Baby eczema: preventing and treating atopic dermatitis in babies

Eczema is a skin disease often linked to a food allergy problem and affects 10% of children under 2 years old. Treatment may be prescribed for your baby to relieve his itching.

What is baby eczema?

Infant eczema or atopic dermatitis is a mild but annoying disease because it comes back in flare-ups. The skin no longer plays its role of protection against the environment and external aggressions. Usually genetic, the disease develops on a predisposed family ground. Thus, a child whose parent is allergic has a 50% risk of having atopic dermatitis. If both parents are allergic, the risk is even higher. It disappears in 80% of cases between 4 and 6 years.

According to the French Society of Dermato-Pediatrics, this pathology concerns more than 2,5 million patients in France. 15% of babies have eczema and 10% of children under 2 years old. It can appear in infants 8-10 weeks old, including breastfed infants. In most cases, eczema therefore disappears with age.

Will he have eczema all his life? Fortunately not, although baby will probably have fragile and sensitive skin. In a third of cases, the child’s skin condition improves before the age of 3 and in another third, before puberty.

Why does my baby have eczema, or atopic dermatitis?

One of the causes of this skin disease, other than heredity, is related to winter. Low outdoor temperatures and heating, sometimes excessive, lower the humidity of the air in the rooms and dry out the skin.

According to Dr Etienne Bidat, an allergology specialist at Ambroise Paré hospital in Boulogne, air humidifiers are unfortunately unnecessary to promote baby’s hydration. Only the topical (local treatments) are effective. Also, air purifiers should be avoided. No serious study has shown their effectiveness on respiratory allergies and no device has been approved as such. By combating certain pollutants, these systems can generate others and thus develop new allergies in your child.

Eczema and other allergies

Often, baby also suffers from one or more allergies(eggs, peanuts, milk, pollens, animal hair, tomatoes, exotic fruits or certain foods) which promote these outbreaks. Especially since his dry and cracked skin facilitates the entry of allergens.

If your child suffers from eczema attacks: banish carpeting on walls, drapes, furry animals, and country walks in pollen season. In addition to making her eczema flare-ups, they can trigger hay fever or asthma. And remember to vacuum regularly. Smoking is also prohibited among parents.

It is therefore essential to identify anything that can promote or trigger inflammatory outbreaks by taking your child to your doctor who will prescribe it. an allergological assessment.

Atopic dermatitis and asthma

We often find a history of eczema in asthmatics. In fact, this atopic ground manifests itself most of the time in the first place by eczema, then succeeds it by asthma, rhinitis or allergic conjunctivitis. In all cases, no self-medication : only your doctor is able to prescribe the appropriate treatment to treat your little one’s eczema.

Eczema also has a psychological factor. A child who is tired, stressed or upset will scratch more, but this is only one aggravating factor.

To know: a child who has eczema must at all costs avoid coming into contact with a person carrying a cold sore, under penalty of complication.

Eczema or atopic dermatitis: is it common?

These eczema flares usually go away before 5 or 6 years and the risk of recurrence is relatively low. Be aware that this is in no waya contagious disease, and that eczema does not leave scars if it has been treated properly.

How to recognize this skin disease in babies?

Atopic dermatitis progresses by inflammatory flare-ups. The baby has very dry skin which itches, it scratches, gets angry, cries, cannot fall asleep, oozing red patches appear… Around 4-5 years old, the outbreaks are generally less spectacular and this eczema mainly results in localized redness at the folds of the wrists, elbows and knees, then on the back.

Hyper-permeable, irritable and dry, the skin is prone to infections. First of all, the skin, which is particularly dry, covered with redness. Then, small, tight blisters form. Finally, dry crusts appear and then fall off within a few days. Eczema has the peculiarity of itch very much. Also, during a relapse, your baby may be irritable and usually has trouble sleeping.

Face, mouth, back, arms, buttocks: the possible locations

On the face, eczema mainly affects raised areas, that is to say the forehead, chin and cheeks.

On the body, specific places are affected: the shoulders, back, buttocks, the outer face of the arms and forearms, the anterior face of the legs and thighs.

How to treat eczema in babies?

Redness appears, the skin pulls… an eczema attack is brewing. Flare-ups are treated with the local use of dermocorticoïdes, creams based on cortisone, or mild antiseptics. They relieve your child by preventing itching and therefore the appearance of new lesions. They also make it possible to control superinfection and fight against inflammation.

If topical corticosteroids are not enough, in children over 2 years of age, the doctor may prescribe a medicine called topical immunosuppressant, for local treatment.

The treatment is applied once a day until clear improvement. Then, it can be stopped completely upon full recovery. The important thing is to do not interrupt treatment at the first sign of improvement… Otherwise, the eczema starts all over again!

If the lesions ooze, an aqueous solution of silver nitrate may be necessary. Finally, antihistamines, taken orally, calm the itching and generally help the child to sleep.

Atopic dermatitis: are thermal cures effective?

Spa treatments are not a substitute for drugs, but allow you to use less of them, while making eczema flare-ups less severe and fewer. The Avène or La Roche-Posay stations, exclusively dedicated to skin care, have demonstrated that their waters have anti-inflammatory properties, as well asa soothing and anti-irritant action. On medical prescription, for three weeks, children accompanied by their parents, enjoy the benefits of thermal water while learning to better manage the disease through creaming workshops, as an alternative to scratching.

Skin disease: which soap to use?

For the baby’s toilet, we use a soap-free dermatological bar or a “special baby” milk. By favoring products hypoallergenic, fragrance-free and containing antiseptic agents such as copper or zinc. Ban the use of scented soaps filled with allergenic molecules or preservatives.

Otherwise, let’s quote the tip of this young British mother. She had the idea of ​​making a breast milk soap bar, as there are donkey milk soaps, known to be gentle on the skin. She was able to relieve her baby that no treatment was providing relief. After a month of daily use, she says her infant’s eczema has almost disappeared.

In 2016, experts advised giving a daily bath to the child, supplemented by careful rinsing, and very gentle dab drying. This is completed by the application, by tapping, of a moisturizer. Pay attention to the temperature of the bath! It should not exceed 33 or 35 degrees and it should last between 5 and 10 minutes. It is thought to cut or file the nails of baby, in order to avoid that it does not hurt itself by scratching.

Namely: the bath oils and emollient foams would be ineffective for the treatment of eczema in babies and young children, according to a British scientific study in 2018.

Atopic dermatitis: which cream to use to relieve baby?

Apart from the flare-ups, it is necessary treat dry skin to try to restore the protective function of the skin. Apply daily a particularly moisturizing cream, called emollient. In any case, avoid the additional irritants. In case of superinfection, an antibiotic ointment will be prescribed by the doctor in addition to the treatment with cortisone.

To soothe eczema, also use a fatty moisturizer, suitable for sensitive or even atopic skin.

How to remove eczema naturally?

Are you looking for a remedy to make and apply at home? 100% natural?

Make a baking soda paste. Take a teaspoon of this powder and mix with a little spring water. Stir until you get a paste. Apply to areas affected by eczema and leave on the skin for at least 20 minutes. Repeat this application regularly until the plaques or crusts disappear.

apply cool water compresses on affected areas to reduce itching. However, if baby’s eczema has blistered, avoid this remedy as it may increase the risk of infection.

Use oatmeal powder in the baths to limit inflammation of the skin and for its emollient effect.

Apply the gel from the oily leaves ofaloe vera on eczema patches. Its properties emollient and healing can relieve eczema.

Apply a few drops ofcalophyll oil, with anti-inflammatory, healing and soothing properties. Another possibility: mix a few drops of calophyllus oil with the same proportion of rose oil. Mix and apply on the eczema. Healing effect guaranteed!

Prevent eczema: the right actions

Unfortunately, there is no radical preventive measure, but certain rules of hygiene of life and the regular application of emollient cream to hydrate the skin morning and evening are essential. When you are at home, it is advisable to do not overheat the rooms.

Clothing and laundry: swap synthetic for natural!

For children’s clothing, choose loose clothing made with natural, non-irritating and non-allergenic materials: cotton, linen, silk, satin, bamboo fibers, hemp … Avoid dressing too warmly because of the perspiration which is irritating and with woolen or synthetic clothing: they promote itching.

With regard to the Laundry detergent, we purely and simply eliminate softeners, as well as detergents based on phosphates and soap shavings. This can be an opportunity to opt for a more natural laundry, or, better, to make your own homemade laundry with Marseille soap shavings.

Swimming pool and eczema: precautions to take

There is no contraindication (except in case of superinfection) for the child to go to the swimming pool, but some precautions must be taken. For example, before swimming, apply a ” barrier cream »(Exomega type, A-derma…) then when leaving the bath, rinse it with clear water, dry it gently by dabbing with a soft terrycloth and then apply a greasy body, moisturizing before dressing it again.

Foods to avoid with eczema

Unless you have clearly identified your kid’s food allergy, there is no point in instituting a draconian diet, which would risk causing nutritional deficiencies.

Consult your doctor, who can carry out tests to isolate the food responsible for all these concerns. Also note that a classic treatment, well conducted, is often enough to restore the skin to its normal appearance.

You can significantly improve your child’s comfort of life by taking preventive, simple and effective care that will reduce the intensity, duration and number of eczema flare-ups. These precautions will help to restore the protective function of the skin by acting on the dryness of the skin, and fighting infections.

Infant eczema: the benefits of milk

Use milk enriched with probiotics during pregnancy would halve the risk of eczema in children, according to a Norwegian study in 2010. Indeed, scientists have found that children born to mothers who drank fortified milk during their pregnancy were less affected by the eczema than others.

Older studies had already demonstrated the role of probiotics, but only when they were ingested by the infant. Experts recommend that expectant mothers consume these microorganisms so as not to have to give them to their baby later, although probiotics can be beneficial to the baby for other ailments (colic, diarrhea, transit problems, etc.).

Note that rather than opting for fortified milk, we can simply turn to yogurts containing bifidus, or consume probiotic foods such as sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, miso …