Infantile Eczema

Our daughter was born on the 23rd September at 6lb 3oz's. She had thick black hair, deep blue eyes and milky cream skin. She was beautiful, and of course we were overjoyed.

It started when she was about 3 months of age, her skin started getting dry and she developed bad cradle cap that I couldn't seem to get rid of. I wasn't too worried but I went to my health visitor who gave me some E45 cream, but her skin still got dryer. I noticed that she would scratch the back of her head and she started waking up in the mornings with tiny cut marks on her skin where she had scratched during the night. I took her back to the health visitor and asked her if it was eczema. She said that she thought it was, she looked a little sad and I thought then that she had suspected eczema but had not wanted to give a voice to her suspicions. There is no eczema or allergies or anything like that in either of our families and we just presumed it would be the same for our daughter, so we were a little surprised when she developed the condition and we certainly had no idea of what it actually was or how to help her.

Things quickly got worse, the skin on her face became red and angry looking and was often weepy, and her whole body except her back became very dry and crusty at the folds of the skin. There were areas on her head where patches of her lovely dark hair were missing from her incessant scratching. It was worse in the mornings until we had bathed her in her special oils and creamed her all over. I would wake up in those days and the first thing I would do was look at her cheeks and feel so frustrated and scared when I saw her that way, I felt desperate as I had no idea what was happening to my baby or how to help her.

I went back to the health visitor and asked her if she was sure it was eczema! I couldn't believe that eczema could cause such devastation to the skin. I had thought, like so many that has not had to deal with the condition, that eczema was just a bit of dry skin, no problem! I was referred to the community eczema clinic that gave me more creams to try, but I was also given that most elusive of things - an appointment at the dermatology clinic at the hospital. I waited another two months for my appointment, even though my daughter was apparently on the emergency waiting list. During this time things got worse and I felt so desperate and began to despair that there was no way to treat the condition, and that things would never get any better. I noticed that she was a very quiet baby that rarely smiled and was quite clingy. I found out later that her skin was infected which makes a child feel unwell, although it would be another three months before she was treated properly for this infection. I look back now and feel so guilty that my poor baby had felt unwell for what was then half her life.

As a mother of a baby with eczema your life comes down to routines. I would hoover the house every day and changed her sheet on her mattress and hovered that every day. I would give her two baths a day and cream her all over every time I gave her a nappy change. I would also wake her up at least twice through the night just so I could cream her. She would always have mittens on, although it was a continuous battle because as soon as you would put them on her she would immediately pull them off again! And I always put her in these baggy trousers that went over the feet to stop her scratching her ankles. Ever so often you would discover something new that worked on your baby's eczema and that would bring such joy for a moment in your life and that too would become part of your routine.

I found that public awareness of the condition was a lot more positive than I would have expected. At first I would always explain that my daughter had eczema to shop keepers and any other strangers that I met. I felt sure that when people looked at her they must think that I was a bad mother, this quietly ate at me as I would have done any thing for her, I loved her so much. I was surprised to find that most of the people would say,
'Oh, yes my son has that or my daughter had that as a baby',
And resume to give me advice on things that had worked for them. I couldn't believe how prevalent the condition was, it was like I had been let in to a secret society that had previously been undetected.

I found that I got so much advice from these people that I started to wonder if there should be some sort of forum, a venue where people could meet to be able to help each other, and to give and receive advice from the people that were actually going through this. I went back to my health visitor and she put me in contact with the national eczema society, through this organisation I was able to see how support groups are set up and run.

My daughter has just had her first birthday and I can state with relish that we survived the first year and that apart from an occasional flare up on her cheeks she has only a 'touch' of eczema. I truly believe that her experiences have made her a stronger person beyond her years; she has become such a happy little girl who is always laughing and grinning and loves to meet new people. I have now set up a support group for eczema in my area, and maybe, just maybe, a mother will get the help she needs to look after her child by learning how to manage her child's eczema quicker than I did, and therefore maybe her child will not have to suffer as my daughter had suffered at such a tender age.