Why does my child have infants eczema

Nobody completely understands eczema, it seems that some people are more prone to developing this irritating condition than others, it’s not clear why so many children develop eczema as infants either. Some children are born with a greater tendency to develop eczema at some time in their life, and others are not. It is also thought that eczema can be a hereditary condition.

It is about twice as likely that your child will suffer from eczema if you or your partner yourselves suffer from the condition. Eczema is a condition which is somehow linked to allergies, it is often present in people that also suffer from hay fever and asthma. Many of the people that suffer from eczema also have at least one of these conditions, lost of people actually have all three! This allergic tendency causes the skin to become red, itchy and scaly upon contact with an allergen.

Due to the link with asthma your child may be experiencing trouble breathing at times and may become wheezy, they may also experience problems with irritation and itching inside the throat or nose, this is especially irritating because they can’t scratch them! Although this could be an excuse for picking their nose! Hay fever will cause the nose to bung up, which can cause irritation, this can result in sneezing and problems breathing through the nose. Hay fever is often made worse during summer months when the flowers are out in bloom.

Eczema can affect any part of your infants body, however it typically affects the elbows, particularly around the front where the skin creases, and also behind the back of the knees in the crease. Also in infants it typically appears on the scalp and is known as cradle cap, this is a normal condition and will probably be resolved by itself. Severe cases of eczema can affect the whole body all in one go.

Eczema will cause the skin to become inflamed and develop red patches, dryness, irritation and severe itching. Certain triggers can make the eczema worse, coming into contact with certain materials such as wool can irritate the condition for example.

Sweating can also cause the condition to worsen as the skin is losing even more of its moisture, exposure to certain chemicals and allergens can also trigger a flare up of your infants eczema, these are typically things like fabric detergents, you should make sure that you rinse your child’s clothing an extra couple of times to make sure you rinse all of the detergent out, and also consider buying a milder detergent.

Scratching the skin makes the condition worse, but it is very difficult to soothe the condition without actually scratching the skin. There are some things that you can do to soothe the condition without necessarily scratching your skin, speak to your doctor about these they should be able to help you out.

Many parents resort to putting mittens on their child’s hands so that they are unable to scratch themselves, this may seem mean but it is for their own good!

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