Eczema triggers + effective treatments

My boy started at about 6 months and before that we had some restless sleep. We went dairy free at about 8 or 9 months and within 3 days he slept better (use to wake up between 12 and 20 times) down to one time waking up.

His excema didnt get much better. I used everything people told me too. Went to the GP who told me it isnt allergies. I then went to go see a private allergy specialist specialising in kids. Dr Allen Liang at St Helliers bay.

He did blood tests the day before his first birthday. It came back that he is severely allergic to egg (good thing he never really ate that except for in baking). I was given 555 cream (it is a silicone based one) and pirmacort (or something like that, basically a cortizone.)

Put the cortizone on and leave it on for at least 30 min but better for an hour before you put anything else on top. Then use the 555 after that and put as many times as you want on. Use the cortizone until 4 days after the excema completely dissapears.

I was told to eat dairy again and see how he handles it. But he didnt at all. So he is considered allergic to that and we so far found kiwifruit. To be honest his excema is really a lot better but he still has two small spots next to each corner of the mouth that just doesnt dissapear. (he is on antihistamine as well every night)

This week he is off everything before his skin prick tests and his excema is a lot better again. So my thing is go see a specialist or get a GP to order the right tests for you. It might mean that you will have to pay yourself (it was $220 for the first visit and $100 each time after that) but it is worth finding out exactly what is causing it.

kabe wrote: Speck8 wrote: So my questions are: What triggers your baby's eczema? And what do you find to be the best treatment? (other than general moisturisers). Has anyone been to see Dr Joseph Williams in Akld? 1. Found out that DD's eczema was triggered by food allergies, especially dairy. Soy was another big trigger 2. Specialist prescribed Cetomacrogol cream and that was the only thing that worked for us. GP can also prescribe it. We use emulsifying lotion to wash her and avoid all scented lotions/soaps etc. 3. never heard of him. I can highly recommend Dr Rohan Ameratunga though!

ditto to kabe's answers, but our DD is allergic to cats and environmental conditions. In Winter her skin is a dream, in Summer its a nightmare. The creams noted above that Rohan Ameratunga precsribed for us have been a godsend TBH.

Edited by peachy

Hey Kabe, what formula did you use if your LO was allergic to dairy and soy?

Dairy seems to flare up DDs skin. If she gets too hot that makes her itchy.

What helps is her amber necklace (it took a couple of weeks but it has all but cleared apart from when she dribbles heaps and the odd bit in her creases), baking soda baths or pinetarsol if she's really itchy.

Aveeno baby moisturiser, aqueous cream and hydro-cortisone are what I use regularly as well as bee balm.

jeepers people will think I get commision for this stuff but... inner health plus is fab !!

some skin conditions are a result of an overgrowth of yeast in the stomach - so limiting foods containing starch, yeast and sugars may help but also taking acidophilis supplements to help balance to internal growth of bacteria and fungus- as they are also an immune booster its a great product for little people anyway
incidentally for grown ups great if you get thrush all the time, take anitbiotics or get dandruff
I have put loads of people on to this and no one has said its rubbish yet

ps hydrocortisone is great but use sparingly as overuse can cause sensitisation due to the skin being thinned over time - obviously when you have a poor wee soul in agony you do what you have to do
also adding olive oil (or apricot, almond etc) to the bath is really soothing (and much cheaper!)

Edited by Raspberryjam

My DS is allergic to wheat, eggs, dairy and peanuts. We went for the skin prick test to figure it out. And even though he is avoiding all of those things he is still really bad at the moment.

He is on BM and formula and I am trying to wean him onto neocate fully, but if he isnt feeling well he will refuse the bottle. I have also tried to cut everything he is allergic too out of my diet, but wheat seems to be hiding in so many places!

We did go to see Joe Williams. He is a GP that specialises in skin conditions. He has a cream that is part steroid, part anti-fungal that he prescribes. It was good, but as soon as we stopped using it the eczema was back.

We are now on a natural cream called xma-ease which is about $35 a tube from the pharmacy and works well. We also have a hydrocortisone cream, but I feel like we have been using that for too long now, so try to avoid using that on his face.

We also put a few drops of lavender essential oil and milk in his bath and that seems to work really well. Solids is a whole other issue, as he reacts to alot of food like pears, apples, pumpkin etc so his diet is extremely limited to just carrots, pumpkin and a gluten/dairy/egg free cereal.

Sally wrote: I'm interested to hear how people find Xma-ease. HuntersMama - you guys have found this good?

Ive found it great. The only thing other than a steroid cream that actually works. Its now around $32 - 35 a tube, and that only lasts us about 2-3 weeks as I slather it on all day to keep things under control.

Speck, fatty cream has cetamacrogol in it, I think the others got a stronger formulation of it specially prescribed, We use Locoid on his body which is much stronger than the 1% and works really well.

The peadiatrician should help heaps, have you tried the excema probiotics? Have you looked at your washing powder and what you use in your bath for irritants.

Kimnthekids wrote: Our DD has suffered since she was only a few weeks old! At 3 months we were referrred to a specialist and we ended up stopping BFing and going onto Neocate formula (which is in no way milk based) .

Neocate is actually made from cows milk but the proteins have been reduced back to amino acids so there is basically no dairy protein in it which is the main part of dairy that people react to.

Speck does you baby have frothy mucousy poohs? This is usually part of dairy allergy/intolerance.

You could do a simple 10 day test where you totally cut out dairy, replace with soy or rice milk, oil instead of butter. If there is no improvement in the ezcema in this time then it will not be related to dairy.

Then do the same for wheat which is another big ezcema trigger.

Your GP can request a skin prick test for the main food group, you might as well get the things like grasses tested as well.

Neocate is not based on dairy proteins at all, it made from elemental amino acids. Its the dairy protein that causes dairy allergys. You can look it all up on their website, I'm sure all the info is on there.

HA formulas are still based on dairy, the protein chains have just been broken down a bit so its easier to digest. this is based on the fact that breastmilk has smaller chains of protein so is easier to digest (and formulas have different whey: casein protein rations which make them more or less easy to digest - and more /less filling) ... so some bubs find some formula harder on their tums.

sorry to butt in ... I'm a food tech (I develop infant formulas) so just wanted to give accurate info.

My boy has bad rashes but generally only on his bum (started at 16mths), we've had prick tests (no positives) and hair tested (too many positives!) and tried lots of creams .... we were told it would probably go when he gets out of naps, but it hasn't ... so we put the steroid creams on all the time still as that and micreme are the only things that seem to help. Apart from not eating fruit! (But he loves fruit).