Muhammad and Eczema

Salam

         Muhammad's eczema was triggered after we shaved his hair. It all started with just tiny red dots on his scalp which I mistakenly thought of heat rashes. So I applied bepanthen cream on those affected areas. It did get better for a day but came back even worse. At that point the red patches have spread to the back of his ears, under the neck and on both cheeks.

Muhammad before and after shaving

He kept scratching his face all the time that I needed to put his mittens back on to prevent him getting cuts from his fingernails. But still, I thought it was just normal for babies to have that kind of skin condition since their skin are naturally sensitive.

On top of that, I came out with my own diagnosis that the constant scratching was caused by 'something' inside his ears since he kept tugging those parts even when he was sleeping. And they were smelly too especially when he sweat a lot. So we went straight to the paediatrician. 

Turned out his ears were okay and the doctor informed us that it was all caused by eczema. I was like, errr really? They looked like normal rashes. How do you differentiate that with an eczema? But doctors know better so we questioned no more.

He suggested us to use Oilatum soap bar during bath time and prescribed a cream for his skin. I used that only when his eczema flared up because I was concerned about the formulas of the cream knowing that most eczema's cream prescribed by the doctor might contain steroid. I know a small amount of steroid would cause no harm if used appropriately. But as a mother, I want to avoid using chemicals on my baby at my level best.

Bought at Caring Pharmacy

I put effort on buying all chemical and paraben free stuffs for Muhammad which include his skin care, bottle cleansers and even his detergent. But now I'm applying steroid on his skin? So I stopped using it for a while. The Oilatum soap bar also did not work on him so I switched to Cetaphil and Sebamed.

My husband's friend suggested to use calamine lotion. I googled for its effectiveness. Most mothers claim that it does not help with the eczema but the cooling effect from the lotion itself can comfort the baby. So I bought it. I was in rush that I forgot to check on the formulas beforehand. Many brands in store do carry calamine lotion but the one that I bought contains 1% of phenoxyethanol (not sure of others) which later when I looked up for the information on the web, is not advised to be used on babies.

The one that I bought

Later, the day when he had a check up at HKL, I seek for advice from the doctor in charge. She totally disagreed with the use of calamine lotion as it would make the baby's skin even drier. Instead, she prescribed an aqueous cream to keep the skin hydrated. Other than that, she also prescribed a cream containing 1% of hydrocortisone to be applied on inflamed parts. Again, it's a steroid but I had no other choice this time.

The cream does help with his eczema when it became inflamed. Since eczema naturally come and go, we need to consistently using it and hoping it would resolve immediately. In Muhammad's case, it is still considered as mild alhamdulillah. I've seen babies with severe ones and could just pray for them because eczema could be a total nightmare for the mothers and the babies too.

After all, choosing the right skin care for your baby's eczema is a trial and error process. One product might work on one baby but not another. Always choose the smallest tub if you want to start experimenting a product on your baby. As you know, most products for eczema do not come cheap. Pheww.

Till then, Assalamualaikum.