Laundry detergent for baby with eczema??

[LouLouMoving]

Hi,

We?re struggling a bit to manage our baby?s eczema and despite slathering him in coconut oil, cetraben and hydrocortisone (the latter just on particularly bad patches) his skin doesn?t seem to be making much improvement. It?s been worse with the warm weather as of late. We use oilatum in the bath and Child?s Farm to wash him.

He is mostly breastfed with one formula feed a day. I eat very little dairy but could cut out the bit I do have in tea and occasional cheese if necessary.

At this stage I?m looking to change the laundry detergent for something more natural. Currently on fairy non-bio ... any other suggestions from experience?

[shen]

Fairy is supposed to be the one to use but in my family it seems to exacerbate it. Both my husband and one child suffer. We have found person non bio to be the best. And aveeno works wonders as well as a moisturiser. There is a baby version.

Good luck!

[Specklemum]

One of our sons has sensitive skin and we use Surcare powder and conditioner, which you can pick up from Sainsbury?s. It?s fragrance free (which I miss sometimes! But is a no-no for eczema) and doesn?t seem to cause irritation. If it?s any consolation, whilst he still gets the odd breakout, it?s much rarer and milder these days than when he was a baby.

[Specklemum]

We also found it was trial and error as to which emollient to use. We tend to use Oilatum cream for minor cases and Epaderm (which is much greasier) when it is worse. I know a lot of people swear by coconut oil, but it barely made any difference in his case.

[Beaky]

Having seen a couple of dermatologists we now use Aveeno in the bath/shower and the cream to moisturise daily - works really well on my kids. If there is a flare we use a steroid cream to get it under control.

Persil non-bio

[HannahSE23]

We use Fairy but about to try soap nuts recommended by a friend! Will report back

https://www.soapnuts.co.uk/collections/soapnuts/products/large-soapnut-starter-pack

[Digbina]

I use a brand called Neutral which you can get at Sainsbury's. It's worked very well for us: https://www.neutralsensitiveskin.com/neutral-0-white-laundry-washing-powder-1.188kg/11313215.html.

We also use Epaderm ointment in the bath instead of soap.

[Lula]

We had this problem and found Fairy non-bio to be very good. I think if you always wash everything on 30C it?s worth doing regular service washes and towels/sheets on 60C as if you don?t the bacteria in your machine builds up and transfers on to your clothes. Really disgusting when you think about it. Also don?t use any bubble bath or scented soaps. We use Moo Goo skincare and it?s been great. Aveeno is a good moisturiser. I also tend to not bathe them every day unless they are really grubby.

[mika1336]

All of my 4 suffered with exema so after testing many things we stick to persil non bio and aveeno to wash and lotion. With aveeno you need to make sure its the one with oats as there is so many of them now that its easy to get confused. from what i noticed the baby aveeno the wash and cream are good and they are on the offer quite often.

[bkkmei]

Hi

I make my own laundry gloop - google it and you can find recipes. It's basically cooking up grated unscented soap and soda crystals. It's pretty quick to do and I think has made a real difference with my elder son's eczema. I also don't use softener - I use vinegar instead.

The downside is that the gloop does not get things quite as clean as a normal detergent. Also there's no scent (though you can add lavender oil). Actually, now when I smell softener on other people's laundry, it really smells strongly of chemicals to me. One other thing, the gloop has to be used all the time as otherwise normal detergent just stays in the pipes of the washing machine.

A lot of detergents, shampoos etc. contain sodium lauryl sulphate which may be an irritant. I thought this was interesting reading:

https://www.itchybaby.co.uk/pages/laundry-clothing-and-eczema

I don't know if this is relevant to your baby. I hope you can find the trigger. I know every case is different but my younger son had (wet) eczema when he was a baby and he did grow out of it completely after about 6 months.

[yeknomyeknom]

Our sons skin is super sensitive. We have to wash all new clothes before he can wear them for example. We use Method laundry liquid and Attitude fabric conditioner which we get from Ocado or Waitrose. We?ve used it for years.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Attitude detergent from Ocado, I?ve got psoriasis, my child has allergies and it?s been fabulous for us.https://www.ocado.com/webshop/getSearchProducts.do?clearTabs=yes&isFreshSearch=true&chosenSuggestionPosition=1&entry=attitude+laundry

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Shea butter by the way is brilliant for moisturising our skin.

[LouLouMoving]

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to respond. I?ll have to try some of the recommendations by trial and error to see what works for him. First stop, cleaning the machine drum.

Thank you!!!

[dresswaves]

hoonaloona Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We use Fairy but about to try soap nuts

> recommended by a friend! Will report back

> https://www.soapnuts.co.uk/collections/soapnuts/pr

> oducts/large-soapnut-starter-pack

A few years ago I developed eczema. Never really found out what caused it but suspected washing powder. Have used soap nuts ever since and they are brilliant. Also they work out considerably cheaper than washing powder!

[yeknomyeknom]

Na?f stuff is lovely.

[Howl]

How old is he LouLou?

[LouLouMoving]

So after giving the machine drum a few good cleans I have rewashed everything his skin comes into direct contact with. I?ve alsobthen put an extra rinse on. And I started him on Aveeno. I?m not sure where the tipping point was but in just a week his skin has improved drastically. It has lost the sandpaper effect and bumpiness that it had before. We?re so happy with the progress!

Thank you again to everyone who commented. It feels like we?re starting to get it under control xx

[LouLouMoving]

Howl, he?s almost 5mths old.

[Howl]

Might be worth giving infant probiotics a go. Biogaia are good.

My eczema settles with good probiotics, not gone completely but loads better.

I would also experiment with cutting out nuts as well as dairy, but you need to do one thing at a time otherwise you?ll drive yourself bananas.

I think most drs would say that there?s no proven link between diet and eczema but seems much more research on how important the gut is to health and the immune system, so it makes sense to me...

[sarahandol]

My son had bad eczema when he was a baby (100% breast fed) - we found out when we was around 8 months old that he was extremely allergic to dairy (put a stick of cheese in his hand), so he was reacting from a young age to the dairy I was eating and passing through to him. Depending on the severity of the eczema it might be worth having some allergy tests?

[Lula]

LouLouMoving Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> So after giving the machine drum a few good cleans

> I have rewashed everything his skin comes into

> direct contact with. I?ve alsobthen put an extra

> rinse on. And I started him on Aveeno. I?m not

> sure where the tipping point was but in just a

> week his skin has improved drastically. It has

> lost the sandpaper effect and bumpiness that it

> had before. We?re so happy with the progress!

>

> Thank you again to everyone who commented. It

> feels like we?re starting to get it under control

> xx

So pleased you've seen progress, LouLouMoving! Top news xx