Eczema Symptoms: How To Determine If Your Baby Has Eczema?
Eczema, or a more specific medical term, atopic dermatitis is the most common form of eczema for infants, toddlers and children up to teenage years.
Atopic dermatitis, popularly known as eczema, is one skin condition common to infants. Its incidence has increased threefold in the past 10 years in babies younger than 2 years. A child with allergies or family members with atopic dermatitis has a higher chance of having atopic dermatitis. The goals of treatment are to ease itching and inflammation of the skin, increase moisture and prevent infection.
Eczema is easily recognized in children and, although common, its symptoms should not be ignored, as the exacerbation of eczema can lead to supra-infection and create a lot of discomforts.
Let’s take a look at some atopic dermatitis symptoms to see how to determine if your baby has eczema.
Symptom # 1- Small, red skin bumps
One primary symptom of infant atopic dermatitis is tiny red bumps. When your baby starts to develop eczema, you will be able to notice small red bumps appearing on your baby’s skin. These bumps are usually very itchy and scratching them may just result in a more serious infection. Scratching can lead to oozing and it may make the skin to crust over. Before this happens, you have to ensure that your baby can’t scratch the bumps by putting mittens on your little one’s hands.
Symptom # 2- Patches
Eczema is also characterized by some red patches in the skin. When patches of scaly skin began to erupt, you will be able to notice pink or red-colored marks that slightly rise. Some patches may be brownish-gray in color.
Symptom # 3- Flakes
One of the common eczema symptoms is skin flaking. Skin dryness and flaking may be due to scratching the itchy spots on your baby’s skin. To help with skin dryness and flaking, you need to bathe your baby in a warm bath. However, you must not have your baby soak for more than fifteen minutes at one time. To lessen skin flaking, be sure to moisturize your baby’s skin. You may replace your baby’s usual bath soap with an organic one, preferably oatmeal based. Moisturizers should not be chemically-based but should be natural with Vitamin E and aloe vera.
Sixty to ninety percent of children suffer from sleep disturbance, secondary to the severe pruritus associated with the disease. Irritability and lack of concentration can lead to detrimental effects in schooling, educational development and social interactions for young children.
Controlling eczema’s symptoms and avoiding things that may trigger them is very important.
Eczema flare-ups can and should be kept under control because they affect the skin’s natural protection mechanisms to prevent infections. Eczematic skin needs constant protection from harsh soaps, detergents, contact with strong chemicals and extreme weather conditions. It is very important to maintain good hydration by consuming adequate amounts of good quality water each day.
You will most likely want to consult with your doctor for a positive diagnosis and to get suggestions for care.
Of course, you should consult with your baby’s doctor for an accurate diagnosis. They also should be able to make some suggestions of proper things to do for care, however, they will most likely try to prescribe some type of corticosteroid cream. These have proven to be less effective than natural methods, especially over the long term, in controlling the symptoms of eczema. Not only that but steroids of any kind can have detrimental effects.
It can be easy to confuse baby eczema with a condition called cradle cap. But there are a few key differences. Cradle cap will display much less redness and be less scaly. It generally appears on the scalp, the sides of the nose, eyelids and eyebrows, and behind the ears. Many times it will clear up by the time they are 8 months old or so.
Now that you know how to determine if your baby has eczema, you can start to make plans for treatment and control. Over-the-counter moisturizers from Aveeno seem to work great for atopic skin and they also can be combined with natural remedies like organic coconut oil, olive oil or aloe vera gel to be used throughout the day for optimum skin hydration. These should be applied right after bathing, even wet, to lock in the moisture on the skin.
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