Around 10% of babies in US are suffering from eczema which was found more common in developed countries. My son is one of the unlucky ones. I just want to share our experiences in case it would help some of you. Please be advised that it is only our experiences which might not work for everyone. Please communicate with your doctor before taking any action on you or your baby.
Cause
As what I understand, eczema is also known as atopic dermatitis which is similar to allergy in the skin. It is inherited, so if the baby has family history of eczema, asthma, or hay fever, he/she might have higher chance to have eczema. It is very common in infants and could happen as early as 2 months. In most of the cases, it will be outgrown.
The situation can be triggered by food and/or environment factors. For examples, cow's milk, egg, peanut, carrot, fish, shellfish, pollen, wool, detergent, mold, dust, dust mites, or animals' skin/hair, extreme weather (too hot/cold), chemicals (even in vapor), chlorine, soap, cigarette smoke, and anything even we haven't thought of. We might want to avoid the factors which have made our baby's skin itchy or develop hives in 2 hours of ingestion. However, it is impossible to isolate from all of the factors. Therefore, what we can do is diminishing the influence.
The situation can be triggered by food and/or environment factors. For examples, cow's milk, egg, peanut, carrot, fish, shellfish, pollen, wool, detergent, mold, dust, dust mites, or animals' skin/hair, extreme weather (too hot/cold), chemicals (even in vapor), chlorine, soap, cigarette smoke, and anything even we haven't thought of. We might want to avoid the factors which have made our baby's skin itchy or develop hives in 2 hours of ingestion. However, it is impossible to isolate from all of the factors. Therefore, what we can do is diminishing the influence.
Symptom
If our baby's skin (usually starts on cheeks at 2 - 6 months, then on creases of elbows, writs, and knees) turns red, bumpy, reddish, itchy, rash raw, weepy if scratched, constant dry, we might want to bring him/her to a doctor.
Experience
3-5 months Our baby started having eczema when he was 3 months old. His cheeks turned red and dry. He started scratching and rubbing himself to bleed. He screamed in the middle of the night because he was so itchy and we did not let him to scratch. We have tried some many moisturizers but none of them work for our baby.
6-12 months
Our baby had skin prick testing in children hospitals and found that he was allergic to egg and peanut.Therefore, here are what the allergist's suggestions which works very well on our baby:
1. Bathing for 20 - 30 minutes in warm water everyday. We put long selves cloth on him and frequently pour water all over the body especially on the area which doesn't soak in water. Water cannot be too warm because it will evaporate too fast; and evaporation makes the skin even drier. After bathing, pad a little bit to remove extra water but not completely dry, then we apply A LOT of Vaseline all over his skin (this step must be done in 5 minutes from the time taking him out from water because it is very important to trap the moisture absorbed during bathing before evaporation) .
Our baby's skin used to be so rough although we apply Vaseline on him 5 times a day. However, after following the above steps, his skin is silky smooth for the whole day!! Since then, he could sleep through the night without waking up in the middle of night due to itchiness. His immune system got better because of sufficient sleep. As a result, his eczema got a lot better.
2. Dry the saliva. The area around his mouth is always the worst especially at the time of teething. Saliva breaks down the protein on the skin, then he felt itchy and irritated. Finally, he rubbed that area and triggered eczema. We had to dry and sometime rinse off the saliva right the way.
3. Pitch Skin Test. We took him to a pitch skin test to find out what he was allergic to. The accuracy of the test is ~70% and the subject baby allergic to can be changed every week. This test is not recommended for baby under 6 months old because the baby still contains the antibodies from his/her mother, so the result will also show what the mother allergic to but not necessary affects the baby. We took this test because we wanted to have an idea which food and environmental factor he MAY be allergic to. We used the results as a reference.
4. Food to feed. Although the results of the pitch skin test showed negative on some food items, we still only fed him very little at his first trial and observed his response closely before we gave him more. We avoid the food which showed positive from the pitch skin test, so it is very important to read the nutrient label on the food package. For example, if baby is allergic to shrimp but okay with seaweed. The food label on the seaweed must be checked carefully, because it shows if shrimp extract was added to the seaweed.
5. Medicine. Once a while, eczema still comes back. Steroid seems to be the only solution for now. For some reason, steroid sometimes doesn't work for our baby, we were recommended to try Lingon Emulsion lotions (1 and 2). It works very well for our baby but please be advised that Lingon Emulsion lotions were made in Swedish and have not been approved by FDA in US yet.
Hope the above information helps and most important, the eczema will be outgrown very soon.
