@dennyissmith Both my kids have eczema that developed in infancy as a side effect of food allergies. I highly recommend considering an elimination diet if you are breastfeeding. With my youngest, I had to cut out dairy,eggs,soy,wheat, oats and all nuts/seeds from my diet and the eczema pretty much cleared as a result . Subsequently, my kid tested as allergic to all those foods and more. As others have said, if you suspect food allergies you shouldn’t use lotions containing food. I also highly recommend finding a good allergist and dermatologist. I found I needed to use a steroid and antibiotic ointment in order to heal chronically flared areas. We now use a prescription non steroid ointment that has been very helpful.
@clewis May I ask which non steroid ointment did you use? Also, how did you use steroids and antibiotics, all together or one in the morning, another one in the evening? Thank you!
@kinglawrence I used vanicream mixed with desonide (rx steroid) and Mupirocin (rx antibiotic). One of my kids had staph infections within eczema flares and this was the only thing that seemed to really clear and heal the eczema. Basically, I mixed all three together on the palm of a clean hand and applied it 2-3x a day. There is an eczema treatment program based upon this idea called “the Aron method”. I was seriously considering working with a doctor trained in this method but luckily, had lots of good progress with diet changes.
I no longer have an rx for desonide and I sometimes use a little hydrocortisone mixed with vanicream on my kids if they have a small flare. It seems to work pretty well too.
@clewis Very interesting, thank you for your response. My son was prescribed Mupirocin as well, however the doctor wasn't sure if he had staph. He had weeping eczema on face and head and she thought that weeping probably means infection. I haven't used the mupirocin yet, hydrocortisone helps him for now however weeping comes back anyway once in a few days and I'm wondering if I should maybe try your method and mix hydrocortisone and antibiotics together.
We have desonide as well, I haven't tried it yet because it seems to be stronger than hydrocortisone and hydrocortisone helps for now.. but I'm just wondering if maybe we should try desonide because we've been using hydrocortisone for a month already...
@kinglawrence Yes, try it! It really helps with weeping eczema. Desonide is definitely stronger. Hydrocortisone did not work for my more severe child. I was very stressed about using steroids but I feel like it was really needed and it didn’t last for more than a couple of months.
Editing to ask if you have considered food allergies. My kid with more severe eczema has about 10 different food allergies and was reacting to my breastmilk (as I was eating his allergens regularly). After a lot of trial and error, I found that wheat/oats really triggered eczema flares.
@clewis Started using hydrocortisone + antibiotics today on bad areas! Hydrocortisone doesn't clear his skin entirely, just helps to control eczema more or less, at least weeping and very bad inflammation. Our dermatologist says we should use hydrocortisone/desonide every day 2 times per day until clear and then eczema won't come back. I don't believe this is the case. I truly believe something is causing it. I thought he's allergic to my bread milk so I stopped breastfeeding and he was on aminoacid formula for the last 3 weeks however his eczema didn't go away. So I introduced breast milk again and I'm following dairy, eggs, nuts, soy, gluten free diet now. Could you please tell what was your kid allergic to? I'm wondering I should remove anything else from my diet. Did your child's eczema cleared after you followed the diet? Thank you for your replies.
@kinglawrence Yes, the diet change is ultimately what stopped the eczema. Things I eliminated: all nuts, all seeds, soy, dairy, egg, wheat/all gluten containing grains, oats, beef, coconut. Gluten grains seem to be the number one trigger. It was really hard at first, but over time it got much easier. My child is now 2 and I am able to eat most of those things (they have also started to our grow some allergies) now. Are you able to get allergy testing done for your baby? That might help guide your elimination diet.
@dennyissmith So I tried to keep things all natural with my son and he had mild eczema so I felt like it was fine, but he caught molloscum which is a skin disease that lasted 3 years before it went away and the specialist asked about all sorts of stuff and said that kids with eczema are much more likely to catch skin diseases when they have the rash because the skin barrier is broken. So I have regrets about how casual I was about it at the start and I guess what I’m saying is if it keeps getting worse use whatever meds or products you need to keep it under control until the cause can be worked out.
We are molloscum free and it’s no big deal but in that time he developed 3 severe boils we needed antibiotics for and he wasn’t allowed in swimming pools or to have baths ever from 9 months to 3 years old.
