Eczema in Babies: How to Manage the Symptoms

What is eczema? Eczema is a common term used for skin rashes, so it's not a serious disease or illness. It's also called "dermatitis", which is a Greek term meaning: inflammation of the skin. At some point in their baby life, your babies are likely to experience eczema. It's nothing to worry about as they will grow out of it, unless, your family has allergy history.

Common types of Eczema in babies

Atopic dermatitis is caused by the reaction of your babies' immune system to allergen. Babies with parents who suffer allergy, asthma or hay fever are likely to suffer from atopic dermatitis. It can be triggered by food, environmental allergens or other irritants. Babies' skin becomes itchy and flaky.

Contact dermatitis is caused by irritants like harsh soaps, perfumes, sweat and dribbles.

Treatment for Baby Eczema

As their skin is sensitive, most babies suffer from eczema. If your baby has an eczema rash, don't get yourself too worked up. As mentioned earlier, as long as you don't have a history of allergy in the family, your baby is going to outgrow it.

There's no cure for eczema only management of symptoms. So how to do you help your baby stop itching and his skin heal quicker?

Keep babies' skin moisturised. Skin dryness can exacerbate eczema, so use moisturising cream daily, preferably twice a day. But be careful of the product you are using. Scent and colour used in baby products can irritate babies' skin. Don't just buy products that say "natural" or "organic", always check the ingredients, even products that say "hypoallergenic." If the product has a long list of ingredients, it is too harsh for babies.

Lay off the daily bath. Bathing removes the oil that protects babies' skin. Consequently, it dries the babies' skin. Reduce bathing babies to two or three times a week.

Use humidifier in the room where your baby spends most of his time. Humidifier creates a moist-air environment and will help keep your baby's skin moist.

Use bandana bibs. Dribble irritates the skin on babies' chin and neck. Traditional dribble bibsdon't cover babies' neck and also allow moisture to drip down the chest. Choose bandana bibs that are made of soft cotton fabric as terry towelling dribble bibs can be rough and irritate babies' skin when used often.

Use cotton clothing. Cotton is softer and breathable fabric. It doesn't make your baby sweaty.

For bad outbreaks, try using oatmeal in babies' bath. The oil in the oatmeal can help sooth itchy skin and soften it too.

Finally, if your baby is experiencing severe and frequent outbreaks, consult your GP who is able to prescribe medicated cream for your baby.