What causes neonatal eczema? How to treat neonatal eczema?

What should you do if your newborn baby has eczema on his skin? First of all, you have to find out the cause of eczema so that you can prescribe the right medicine. So, how should you treat newborn eczema?

What causes neonatal 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.

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 to conventional milk protein formula. For example, Mead Johnson Enfamil Partially Hydrolyzed Milk Protein Formula Powder uses advanced hydrolyzed protein technology to effectively alleviate infants' intolerance to milk protein.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

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 easier to absorb, which is beneficial to the recovery of eczema. The premise is that you have to learn how to bathe the baby correctly:

First of all, it is best not to use bath gel when taking a bath, just use clean water, because bath gel will make the skin dry and irritate the skin, which may cause skin itching.

Secondly, control the water temperature. When bathing a baby with eczema, the water should not be too hot, because too high a water temperature will cause the baby's skin to dehydrate faster. Use warm water, preferably 38℃~39℃. Wash the head first and then the baby's whole body. Try to control the time the baby is in the water to less than 5~10 minutes.

Finally, after bathing, use a soft towel to gently dry the skin, do not rub hard, especially on the affected area, and then apply a thin layer of skin cream to keep the skin hydrated and relieve the symptoms of itching. If the doctor recommends the use of ointment, follow the doctor's advice.

Clinical symptoms and manifestations of eczema

The characteristics of the rash can be divided into two types: exudative type and dry type.

Exudative eczema often occurs in obese infants with exudative constitution. It starts on the cheeks, with erythema and unclear borders. The erythema is densely covered with needle-tip papules, papulovesicles, blisters and exudate. When the exudate dries, it forms yellow scabs of varying thickness. Severe itching, scratching, and friction often cause some of the scabs to peel off, revealing bright red erosive surfaces with a large amount of exudate. In severe cases, the entire face and scalp may be affected. If there is a secondary infection, pustules may be seen, complicated by local lymphadenopathy, and even systemic symptoms such as fever. A small number of children may develop erythroderma due to improper treatment, and are often accompanied by diarrhea, malnutrition, and systemic lymphadenopathy.

Dry rash is common in thin infants, with light red to dark red patches, dense small papules without blisters, dry skin without obvious exudation, and grayish white bran-like scales on the surface. It often affects the face, trunk and limbs. In chronic cases, it may also be slightly infiltrated, thickened, chapped, scratched or bloody.

In addition to the above two types, some people also divide it into a seborrheic type, which is characterized by skin lesions occurring in areas with developed sebaceous glands such as the scalp and behind the ears, which may produce thick yellow scabs, but its basic characteristics are similar to the exudative type.

Neonatal eczema usually starts 1 to 3 months after birth, gradually improves after 6 months, and most children gradually recover after 1-2 years old. Some children will continue to suffer from it in toddler or childhood. The severity of the disease varies. The rash is mostly seen 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, there are 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. The child is irritable, cries at night, affects sleep, and often itches everywhere. Because the lesions of eczema are on the epidermis, no scars are left after healing.

Treatment of neonatal eczema

1. The general treatment principle of infantile eczema is: find out the cause, treat the symptoms, feed properly, and take good care of the baby. Generally speaking, first observe whether there is any food allergy, especially allergy to animal protein such as milk, breast milk or egg white; secondly, the mother eats fish, shrimp, crab, chicken, etc., which can also be passed on to the baby through breast milk. After eating these animal foods, observe whether the baby's skin disease worsens. If it is related to the above situation, the baby should change the feeding method. The baby's skin is relatively tender and has poor resistance. It is necessary to keep the local area clean to avoid infection. When the skin seeps and forms scabs, do not scrub it with hot water and soap, so as to avoid more and more exudate and thicker scabs. It should be gently rubbed with vegetable oil, and do not forcibly peel off the scabs.

2. Commonly used internal medications include diphenhydramine syrup, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, etc. Antibiotics should be added when secondary infection occurs.

3. The topical medication should be determined according to the condition of skin lesions. When there is water exudation, erosion, redness or swelling, use 2% boric acid aqueous solution or 0.1 reflavonoid aqueous solution for wet compress. After the exudation and erosion disappear, use topical corticosteroid preparations, such as eczema cream, dehumidifying oil, skin relaxing cream, etc.

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