Feeling so down....

Oh reeally, they will do the allergy testing at her age? I would have thought she was too young.

Guess its worth a try!

I too suffer from chronic eczema and so does Eden, it's truly horrible and like Steph/Mum2Lucas, it got worse through pregnancy and hasn't gotten any better since.

It's not a natural remedy, but the one thing that I've found that helps both Eden and I incredibly, is Coal Tar with 1% Hyrdocortisone and Lemnis Fatty... It's amazing, I swear. Edens skin actually FEELS like a baby's skin should, not like worn out leather. And it clear everything up overnight. I swear to you, it's incredible. And as a moisturiser I use what's called Non-Ionic Cream and it comes in those big 500g tubs from the pharmacy.

The coal-tar cream w. 1% hydro you'd have to talk to your doctor about, as it's only available through prescription. But if your little Lauren is anything like my Eden, then it's most certainly worth looking into.

Other than that, I can't offer much more advice or information...

Oh, I could add that these two creams weren't actually prescribed to ME. It was a friend of mine whose Son suffers from bad eczema too, and they went and saw the big specialist up in Auckland who prescribed them. When they got home, she thought of me and passed on some of her creams in the hope that they would help us, and they have... So certainly something to think about.

Hugs to you both, I know how it feels, it's horrible!

Serenity, I am reasearching all the different types of creams everyones recommended, there are so many and I guess its trial and error to see what works!

Eczema is so FRUSTRATING and I stress big time about it, I think its a reflection that I am a bad mother, even though I know its so totally not, I just can't help it

DH gets so angry with me for even thinking like this.

Here's one website that I found really useful.
You may or may not have come across it during your research, but it was one of the sites recommended to me by the specialist.

Eczema Control

Yeah, finding the trigger really is the key.
But it's so funny the kind of conflicting advice you get about treating eczema.

I was told to not shower her, as it strips the skins natural oils and washes them down the drain, and to bathe her in the hottest water that she can handle. That's because the pores open right up and when you apply the moisturisers etc it's more effective.

Basically, she was saying that with eczema, it's just the skin's not functioning how it should, and that it's not necessarily an allergic reaction to anything. It's just the way it is unfortunately.
Anyways, back to the bathing. Hottest water that she'll handle, and moisturiser STRAIGHT away... head to toe, then once you've done that, do it again. Tedious? Yes... Worth it? Absolutely.
The other tirck is to use emulsifier in the bath... I melt it down completely on the stove or in the microwave and add it to the bath water. You have to use heaps though. Like a handful or two of the emulsifying ointment. As the bath cools the emulsifier will normally start to solidify so there';; be little solid floaty bits, catch these and use them as her soap. Rubbing it into her skin and it'll turn white. You can then rinse it off with CLEAN water.

Umm, I'll think of some more stuff to post once I've finished with dinner... But if you have any questions, please feel free to PM me or just post here.
I'm more than happy to help you out in any way I can My heart and thoughts go out to you. It's so tough.

O.k I will PM you!

Thanks so much for your support and advice everyone!

Oh poor Lauren. Hope you can get to the bottom of it. Don't think that it reflects badly on you - you're obviously doing everything you can to try & treat it or prevent it.
I second that emulsifying ointment in the bath that Serenity suggested. It's really messy to use but does moisturise the skin really well.
You haven't changed your washing powder or anything lately have you? Also with it coming into spring, I guess there's a lot more pollen etc around which could potentially be a trigger... Hopefully the hair strand test will come back with some results.