The Desitin that we put on Ben did seem to soothe him, but it also dried out his skin. So, in the middle of the night, I put some Vanicream on him.
I started using Vanicream a few days ago. Someone on an eczema discussion area recommended it. It's supposed to be good for extremely sensitive skin because it's free of lanolin, dyes, fragrance and parabens.
Popular eczema remedies Aquaphor and Eucerin, which are made by the same company, contain Lanolin. Lanolin is used for its soothing properties, but it is derived from sheep's wool, and so it irritates some extremely sensitive skin.
Sunday night, however, I switched back to Cerave because I felt like Vanicream wasn't working quickly enough, though it did seem to be helping. Cerave contains ceramides, which are supposed to release the lotion over a longer period of time (24 hours) so you don't have to apply it as often. But Cerave contains parabens, and this may have been what caused Ben's skin to get so red and itchy that we had to give him an extra dose of antihistamine in the morning.
Yesterday, Ben's skin remained red and itchy. That's why J. suspected heat rash. Also, Sunday night, we had Ben in a long-sleeved sleeper but with the AC on. The sleeper may have been too heavy. Other nights, however, if we dress him too lightly, he ends up shivering. In order to prevent SIDs, we have not put Ben to bed with a blanket. When is it okay to use a blanket? Some people use 100 percent cotton blankets, which are breathable, but, due to complications after Ben's birth, I am more cautious.
I'm not sure if the corn starch was helping. I'm not sure if we gave it a chance. But the Desitin was temporarily soothing. We're trying to figure out if the neck rashes were caused by heat, drool, eczema or more than one.
We put cotton gloves on Ben to keep him from scratching. Unfortunately, due to much use lately, all of the gloves are in the wash, so I'm holding his little hands, and, today at least, he's not scratching as much.
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Jason Tandon
3 years ago
Ask your pediatrician to give you permission to cease all the lotions and start him on a regimen of OTC hydrocortisone cream 2-3 times per day for 3-5 days, in addition to his regular antihistamine. I know you mean well, but I fear that you might be doing more harm than good by switching him back and forth between lotions so quickly. Since you can only use extra-gentle baby wash on his skin, his skin is retaining at least some residue of each lotion you apply, and putting a new lotion on top of the residue of the old one can cause nasty reactions that wouldn't happen if it were just one lotion alone. It also makes it nearly impossible to tell for SURE which lotions are irritating him and which are not.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a rash that hydrocortisone couldn't clear up (or at least greatly improve) within a few days of regular application, and so long as he doesn't have any infected lesions and you're only putting it on rash lesions and not healthy skin, it should be safe. But always ask your pediatrician first. Combined with the antihistamine, not only will hydrocortisone do wonders for the rash--it'll also stop the itching a LOT more effectively than antihistamine alone.
Seriously--bathe him 2-3 times in a row with his gentle baby soap, call your pediatrician, and ask if he or she is willing to let you try the cortisone. If he/she is uncomfortable with that, then ask about a prescription for a mild topical steroid called Cutivate. It's FDA approved for babies as young as 3 months because unlike most other topical steroids, it does a much better job of staying ON the skin instead of being absorbed through the skin--which in turn reduces the risks of using a steroid cream. It's pricy, but clearing those rashes up is really important so that his skin isn't constantly inflamed. Skin inflammation puts him at risk for skin infections.
Good luck!
Sophisti,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice. We talked to his allergist's office, and she did recommend sticking to only one lotion at a time. So we're just using Vanicream followed by Vaseline after his baths. Right now, we're using just water and/or occasionally oats to bathe him. We're just trying to figure out what if any shampoo is okay to use. We got a supermild one from Exederm.com.
We have an appointment with his pediatrician later this month, and we plan to ask him about steroids if the rash on his face--particularly this one spot--does not clear up. He is looking better, so we hope that we can finally clear it up.
--Lori