Eczema or just dry skin? What to do?

Kelsie is almost 4 months old. She has little patches of dry skin on her back & shoulders. She had a bunch of little red bumps all over her tummy from where my DH's mom bought her an outfit while they were out one day and put it on her before it was washed (the baby pooped all over all her spare outfits). Well, I didn't put lotion on it because I was afraid it would irritate her skin. My babysitter thinks she might have eczema, though, because of the dry patches. Does anyone know what would be good to put on her skin to help it stay moisturized?

They told me that my daughter has a mild case of eczema. So they prescribed her some topical steroids. I wasn't too sure about using them b/c she didn't look bad to me. I bought Aveeno Oatmeal Cream and wash for babies and that has worked wonders... her skin looks great w/o using the steroid cream. Hope that helps. 

is it red and dry like sandpaper? is there any on her face? aeris has ezcema pretty badly. it started on her cheeks, then to her arms and legs...none on her back or tummy though. theres this cream, gentle something baby ezcema cream that we used on aeris till her doc saw how bad it was and has her on steroids now. but the cream worked miracles! on her face at least. ask your ped...theres this steroid cream, hydrocortisone (sp?) you apply it to affected areas twice a day for 5-7 days no more then 7 cuz itsa steroid..and its worked wonders! they also put aeris on hydroxyzn (sp?) which is ALSO a steroid that she has to ingest but it keeps her from itching which causes flare ups. but her skin looks SO much better now...she looks like a doll almost lol just dont use anything that has fragrances in it. it causes irritations, and when you bathe her dont use soap, just water.

my son has eczema. its gotten better as hes gotten older but when he was a baby he had it so bad on his face it would leak puss. he would scratch constantly at night and the dr ended up giving him some medication to help him sleep thru the night. you can use hydrocortisone cream, you can also use eucerin cream. if she does have it things will irrate her skin easily. like certain foods or animals, detergents. etc. theres also creams the dr can perscribce that can worsen eczema you just have to find what works for her.

Baby Eczema treatments can be quite difficult to come by, and it seems that all most doctors want to do is prescribe medication to prevent the symptoms of Eczema, instead of looking into the root cause of the problem. Check out these tips to do exactly that.

Bathing

Baby Eczema treatment guides will often suggest that you bathe baby at least once a day, twice if at all possible. The water should be around 85 degrees, as anything warmer than this can have the opposite effect on the Eczema. Be sure to use just a mild unscented soap to clean baby-it's important that it's unscented as scientists have found that Eczema does not get on well with perfuming agents.

Moisturising

Another baby eczema treatment that you can easily implement yourself is moisturizing. The more moisture in the skin, the less likely it is to itch. The itching part of things is usually what makes the Eczema worse, as it will cause baby discomfort and this discomfort will lead to scratching will lead to further discomfort and so on and so forth. Apply moisturiser to baby straight after bathing, and to dry baby pat him or her down very gently with a VERY soft cloth. It's best to leave the skin slightly damp, as the moisturizer can then lock some of this dampness into the skin. As before, it's important to use an unscented moisturizer.

Clothing/Bedding

Many people don't take bedding and clothing into account as a factor in the Eczema of their child. Baby Eczema treatments suggest that you should ensure that all bedding is 100% cotton, and laundered frequently to ensure that it's kept clean and free of bacteria. Any bacteria at all may irritate baby's skin, so this is very important. Also, make sure the detergent used in the laundry is mild and scent free. In addition to this, try and make sure that your own clothing is free from wool or any similar fabrics which may irritate baby's skin should it come into contact.

Eating

The food side of things can be especially hard to maintain with an infant, but generally speaking baby will be better off if you keep the acidic foods to a minimum. Links between acidic foods and Eczema skin conditions have been found by scientists. This is not only a baby eczema treatment; it has also proved highly effective for adults and sufferers of all ages.

Eczema can be a real burden on any family, no matter the age of the sufferer. With these baby eczema treatments hopefully you can see that the battle with Eczema is a battle you can win, and having an infant with Eczema is not necessarily a lifelong condition. Please visit the links below for more information on curing Eczema permanently.

oh one last thing. DO NOT use elidel its been proven it can cause skin cancer.

what is elidel found in? i've never heard of that before...

My baby also has eczema and it was so bad behind her hear that it was oozing. My doctor told me to bath her every other day and to use Cetaphil cleanser to wash her and to use Cetaphil cream (not the lotion) on her twice a day. He also prescribed Desonate to use twice a day for about a week. After one day of using the Desonate, her eczema was pretty much cleared up. Now i'm just using the Cetaphil cream all over her body when she wakes up and when she goes to bed. So far, so good.

elidel is a brand name of a steriod cream. most drs know not to give it out anymore but some still do.

Thank you guys so much! Kelsie goes to the ped next Wednesday, so I will definitely ask them. Until then, I guess I will use Eucerin on her b/c I've used that on her before (when she was peeling really bad as a newborn) and it worked really well.

Quoting JuneMommy:" They told me that my daughter has a mild case of eczema. So they prescribed her some topical steroids. ... [snip!] ... and wash for babies and that has worked wonders... her skin looks great w/o using the steroid cream. Hope that helps. "

I have to agree, the Aveeno works for my boys. My older one had dry patches that were the same color as the skin around them. My younger one's cheeks started out with baby acne but just dried out and got scaley and really red and looked painful. The Aveeno Baby daily moisture lotion made his cheeks better the same day and it was almost completely gone the next day.

That happened to my baby. My ped gave me some hydrocortisone cream and told me to put it on him 2x a day. The first time I put it on him it cleared his little face and I just put it on like three more time case resolved. Also, he said to give my baby baths only every 2-3 day b/c I was bathing daily. He said this was causing his little skin to dry up. Now all the dry patches are gone although his skin is still a little dry.

Thanks for sharing ladies, you've helpe d me too.

Quoting jessann1023:" oh one last thing. DO NOT use elidel its been proven it can cause skin cancer."

WONDERFUL! I used elidel for 2 years.....anyway, it could always be a food allergy. My husband father, brothers and sisters get that from milk so maybe you want to look into that other than that a dr. can prescribed something or you can use a non scented cream or maybe vaseline. My son's cheeks have been a little crusty looking lately so I've been putting bag balm which is like vaseline on them and it helps with the dryness.

My daughter had something simular to that when she was a baby her doctor said try Eucerin lotion (you can buy it anywhere including Wal-Mart) and if that didn't help to call her and she would prescribe me something. She thought it was exema but after a month or so it was gone she is now 4 and I've never seen it since, but it was dry skin with little red bumps. Eucerin is also good for dry skin, my son's skin gets so dry it looks like he is peeling all over and the Eucerin works GREAT!