[Mommy2Addy]

I usually don't venture out of my PR, but I was looking around to see what other boards were here and found this one. I've been battling major skin problems with my daughter for the past 3 months or so. She's been seen by her family doctor and a dermatologist and we're not really getting any answers. So I'm hoping that maybe someone here can help.

Her family doctor told me that she had cradle cap and a little bit of eczema. On )ct. 29th he put her on clotrimazole & betamethasone cream and told me to use vegetable oil on her head twice a day. That didn't work at all. So I took her back on Nov.4 and he put her on ketoconazole 2%. That worked for about 2 days and then it got even worse. It spread all over her head and face. So I took her back to the doctor on Nov. 12 and he said that it looked like it had gotten infected. He put her on keflex and prednisolone. It cleared it up, but I still wanted to take her to a dermatologist.

I took her to the dermatologist on Nov. 14 and the dermatologist told me to stop using the 2 creams her other doctor prescribed and instead he put her on compound of 2.5% hydrocortisone and bactroban. We were so excited because she looked like she was back to normal and everything was ok. We went back to the dermatologist a few days later on Nov. 18 for a recheck and her head and face looked great. She just had a little bit of eczema on her arms and legs. Not even 3 hours later while we were eating dinner I noticed some bumps on her legs. Then when I started looking her over she had a terrible red rash all over her body! So we called the office and they had us bring her back in. He said they looked like hives and that it could be some sort of allergy or a rebound from stopping the steroid she had been on. Then he gave us a prescription for more hydrocortisone cream.

She was supposed to go back two days ago, but we had a funeral to go to. So her next appointment is next Wednesday. But the rash is still there and it's not getting any better. Her head and face are doing ok, but it seems to come and go. I've been wondering if something at her daycare is causing that since she is fine when she's at home.

I'll post some pictures. I'm just wondering if anyone else has dealt with anything like this and maybe could tell me what might help. I feel so bad for her, but luckily it doesn't seem to bother her.

This is what her head looked like when the doctor thought it was infected:



And here is the rash on her stomach and back that's not going away (just took these this morning):




Sorry this got a little long. I'm just hoping I can get some advice. We've already tried not using any soap and I've always used Tide Free and Bounce Free for the laundry, so I know that's not it. It's just frustrating not knowing what's causing this. Thanks in advance to anyone that can give us any advice!

[mommablogger]

That looks a lot like my baby's rash too.

I have found some success with Triamcinolone Acetonide 01%, as well as keeping the areas affected by drool covered in Aquaphor in between treatments.

I also found a massive difference when I switched to a completely natural laundry soap for him. I need to get some again. We tried an experiment with some made from natural products type of laundry soap (www.calben.com Seafoam Laundry Powder). During the week that I washed his clothes with the sample we got of it, his skin cleared up. As soon as we were back to the regular detergent, he flared up again.

I also found help with natural/organic body soap for him. Just because it says Free and Clear, does not mean that it doesn't contain harsh detergents. Most soaps for our hair and body contain harsh floor cleaners, and I don't even know what's in most of the laundry soaps, aside from harsh chemicals that are not friendly to our bodies.

My personal suggestion would be to find the organics/natural foods section and look for soaps and cleaning supplies there, for anything that you would use on your baby. Even if you only use it on your daughter, you might see an improvement. It might work, it might not, but at least then you'll know for sure.

P.s. Very few doctors/dermatologists will recommend natural products. They will pretty much always recommend commercially available things that still have harsh chemicals in them, mostly because they don't know about the benefits of the other products.

[Mommy2Addy]

Thanks! I'll have to give that a try and see if it helps.

[glasscandie]

Is she having any trouble gaining weight?

[Mommy2Addy]

No, no weight gain issues. I tried switching to organic detergents and soaps, but that didn't do anything. She's now seen two different dermatologists and they have no clue. The latest one had us experimenting with a couple different creams, but those didn't help either. Our next stop is an allergist.