help!? how can i stop him scratching? - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

gemmalou · 10-08-2007, 07:07 AM

ds is 6 months old, from about 10wks he has suffered from pretty bad eczema, just as it starts to look a little better he digs and scratches like crazy then it just goes bad again. we load him up in moisturiser and emmolient all day but he is so itchy, we have to put socks over his hands as he pulls mittens of but then he just rubs his face raw, we only have to be looking away for ten seconds and when we turn back it will be bleeding. we have these sleepsuits that you fold the top of the arm over which stops him from digging with his fingers but again he just rubs. he also rubs his arms against anythign that touches it and his arms are raw too. i just dont know what to do , it just goes around in circles and im so frustrated that we cant sort it out for him.
does anyone have any tips on how i can stop him from making it worse? all the dr's do is prescribe him cream to moisturise him then when it gets worse they give him steriod cream and his skin is already becoming immune to it and its not working so well.

please, any advice would be greatly received,

Cookiem26 · 10-08-2007, 07:45 PM

My DD is almost 16 months and has had eczema since she was tiny but it was never really that bad. She just gets it in patches on her legs and arms mostly. Are you bathing him everyday? You may want to cut back on bathing if you do it every day, at his age he doesn't need one every day anyway I wouldn't think, maybe a sponge bath some days. The doctor told us that soap will aggravate it and it's not always neccessary to use it. When you do bathe him, try Dove soap if you aren't already and try a really good lotion like Eucerin or Cetaphil. Another thing to think about is his laundry, do you use a dye and perfume free detergent? we do and we don't use fabric softner on dd's clothes. I think some foods will make it worse too. Sorry I can't be of more help, my daughter's case is minor compared to your little guy's. Just trying to give you a few ideas on how to prevent the outbreaks if that is possible. Good luck, I hope things get better.

Tiff24 · 10-08-2007, 08:48 PM

I just hate reading your posts about your sons eczema! It just breaks my heart! Your sweet little boy doesn't deserve to suffer. I can't imagine how frustrated you are. I don't know anything about eczema but is there anything on the internet that you can buy?

WorriednNervous · 10-09-2007, 09:39 AM

My middle son had eczema bad when he was little. He has since pretty much grown out of it with little flares in the winter. Have you tried any prescription creams yet? When he was little we had the doctor put him on Elidel which really helped his eczema. If you haven't tried that give it a try and see if it helps.

mjbrandon · 10-09-2007, 11:27 AM

I don't know anything about eczema but I feel so bad for your little guy! I am trying to think of the things we used on our skin to stop itching when we had chicken pox. Geez....ummm...I think my mom use to buy some powder stuff that made what she called an oatmeal bath. I have heard some people actually just put ground up oatmeal into the bath water. Also, maybe you could try Aveeno anti-itch cream. I would be really careful if you try these, because it may be hard on your little guys skin. I would try it on a small spot before using it all over, just to make sure his sensitive newborn skin could handle it.

Sorry I don't have any better solutions!