allergies or eczema? HELP my 3 yr old son

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My 3 year old son has been getting rashes and itches really bad on his back and stomach. But the catch is it's only in the winter months. Occasionally he will get itchy in the summer, but it's extremely bad in the winter. So bad that it often keeps him and me up at night. He has sensitive skin, so all I can use on him in the bath is a bar of Ivory soap for his hair and body. I've tried mild lotions to help keep his skin moisturized but everything I've tried so far, he's been allergic to. Is this extremely dry skin or an allergy to something else being used. The thing that has me stumped is that it only happens in the winter. I give him Benadryl Allergy medicine to help relieve the itching and I rub extra virgin olive oil on his skin to help moisturize, but it still doesn't seem to help. I'm not sure if he's allergic to the allergy medicine or if it's dry skin or an allergy to something completely different. But why the change between summer and winter months? I've taken him to our family doctor several times and all he can give me is cortizone cream and tell me to find something mild to moisturize his skin with. Not much help. I'm at my whits end because I don't know how to help him and I feel so useless and bad for him. I want to find out what the problem is but I don't know where to begin. Anyone out there ever heard of this before? When he was a baby he had really bad eczema on his cheeks. I don't believe it was only in the winter months though. He grew out of that and then started this real bad itching on his back and stomach. I tried Eucerin brand Aquaphor on him the other night. I tried a tiny spot on his back. The next morning there was no rash in that spot, so I tried another spot on his back. No rash. The next day I tried the inside of his arm. No rash. So that night I rubbed the Aquaphor on his back and stomach because he was itching really bad. The next day he had a rash on his stomach but not on his back. He has been dealing with a cold lately. About two weeks ago I started giving him cold and cough medicine. Could it be an allergic reaction to that medicine? Would it show this late? Please, I need help! I need to know how to relieve my son. A friend of mine is going to make him some lotion out of pure shea butter and coconut oil and a soap out of shea butter and olive oil. Maybe the Ivory soap I'm using is drying his skin out too much?? HELP!!!!
 
Take him to a pediatric allergist not your family doctor. Eczema is often caused by allergies. It could be the cold in the winter, a food, a contact allergy, almost anything.
 
It sounRAB like he is suffering from a form of shingles (MERSA), has his pediatrician swabbed the sites during an outbreak for either?
I ask because a frienRAB son had almost the exact same as you describe and it wasn't until he saw a "substitute" pediatrician who did a swab test found it was MERSA, not the dangerous kind which responRAB well to a corabination antibiotic & cortisone cream.

One thing about Ivory soap; it is very drying and harsh to the skin. Look for an all natural oatmeal based soap (a cationic, not anionic) or even Aveno bath soak. It may help until he can have further medical testing to figure this out.

Good luck to you both.


PS: as a kid I had horrific winter skin "allergies" which we found was due to clothing and blankets with wool. Any small percentage of wool and my skin went highly reactive, so did Ivory soap but it took a long time to figure that out.
 
I've tried oatmeal baths and he's allergic to those too so I am very cautious to use any oatmeal based soaps. I want to use very natural ingredients. That is why I am having a friend make up some shea butter and coconut oil lotion and a shea butter and olive oil soap to use on him. I gave him Benadryl last night because he woke up in the middle of the night itching. I had said I was going to try to not give it to him to see if the rash he got on his stomach was from the medicine but I don't know what to give him to help him sleep and quit itching so bad. Did the doctor say why the skin allergies were worse in the winter time? I will quit the Ivory soap baths for now until my friend can get me the other soap and I will try that. I really doubt the allergy is to something he's eating because he hasn't changed his diet any and I haven't done anything different. This happens every winter so it's due to the cold weather. Thank you for all the advice and comments. Please share any other ideas you might have.
 
ANeuroticWife - when you say you had skin allergies as a kid in the winter - what do you mean by that? Did you break out like my son? I am asking to see if it sounRAB like his problem and to see if maybe it is the wool he is coming in contact with. I'm not sure how much he does wear or touch, but it's an idea anyways.
 
have you ever tried eliminating something from his diet? like wheat, soy etc? In this magazine that i got "Living Without" there was a story about a actress and she and her daughter could not tolerate soy. She thought she was trying to be healthy and giving her soy. Within 2 wks of no soy the rash disappeared. The doctors never figured it out

Is there something that he eats more in the winter? Keep a journal of what he eats/drinks and track the itchy rash

good luck
 
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