The eczema problem

My 7 month old baby son has eczema. I can't remember the how old he was when I first saw it but the first that I knew he had some sort of skin problem was when he went dark over the summer and then all of the skin peeled off to reveal a very pale almost white skin. Then his hair slowly started peeling off . The hair started receding around the hairline until he had one little cute patch of long hair left of centre of his head.

His cheeks started to get dry and I started to find his skin very hard to hydrate. His skin looked very inspite of my moisturising it daily with Aqueous cream.

Over Christmas the red cheeks became weepy and extremly itchy. I was afraid to leave him in his cot for fear he would scratch all the skin off his cheeks. Also at night time he started to get very irritable and I was at a loss as to know what to do.



In October I got the first and last piece of good advice from a health practitioner, a health visitor. She suggested I go to the Dr and ask for lactose free milk or put myself on a lactose free diet. I went to the GP (a locum) and she dismissed it out of hand and said I should continue to breastfeed. I was prescribed doublebase and the first of three lots of anti biotics. Prior to this I was prescribed Fucidin H which is an acid which kills bacteria together with hydorcortisone. This worked for one week and then the eczema flared up worse than before.

I then saw another Dr who was resident at the surgery he seemed helpful in that he told me that the treament for eczema is steriods and emollients. He then went on to prescribe Cetraben. The Cetreben went on very thickly but when the cream had evaporated it left the skin so dry skin was flaking and itching. I went back to Doublebase but the itching redness and oosing got worse and worse.



On the day after the baby was 6 months I started to wean him making my own purees. I found that my son was incredibly hungry and needed 3 to 4 meals a day and at times seconds and a pudding. However some nights when for some reason he hadn't eaten enough he would be awake at night and sucking on my breast. I got into a bad habit of trying to ease his restlessness at with breast milk which was leaving me increasingly drained. No matter how little sleep I was getting I needed to get up by 6:30am to make breakfast for my other two and get everyone ready to take my eldest to school. Two weeks later it was Christmas and some good advice came from a friend who had vitiligo. She gave me the first piece of advice on how to manage eczema. She encouraged me to buy milk which was lactose free as many people are allergic or intolerant to milk. I bought my first tin of Nutramigen the day after boxing day and I saw a difference. If he had 3 bottles of milk a day ( I made some of it into baby cereal as he didn't like drinking it at first) plus his 3 meals he slept through without any itching. Once the 3rd tin was empty baby had a flare up. I went to the Dr and he said that he couldn't prescribe it as a consultant would have to do it. (Nutramigen costs £13 a tin and lasts a week). He said I should try ordinary formula.
Tried ordinary formula and on top of the eczema he got some small red spots.
Hubby and I decided to stop the formula milk and I went back to breast feeding.
Over the past month I've been to the Dr for the baby twice. The first time he was extremely irritiable and was jumping instead of itching. When we got to the Drs he was calm and I was told that the only treatment he would get from a skin specialist is steriods and cream. He was finally put on repeat presciption for his emollient. I forgot to ask about his chest so we went back to the Drs as an emergency. I saw a Dr I had never seen before. He prescribed Fucidin H (a massive big tube) again and orciprenaline and anti biotics for his chest. He didn't explain
why he had precribed the orciprenaline so I had to come home and look it up. Its a drug normally used for asthma and associated bronchal condtions. It has some pretty frightening side effects and he is to take it 4 x a day. The anti biotics were also to be taken 4 x a day. I think that this is too much medication for a 7 month old whose system is already weakened by eczema so I haven't given him any of the medication. I looked up how to treat asthma and found a site called the Healthy House which advocated the use of a humidifier in the bedroom. So I have been putting a bucket of hot water in our bedroom with a couple of drops of olbas oil until I can buy a humidifier. I have however used a little of the Fucidin H as his rash was spreading simply because I thought there was no alternative. I have since found that you can get Fucidin without the hydrocortisone from NHS direct. I am so mad about this because the first time I saw the Dr I expressed that I didn't want the baby taking steriods. I've since been told that Fucidin H can thin the skin. I have witnessed this as the baby' skin dies and it becomes extremely sore and uncomfortable The only way he gets comfort is to rub the dead skin off. In fact baby is on my lap awake as I write this because he's so uncomfortable, he's also teething which doesn't help matters.

Advice from friends with eczema
As well as going using the NHS I have also asked friends. My journalist friend sent me an article that was in Metro about eczema and water softeners. (to find, google eczema water softener). My friends brother also used installed a water softening system in his house after noticing that his eczema disappered while staying at a hotel that used a water softening system. I also spoke to another friend and she has had eczema since childhood.
The advice her mother was given was to bathe affected area using sea/rock salt and very warm water. The water is to be sprinkled on to the skin. the skin is not to be rubbed or massaged at this juncture then moisturise with expressed breast milk. Keeping the breast milk refridgerated. I tried the salt water bath when the skin was red raw and it seemed to seal the wounds. She also said that if she wants to moisturise her skin whilst in the bath she put oats in a small piece of stocking and puts it in the bath together with a little honey. She also says you can get some seaweed that you can put in the bath to nourish the skin. She advocated pure coconut oil as an emollient. She recommended a plant called Holy basil which has a sap which is anti bacterial which is good on the skin. She uses soap nuts to wash the families clothes and as she bottle feeds she ensures that her sons drink plenty of water between feeds.
Another friend recommended http://www.eczemaclothing/ .com as my son was out growing the scratch mits and I was using socks (socks only irritate the skin further). This has tops with mits incorporated and sleep wear and dungarees which cover the feet..
As treatment of eczema is trial and error you need as much advice as possible. Just remember some general rules. Soap is a no no as water alone dries the skin never mind use of an alkaline. Plus its good to hear from at least 3 people to confirm any advice given.

I see the specialist on 30th January and I hope to get further advice on how to manage this condition as not only does it cause the sufferer discomfort, it disrupts the family and can incapacitate the main carer.