Help! Toddler Eczema Post Reply

[Larsford]

You need to find the cause of the eczema, the majority of eczema cases in under 5s are caused by food sensitivities.
I recommended you try an elimination diet, where you take out one common food allergy e.g. milk, wheat, peanuts and eliminate for 3/4 weeks and monitor if the eczema improves.

[Expatacular]

Just echoing a post above, my daughter also sees Dr Helen Cox for her allergies and eczema and I highly recommend her. I am a huge advocate of the NHS and we have a wonderful NHS GP who handles our everyday medical needs very well, but pediatric allergies and eczema are two things that the GPs just don't manage well. Dr Adam Fox and Dr Gideon Lack are also highly regarded in this field. For us, it's been a matter of being vigilant about the products we use. We've used exclusively QV gentle wash in the bath instead of soap and shampoo since she was tiny (recommended by a dermatologist at GOSH)- we never use any actual soap or shampoo at all. Epaderm cream and ointment are excellent choices for everyday emollients. Avoid all bath bombs, bubble baths, anything with perfume/scent, etc. I'm neurotic about checking anything that goes on her skin and we patch test everything. Also, in the summer, we try to keep her skin covered with lightweight, cotton clothes (long sleeved t-shirts) as her eczema seems to be aggravated by the sun. 

[Mumpunk]

We saw Professor Habibi at the New Malden Diagnostic centre who was super helpful.
He suggested to only take showers and very quick ones and before going under the water to spread Dermol cream on the entire body which you can then rinse and not use any soap. You can then use afterwards aveeno cream to moisturise and steroid cream if and when itchy.
The problem is we are living in a very hard water area so every time our child was washing, he was getting super itchy especially after a bath because he was staying too long. Now he only takes showers 3 times a week that only last 30sec, he stopped being so itchy. We are also following the recommendation from Pr Habibi to install a water softener. We should know by April if it makes a difference so feel free to get in touch by that time if you are interested in doing so.
Good luck!

Thank you so much for your time and advice. 

[Mumpunk]

You need to find the cause of the eczema, the majority of eczema cases in under 5s are caused by food sensitivities.
I recommended you try an elimination diet, where you take out one common food allergy e.g. milk, wheat, peanuts and eliminate for 3/4 weeks and monitor if the eczema improves.

Makes sense. Will try this out. Thank you so much.

[Mumpunk]

Just echoing a post above, my daughter also sees Dr Helen Cox for her allergies and eczema and I highly recommend her. I am a huge advocate of the NHS and we have a wonderful NHS GP who handles our everyday medical needs very well, but pediatric allergies and eczema are two things that the GPs just don't manage well. Dr Adam Fox and Dr Gideon Lack are also highly regarded in this field. For us, it's been a matter of being vigilant about the products we use. We've used exclusively QV gentle wash in the bath instead of soap and shampoo since she was tiny (recommended by a dermatologist at GOSH)- we never use any actual soap or shampoo at all. Epaderm cream and ointment are excellent choices for everyday emollients. Avoid all bath bombs, bubble baths, anything with perfume/scent, etc. I'm neurotic about checking anything that goes on her skin and we patch test everything. Also, in the summer, we try to keep her skin covered with lightweight, cotton clothes (long sleeved t-shirts) as her eczema seems to be aggravated by the sun. 

Thanks for your advice. We haven't used soap in the bath for over a year and Epaderm Junior is our go-to as well. Trying to get an appointment with Dr Cox, multiple people have recommended her. Thanks so much for your help!

[Mumpunk]

My son had terrible eczema from 4 months. We tried many products, specialist paediatrician etc with steroid creams and more, But what ended up working the best for us was diprobase. It may be different for your child. Everyone is different, but diprobase on the body and a small steroid mix on the face worked for us in the end. For the steroid cream, if you can get one from your gp, ask how you can safely blend it into another topical ointment. Steroid creams aren’t great for long use but for us this mix worked and my son recovered really quickly after we eventually found what worked for him. Also, check allergies. We had a bad egg allergy which contributed but wasn’t the main cause of the eczema. If you have any more questions, let me know via dm. X

Thank you for your suggestions. Starting out by eliminating certain foods-fingers crossed!

[Mumpunk]

Thank you so much for all your responses. SO thankful for this community- we were feeling helpless and thought of giving this forum a shot- had no idea there would be so many responses. The advice has been very helpful- thanks again

[aa_mummy]

Your poor baby. Different things work for different people so with all the lotions you need to find one that works best but the only thing that worked for my children was taking them off dairy and using goats milk instead. It is meant to be easier for humans to digest than cows milk and eczema disappeared straight away. My son also had breathing issues and seemed to always have a cold. That cleared up completely also. The water here is really hard so only ever bathed them every other day and moisturised straight after. If nothing works I would suggest a dermatologist. Good luck with everything.

[Mo366]

I had eczema for many years and GP’s really don’t know how to treat it. The only thing that worked was going to a Chinese herbalist. Cleared up pretty quickly and I am totally healed now. I’ve referred many parents with children to Chinese doctors and they’ve all had excellent results.