Eczema - Willoughby,OH

You need to take him to an alergist. That is usually a sign of allergies. My daughter has eczema also. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the cream that the allergist prescribed for her. It did work. I don't think cortisone will harm you son. It may be something that will go away or not. I do suggest you go to the allergist. My daughter still gets some ezcema on her face and arms. She is 20. She uses the over the counter cortisone cream now.

My in-laws get this a lot. They use coconut oil. You can buy it in Health food stores. I swear buy it now for just dry skin also. It can also be used in cooking.

Hi R.!

When my daughter was a baby, she had eczema really bad. . she would get it on her cheeks really bad and the tops of her hands and feet. .. her face would get so bad sometimes that it would have blisters all over it. She is now 6 and hardly has problems with it, just some dry patches of skin, here and there. She does have allergies and asthma, which her pediatrician told me, they usually come in three's. . menaing if they have one, they will probably have them all (ashtma, allergies and eczema). I'm not sure if there is an age limit on this cream, but my daughter uses a prescription cream called Elidel. It is a steroid free cream that has really worked well on my daughter. We just use it when she has flare ups. However, you will have to find out the age requirement on this cream. When she was a baby, we used the over the counter cortizone cream when necessary because they hadn't come out with the Elidel yet. In addition, we would use vaseline in between the cortizone treatments. I hope you find something that works. . .it sounds like maybe an allergist would be a good idea too! Good luck!

I had a similar problem with my son, but the eczema was on his arms. We discovered that the eczema was a symptom of an allergy/sensitivity to the detergent I was using. We had him allergy tested at 2 1/2 years old and he reacted to the towel they wiped his back off with at the end of the test--every scratch was positive. When we switched laundry detergent to an odor and color-free one the eczema cleared up significantly. My sone is 6 years old now and I have to watch what kinds of soap and shampoo I buy or his eczema will flare up again.
It might be worth your while to check for allergies as a source of the eczema.
Good Luck.
-A.

Rosie,
I have suffured with this since I was a little girl. I was on a steriod FOREVER, and like you I did not want to be dependent on it. About a year ago I found out about Meleluca. It is one of those natural, enviormental friendly cleaning and personal care companies. (Im hooked on all the products). Anyway, they sell a lotion called "Renew". I have not used the steriod lotion one single time since I bought this. It is rather pricey for lotion, but with as little as you would need 1 bottle would last for months (it is WELL worth the money). If you join meleluca, you get everything at a discounted rate, but the catch is you have to buy a certain amount of stuff every month. You can still buy without being a prefered member, but it cost a little more. I use this lotion on my 15 mo. old son on all his dry patches, he was blessed with my skin. Trust me, give it a try. Remeber you DONT have to be a full member to buy from them. www.meleluca.com This is the best there is... ive tried them all! Hope this helps.

S. P

I too have a son who had terrible patches of excema on his face as an infant. The only thing that worked was the steroid cream to clear them up, but to prevent outbreaks, we have found that our dermatologist's advice works. Bathe him every night, and before you dry him off, slather him with good old Vaseline. We would just lay a towel on the floor of the bathroom, transfer him from the tub and smooth on the disgusting, greasy mess. Then put on some pajamas that cover everywhere. Of course for his face you can't cover it, so the only thing you can do is grease him up, and every time you think of it during the day, put more on. We found out that our diligence in doing this was the only way to keep it at bay. It's a big job, but worth the effort to see his beautiful face free of those red patches. Of course he still has an occasional outbreak, but if you start as soon as it looks a bit red, you can usually stave it off. Also, our Dr. said never to use a lotion. They actually contain too much water, which evaporates, sucking moisture out of the skin. Stick to moisturizing creams instead. Eucerin is our favorite. Good Luck!

I agree that he probably is having an allergic reaction to either a household product or something he is eating.

However, I wanted to share with you that lavender is healing also. It may help sooth some of the irritation and it promotes tissue regeneration

I am an independent consultant for Daisy Blue Naturals ( www.4260.daisybluenaturals.com )and we offer products that are for the body and home from natural, wholesome ingredients. Terrific proponents like grape seed oil, sweet almond oil, shea butter, and oatmeal combine to make an outstanding product! I especially like the fact that Daisy Blue does not use HARMFUL CHEMICALS in any of their products. So all of their soaps, lotions and other items not only smell amazing, but they are safe and non-irritating for everyone in the family from the littlest to the biggest!

Hope this helps!

Hi i feel your pain my son has had severe eczema since he was 2 months old hes now 2 and after fighting with his doctors i finally got him an allergy appt with a wonderful allergist that i got referred to off here.Well turns out my son is allergic to milk,eggs,wheat,peanut and dog!Since we have been eliminating those foods hes starting to clear up! My son has been on oral steriods 3xs last year thats how bad it was he right now is on the Hydrocortisone 2.5% cream for his really bad parts and i use Eucerin.Heres a link to a great site with info on Eczema
http://www.skincarephysicians.com/eczemanet/preventing.html
Good Luck,
I.

Have you and your dr. looked into possible food allergies? My son had horrendous cradle cap and eczema all over his face, legs, and arms. By 3 and half months it was so bad I asked that we consider other causes besides simply labeling him with eczema and cradel cap. I was referred to a pediatric allergist.

Because I was nursing, I was exposing him to many of his allergens (corn, tomatoes, dairy, eggs, strawberries, peanuts, to name a few). Once I switched to eating chicken, rice, and fresh fruits and veggies his skin cleared up amazingly! He has since outgrown 70% of his allergens, but to this day, if any dairy product touches his skin, he breaks out in hives immediately and the next day that spot has a horrible eczema spot that only clears after about 5-7 days of cortizone cream.

GOOD LUCK!

Well, there was another post recently about eczema... my son has it to and one response caught my eye because i feel the same way you do about "special" creams. One lady suggested bag balm. Tonight I tried it on my son. She said it worked for her child and her friends children. I can't really say one way or another yet however.

I did have a dr suggest that we feed my son yogurt, as a way to put some good bacteria back into him which might help somehow counteract the eczema? good luck.

My son had redness and bumpiness on his cheeks as well, he's 4 now and still does. The redness isn't as bad unless he's playing hard, but it's definitely still there. Anyway, I was told it was eczema also, and nothing that is made to treat eczema was working. You sound like me, I tried everything! Well, I finally got a second opinion and come to find out it wasn't eczema. It was a condition called keratosis pilaris. It's the "chicken bump" skin condition. A lot of people have it. Adults tend to have it on the back of their arms. So, once again I started trying EVERYTHING to help get rid of it. There's no cure for it, but you can treat it to help to make it less noticeable. I kinda wonder if maybe your son has the same thing since nothing is working. I went on www.Dermadoctor.com and bought some stuff called KP Duty. I've been using it on him twice a day for about a week now and it's working! He has it on his legs, arms, and cheeks. Well, so far his legs aren't bumping anymore and his arms are getting much better. I am also noticing a difference in the texture of his cheeks. It's worth a shot! I just recommend you buy more than one tube because I'm probably halfway through my first already. The site also has a lot of stuff for eczema if you'd like to give it one more shot!

At his young age, the eczema is almost surely a red flag for allergy. Regardless of whether you are feeding him formula or breastmilk, by FAR the most common allergen for babies is cow's milk protein -- formulas are based on cow's milk, and breastfeeding mothers who eat/drink cow's milk products can have cow's milk protein pass into the breastmilk. The only real way to "test" or "rule out" whether a food is causing an allergy is to remove it from the diet for a minimum of 3-6 weeks (if formula feeding, a temporary switch to hypoallergenic formula, and if breastfeeding, the mother removing ALL cow's milk products for a month) and see if the symptoms go away. Then you do a "challenge" where you give a dose of the cow's milk protein (either 1 bottle of cow's milk based formula, or the breastfeeding mother has a big glass of milk or bowl of ice cream) and watch for the return of the eczema.

My son had the eczema exactly as you describe it - at 5 weeks old, his poor little face was so red, rough, dry, and rashy that he would rub his face back and forth on our shoulders as we carried him because his poor cheeks were so itchy. Our ped, too, suggested lotions or even meds like Zantac, and these would have been RIDICULOUS for our son -- within 7 DAYS of my removing all cow's milk proteins from my diet (I was exclusively breastfeeding my son), the change was AMAZING in my son!!! His face became clear, creamy, smooth, and beautiful. His sleep improved DRAMATICALLY. His fussiness and gassiness and smelly, greenish poops changed into those barely noticeable creamy-yellow breastfed baby poops.

Now, cow's milk proteins are the most *common* causes of allergy in young babies, followed by soy (so be careful of giving your baby soy formula during the test for cow's milk sensitivity because 50% of cow's milk sensitive babies are ALSO sensitive to soy!). But it can be other things as well... wheat or eggs or nuts, for example. Or it could be chemical, as another mother said already in her advice (laundry detergent?). Because the eczema is on your son's face, I would suspect food. If he is on formula, please investigate putting him on hypoallergenic formula for at least a few weeks to see if that helps. If you are breastfeeding him (actually, I think this link has good info regardless of whether he's getting formula or breastmilk!), please check out this excellent link:
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

Best of luck to you -- and congratulations for trusting your instincts that the creams aren't really helping and that there's something BIGGER going on that can be identified (allergy) and likely resolved (removing the allergic substance from your son's environment).

Hope this helps!

I have a 6 week old daughter, and i have went through the same thing with her cheeks,eyebrows,nose, and chin that you have up until sunday night. I felt so bad for her little face i went searching for stuff at our local wal-mart and i have found the perfect thing, she has been using it since this passed sunday and her face is TOTALLY CLEAR, no more little red bumps no flaky or chafed skin, it's perfect. no need to wash his face or anything just put it on whenever, i normally put it on mid-day and put her in her swing because it can be kinda glossy looking, just massage a little at a time on his little face. the product is in the baby section where the wipes are located it is called, "GENTLE NATURALS" it says Disney baby on it and has a picture of piglet and pooh, it's fragrance free Baby Eczema Cream. and is about $8 bucks a tube...hope it works for you!!!!