Whole body rash in an infant

ektavish · Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

I know this 4 month old kid,who has been having a whole body rash since after 2 weeks after his birth.The rash started from his scalp,and now involves most of his body.Theres no scaling,but its itchy and red.
According to the pediatrcian's advice,his parents are using loads of moisturising creams all the time, especially Eucerin and 1% Hydrocortisone ointment when the rash flares up.
They only use hypoallergenic bathing products for him.
Apart from this,he is a normal healthy baby,active and is being exclusively breast fed.
I have 3 questions:
1.This long term steroid use,erratic because its being used only when the rash flares up: is it any good?
2.He is an Indian kid,and recently I have noticed that he has become very fair,and pinkish.Can it be a side effect of the steroid cream he is on? (thinned out skin)
3.Is there something else too,his parents can be doing to help his condition?

David's Mommy · Newbie Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2 Location: SF Bay Area

It sounds like the poor child has eczema, which my son also suffers with. Eczema is caused mostly by dry skin combined with allergies to environmental conditons or what he's ingesting. I will share what I've learned through research and direct experience. If he is being breast fed, it could be the mother is eating something that he is sensitive to--eggs, peanuts, soy, even garlic or other spicy foods, but those typically only cause indigestion in the infant. I stopped using soap altogether (at about 2 months of age) when bathing my son and this helped quite a bit. I just recently started using Cetaphil on my son about once a week, a non-soap cleanser for sensitive skin. My boy is now 10 1/2 months and has occasional flare-ups from things such as crawling in a dusty area before I can stop him, petting the cat and touching his face (again before I can stop him) and being near people or things with a strong fragrance-ie: detergents, perfume, air freshener, incense. He also reacts to foods, we've discovered he's sensitive to soy and eggs and possibly wheat. Mostly now his face gets a patchy raised rash, around his eyes and mouth gets red and his hands swell a little bit. He was covered head to toe back in June and I cried over his suffering often. If I can say one thing to keep it general: with babies, the simpler and closer to nature you can get the better, in food, clothes, cleaning products. Less"Baby Fresh Scent" junk. Babies are already fresh. Also, I have used a few of the cortisone products OTC and prescription. One that worked a bit better than the other was Mometasone. It is good to try and go for stretches without it if possible because yes, it does thin the skin and leave the skin more vulnerable to infection. I use Aquapor too, but try and alternate with natural products like a great one called "Unpetroleum Jelly" (has vegetable oils instead of petroleum products) and also sometimes just organic olive oil. I bath and lotion my son right afterwards with whatever product is in line for that evening.I hope this helps, I know how hard it is to watch a baby suffer.

Whole body rash in an infant

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