Babies: 3 - 6 Months

Has anyone ever cleared up infant eczema with OTC remedies?

I am trying to figure out what I need to do for my 3 month old LO who has eczema on his face. I'm not against prescription drugs at all, I just want to know if I can improve his skin at home as well. Yesterday I bought some cortizone 10 (1%). I'm also using the healing ointment aquaphor. Since he has a little in his head as well, I also bought some California Baby Super Sensitive Skin Shampoo and body wash for his hair.

All of these are recommended on the nationaleczema.org website. Except for the cortizone 10, but I noticed yesterday that it does bother him. He kept swiping his cheek with the back of his hand. I don't think I really noticed that it bothered him until yesterday. So now we've clipped his nails and put the mittens back on at night to prevent scratching. 

Anywho..I'm just trying to see what I can do at home before I make a trip to the pedi. 

Re: Has anyone ever cleared up infant eczema with OTC remedies?

  • There really isn't much more you can do. (I have eczema as well, so I've been there, done that :) I used to use Eucerin lotion when I was young, and my eczema was worse, and that helped.

    If it gets really bad you can try an oatmeal bath. Cold will also stop itching so once he's old enough to scratch it purposefully you can try putting a little cold pack on the itchy area for a few minutes to relieve it. HTH!

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  • I am not sure if this could be accomplished before your trip to the pedi, but my son has some pretty nasty eczema and I use a lotion made out of my breastmilk.  We applied it with every diaper change and saw improvement by the end of the first day.  Now I only apply it when it looks like it is flaring up again.  It must really be soothing too b/c he loves it when I put it on :)  Below is the link to the recipe I used.  Oh, and I used coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil. 

    https://www.justbreastfeeding.com/benefits-to-breastfeeding/breast-milk-lotion-recipe/

    Edited:  Link is now clicky :)


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  • imageAndie41:

    There really isn't much more you can do. (I have eczema as well, so I've been there, done that :) I used to use Eucerin lotion when I was young, and my eczema was worse, and that helped.

    If it gets really bad you can try an oatmeal bath. Cold will also stop itching so once he's old enough to scratch it purposefully you can try putting a little cold pack on the itchy area for a few minutes to relieve it. HTH!

     

    I also bought the Eucerin yesterday as well per my sister's recommendation. My 10 year old niece had it pretty bad when she was a toddler. I remember my sister getting Elidel from the doctor as well as giving her oatmeal baths.

    I feel so bad for him. Ugh. :-(

    Did you ever have to have anything prescribed. If so, did it work well? 

  • We really like Cetaphil Restoroderm. I also limit baths to 2-3x a week and use BabyGanics oatmeal wash instead of soap. Good luck!
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  • Limit the number of baths each week, and the baths should be on the cooler side for water temperature and relatively quick.  Water/soap dries the skin.  Aveeno soothing relief wash seemed to help my DD.  Lathering in aquaphor twice a day.
  • Our Dr recommended A&D ointment, it worked within a week and haven't had a reoccurance in over 1.5 months
  • Thanks for the advice ladies. Ok....the Cortizone 10 is working great! I bought it as an anti itch. I had no idea it would actually clear the skin up. It's been 2 days and I put it on 3 times a day and his skin is smoother and feels and looks so much better.
  • Glad to hear your LO is feeling better! The hydrocortizone is what really worked for us too. I got a prescription for it though, 2.5% strength. Also our doctor recommended more baths, not less. Just limit the amount of time and no bubbles, don't let the soap linger on their skin. We've been using Aquaphor bath gel, and the lotion afterwards. Haven't had to use the cortizone in awhile. Part of the reason is we figured out her eczema was caused by a milk protein allergy. It only flares up when I eat dairy (DD is EBF).

    Also someone else mentioned Elidel, I use it for some eczema on my eyelid so I mentioned it to the pedi figuring it was super gentle. He said not to use it on babies because it hasn't been tested. There's a lot more data on the cortizone creams.

  • imageoneyedsally:

    Glad to hear your LO is feeling better! The hydrocortizone is what really worked for us too. I got a prescription for it though, 2.5% strength. Also our doctor recommended more baths, not less. Just limit the amount of time and no bubbles, don't let the soap linger on their skin. We've been using Aquaphor bath gel, and the lotion afterwards. Haven't had to use the cortizone in awhile. Part of the reason is we figured out her eczema was caused by a milk protein allergy. It only flares up when I eat dairy (DD is EBF).

    Also someone else mentioned Elidel, I use it for some eczema on my eyelid so I mentioned it to the pedi figuring it was super gentle. He said not to use it on babies because it hasn't been tested. There's a lot more data on the cortizone creams.

     

    Oh. Thanks. Yes I had mentioned my sister used Elidel when my niece was toddler. But it's good to know that information.

    Also I read that it's more baths instead of less that LO needs and immediately moisturize (within 3 minutes after the bath) to seal in the moisture. I will be doing this with Aquaphor. 

  • Everything that you're using, I've tried!  My daughter is 5 1/2 mos right now and I noticed her eczema started to appear when she was 3mos.  The pedi initially prescribed cetaphil/aquaphor moiturizer and soap and hydrocortizone 1%.  I stuck with the aquaphor because it was a lot thicker than the cetaphil.  I used the aquaphor daily and every night but I noticed she was still always itchy!  I did a bunch of research on California Baby and also Aveeno and I decided to try the California Baby... mind you, the very next day her skin was extremely dry and it looked like it made her skin worse ): I ended up returning it and was almost tempted to try Aveeno but my gut told me to stick with what I had at home.  My sister in law's sister actually suggested the Cortizone 10 (it's OTC, the one that comes in a red tube) and i tried it..  It worked amazingly on her body, but for her face I do still use the prescribed hydrocortizone and aquaphor.  I know every baby is different but unfortunately it's going to be trial and error to find something that works for our babies and it's going to be an ongoing battle.  Also, I don't know if you've done so already, but I changed our laundry detergent, and cut out cows milk out of my diet.  The pedi suggested I cut out dairy completely but it's really hard for me so I do the best I can.  Good luck and I hope my experience will help you out, even a little.

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