Severe eczema in 3 mo. old

[nicoleandjackson]

I'm taking a break from snuggling my delicious three-month old nephew who's in town for the first time. I have a question regarding the eczema/allergy connection.

DN has oozy crust all over his body--the worst is on his head. He started out on regular formula but had a bad reaction (scaly skin w/yellow crusties, colicky symptoms, etc.) Then they switched to a soy-based formula, which cleared things up but caused projectile vomiting within a few days. Currently my BIL and SIL are experimenting with Alimentium/Nutramigen, but the scalyness (SP?) is back with a vengeance. Poor little muffin is scratching like crazy! Any BTDT advice? My SIL has sent away for a sample of Neocate as a last-ditch effort.

Also, he is on Axid for GERD/reflux, FWIW.

TIA!

ETC: typos

Nicole, Mommy to Jackson 4/30/02

[babysophia]

With my DD1, she had pretty bad eczema by 2 months. She was on Alimentum/Nutramigen for colic, but it did not help the eczema. Not all eczema is food related, and it wasn't for my DD. We did best by using steroid creams, aquaphor, and installing a whole house humidifier. DD, now 2.5, still has eczema, but it is much more manageable. Good luck to your little nephew!

Susan

[LarsMal]

DS had eczema due to a dairy allergy. Once he was off all dairy at 1, his cheeks cleared up really well. He still has a couple pesky spots, but they aren't really a problem. He was BF until 7 months, then on Alimentum for a couple months, and finally on Good Start. I used Cetaphil in his bath, Aquaphor all over, and steroid cream when it got really bad. When DD was born I started using Eucerin original lotion on both of them and it works really well.

I, myself, have developed pretty bad eczema since DD was born. Some of the things I have found really helpful are:

Vaseline Deep Moisture Creamy Formula- It comes in a tube, like Aquaphor (Target sells it for around $3.) It's really thick. They claim it's as effective as pure Vaseline Petroleum jelly, just not sticky and gross. It's really nice b/c I have found it really does work, but it's not all nasty like having Aquaphor on. She may want to check with the doc first, but I would assume it's safe for babies, too. Fragrance free, hypoallergenic, and non-comdedogenic.

Aveeno has also come out with an "Eczema Care" line. They have a bath wash and a lotion. On their website they have information from a clinical study and claim it is the first product to get approval from the Eczema Society (I have NO idea if that's a really good thing or not!). It is also fragrance free and says it is safe for babies. I've only used it a few times now, but it also seems to be helping me.

I hope they find something that helps. Eczema sucks!

************
ETA: I have just spent a lot of time online looking at probiotics and their use in treating/preventing eczema. There is a lot of good info out there if you BIL/SIL want to do a search. They would obviously need to talk to their ped first, but if they are looking for a natural way to treat the eczema- it's worth a shot IMO. Good luck to them!

[sand82552]

Has he been to the doctor? I know silly question, but my doctor said that crazy rashes are very common in newborn babies, and that they usually don't give a diagnosis (sp?) of eczema until they are older.

My DD's was so bad, and what is even more sad, is that I have barely any pictures of her from these times. She outgrew the horrible rashes that she had as an infant though, and now she has mild problems. As an infant I just kept it clean and dry, my doctor told me it would run it's course, and that it would be better to leave it.

ETA - I just reread your post, and I see one difference and that is that DD's was not itchy, or at least she never itched as an infant.

She does itch now, she gets patch behind her knees, and in her armpits. I use eucrin, and also have cortisone on hand for her.

[2girlsandalab]

Does the baby BF in any way?

My 3mo was like what you described. Went to see a dermatologist and then a ped dermatologist. Both prescribed a litany of ointments and creams.

Took the baby to a regular immunologist who refused to do any testing. Then took baby to see a pediatric immunologist who diagnosed egg allergy. (from skin and blood tests) The baby had never eaten any egg produçts @ 3mo, but me as her BF mom, had egg in my diet. So I immediately cut out all egg in my diet. Guess what? No more baby eczema. Zero. It was quite amazing.

Take the baby to a ped immunologist (aka allergist). Some adult allergists may balk at testing a young baby. Rationale: baby allergies can change and test results are not long term predictors. Yeah so what? No one is asking about what happens 10 years from now

[alkagift]

I've found a direct correlation between dairy and excema in my 4 month old. My child is breastfed and so I have to eliminate it from my diet and formula is not as much of an issue, but I can only imagine the stress your BIL and SIL must be going through. Big hugs to them. Until they get a formula worked out (and frankly I'd be at the pediatrician's office nagging them like a freak until they helped me with it) the Ped should definitely be helping with the excema. In my humble opinion there's no need to have the baby suffer with it. My son was prescribed Desonate to get it down to manageable, then we use Aquaphor to help keep it in check. What really worked, though, was getting the dairy out of my diet. In the Kid Food forum there's some old discussion (do a search, it should come up) that one poster said that her allergist told her that many kids who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy. That may be the issue with your nephew.

FWIW, my son was on Axid too. My Ped said it was a first line drug and if it wasn't effective we would go to the next step. For us that means Prevacid--Axid didn't do much.

ETA: Don't know, of course, what your B/SIL are doing, but I would seriously be getting aggressive with the pediatrician about at least making my child comfortable. Or I would find another pediatrician! Excema is really really uncomfortable.

Allison
Mommy to Matthew 5/03 and Daniel 6/07

[ilovetivo]

Sorry, I just saw this today. Didn't know we talked about Food Allergies in this forum.

Ugh, i hate to say it but... the gerd, colic, reflux, vomiting, eczema....i'd put a lot of money on food allergies, both IgE and Cell Mediated.

I'd really really have them see a Ped allergist right away. The allergies I speak of below can cause failure to thrive. Also have them go to kidswithfoodallergies.org for hundrends of BTDT parents.

The Soy formula then vomiting sounds a lot like Food Protein Enduced Enterocolitis (FPIES). Soy is one of the biggies for FPIES. My dd has it to dairy. You can search my threads for a lot of info on Food Allergies. The FPIES probably wouldn't affect the eczema negatively, since it's an allergy in the gut, so to speak and is cell mediated, not immune (IgE)

The eczema and other symptoms could be a dairy allergy. Alimentum/Nutramigen still has milk proteins in it, even though they're broken down more.

Sounds like they may need a formula like Neocate - i'm sure there's a US site, but i didn't look further. It's amino acid based. Illinois just passed a law for insurance co's to cover it.
http://www.neocate.co.uk/aaa_neocate...home-page.html

Good luck and keep us updated!