Baby eczema; need an everyday moisturiser that doesn’t hurt him!

[MrsHf]

My 8mo DS has eczema on his torso and back, my eldest DS has very similar (but not quite as bad) and we used aveno for him that always worked well. But every cream I put on him makes him scream and the eczema go red! I’ve tried emollients, aveno dermexa, balmonds skin salvation, but everything makes him cry and itch! The only thing I can use without him crying is Vaseline but then I’m so worried with this sunny weather of covering him in Vaseline because I think it would make him more likely to sunburn even with sun block and in the shade, just a little bit of sun with Vaseline is like having oil on!! Can anyone recommend any just daily moisturiser that won’t make his eczema sore?! I’ve asked the gp they just recommended emollients, it’s not bad enough for steroids I just need a everyday moisturiser day moisturiser that won’t make him scream 😢

Have you tried oilatum? Or get a medicated cream to go under Vaseline. If it hurts I suggest going back to the doctors as it shouldn’t be so painful. Vaseline is just a barrier cream so it won’t help healing at all.

ok aside from the moisturisers have you discovered their triggers yet .We have it in our family but everyone has their own triggers which make it flare something awful

could be anything

scented laundry detergent
dairy
any scented product
non cotton clothing

you may have to go down a rabbit hole

with new cream test patch it just a small area to start wait 24hrs does it react

My son has bad eczema and we have found most success with epimax (which can be used as a bath wash too) and also QV ointment. Keeping the skin moist is so important so creaming at least twice a day morning and night, and sometimes adding a third at lunchtime too. Bathing as infrequently as possible, maybe twice a week if possible. And the key is to pat their skin dry (not rub) and then get their cream on within 3 minutes of being out of the water to lock in moisture straight away. They hate being creamed and it is a task to do it multiple times a day but it is the only way to keep their skin moist enough. Beyond that, only using non bio unscented laundry detergent, and being aware of any triggers. Ours is worst in the winter with the heating on.

I would say - dont be scared of steroids if skin doesn't improve. You only need a small amount for a short amount of time to get a flare up under the control, and then make sure you taper off rather than abruptly stop. We only have to do this intermittently if flare ups are nasty - generally we are on top of it with the emollient.

Something to watch out for is skin infection as that can happen with inflamed skin. My son hsd it once - his skin was very red and hot and he was much more aggravated than usual by it. They took a swab and he had a course of antibiotics that cleared it up very quickly.

Good luck x

Have you tried cutting out dairy, using 100% cotton? Just to minimise flare ups.

Id go for an ointment style one - Zeroderm does a good one. It’s the best for when my eczema is super sensitive

To add to the above - 100% cotton clothing, especially pjs! And also a humidifier can help to keep the air moist (although in the current climate probably not needed)! X

As a life long excema person I don't use soap, just water. The best moisturiser I have found which I love is Neutrogena Norwegian formula hand cream. It is SPF 20 and doesn't sting me at all. It is pretty thick but spreads out. Worth a try. It's quite cheap usually about £4 and lasts for ages. Good Luck.

When I worked in the pharmacy of a paediatric hospital, aqueous cream was commonly prescribed.

Palmers cocoa butter or child’s farm were the best for our son. All the oil based moisturisers such as oilatum didn’t allow the skin to breath and actually made his eczema worse

We washed with aqueous cream, then epaderm ointment. We had ABs for infection when it was worst. He did grow out of it.

Zerobase used as both a soap and moisturiser. I have had eczema since birth and spent my life always reacting to creams after a few days of use. Could use something short term and then suddenly it would be making my skin worse.
Even after getting a diagnosis of being allergic to wheat, I found I would just start reacting to creams randomly, even though I was very strictly making sure they were wheat free and perfume free. Zerobase is the only cream I have managed to use consistently for many years now. Very rarely have to use steroids nowadays.

I'd also keep a food diary and just see if you can find any links. Reactions will likely not be immediate either, look for patterns.

Commonly prescribed and absolutely crap ;) don’t know anyone who sticks with the stuff.

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I think zerobase/zeroderm seems to be mentioned a few times so will try that. @failiangatfood the QV ointment was one of the ones that made him cry and go red unfortunately but will definitely try epimax in the bath thank you for your reply 🩷 that’s really helpful.

My eldest already has eczema and so do I, but as I’ve found different creams seem to work differently for each of us. Both boys had it from babies while exclusively breastfed, with my son I did elimination diets but nothing changed and with having eczema, hayfever & asthma myself and my eldest also has terrible hayfever it’s more likely a genetic atopy than environmental.

We use ecover laundry detergent and then no perfumes/soaps or lotions and all of his clothes are 100% cotton as he is still in the little baby vests- so quite easy to do as he hasn’t hit the stage of wanting paw patrol T-shirts yet 😂

I’ve managed to get a good handle on my own eczema and my eldest over the years, eucerin works amazingly for me and aveno for my eldest, just a case of trying different creams until I find one that works for my baby, I just hate seeing him in pain. Will definitely do the patch test as recommended rather than just spreading each new cream all over!

Thank you everyone again for all your replies and help!

I would revisit the elimination diet. I thought my ds's was not treatable but it literally disappeared a week after cutting out eggs and oats.

You should also avoid all food based creams (olive, oat based) because it can create food allergies if they enter the skin though eczema.i

Another vote for Childs Farm, great everyday moisturiser for very sensitive skin

My eldest had it really badly ( same as you a family of hay fever, eczema, asthma), he says that the best he's found is Palmers cocoa butter but fragrance free version, in my experience anything with artificial perfume (parfum) makes it worse and weirdly even some of the creams designed for eczema contain this 🤷🧓

Buzzbalm - used it on my nephews eczema when he was a tot

https://buzzbalm.co.uk/

Our 3.5 year old son has severe to moderate eczema all over his body. Angry patches everywhere. He scratches even more as soon as we take his clothes off.

Our holy grail which we have only discovered a couple of months ago is Doublebase ONCE. Note that Doublebase has many types/ranges. We have used their original one before but did not wow us.

Ever since we started using ONCE, he only has flare ups behind and in front of his neck and only during the heatwave.

Before this we were using Epaderm ointment in the winter and Epimax cream in the summer. Apparently ointments get too greasy in the summer and will have the opposite effects. 🤷🏻‍♀️ They were a bit hit and miss but was the best compared to the rest we tried - Cetraben, Diprobase, Aveenon etc. We have tried pretty much everything under the sun. And we were also using the stronger type of steroid roughly once every two weeks (sometimes more) up till now.

Hope this helps!

Dd used Neutrogena body moisturiser on dgd from about 6 months. 400ml bottle currently £3.50 ish in Tesco. Unscented. As a family we are allergic to lanolin so it limits a lot of moisturisers. Neutrogena has been brilliant.