What causes baby eczema? What causes baby eczema?

Most newborn babies will have eczema. Some babies will recover in a few days, while others may take 1-2 months longer. So, what causes baby eczema? What are the causes of baby eczema? Let's take a look.

What causes baby eczema?

It is a common skin disease in infants. It is an allergic disease. The exact cause is sometimes difficult to find. Infant eczema is usually called "milk ringworm". If the medicine used to treat "ringworm" is used to treat infant eczema, the condition will worsen. Infant eczema is first seen in infants aged 2-3 months. It mostly occurs on the cheeks, forehead, eyebrows and head. In severe cases, it also occurs on the trunk and limbs. In the early stage, it is erythema, and then it becomes small dot-like papules and herpes. It is very itchy. The herpes is damaged, and the exudate flows out, and forms a scab after drying.

The skin lesions are often distributed symmetrically. Eczema is sometimes dry, with a small amount of grayish-white bran peeling on the small papules. It can also be seborrheic, with light yellowish oily liquid oozing out of the small maculopapules, which later forms scabs. It is more common on the top of the head, between the eyebrows, beside the nose, and behind the ears, but the itching sensation is not very obvious.

What is the cause of baby eczema

1. Milk protein is to blame

Some infants will have varying degrees of intolerance to cow's milk protein, which often manifests as varying degrees of eczema. In severe cases, diarrhea or even blood in the stool may occur. Cow's milk protein is the first and most common allergen that infants and young children come into contact with. Generally, infants are only intolerant to cow's milk protein, but some infants are also intolerant to breast milk protein.

2. For infants at high risk of milk protein allergy who cannot be exclusively breastfed, the use of partially hydrolyzed protein formula can prevent or delay the occurrence of early atopic dermatitis and milk protein allergy in infants and young children compared with conventional milk protein formula. For example, Mead Johnson's Pro-Sodium partially hydrolyzed milk protein formula powder uses advanced hydrolyzed protein technology to effectively alleviate infants' intolerance to milk protein.

3. Copy your genes

Almost all health problems can be attributed to genes, and eczema is no exception. Yes, eczema has a lot to do with genetics. Among allergic diseases, only eczema breaks out in infancy. In other words, if one of the parents has suffered from an allergic disease or has had eczema, the possibility of the baby getting eczema will increase significantly.

4. Bad environment and mood

You may not realize that environmental factors can also cause eczema in babies. Pollen, mites, dry air, etc. are closely related to the occurrence of eczema in babies. Even emotional factors can affect eczema - if the baby is under long-term mental stress and bad mood, eczema will be aggravated, or even recurring.

5. Baby clothes and daily necessities

Woolen fabrics, woolen quilts, animal hair pillows, and dyes on clothes may all be the cause of allergies in babies. In addition, if babies wear too thick clothes, wear too rough clothes, eat too much, or the room temperature is too high, the eczema may be aggravated.

6. Finally, a reminder to mothers: Do you also think that if a baby has eczema and is afraid of getting wet, you can’t give him a bath? In fact, babies with eczema can also enjoy the fun of bathing. Bathing can help babies clean their skin and keep their pores unobstructed. After the baby takes a bath, eczema medicine or moisturizer is more easily absorbed, which is conducive to the recovery of eczema. The premise is that you have to learn to bathe the baby correctly.

Symptoms of eczema in babies

Infant eczema is more common on the head and face, such as the forehead, cheeks, and top of the head, and then gradually spreads to the chin, neck, shoulders, back, buttocks, limbs, and even the whole body. At the beginning, it is scattered or clustered small red papules or erythema, which gradually increase in number, and small blisters, yellow-white scales and crusts can be seen, and there may be exudation, erosion and secondary infection. Due to itching, the baby is irritable and restless, crying at night, affecting sleep. Since the lesions of eczema are on the epidermis, no scars are left after healing. According to different ages, different locations of skin lesions, and different living environments and seasons, the manifestations of eczema are also diverse.

1. Seborrheic eczema: Infants under three months old have redness on the forehead, cheeks, and between the eyebrows, covered with yellow greasy scabs, and thick yellow serous scabs on the top of the head. Later, there may be rubbing, redness, and exudation under the chin, back of the neck, armpits, and groin, which is called seborrheic eczema. Generally, it can heal itself after 6 months if the diet is improved.

2. Exudative eczema: It is more common in obese infants aged 3-6 months. Symmetrical rice-sized red papules can be seen on both cheeks, accompanied by small blisters and erythema in sheets, with ulceration, exudation, and scabs. It is so itchy that scratching leaves bloody scratches and bright red wet and rotten faces. If not treated in time, it can spread to the whole body and can also cause secondary infection.

3. Dry type eczema: It is more common in children aged 6 months to 1 year. It manifests as dense patchy small papules, redness and swelling on the face, limbs, and the outside of the trunk, hard bran-like desquamation and scaly crusts, without exudation. It is also called dry eczema.