[loving2foster]

I have an AA baby coming into my care tomorrow and they said that she does have eczema, and I was just wondering if any of you have some great remedies to try. This will be our first placement and I am not sure what to do about eczema. Thanks for any ideas...mom of 6

[kelceesmom]

Go look up a thread I did on it. Lots of remedies.

I think it was called first time eczema or something like that. I received a lot of info. Good luck.

[mommyto9]

I have a 4 yr old AA fd and a 1 yr old AA fs. They both have eczema. I was told by the family not to feed them OJ, chocolate, or egg whites. I put vaseline on little boy and was told to put hydrocortisone cream on both children at night. I'll admit I have not done this and they seem to be doing just fine. The vaseline seems to be doing the trick. My daughter who is 12 and caucasion has eczema, hers can get pretty bad and she has to use "Elidel" (prescription)on some spots. I would say if it seems pretty bad, I would take the child to the Dr. and see what their recommendations are.

[shoeyzgirl]

Hello! I have a 1 year old whom we are in the process of adopting. Her foster mom gave us "tons" of stuff and info. (I also have eczema as well!) It works really really well!

1.)The key is to keep it clean and MOISTURIZED!
2.) We put on her daily Eucerin all over her body, although right now because the weather is so dry, we put vaseline on her face, and mix baby oil in Johnson's baby lotion (the one with the aloe and vitamin e) so that's extra extra protection.
3.) Try and stay away from products with perfumes etc..
4.) Be careful with hydrocortisone. Some babies its too much. (For me personally, it didn't work) Elidel works best for the breakouts (bumps). I would go to the dr. and get a prescription.

5.) Bathtime, use Aveeno or non-drying moisturizing soap. (The foster mom gave me a bar of Aveeno bar soap which works fine). After that "moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!

The doctor was amazed at how well she did so.. it works! Good luck!

[Forever_family]

I had an AA foster son with severe eczema, scabs from head to toe and even some infected oozing sores when he arrived. After a matter of a few weeks his skin was clear of eczema . Here is what worked for him.

Aveeno liquid soap. was told to use bar of Dove soap-but that dried out his skin and made the eczema worse.

I used DREFT detergent, anything else would cause an eczema outbreak.

Aquaphor immediatly following any bath, swimming etc. I tried other lotions and creams but this was the only one that worked.

Applied Aquaphor in winter-drier months morning and night to entire body and scalp. Sometimes more often to affected areas.

Used olive oil in scalp during the summer.

Used topical steriod treatments from Dr for severe outbreaks-but that was only in the beginning when he arrived.

Noticed certain foods caused a problem. Too much milk and not enough water, anything acidic like pineapple, orange juice etc would cause a severe outbreak.

I was told to use benadryl if he was itchy.

[pogonorms]

Use one of the "free" detergents, NO dryer sheets (not really realistic...static, static everywhere!)

I would not use Elidel because it has been linked to cancer.

Hydrocortizone is a definate. I also use Aquaphor. Just keep that baby slathered in Aquaphor.

[loving2foster]

do i use the aquaphor ointment or lotion? mom of 6

[pogonorms]

I didn't know they made lotion now. Use the Vaseline-looking ointment.

Anything that is thin is not good enough. You need something thick.

[Forever_family]

Use the Aquaphor in a large tub-jar like Eucerine cream-it has the similar consistancy of vasaline. I slathered the stuff on, it will also make your hands nice and soft! Our baby boy LOVED getting his lotion massage.

L

[loving2foster]

does the lotion ruin clothes? I know I have gotten vaseline on a throw and it made a grease stain...mom of 6

[coopspa]

We have a lot of eczema sufferers in our family. One that works for almost all is to bathe less often. With our daughter we bathed her only 2 times a week. We used a warm washcloth for the in between days. Cleared up in a matter of days. For a lot, even water will dry out the skin, so bathing less often lets the skins natural oils work.

[pechocha]

For our dd, bathing her everyday soothes her skin, immediately after her bath, I applied the aquaphor, and Elidel when she has an outbreak... But like my allergist said, 80% of success for eczema to be undercontrol is skin care, moiturize, moisturize, as much as you can. Also, changing my dd to organic whole milk, seemed to do the trick, she hasn't had an outbreak since.

Isa

[StorkWatcher]

Our son's is not horrible, so this is what our ped prescribed:

wash w/ Dove gentle bar soap (bye bye sweet smelling baby washes! We even tried an Aveeno Baby, but it didn't seem to make a difference)

I use only Dreft to launder his clothes. All Baby didn't work as well. My friend used All Free for her kids.

Use Lubriderm or Eucerin lotion. I also find Aquaphor helps on the worst patches.

We now also have a prescription cream which is Eucerin with something else compounded in.

I don't over bathe our son in the winter. I can see a big difference if I'm not diligent about applying the lotions.

[tinatyme]

My little brother (2 years old) has really bad eczema and goes every 3 months to Johns Hopkins to see specialist. In addition to the prescription creams that we use when he has a particularly bad outbreak, the doctors told us to apply vaseline from head to toe everyday at least twice a day, no perfumes, or lotions or products (like sunscreen) with perfume, keep him out of sun and wind, short baths in tepid water no more than 3 times a week and only for 20 minutes maximum.

Additionally we have researched links to food and have taken him completely off milk (using only soymilk) and limited his flour and sugar consumption which has seemed to help. Also when they get older if the eczema is still bad you will have to redirect them not to scratch because when they get bored, frustrated or nervous it can be a habit and they will just scratch without noticing.

Every child is different and you might have to experiment with the products that work best, the amount of bathing your child can tolerate, what seasons or weather conditions irritate their skin more, etc. It seems like a lot of work but after a while it is second nature. Oh, it is really sunny today, let's find something to do in your room or hmmm it looks like you are having a little outbreak why don't we add another session of vaselining (as we call it in my house).

Good luck

[kristypayne]

Aquaphor is great over the counter for excema, also the cetaphil worked great!