Toddler is suffering from a severe case of eczema.?

Question

my baby is 1 and has eczema so bad he is suffering. Please someone give me some advice. if you do not know go ask your friends, parents, family members, God, You can even ask your cat if you think he would answer : )
Seriously I need help for my baby. Yes he goes to a dermatologist, they keep giving him hydrcortizone 2.5% and it is not working. Now he is on antibiotics. At 3 months old he had sergery because he scratched his chest so hard, while he was sleeping, and got an infection he had to have his chest cut open to drain the infection out. Now the doctor is telling me to bathe him in bleach to kill all germs on the outside of his skin. As you can see I need help. I am looking for a better dermatologist but until then if you could help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

poor thing. :( i had very bad eczema when i was younger, too. i've since grown out of it. i now only have slightly dry skin. i've used *a lot* of different products out there to treat it. including hyrdrocortisone. that only treats the itch but, will eventually thicken the skin if used long enough. out of all of them, the best by far, hands down, are from aveeno. they use colloidal oatmeal in their products which is very good for this type of skin condition. to this day, i still use their lotions. please give them a try. you won't regret it! some other tips... 1.) make sure your baby drinks lots of water/fluids to keep the body & skin well-hydrated. 2.) don't bathe in hot water for too long. it drys out skin quickly & irritates the eczema. 3.) as soon as they get out of the shower/bath (within 2 mins or less preferrably - no joke) apply lotion to their *entire* body, starting w/ the affected areas, first. this will help to lock-in the skins moisture. 4.) analyze your baby's diet & what you're feeding him. eczema is usually caused by some type of allergic reaction to either/or food, something in the environment/living space, etc. good luck!

Answer 2

I just gave this advice to someone else.I've suffered with eczema since I was an infant and while it has improved greatly I still get outbreaks from detergents.

So yes first of all you need to find out what the trigger is to try and prevent such regular outbreaks,it could be detergent which is a common trigger (something in his bath? Or what you use to wash his clothes)
It could be dietary (watch when the worst outbreaks occur and keep note of what he was doing/eating a few days prior)
Or sadly it could be caused by dust which will be the worst case scenario as it's likely he'll often break-out.

Now as for what remedies I suggest.
In my experience there are two types of eczema,one is dry itching flakiness.The other is a damp welting rash.

If he suffers from the dry flaking type then antiseptic drapolene cream is a wonder it's used for many types of rashes and will help to clean any open wounds.

If he suffers from the damp welting version then I have found that vinegar applied with a spray bottle/mister is a cooling/drying and relieving remedy,you know how they say it eases the sting and itch from sunburn,well it has the same effect on eczema.

Good luck.

Answer 3

hi.. I had eczema from head to toe when I was little and I have a little man who suffers too... Don't do the bleach thing ever.. I dunno what that is about.. to kill germs you can use dial soap this is only good to use when there are open scratched places and you should use your hands to lather not a wash cloth. It may burn a little in this case just leave the bar in the bath a few minutes every so often lightly run your hands over his skin a little massage is good. The doctors always tell me not to bathe my skin or my little ones skin more than every other day.. I know better than this because I know what it feels like. If his skins isn't moist.. don't just rub some cream or lotion on him give him a bath not too hot of course and not too cold get him out of the bath let him air dry a little then take your time and rub him down. Vaseline is the closest thing you will ever get to your skins natural oil. Make sure you take your time and rub it in. It might feel icky but trust me he will feel so much better. If you haven't had an allergy test on him the most common allergies that come along with eczema is soy, egg, cows milk, and dogs. Great combo hunh. Get your local allergy alerts so that you can be prepared for the normal allergies that will trigger his eczema allergies. If your dermatologist is any good they will hook you up with some atarax this stuff makes benadryl look like kool-aid. When I was little the docs used all sorts of prescribed creams that did a lot of damage to my skin. I usually try not to use anything on his skin directly but water soap and vaseline. Stopping him from scratching isn't hard getting his mind off of it is the trick.. That is why I prefer atarax. I have so many different solutions if you want to shoot me an email just let me know .. I hope I have helped you!

Answer 4

My 11 month old has eczema due to food allergies that is right now completely under control. Here are some suggestions his allergist made that have helped him a GREAT deal...
1-Do NOT skimp when ti comes to lotion, either in quality or in quantity. Buy the pricier ones-you WILL see a difference, we use Lubriderm for him but it may be another that works for yours, the generic store brands are NOT the same. Lotion him up EVERY chance you get, just soak him in it.
2-Do NOT bathe him any more than absolutely necessary. The water actually will dry his skin out worse. Unless ours has been doing somethgin to really get dirty, we generally give him a shower every other day. Keep them SHORT. Once a week or so we let him actually sit in teh tub enough to play with his rubber duckies(favorites naturally since he can't b ein there long enough to play often).
3-Avoid, obviously, anythign that seems to make it worse. Mine seems to be allergic to some of the grasses so we go to the children's park that is all paved. Food allergies can also be associated with eczema-that's what our biggest problem is.

I really hope you find some answers. It may help to keep a food and activity diary just in case as it is the most common cause when one can be found. We went back and forth with solids and until he was 10 months old was not really eating them consistently because every time we started something new he broke back out!

Please, do not bathe that baby in bleach and report that doctor to the medical boards. Bleach will not do him any good, will only make it worse.
Feel free to IM or email me on yahoo @ MOM2LAF

**edit~~ I forgot, he also said the kind of soaps you use is very important. We use Dove for the bath and All Free & Clear for laundry.**

Answer 5

Hi, try to soak him up as much as possible even use vaseline if you have to and completely take constant baths if you have to. Change whatever he is sleeping on, and always take his/her hands away whenever he/she scratches. Start a good habit by following these instructions:


Wow, 2.5% is really strong, You child must really have bad eczema. What I would do is not give him that high of % for too long since it steroidal its not too good for him. Also, you use it so much that he kind of depends on it or else his rashes will rapidly appear again, am I right?

Its all about what you do to keep him moisturized, soak him in the bath for atleast 5 mins, right after, apply Cetaphil cream, you can get this at walgreens, its the best thing out there you can buy that wont harm your child. Soak him up right after the bath because in about 3 mins the child will dry up.
Apply the hydrocortizone, to patchy areas only, not the entire body. Use an anti-itch cream. I would ask your doctor to switch to triamcymilon (sorry bad spelling).
Also, wash his clothes and sheets and try not to get him/her near any wool, puffy cotton, any itchy fabric.

Last but not least, cut nails, wear gloves, socks, just cover the body so its harder to scratch.
Im trully very sorry for your child, I know how it feels, hope this helps.

By the way, the process takes time, its all about waiting for the child to outgrow this and yes they will. What you are doing is just stablizing it, just to make him/her feel better and lower the rashes, until they can completely heal from it. Oh and no bleach please.

Answer 6

My little boy had eczema on his cheeks. I was not sure what method to use but I didn't want to make my boy go through any surgery treatments at this young age. Some suggested a plastic surgeon since it was in a very visible location but our family doctor recommend this natural guide.

Best Eczema Treatment?

Answer 7

Hi there. My baby is now almost 6 months. When he was two months his face and armpits broke out so bad with eczema. We switched to using dove moisturizing bath wash and put this stuff on him called aquaphor ointment. We also only used Euercine products on his face. Euercine and Auquaphor are both over the counter. The auquaphor is thick cause its an ointment but within a week he was 100% better. We also would put cordaid in his hair to help the itch. I would put the auquaphor on after his bath and by morning it was soaked in his skin. It works... I still have to use it from time to time in the neck area or under his armpits. Its worth a shot. Good luck!!

Answer 8

toddler suffering severe case eczema

Answer 9

your dermatologist should have your baby on some kind of creme with steroids. i don't know the name or if what he has given you has steroids in it...all i know is that a baby at my daycare had eczema bad and the mother was refusing to use anything prescription...she was using all natural creme...but it never worked. as soon as she was put on the steroid creme it cleared up in a week.

i would advise against bathing your baby in bleach! doesn't sound very health/good for the baby...your doc sounds like a wack job. eczema is not caused by germs....and bleach would not do an infection any good. i don't know why he would tell you to do this?!!?

get a second opinion and look into getting the steroid creme.

if you bathe your baby in bleach, no matter who tells you to do it, you're a bad mother.

Answer 10

Hi there my son has the same proplem! he would cry all night, and when it came time for a bath. he would bring me to tears, it would break my heart i felt so help less. now i'm not sure how you feel about oral steroids but for my son they help get the inflamation down, its called prednasol but you do need a perscription for it. now after long periods of use it can have side affects, i was so scared to use them. but our doc told us that in these small amounts, it would not harm him. in the frist day we noticed a change, he wasn't scratching as much, and he was so much happier! i'm an emt and know all to well about keeping wounds clean, as to not get infection. but your doctor telling you to bathe your baby in bleach!!!! is not right at all!!! bleach is used for surfaces and plastics, its not to be used in any way shape or form on skin. even if its mixed with water! i can only imagine how your baby must scream in pain when you bathe him, and to add bleach to it! wow that doctor needs to whatch what he's says! try aquaphor baby bath and aquaphor lotion, its around 15.00 for the lotion but so worth it! it last a long time. also try noesporine for the wound, and at bed time try giving him benadryl to help with itching. our doc said that it was better to use that than the perscription he would write and it would have the same effect. some dermatologist might give you edidal or morprcine these work but you can only use them for so long, these creams can thin out your babies skin. our doc would have us alternate one week oral med and the next cream because his ezcema was so out of control. this helped so much! another thing is don't take the baby a bath every day. water takes the mositer out of the skin. try once a week or longer if you can, now i know this hard. but can you use a damp wash cloth and give him like a sponge bath, or just wash his hands and face an than wipe his body down with the cloth. if i can help in any other way let me know, my heart goes out to you and your son. i also know of a lot of good docs in different states if you need help in that area.