Toddler Eczema

Does anyone have any experience of this?

My little girl has been getting red, itchy, cracked skin on the inside of her elbows. She also has the odd small, red, raised, patch come up on her body - I get this too, on my legs.

I've got some moisturising cream from the pharmacy but he said I will need to take her to a GP if it doesn't clear up.

What sort of washing powder do you use? Biological powders/liquids and also fabric conditioners can cause a reaction. I used to wash my son's clothes in Fairy non-bio with no fabric conditioner because they made him a bit itchy.

Hi Maxine

No, I use Fairy non-bio with Comfort Pure conditioner. I guess it is possible to develop reactions to anything though.

Two of my three children suffered with eczema as babies/toddlers. The only thing that kept it under control was mild steroid creams (on prescription). Both saw Consultants (privately) and their condition was under control quite quickly. It turned out my youngest was allergic to dairy product, so once I put him onto soya milk, he was fine, just the odd flare up (probably from something he'd eaten) on the odd occasion. My Daughter is now 15 and son 7 and neither of them have had any flare-ups for years now Definitely go to the GP. Steroid creams are not the best (can cause "thinning" of the skin if overused/used incorrectly) but used carefully, is good stuff and hopefully, will only need to be used for short periods. Oilatum is good stuff to put in their baths too. Stops the skin from drying out. No soaps whatsoever. This was all the advice I was given anyways, don't know if advice has moved on in the last few years. Best of luck with it.

Just a thought, but I also used aqueous cream instead of soap and oodles of a moisturiser (that is lanolin free) that you get on prescription but the name escapes me .

E45 maybe????

My son was also allergic to cow's milk so had soya and later on goat's milk which seemed to sort him out.

phew right you sitting down??

Excema is a real puzzle and what suits one kid wont suit another, but we have tried many potions with luca and have a routine that does work.

First of all.
Has she always had dry-ish skin in these areas or is a more recent thing?

What worked for us:
Food:
Luca is currently on no / very minimal dairy, he is cows milk intolerant, so drinks Oat Milk, has soya yogurts etc and takes a little normal cheese.
Things to take out of diet that can aggravate excema:
Kiwi fruit
strawberries ( although Luca is fine with them)
tomatoes
these are all big aggravators so if she has perhaps had ore of these recently they might be the cause.

Factors:
weather can play a huge part, central heating dries out the skin so when its cold its worse, summer is better as skin is happier in the sun etc.

Clothing - I try and keep luca in 100% cotton and try to avoid long sleeved tops that cover the elbow thus increasing the sweatiness there and aggravates the skin.

Creams and potions:
First of all cut out bath stuff - and switch to an oat bath, thats the thing that works a treat with him, get a pair of old tights or muslin tie an knot in them, fill a bit with some porridge oats and run the hot tap through it when running her bath, then use the little bag like a cloth and the oats calm the skin.

Cream:
We use Aveeno which is an Oat based moisturiser - you should be able to get it to try from minor ailments at the pharmacy ( without paying for it- do you have that in england?) otherwise its about £7 a tube. Its a lovely moisturiser and its smooths on nice and gets absorbed so ideal for using throughout the day if necessary.

When Luca's skin flares ( gets red) we use a steroid OINTMENT not cream as this is much better and isnt water based so is absorbed better. We use a tiny amount and then use the aveeno to keep the skin supple. Once its no longer red we stop using the steroid.( usually 2 days max)

Once you have got it so that its no longer red, you shoudl be able to switch to just moisturiser to soften the dried out skin again,.,


Creams that didnt work for us but that are always given by GP.
diprobase
epaderm
oilatum ( made it loads worse )
dermabase
e45
and many other concoctions that I cant remember.

Its trial and error but if you can identify when it started or got worse this might help to stop it.

Luca went through 3 months of 24/7 bandaging as when his started we couldnt get it under control at all.

its very hard getting something that works, but the best thing is to try to avoid itching it which is easier said than done, I would give her Piriton to take the itch out if it gets really bad.

good luck
dani

No not E45, that seemed to irritate his skin. I'm just trying to remember what, but it was 16 years ago. I will probably remember at 2am.

Thanks Cheeky C and Maxine. I will get some Oilatum bath stuff and give that a try.

I was sooooooooo careful to gradually introduce things into her diet and I'm very careful to not give her artificial additives etc. She loves dairy products so I hope she hasn't developed an allergy or intolerance to them.