolone 0.1% cream 30gm (for very bad areas) except the face. We use Verdeso 0.05% Foam 50gm on her face and not so severe areas. Now we are using the Locoid Lipo 0.1% cream 15gm on her body and face. We use the Singulair 4mg oral granules in her formula or food (or applesauce). These were all recommendations from her pediatrician and she is doing great and her skin looks good (it helped from her skin having blotches).
I hope this helps you it is working for us.

A.

I agree you've recieved a lot of great advice so far, I just wanted to add my 2 cents.

My sona nd I both have mild eczema. It's very important to always moisturize. Any mild lotion will do the trick. Aveeno and Johnsons baby lotion or creamy baby oil worked great for us.

With sensitive skin and eczema if the skin gets over dried it will break out, so moisturizing is key. I don't think a dermatolist is necessary at this age, your pediatrician should be able to help keep this condition under control. It is a pretty common condition, I'm sure your pediatrician has experience with it.

One more note, I don't think bathing everyday is a bad idea. Babies with eczema can also be prone to heat rashes caused by the heat and humidity. So if baby has been active and sweaty, they may break out. Washes off the sweat and cooling down the skin with a nice lukewarm bath sometimes is just the thing baby needs. Just make sure to moisturize afterwards!

At four and half months you could bath every other day or go as far as 3 days. Try adding baking soda to the bath to help with the hard water (that helped my daughter) and good old vaseline for moisturizer. Hope this helps. ~M.

All 3 of my children have eczema due to allergies. If you are breast feeding, you may want to cut out all dairy and citrus from your diet to see if that is the problem. If bottle feeding, it could be the dairy in the formula. Talk to your pedi about this. Also, you can use a cream called Aquaphore by Eucerine. You slather him at least 2 or three times a day to keep away the itchies. Use only slightly warm water for baths and when drying off, pat instead of rubbing. I am still constantly battling this with my 2 youngest (4 yrs and 20 months). My oldest (6yrs) flares up some times when she is exposed to her allergens or is stressed out, but has mostly outgrown it.

I am sure you will get lots of advice since eczema is a common problem it seems these days. My daughter is now 2 and, unfortunately, we are still dealing with it.

These are my suggestions. First, don't bath your child every day if you don't have to. The act of bathing strips the body's natural oils. At that age, I bathed her every other day or third day since she was not really getting dirty. I would just clean her hands and feet since those usually ended up in her mouth.

Second, I try to use only natural products on my daughter, as well. However, I quickly discovered that anything with calendula actually aggravated her skin more. Now, that is just her. Calendula creams work for a lot of other people. But the women in our family are all very sensitive to plants in the ragweed family...which calendual is related.

Third and most important is moisturize, moisturize, moisturze! It really is the thing that helps the most. Aveeno creams and lotions have worked the best for us. Find what works best for you two.

I wish you luck. Most pediatricians and mothers I talk to assure me that most children outgrow it.

Aveeno makes a lot of really great over the counter excema products!!

Good Luck!!! ;-)

My daughter who is almost 5 has had eczema her whole life. Some things I have learned are...to bathe every other day, we love Cetaphil and Cerave products (her dermatologists have recommended these, so we use their soap and lotion only), her eczema is caused by food allergies and once we figured that out, her eczema was sooo much better, if the skin is really bad...Aquaphor will moisturize the best, but it's greasy, use caution when you do laundry...no dryer sheets EVER, use unscented laundry soap (I like the white Tide), and I like the white liquid Downy. If those things don't help, your dr can prescribe creams for the itchy spots when the baby is old enough or medication (she takes Zyrtec and Singulair every day to help prevent the itch).
It's definitely an annoying problem, but once you get it under control, life will be much better.

T.,
There are many creams out there, read labels. Anything you put in your skin goes directly into your blood stream.
If you get a garlic, rub it under your feet, you will get the taste in your mouth within 10 minutes, that is how fast chemicals from creams go thru you insides.
So be careful,

My granddaughter also has eczema, here are some picture,
www.InsideMangosteen.com, click on photos, you will see how fast this juice works with skin diseases, it is natural and has NO side effects.

You can hear a dr speak of these diseases at
www.DailyHealthJuice.com , click on Dr. templeman or Dr. Johnson,
these are for your info only.

thanks,
Oly

Hi T.,

Check out this website:
http://www.oil-testimonials.com/7532

If you find something you would like to try contact me at:

www.youngliving.org/sherylhawkisnon

I will be happy to help!

Hi T.,

My kids did not have any skin conditions but I use Arbonne products and I have heard that they are amazing for anyone with skin conditions. My cousin that is about 12 develpoed a very severe condition and my best friend gave her the "skin oil" and to her doctors suprise it has not been giving her any problems. Anyhow I don't sell the product but my BF does you can check it out on her site: www.laranda.myarbonne.com

Good Luck...

Hi T., I'm not really an "organic" kind of person so I find it ironic that I'm recommending this. But it has worked so extremely well on my son that I just have to share! We tried massaging *extra virgin* coconut oil onto my son's skin. The eczema spots are healing, even the bad spots! Here is a link that may be helpful: http://ezinearticles.com/?From-a-Nurse-Using-Coconut-Oil-...

I believe the key is the *extra virgin* coconut oil because it has wonderful healing properties over the more refined/pressed plain coconut oil. I found mine at HEB.

Good luck! K.

Hi, I am a 30 year old mother of two,8&5 years old. Neither one of my children ever had exzema but I have several friends that have kids who have. My advice to you is to give him an oatmeal bath whenever you bath him, and try only to bath him when neccessary! Sweating makes exzema worse. Also, if you have a herbal store near you they have all natural creams that help. Aveeno lotion is good too! There is a all natural Dr. in Tomball who is awesome with treating exzema, his name is Dr. Colwell. I strongly recommend him if your in the area. Your son may also grow out of it. One of my friends has a 8 year old and every since she was a baby she had it bad!! But with alot of patience & oatmeal baths & aveeno lotion she no longer has it! I hope my info helps your son!!! Love, H.

IMPORTANT: IF YOU USE A STEROID CREAM, OTC, MAKE SURE IT IS THE PROPER STRENGTH FOR A BABY! Babies use a dose that is HALF the strength of adults. Ask your pediatrician or a pharmacist (not a pharmacist tech.) at your pharmacy.

Besides the lotions (we used Aveeno, Eucerin and Aquaphor) use the Aveeno ECZEMA Baby Wash when you must bath. Also, the Aveeno makes a baby lotion specifically for eczema.

STOP BATHING HIM DAILY! :) I know you think you are cleaning him and helping but you are adding to the problem by drying his skin every time you bath him.

Use very lukewarm water, the warmer the water, the MORE DRYING it is.

Chlorine in the water makes it worse. We went to Aquasauna.com and bought a shower filter for our bathroom. It was rated a best buy by CONSUMER REPORTS so this isn't a gimmick. You buy replacement filters every 6 months. Go and read about it, the testimonials are great. I got it b/c the water is so hard where I live. If you have a heavy film on your bath tub from your water, then your water is hard and this could add to the problem. An extra perk is, my whole family's hair and skin are soooo much softer!! One of the best things I have ever purchased. Please read about it!!

Allergies are what made my daughter's flare, She gets it every spring when allergy season is bad. It could also flare due to a food allergy.

Use as little soap as possible and ONLY water if possible. I know that sounds unsanitary but my pediatrician told me this. I only bathed her 2-3 times a week MAX.

My 5 year old Daughter has had excema since she was a baby. It started in the crease of her inner arms (inside the elbow).It often flares up after she plays outside (gets hot) or if she spends time in the pool.

Not to panic you :-) Recently a place near her mouth developed an infection that turned to a staff infection!! Try keeping a 5 year old from touching/scratching!!! ANYWAY - after seeing 2 pediatricians, an allergist and a dermatologist...it finally cleared. It took a combination of things...

So we have tried it all!!! Hydrocortizone works well, especially for the little ones. If it does not clear with that I would highly recommend seeing a pediatric dermatologist. You can get a referral from your peditrician. Jason Richenberg, MD is great if you are in the Austin area. http://www.seton.net/find_a_physician/reichenberg/jason
He is great with children and spends time talking with you about all options and preventative care.

Best wishes!
H.

My daughter has exzema and her pediatrician prescribed her some cream with steroids in it. It really worked well, but it got to be a bit expensive to have to pay the copay then the price for the medicine (very small tube) just to control the excema. Anyway, I took her to skin doctor (whatever you call them)who told me to start washing her clothes seperately in Downy. He told me to use the mild washing powder. That got to be expensive so I started washing her clothes again with everybody else and was told about Cetaphil. I use the soap and the lotion. That's what the third pediatrician suggested and nothing in the world beats Cetaphil besides that other stuff the 1st pediatrician prescribe when she was younger. But like I said, it was in a very small tube. Nevertheless, the skin has to stay moist so my cousin, who worked at a hospital and now works for a Home Health Agency, suggested putting a bit of baby oil in the bath water as well as when the child comes out of the shower/tub, put baby oil on the skin, and blot it dry. Once he's dry, use the Cetaphil lotion. My daughter, who is now 13, still has it but it's really mild. She's suppose to use the lotion once in the morning and at night before she goes to bed, but of course, she doesn't. Her exzema is genetics and she use to have it at the back of her arms and on her stomach.

Anyway, go to Walmart, CVS or Walgreens and get you some of that (expensive) Cetaphil. It's worth it!

T.,

Here is a website that I recently came across.

http://www.iluminaorganics.com/babywash.php

The testimonials sound great. I have not tried this product myself so am unable to tell you much. However it is made specifically for babies with eczema.

The Earth mama Angel baby products have helped me with my eczema (Angel baby bottom balm). It works on my son too. These are both natural and organic products.

www.earthmamaangelbaby.com

I hope these can bring some relief. I personally know the strife it causes.

M. K

I found that the only products that work for my little guy are the Aveeno Soothing relief line of products. I also use the Aveeno Hydrocortisone crean when he gets a bad flair up.

I would try no soap, even natural soap can irritate. I have had exzema my whole life. I was lucky as my son has never developed it. Keeping him from sweating as much as possible, as sweating makes it flare up. I have had really bad exzama this summer. Also keeping the area's moisturized will help. I can only use aquaphore it is a more refined patrolum jelly, and the other thing that I found that helps is aveno's baby calming cream for exzema. Also using hot water to bath dries the skin out, along with to frequent of bathing. After that the only other options that the dr.'s have given me are steriod creams like hydrocortizione, but they shouldn't be used on the face without the recomendation of a dr. Hope this helps, and that he grows out of it as most kids do.

Hi T.,
I too am a 27 year old mom with a 16 month old son. I work from home for a company that has a lotion that will help your son. It is amazing stuff and four of my friends kidos are exzema free because of it. Visit my web site and I will share it with you.

B.
http://www.MyToxinFreeHome.com

What worked best on our grandson's eczema was Arbonne's ABC product line. He has a rx from the doc but has a warning it can make the skin thin. So, this has does wonders. Let me know if you would like a sample or you can order it at www.marilynkas.myarbonne.com. I can also help you get it 35% off if you are interested. Contact me.

Stay away from Lanolin anything and get All Free to wash all clothes in, towels, sheets, your clothes EVERYTHING. Also the Aveno for excema will help. If it continues to get worse/bug then go see a doc for a prescription, but they probably won't give you much until he is older so hopefully the rest will work. But many lotions have lanolin in them so watch for it. Also soy products give my son excema so if you are breast feeding watch out for that one?!?