I know, you really can’t cure eczema and diaper rash. But we are doing a great job on Sam lately! She has suffered from light eczema on her knees, feet, elbows, and other places for pretty much all her life. They are not bad spots but they itch and now that she can speak she talks about it more. Her diaper rash always goes from absolutely HORRIBLE to great looking, depending on her pooping schedule.
I know, I said pooping schedule. Ugh. Every day we always talk about Sam’s poop. What a fabulous topic of conversation between married partners, right!? The girl has been on Miralax since she was 9 months old which is making potty training FUN!
So, our pediatrician told us a long time ago that we needed to use Lubriderm Sensitive Skin Therapy all over her body, Eucerin lotion on top of the bad spots if we feel we need it, with Cortaid cream directly on the bad spots to make them better. The bottoms of her feet were always horrible as well. We could never let her wear sandals and the type of shoes she wore always depended on if it would get better or worse. When we would find a good pair of shoes, we just wear them up!
On her diaper rash, we would put lotion and then Desitin on the rash. Sometimes, if it looked like itchy skin, we would put Cortaid instead.
We were constantly varying up the lotions we were using. Sometimes we would use both lotions, sometimes just Lubriderm. Some days we would not put Cortaid on, some days we would. It always got worse with baths, of course, so baths are an every other day type of thing.
It was getting pretty bad a few months ago and hubby was wanting to go see a specialist to confirm that we were doing everything right. I was rolling my eyes at him, and everyone else pretty much. “She was just going to tell us to keep applying the lotion.” I said. “Why do we have to drag everyone in to hear that she has eczema, this is a waste of time!” Part of the problem was that I really didn’t like the doctor. I had nightmares from her coming at my face with a scalpel when I was 16 and yelling at me to never wear makeup again. She was SCARY! I never went back! I would constantly hear horror stories about her from everyone else, I think she is famous for her bedside manner in North Orange County.
So the appointment is made and we troop in, our family of four. The room was tiny, of course, with four of us, the doctor and the nurse who was writing everything down for her. Apparently the doctor does not write. I kid, I kid.
– Yes, she has eczema, her skin is dehydrated from the water going on it.
– The Lubriderm is not good because it has lanolin in it (I just checked the ingredients and I don’t see lanolin but maybe it’s by a different name?)
– Her feet are different, it’s a reaction to rubber in her shoes and sweat. She needs thick socks and all leather shoes. The only rubber should be on the soles.
– She should be taking a shower (I gave her a look as if, are you serious?) and she snapped at me, You are the Mother! LOL
She was staring at me when she was rattling off all this stuff while I was bouncing Griff on my leg. As if I can concentrate on what she is saying while I have a fussy baby in my lap? Finally after I gave her ‘the look’ she started talking directly to hubby about things. Thank god. Of course, she throws in the ‘Wow, it’s so NICE to see Dad in here!’ like it’s some miracle a father is concerned about his child. If he didn’t insist, we wouldn’t be here, lady! LOL
– Also, no baths, just showers
– No dryer sheets in the dyer. It is formaldehyde and very bad for the skin
– She doesn’t recommend the steroids/hydrocortisone cream because it is very bad for the skin. Hubby would constantly ask our pedi that and he said it was fine. It does take off layers of skin after a prolonged period of time but as long as it wasn’t on the face to cause any possible scarring, it was ok. This doctor said she hates them and in Europe they don’t use them at all which she agrees with.
She ends up recommending some lotion done by Loreal in France, special cream for itchy spots, and very expensive diaper rash cream.
We have been using the new stuff for about two weeks now and it is amazing what we have seen. Most all of Sam’s spots are gone. Her feet are almost completely healed. They have no more blisters on her right foot and her left foot is looking a lot better.
– Toleriane Body Lotion is what we are using. Sam’s skin feels so amazing all day. It feels hydrated and silky and just beautiful to the touch. We put this on morning and night. We bought it directly from the doctor but they said that it is carried in some Walgreen’s or CVS places.
– Protopic is the cream we are using for her bad spots and on her feet. Her right foot cleared up so fast, even before we got her new shoes. It is pretty expensive and is by prescription and comes in a very small bottle.
– Vusion is the diaper rash cream. It was also extremely expensive at $80.00! Here I haven’t noticed as much of a difference. Probably because Sam has a horrible diaper rash over two to three days as we battle her bowel movements, ugh. I honestly think Desitin or any other type of butt paste will be fine for the future.
– We went to StrideRite for all leather shoes. I don’t think they have all leather after a size 8 but we will figure that out when we get to it.
Hope this helps anyone with eczema problems!
{ 14 comments }
aww, poor Sam! this post made me feel so bad for her 🙁 one of my best friend’s got eczema as an adult – it just appeared out of nowhere! but she has been able to find relief from a steroid cream so i’m glad you found a regimen that works for her!
oh and when she outgrows the stride-rite shoes, you can just get her a pair of adidas! they are an all-leather upper, you just have to make sure you don’t get her the shell-top toe because that part is made out of rubber. here’s a good example – http://www.buyandwalk.com/department/kids/adidas-master-MFCD-661619-DP-3.html
sorry, i hate to put a link in your comments, so just delete it afterward if you don’t like that either!! 🙂
Angela’s last blog post..Silver lining, I’ve got you on my radar
No, that looks awesome, thanks for the info Angela!
That doctor sounds rude but I have to agree with the doctor on the steroid creams. Those things wreck your skin after a while and they cause cataracts. I wouldn’t use them on children. I’d use Desitin instead for a child with eczema. I have severe eczema and those creams have made my skin a bleeding mess and I had to have eye surgery to remove a cataract because of the creams i used.
They also stopped working after awhile and when the eczema came back, it came back with a vengeance!
You might want to check her diet. Many reasons why so many children and adults today have this disease is because of the foods they are eating they are allergic to and don’t know it. I’m on an elimination diet and my eczema is finally starting to clear up after over a decade of misery. Gluten, diary and soy was causing my eczema.
My daughter also has very bad eczema and I always dread going to the doctor. A question for you, do you find the eczema is permanently gone after using the three creams? Or does the eczema keep coming back in the bad spots if you don’t use the Protopic? Thanks & good luck with Sam!
Jenn, we just use it as needed. If she stays in water too often, it comes back. Or if she wears bad shoes, etc. We use it about once a week right now.
I also suffer eczema and have finally found the cause to be food allergy. For years I had a blistery, flaky rash on the soles of my feet. Numerous doctors have treated me for fungal infection; ten years of fungus cream can’t have been good for me. One doctor suspected eczema but could provide no explanation or solution. I have since eliminated gluten from my diet and my feet have completely cleared up. I still get itchy patches elsewhere on my body but I’m not sure if they are from the occasional bread product or some other allergy such as milk or soy. I also have had trouble gaining weight my entire life, have suffered depression and have osteoarthritis in my hips. I’m only 35 years old and suspect this early-onset arthritis to be a result of the allergy. I hope more physicians and patients understand that while it is good to treat conditions to ease discomfort and embarrassment, it is far better to identify the underlying causes.
Kristi, sorry to post back on your page to someone else. JACKIE, girl have you ever heard of Celiac Disease? Please check it out, that sounds like your problem. Celiac disease is basically where when you eat gluten your body attacks the gluten in your intestine’s. It also ends up attacking your intestines and causes all kinds of problems, like weight loss, vitamin deficiency and arthritis. You have to cut out all gluten and not cheat or have an occasional bite. Also a lot of people who have celiac disease are lactose intorrerant.
Kristi – sorry, My daughter, now 19 months, also had eczema issues as well as bleeding diaper rashes. It started at about six months. I finally had her allergy tested at 14 months and found out she is allergic to a lot of stuff. I am to this day still battling the diaper rash, but the eczema went away after we cut out tomato and green pea’s. (She didn’t test positive to pea’s and green beans but she gets a bleeding diaper rash with them as well as eczema with the peas. I’m not even going to list everything else she is allergic to, because I’d be here all night. Don’t rule out a food allergy if your diaper rash continue’s. My daughter gets a bleeding diaper rash everytime when a food is eaten she is allergic too, along with eczema and hives. Anyway, good luck glad some of it is working for you.
Thanks for your concern LORI. I should clarify that I do not have Celiac disease, just an allergy to WHEAT. The eczema, and likely depression and arthritis too, resulted from many, many years of a diet rich in a food that I am allergic to. This just shows that food allergies can be serious but overlooked. They can cause long term health effects over several years of exposure but we may not even know that we have an allergy.
I cannot stress enough how important it is that we all have thorough general physicians. I identified my allergy, not any of six or more doctors who examined me, even though my eczema was not at all characteristic of a fungus (except that it was on my feet) and wheat allergies are common and cause eczema. Recent political issues aside, I hope that one day I witness vast improvements in our current health care system. I hope I have helped someone by sharing this experience. thanks.
How did this issue of Sam’s turn out over the next several months? Did the same creams continue to help?
My daughter sounds a lot like Lori’s daughter – 21 months, probable exzema and the bleeding diaper rash has been going on for a couple months at least. I am taking her to the doctor today and have been thinking for a few days of starting to try to find any food allergies; I was going to start with dairy. I don’t really know how to pinpoint the other food allergies – do you just also remove them from the diet for a while one by one and see if that was the culprit?
I’m also trying to use cloth diapers again since the bleeding rash is always right under her paper diaper ruffles.
Thanks everyone for the helpful comments.
Kristi,
Let me just clarify. Eczema can create a diaper rash? My 1 1/2 year old has had BAD alllergies this spring. Around her eyes she has red splotchy skin and very dry flaky skin. When I took her to the doctor for allergies, she pointed out that it looks like a touch of eczema. After she said that, I came home and started thinking. A while back she had this horrible patch of skin on her thighs that she would scratch like crazy. We treated it as if she had an allergic reaction to her diaper brand. It kinda comes and goes. So I now know that it has to be eczema and it makes more sense. But she has had this horrible diaper rash that we have had tried EVERYTHING, it seems. I am now wondering if that eczema has anything to do with this horrible diaper rash that won’t get fixed by what doctor is prescribing. Do you think it could be that?
Hi Marina,
This post is about two years old but they could definitely be related. I don’t think Eczema can CREATE diaper rash but instead of a rash, it might be Eczema. Have you tried putting different things on it like people mentioned in the comments, or my post?
Regular lotion, Aquafor, etc?
Good luck!
My daughter (3 years old) was just diagnosed with eczema. im very glad to have found this site. iw as lookign at th elotions, and there are so many different types with the name Toleriane. what is the full name of the lotion you use for Sam?
Hi Kala,
This post is three years old now so I don’t remember. You just need to try out a few things because each child is different. Good luck!
Have your ever tried applying Desitin on her eczema? My fiancé has had vast improvement, only a few weeks and his eczema is nearly gone!
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