The Exciting Topic of ECZEMA! Part I: Atopic Dermatitis

When you first become a parent, there really is no way to know the full gamut of things you will have to become a psuedo-expert in.  For example, my precious little baby had tracheomalacia which was scary as hell. I had never even heard of it!  Luckily, that went away by 2 or 3 months and I could sleep again. Who are we kidding?  I have a young child; I haven't slept since 2015.  Anyway, back to the topic du jour: Eczema.

So, tracheomalacia and overall low-tonality aside, my beautiful daughter was actually born with eczema.  She had this dark red patch above her right eyebrow and I kept asking the hospital staff, "What's with that?  Is it a birth mark?"  They replied, "No, it's a stork bite", which was a completely logical response, right?!  I had never heard of that, either, but I just faked it, Googled it and went on my merry postpartum way.  Unfortunately, Dr. Google had failed me that time and what my munchkin really had was...eczema.  I'll save you the super-lengthy story of whining and complaining to my pediatrician about my baby's crazy scaly skin, how I could literally peel pieces off her face, and, worst of all, her discomfort.  She was absolutely miserable.  She would writhe, attempt to scratch (because she was itchy as hell), and leave awful marks to the point of drawing blood.  We used non-scented-baby everything. I put lotion on her all day-every day.  I cleaned like a crazy woman. I tried every natural remedy you can find on the internet (to this day I'm a little sensitive when anyone mentions coconut oil for anything; it's not the world's panacea, people).  Basically, my daughter had (and still has) severe atopic dermatitis.  This is not your run-of-the-mill "sensitive skin".  This a skin disorder and my child suffers.  I'm not a medical professional and every person's skin reacts differently, but I do want to highlight 5 things that helped us in making the day-to-day a bit more bearable.  If your child is suffering, talk to your pediatrician.  And if they don't listen, find another one and get referrals to specialists (which I will highlight in later posts).

First, aside from not being a medical professional, I also want to note that I am not a professional photographer.  I don't own a camera, heck, I don't even own an iPhone.  Needless to say, the pictures on this blog will always be sub-par.   Back to the tips:

We didn't think playing in leaves would ever be possible because of itchy skin.

1.  Daily baths... mostly without soap (*gasp*).  A lukewarm bath daily, for no longer than 10 minutes, helps with putting moisture back into the skin.  I don't use soap on her daily, I only use it every few days or so and when she 's really dirty.  I know, sounds gross, but trust me, the little rugrats don't really get as funky as we think they do.  She smells better after a long day than I do and I use soap every day so there's that.

2. Quit using lotion and use a barrier ointment instead.

Lotion always dried my daughter's skin out. Using a skin protectant/barrier ointment like Aquaphor helped so much in retaining some semblance of moisture.  The best generic I've found is shown above because Aquaphor can be a little pricey, depending on your budget.  This one is Wal-Mart's version and it's about $5 less than Aquaphor.  Sure, her hair was greasy for the first 2 years of her life, but her skin didn't look like an alligator's and she quit drawing blood from scratching in her sleep.  I'll take the greasy hair.

3. Benadryl at dinner.

I stayed away from any type of medication for a long time but night time was absolute hell. She would scratch herself to pieces, remove her pajamas (even zippered ones) to scratch; it was awful. We've tried Zyrtec, Claritin, and Benadryl.  Well, Benadryl at night (5 mls, the equivalent of 12.5mg) works.  She doesn't itch, has absolutely no problems waking up (trust me) and she actually sleeps at night.  Why an antihistamine works at night will be addressed in a future post.  Again, talk to your doctor.  This is what mine suggested and we have never increased her dose AND...it still works.  If your child won't take the liquid, try chewables.  We have had to switch to those due to some 3 year old control issues.

4.  Switch from products containing detergents to actual soap products.  Like this one:

For the best explanation of soaps versus detergents, click here.   I know, it can sound all hippie-dippy (which I kind of am) but when you're a desperate mama, you'll try anything.  Even coconut oil.  Well, I corresponded with the author of that blog and I have to tell you:  She's a genius.  Not just because of the eczema stuff; she's just out-of-this-world smart. It took me hours to read and interpret her emails just so I could formulate a rudimentary response.  Anyway, I followed her protocol and it worked!  We're at a point now where we can be imperfect with following the protocol but about 60% of the time, we still adhere to the no-detergents policy in our house. Initially, we followed it 100%.  I will admit, it can be difficult to do but it actually has cost us less in cleaning and hygiene products in the long term.

5. Remember, they typically grow out of it.

They won't always eat leaves.  Or have eczema.  We are still not at a point to where we can understand this but this is something we've been told since she was 6 weeks old.  She will grow out of it.  Until then, I continue to monitor her diet, look at her skin daily, clock the amount of time she's in a bath, and search for products that will make her life easier.  Better.  Less itchy.