Forum home Babies Baby

Eczema, any ideas?

Hi guys,
I'm hoping that someone can give me some suggestions to make my little boy happier. He has eczema in patches all over, although worst on his stomach. He's been to the doctors, took him back again today, and has been prescribed hydrocortisone and diprobase. We've been using them for a while, the hydrocortisone clears it up but as soon as we stop using it it comes straight back. I don't want to have to plaster him in hydrocortisone constantly long term but the doctor doesn't seem to have any other ideas. It's disturbing his sleep, we can't bath him properly because as soon as we take his clothes of he claws at his stomach making it bleed, he screams every time we try and dress him because either he manages to scratch and it hurts, or we stop him scratching and it itches. Does anyone have any ideas we could try to make him comfier, it's making me feel horrible seeing him so unhappy and not being able to help.


  • I cant offer any advice but I didnt wanna read and run.... poor little man it must be awful for him and fo you too knowing it makes him unhappy. I hope you get it sorted soon xx
  • Oh you poor thing, it must be heartbreaking for you.
    I don't really know what to suggest, can you use camomile to soothe the itching?
    You could try putting scratch mits on his hands to stop him scratching and making it sorer.
    Sorry i can't be any use to you.
  • Gabe was the same and still is to an extent. We find diprobase good. When it gets bad we use Fucibet (steroid cream), it's like a miracle cream.

    Gabe's bad bits are also on his stomach & it is a nightmare as its the easiest place for them to get at. We used to bath him in scratch mitts but even then he rubbed it raw so a bath was a 2 person job - 1 to hold his hands and one to support him & wash him.

    What do you use in his bath? Oilatum?This made Gabe way worse and seemed to irritate his skin so we stopped it, and bathtime was better after that. We used plain water for ages, and only bathed him once a week, this helped loads, although we've started doing it twice a week again now. I find Boots Expert baby bath products are good as well, I use the foaming wash stuff.

    At his worst Gabe was waking every half hour in the night!!! It was hell! I never realised eczema could be so bad. Big hugs to barney

  • Have you heard about 'wet wrapping'? I have a friend whose little girl is the same, though I'm not sure of whats involved.... googled it for you

    HTH xx
  • Cheers for the replies girlies. We use Oilatum in his bath which does seem to help, I think we are going to have to bath him less often but god only knows what I am going to do with him while Millie is in the bath and Rich is at work! I'll have a look for the Expert baby stuff next time I go to Boots thanks Tigerlily, we've been washing him with just water but as he is a smelly little boy it would be good to find a soap that didn't dry his skin out. The doctor doesn't seem to think that it is severe enough to need wet wrapping but if he gets any worse I will be going back again to harass him. We'll have to try putting sock on his hands while we dress him but I have a feeling he'll just pull them off!!
  • Is he too old for the sleepsuits with mittens sewed in or would he get his hands out even if he was wearing them?
  • He doesn't really scratch it at night as far as we can tell, I think it's just the itching that disturbs him.
  • The only thing I have found that really works for my eczema (and my daughters) is bicarb of soda in the bath. I tend to treat myself to lush bath bombs as they are mainly bicarb but with extra girly niceness, but just a cup of regular bicarb in the bath water and a nice long soak is fantastic, really clears ours right up! You can get bicarb in bulk from various places on the net (I get mine from and it doesn't have the worrying side effects that some of the prescribed creams do.
  • i have never tried bicarb...that is a good tip. I will try that. #
    all my kids have eczema until they are about 3.


    use only non bio wash powder and never softner.
    use only simple products or hair, baby wipes etc..
    boil wash bedding regulary and any toys that they cuddle a lot i wash then freeze then deforst (mad I know but this is advice given)
    mattress protector on bed to stop bed bugs
    damp dust bedroom and hoover everything..tops of curtains etc..
    keep food diary for you (if BF) and for lo to see if anything makes it worse.

    my hippy mate has a recip that works..I will ask her for it and send it to you. It involves melissa oil bergamo or something like tht. One oil is about 10 quid but it works and lasts for ever as you mix it with huge thing of aqueos cream.

    Keep finger nails short and when they get out of bath before you dry them but vaseline on to keep the water in...

    good luck. its an awul thing to see them suffer from

    d xxx
  • hey,

    we're in the same situation and i've just made another doc appointment for Louise, though as I want to see a specific doctor it's not till the end of the month. She has the same problem with worst patches on her tummy where she stratches them.

    we have oilatum bath stuff and the matching cream - might be worth asking for as using matching products is supposed to be best. We were told to keep using the steriod cream a day after we think the patch has gone to ensure it has gone but that doesn't seem to help but makes sense.

    we were told to keep trying different creams until we find the best one for Louise, there are lots of different ones. the 1st one we tried made Louise's worse but the oilatum doesn't seem to keep her skin very soft.

    we've tried the whole food diary thing but i'm not sure how long a food would take to effect the skin?
  • Ollie has a mild form of eczema as well, and he has oilatum prescribed but it doesnt make it any better. We just use plain water for him now, and the hydrocortisone - but we've been told so many different ways to use the hydro - the latest being use it every four hours for 14 days then reduce it to three times a day for the nest 7 days even if it look like there is nothing there... he said that you can use hydrocortisone for 21 days before the skin needed a rest and to only stop using it for about 3-7 days

    diprobase made Ollie worse, Halos and Horns stuff is ok for the occasional use but not all the time and we found the boots expert stuff really dried his skin out. :\(
    we use aqueous cream as a daily moisturiser (sometimes twice a day) and use the hydrocortisone twice a day at the moment (morning and night) but Ollie does seem to be gradually getting better with it...

    Have you tried E45 itch relief cream? Vaseline intensive care for sensitive skin?

    Our local naturalist shop has some good remedies for skin complaints so it might be worth asking a shop near you if they can recommend anything...?

    Another thing we were told was to only use one type of product at once, so only the hydro cream, or the dipro, or the oilatum... and not mix them together as it confused the skin... :\?

    Really hope you can get some respite for it soon.

  • My eldest girl has excema really bad and she does have oilatum in the bath but I was told to keep her skin well oiled and have started putting baby oil on her of a night time and this has seemed to help especially though the night as she gets very itchy through the night from sweat etc but by keeping her oiled with loose clothing she has been a lot better. Its like anything though isnt it people respond and react to different ointments and lotions in different ways but may be worth giving a go xxxx
  • We used a cream called 50/50 from Boots about ??7.50 - AMAZING STUFF! Oliver no longer has exzema but we still use it on his skin as it makes it feel so good! We also still use Oilatum in his bath...Good luck hun
  • I forgot to add that I also get told 'I've seen worse cases' which really bugs me. I do feel sorry for the worse cases but just because Louise's isn't as bad at the moment it doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken seriously - and surely we should get support to stop if from becoming worse?!
  • Thank you so much for all the suggestions, the doctor has been pretty rubish, he's prescibed stuff but not really told us the best way to use it so we were pretty much guessing. It seems every one gets told different :lol: so we will have to work our way through all the ideas untill we find something that helps. He's been having his bath with plain water for about a week because we weren't convinced it helped and we'd run out. Put oilatum in again last night and he looks better this morning so maybe that helps more than we thought.
    OH put socks over his hands this morning while getting him dressed and apparantly in was a huge success as Barney thought having socks on his hands was hysterical and kept looking at them and giggling :lo:
  • hya i av the same problem except its more on her face i use silcox base its very good and if dats not working try caldescene powder wit vaseline wat i do is wash her in the silcox base and nutn else coz all dat perfume stuff irratates it put the cream on after her bath and if it flairs up in between baths i use the powder an vaseline and so far good!!!hope that helps
  • have you seen this site?
    the ecxema leaflet is really good
  • Hiya, I just got back from the docs for jakes excema and he prescribed hydracortisone cream and told me to put it on very thinly twice a day and keep him moisturised with plain emmoliant ointment.

    He also said that the majority of cases where excema gets bad is because people are scared to treat it with steroid creams and that they are perfectly safe to use long term.

    This was our first appointment so will see if this helps. Good luck with barney. x:\)
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions