Any miracle cream for infant eczema? UPDATE

[Aloe Vera]

UPDATE: I had a small tube of baby Aquaphor and I have been applying it diligently and it is helping a lot!Much better than the Desonide. The new lesions are almost gone. I also bought some Vanicream.


My 16-month old has nummular/discoid eczema. I've noticed it's getting worse. New spots are appearing on her back. Of course it's itchy and I apply bandaids on the lesions she can reach so she doesn't scratch them and make them worse/bleed.
Her doctor prescribed desonide 0.05% ointment and mupirocin 2% when it bleeds to prevent infections. That was over a year ago.

I apply baby eczema creams on her and the desonide on the red spots but they aren't disappearing. She has her 18-month apointment next month. Should I be asking for something stronger or is it normal to have eczema lesions stay there?

[mrshandy]

DD had pretty bad eczema for a while and my pedi gave me a pretty good regimen. We did the steroid cream which I'm assuming is the same thing that you posted. We also bathed nightly which was recommended. Then immediately lathered her in Aquafor and/or steroid cream. Then we also did Aquafor in the morning. She was pretty greasy most of the time. LOL. But eventually we were able to resolve her eczema.

[AdaraMarie]

We did aquaphor or hydrocortisone cream. We had a few rounds of stonger prescriptions as necessary.

Now that she's older we will often do a little hydrocortisone if she has a spot that is really bugging her but she has mostly grown out of it.

[expectantsteelerfan]

If what the pedi. gave you isn't working, I'd make an appointment to see a dermatologist. I feel like pediatricians are often really conservative with eczema, because it's really common and often not hard to treat, but if it doesn't respond to typical treatment, I believe there ARE more options, but the pedis. might not know about them or be comfortable prescribing them. You might want to wait till after the 18 month appt. and see what yours says though. We moved around a lot when ds was little, so he saw 3 different pedis in his first 2 years, and it was the 3rd that got him on a good regimen after an emergency appt. when he woke up with his whole side of his face swollen and it was just an eczema flare! But both the drs. before that were just telling me to use otc hydrocortisone (and not on the face), and the typical lotions.

[bookqueen15]

Prescription hydrocortisone cream prescribed by my son's pediatrician worked best for his eczema when he was a baby. All other creams including mupirocin did absolutely nothing to help it.

[tiki]

Do you have any APNO leftover from breastfeeding, or would your pediatrician prescribe it? I've never seen anything that works as well for the rashes/eczema my husband and daughter get. It is compounded with mupirocin but that's not the only active ingredient.

[mrsGreeko]

You say you apply baby eczema creams in addition to the prescriptions. I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that, but if it’s something like Aveeno it could be making it a lot worse. I have eczema and for moisture I can only use Vanicream or aquaphor/vaseline. Aveeno eczema lotion or anything labeled similarly makes it so much worse for me. My derm has told me repeatedly that only vanicream or Vaseline are acceptable. 😂

Once I get it cleared up it’s usually fine, but getting it to clear up usually requires the prescription steroids, but my derm is also pretty clear that those are 2x a day for 5 days only. Never more.

It might not be a bad idea to see a derm.

[Aloe Vera]

tiki I am lucky that I never got issues with breastfeeding. The only cream for nipples I have is one containing lanolin. I can try it as I had a cut on my nipple once when I was pregnant (how?!). It was bothering me because it was painful and I applied the lanolin cream and the cut was gone the next day.

mrsGreeko the only cream I used so far is Baby Bum Calendula cream. I have some Baby Aquaphor and I will be using this from now on and see if I notice any improvement.

[rhian]

My son's allergist recommended a daily bath (soak for 10-15 mins in just warm water, no soap), and then immediately after moisturize with Vanicream or Cerave cream, not lotion. Those are the only two brands she recommended. We also use only Dove bar soap and All Free and Clear laundry detergent per her recommendations. His eczema has really improved with this routine.

[lindyanne]

I use California baby calendula cream. Target used to carry it but I have to order online now.

[simpsongal]

My derm gave me desonide for a while for spots of eczema on my face. The emollient version is apparently stronger/better than the cream, so that's something to ask about. It still wasn't working super well though, so she gave me something from a mail order pharmacy called "Promiseb" - might be worth asking about. It doesn't cure it, but I don't get the flaking and dry patches, just very mild redness.