How to Get Rid of Baby Eczema

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While the majority of babies won’t ever deal with it a number of babies will develop baby eczema. Some will be lucky enough to out grow it, but others will be dealing with it for years to come. These tips for how to get rid of baby eczema can help your little one get relief faster.

How to Get Rid of Baby Eczema

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When preparing for a baby you often think about the things you will have to deal with. You think about teething pain, and about how to care for a sick baby, and probably even bad diaper rash. Most people don’t usually think about how to get rid of baby eczema though.

I know that wasn’t a thought that I had before my son was diagnosed with it. Even though I battle eczema myself I still hadn’t thought about Nick having to deal with the painful dry skin early on in his life.

While many babies don’t get baby eczema it is actually a fairly common issue. According to BabyCenter it effects around 1/5 of all youngsters under the age of 5. Many of those babies that get it will outgrow it by age 2, while the rest might battle it up to, and into, adulthood.

What is Eczema?

Eczema is a skin rash. Babies often have it on their cheeks or scalp, but it can also appear on their legs, chest, and other areas of the body.

It can appear as dry and scaly skin, or it can appear as tiny red bumps. Those red bumps can actually ooze, and if your little one scratches them they can become infected as well.

As a baby my son seemed to have it all over. Although he didn’t really get it on his face. He would get bad cases on his scalp though when we’d work on getting rid of his cradle cap. He also had it really bad on his wrists later in his first year because he’d gnaw on his wrists when he was teething.

What Causes Eczema

Unless you’re used to dealing with eczema you likely don’t know what triggers it. Many people think that eczema is an allergic reaction, but that’s not actually the case. It’s really the flip side because allergens and irritants in your babies environment are causing it.

There are actually many different things that could be triggering it. It could be something in your child’s diet, due to something they’re wearing, or it could be from something as simple as overly dry winter air. It also could be from a combination of different triggers.

How to Stop Eczema

Obviously if you can stop the cause then you have a chance of removing the cause and helping to clear the eczema. With so many causes though it’s hard to figure out what the actual cause is for your child.

If your child is dealing with baby eczema it is a very good idea to keep a diary to see if you can spot the eczema trigger. In the diary take note of certain things like the weather, what food your little one has eaten, and even the type of laundry detergent you’ve used if you’re using different ones. Of course, also note the severity of your child’s eczema every day as well as it’s location on their body,

Even with a diary recording you might not be able to figure out an exact cause for the eczema. Especially if multiple things are to blame. Still the diary is a very good starting point and it can be very helpful for your child’s pediatrician.

Treatments for Baby Eczema

The good news is that eczema comes and goes, so if your child has eczema it doesn’t mean that they will have to deal with it all the time. When they are having an eczema outbreak though it can be very itchy and downright painful. At those times you can try some of these treatments to give your little one some much needed relief.

Daily Baths

Often with young children we don’t worry about giving them a bath every day. For little ones with eczema though it might truly be worth your time to give them a daily bath. The water from a bath is a great way to help naturally moisturize those dry and painful eczema spots.

There are certain steps you want to take to make sure the bath will be helpful for your baby’s eczema. First you want to make sure that you use water that isn’t too hot. A mild warm temperature is best.

Second, if your child wants to play in the bath then make sure to wait to wash them until the end of the bath. That way they don’t sit in soapy water.

Finally it’s very important how you dry them after the bath. It’s important to do your best to keep towels soft so when you’re drying them off the towels doesn’t bother the eczema. When you dry your child don’t rub the towel across their skin. Instead gently pat them dry.

M0isturize

After your child’s bath, once you’ve dried them, it’s very important that you moisturize their skin. In fact you really want to moisturize them within 3 minutes of getting them out of the bathtub to truly take advantage of the the natural moisture created by the warm bath water.

The moisturizer you use on your baby is very important. All moisturizers are not the same. Especially when it comes to eczema and sensitive baby skin.

The moisturizer that Nick’s pediatrician recommended for us to use was Aveeno Baby Eczema Therapy Moisturizing Cream. This moisturizer is amazing. It helped Nick’s eczema tremendously. In fact Nick hasn’t been a baby for quite some time, but I still keep this moisturizer on hand for both of us to use on eczema outbreaks. By using this I almost never need to break out my expensive steroid cream, because the Aveeno cream usually clears the eczema on its own.

While the Aveeno cream is great for reducing eczema it is also good at keeping at away. Until Nick’s eczema was well under control we would put this moisturizer on his skin after his bath whether he was dealing with an eczema outbreak at the time or not.

You can moisturize more then once a day. We always gave Nick a bath at night, so he typically got moisturized then. If he had some really bad eczema spots I would also add moisturizer to those spots in the morning as well when I got him dressed.

Add Moisture to the Air

When the air around us is lacking moisture it can cause skin to become dry which in turn makes eczema even worse. One way to deal with this is to add moisture back into the air.

This can easily be done by adding humidifiers into the rooms of your home. You’ll especially want to place one in the room where your baby sleeps.

We have had the Crane Adorable Ultrasonic Humidifier in Nick’s room since he was a baby. There are a lot of different cute animal models that they make. Nick’s was made to look like a puppy. Adding the humidifiers always plays a big role in keeping both of our eczema under control.

 Medicate 

If moisturizing the skin isn’t enough to get the eczema under control than you may want to think about putting a medicated steroid cream on it.  I have a prescription cream, and Nick was prescribed one as well, but we have found that Cortizone-10 Max Strength is enough for helping Nick’s eczema though.  I only use the medication when the eczema is looking really bad.  Put the medicine on the baby eczema before you put on the moisturizer.  I would suggest using it both at night and in the morning until the eczema is under control.  It’s best to talk to your doctor before using a steroid medication on your baby’s skin.

5. Don’t Let Baby Scratch

One thing to know about eczema is that it is very itchy.  Your little one will likely want to scratch it, and I think we all know what damage those baby nails can do.  If the eczema is scratched too much it can open up, and if dirt and stuff gets in than it could become infected.  The best thing to do is to cover the eczema up with clothes so you little one can’t scratch.

6. See Doctor about Baby Eczema

In the end you may find that your little one’s baby eczema is more than you can control.  If that’s the case than you likely will want to take them to the doctor.  Your child’s doctor can give you a stronger steroid cream than what you can buy over the counter, and they may have some other suggestions that could help your little one.

Do you have any tips for dealing with baby eczema?