About Baby Eczema
Learning about eczema in babies
One thing that struck me when I was looking for information to help my son’s eczema is how little seems to be known about such a common problem. As many as 1 in 5 infants suffer with eczema of some kind, normally beginning before their first birthday. This baby eczema is knowen as Atopic Dermatitis. These babys are also prone to contact dermatitis.
The cause of eczema is still largely unclear but there are two main theories – that it is either an immune system over reaction or a skin barrier problem.
The names eczema and dermatitis are used interchangeably and both simply describe inflammation of the skin. If your little baby is rubbing and itching themselves day and night, the last thing you’re looking for is a description of their skin.
Having Eczema meens you have skin prone to the itchy red break-outs that happen when eczema flares-up.
I’m not going to reiterate what can be found on all the websites out there about eczema, mainly because it’s already been done way better than I could attempt by qualified medical doctors. So if you are looking for descriptions and basic information about eczema I found the following websites to have clear helpful information.
Information on Contact Dermatitis
My approach
I’m a mummy not a medical professional, and my medical knowledge of skin and allergies is limited to what I learned in my work and studies as a vet nurse and subsequent hours spent looking for information to help my little boy.
Doctors principally aim to treat the symptoms of eczema. Homeopaths look more to treating the causes of eczema and some people claim can be as effective at treating and helping the condition of babies with eczema.
I believe it’s more helpful to think of eczema as the body’s way of trying to tell you something is wrong. Something usually triggers a flare up and to get on top of it we need to try and find out what the cause is, whilst protecting the skin and stop the affected skin getting worse. I suffer from sensitive skin myself, and if something is making me itch then I instinctively want to know what it is and how to stop it.
Our babies can’t do that, they rely completely on us to keep them fed, warm safe and comfortable. Only a parent can understand that awful feeling of helplessness you feel when you can’t meet your baby’s needs. Being a Mum isn’t easy at the best of times, and eczema in a baby can cause a whole range of difficult emotions, from guilt to resentment, and almost anything in between. Many mums feel responsible for there baby’s suffering…. Your not! The battle with eczema can take it’s toll on the whole family, there is often no quick fix here, it can be very hard work. Don’t lose hope, with time you’ll start to learn what plays apart in the eczema affecting your family. Most importantly please don’t feel responsible for it.
I had a lot of Ideas about what might be helpful for my baby’s eczema and I’d look for information and find the comment – ‘There is no evidence to support’ which I had to keep reminding myself, doesn’t mean yes/no or anything other than no one has studied and published any valid research on it. So please don’t be put off by trying and excluding things you may think are problems, just tread cautiously. My approach was to exclude as many possible causes as I could – once J’s skin was healthy again it made it much simper too spot his triggers by reintroducing things slowely.