I want to share with all the mums out there the heartache of having a baby with eczema. At the age of 6 months our son developed and was diagnosed with discoid eczema which to a small person can be quite debilitating. He was literally covered from head to toe and found it uncomfortable to be touched. It absolutely broke our hearts to see our gorgeous son with this horrible condition. The sad thing is that my son like so many other babies and toddlers, suffer from this condition everyday. We rely on antihistamines and steroid creams to keep it under control to give him just the slightest comfort. Because of the constant itching and scratching, our son developed poor sleeping habits and l would find myself washing his cot / bed sheets most days because they would be covered in blood. It literally looked like a war zone in his bed.
Over time we tried every product on the market and eventually settled on Aveeno Cream mixed with steroids as prescribed by our skin specialist. This may sound crazy, but occasionally he would have to have a bleach bath (1 cup in the bath) to aid in killing off any infections that may have developed when his skin had a major outbreak. Every night he would have to be covered from head to toe in moisturising cream and have steroid cream applied to the affected areas. Let me just say that toddlers are not the most compliant nor do they understand that the daily moisturising routine is to help them. By the age of 2 we saw his skin improve where he only had hot spots on his body. For the first time since he was 6 months old, he had a small reprieve from being covered from head to toe.
Over time l did my research to see what l could do to help alleviate the problem. We bathed him in soap free products, changed our washing detergent to Omo Sensitive and stopped using fabric softeners, kept the hot spots moisturising to stop them from drying out which allowed his skin to heal and on hot days tried to keep him cool and out of the heat… We saw a great improvement. We monitoring his skin whenever we introduced new foods or environments to see if there were any triggers. One of the things that we did notice was his clothing. Whenever we placed clothing on him which was not made from 100% cotton he would have an outbreak. We started buying only 100% cotton clothing and we saw an improvement in his skin as it allowed his skin to breathe.
Then, recently whilst l was on Facebook l came across a product called Itchy Baby (oatmeal bath) and bought some online. We bathed him in it everyday and saw a visible change in his skin. His eczema didn’t look so red and irritated and put moisturise back into his skin. Whilst it didn’t completely heal it, it provide great relief.
We hope that as he gets older he will grow out of it, but until then, don’t be afraid to try some products as all babies are different with different types of eczema. The only thing l can stress is that please ensure that you get professional advice prior to exposing your child to some products to ensure that there are no adverse side effects (steroid creams). I do recommend trying some of the hints (excluding the bleach baths, as this is a medical course of action) suggested in the blog to see if they can help you and your little one.
Would be happy to hear any success stories from mums and dads or other suggestions to help other sufferers combat eczema.
Take Care
BRC
