We have been battling bad eczema on my son's cheeks since he was around 4 months old (hes 14months now). I had allergies in the form of eczema when i was a baby as well so i wasn't surprised when it showed up on him, although his is much worse.
I am quite strongly against using steroids on him at such a young age (generally a doctor here will prescribe some kind of corticosteroid cream). Sterioid creams usually do improve eczema quickly... however using them long Term especially in infants can have some nasty side effects so it is important to be able to manage the eczema without steroids in the long term. I use the steroid cream only when his skin is very very bad and only until it is improved enough that i know i can manage it naturally.
At the moment we use MooGoo (the ISB and MSM are the most useful to us, but full cream is also useful to have around so we generally get an eczema starter pack and top up with the ISB/MSM combo until the shower milk runs out).
I love the smell of the buds rescue cream and always have some around. It seems to help sooth his skin when it is really itchy but doesn't seem to add much moisture.
I also always have a tub of sudocrem (originally for disper rash) around which works well to protect his skin under his chin from dribble and sweat which irritates his skin. Sudocrem Is also good at locking in the moisture added by one of the other creams.
I have also tried california baby calendula cream (helps with dryness when his eczema is mild but seems to irritate his skin when it is red and itchy), ezzera (reduces dryness quite well but doesn't sooth irritated skin), cetaphil lotion/shower gel (useless for us, the shower gel is disgusting and the lotion is too thin to moisturize well before he rubs it off), shea butter (adds nice moisture and seems mildly soothing but takes a long time to soak in so a bit hard to use on an infant). I have tried a couple of others as well but can't remember them now.
One of the most important things when dealing with eczema is to try and find what triggers it. Although there are many different triggers and it is different for everyone the common ones are: cows milk, dust, animal hair/saliva, cigarette smoke, detergents, soaps, fragrance (as in perfumes and some shower products), egg whites and pollution. Obviously it is impossible to totally eliminate things like pollution and dust, but you can try to minimize exposure to reduce symptoms (eczema) if they turn out to be a trigger.
To help identify triggers it is sometimes useful to keep a diary of what your child ate/where he went/new things he came in contact with as well as anytime you notice a flare up, that way you can see if there is any common factor leading up to a flare up (eg. He always ate strawberries and was itchy within an hour). By identifying triggers and avoiding them as much as possible you will make the eczema much easier to control until he (hopefully) grows out of it like most children do (as they age it usually at least gets much more minor and easy to control).
Also try to keep him at a stable temperature, going between hot, sunny outdoors and cold ac rooms really stresses sensitive skin. With all the rain at the moment it isn't so bad but when it is a really hot day my sons face is instantly worse, especially if we have been in a very cold room.
When my mum was treating my eczema (in the uk) she used E45 cream which i have used my whole life if i ever feel my skin is a little dry (Nivea E45 is the one i had) but i haven't been able to find any in Malaysia. Alternatively Aqueous cream is often prescribed in Uk for eczema especially in infants but i can't find that here either!
Also here is a list of all the remidies i have been told to try (i own a shop and my son comes to work with me, as his eczema is on his face and can get quite bad pretty much everyone who comes in asks us whats wrong, then asks if we have been applying anything and then tells us what they would use):
aloe vera, chamomile, rice water (as in the milky colored water you have cleaned rice in), diamond filtered water (as in the white box the makes drinking water, not water filtered through actual diamonds), tea bags, green tea, buttermilk, 'blend of herbs', breast milk, crocodile meat (to eat, not apply on his face), cucumber, [insert a few other random common household things that have slipped my mind right now], but the weirdest one i have heard so far (although if you can bear to do it, does seem to have both scientific merit and plenty of success stories is to let him pee on a cloth and then mop the eczema (in our case his face!) with it...
Hope that helps. I know it is a lot to take in and eczema can seem like such a pain (for my son it really effects everything from sleep to eating as he wakes himself up scratching and can't settle himself so i still get up a few times a night and eating certain things like tomato pasta sauce or oranges will sting) but just remember that it will get better and you aren't alone. Try one thing at a time and figure out what works best for you (everyone is different and what helps one persons eczema may have no effect on someone elses), enjoy the good times and don't worry too much about the bad.
Oh also, if he is scratching a lot, mittens are good and keeping his nails short is a must. Also keep him well hydrated (if you breast feed, drink lots of water yourself to hydrate him that way, otherwise offer him water often) as well hydrated skin is less prone to flareups and hey will be less severe.
I think that is all i can think of for now. I really hope your babys eczema is not and will never be as bad as ours is. Hope you find a management routine that works well for you soon. If you ever need any advice or help or just someone who understands how depressing and frustrating it is to hear "whats wrong with your baby? Don't you apply any cream?" for the hundredth time, give me a shout
Added on November 5, 2012, 11:10 pm Just so you know, most of the "organic fake shit" are from either Australia or USA where there are regulations on what can be called organic. Both buds and moogoo are regulated by Australian authorities and are very good products that help thousands of people manage their eczema...
nice. there are 9 bodies in australia that can award that title.
In Australia, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is the controlling body for organic export certification. As of 2012, there are seven AQIS-approved certifying organisations, they are AUS-QUAL Limited, Australian Certified Organic, Bio-Dynamic Research Institute, NASAA Certified Organic, Organic Food Chain, Safe Food Productions Queensland, Tasmanian Organic-dynamic Producers these organisations are authorised to issue Organic Produce Certificates on behalf of AQIS.
There are two certification bodies that work domestically and are not controlled by AQIS. These are Organic Growers of Australia who is accredited by the International Organic Accreditation Service and Australia's largest certification body SAI Global who is accredited by JASANZ. SAI Global certifies to the Australian Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products (AS 6000).
each certifying body has a different regulation from another. some are more relaxed, some are strict.
There isnt a proper standard defining what can or cannot be labelled organic. each certifying body has its own set of pre-definitions on what can be labelled as organic or not. some can say 95% of raw materials must be organic before u can label it as organic. so therefore u are left with 5 % of chemicals. how users perceive that, is entire individual.
smart ones in chemistry dealing in personal care range, will ignore the organic claim, as it will still contain SLES or SES.
i also perceive the fact that anything containing preservatives should never be labelled as organic but i'm not a certifying body. Yet all of our organic shampoo's and shower gels must contain some form of preservative. whether paraben based, or phenoxyethanol based, or mixtures of K series. to me, those chemicals will always be a non substandard item but a necessity to de-bacterialize the product. even binding agents are needed as water can never mix with oil.
hey but like i said, its an end users perception. if u're in the personal care range industry, u'd know that organic is just a claim. no personal care range such as shampoo or shower gel or even moisturizers are free from chemical and derived 100% out of organic stuffs.
if u want to learn more, i'd be more than happy to share my views with you.