Tips for Families Dealing with Severe Eczema

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My daughter Bella has severe eczema and it has changed the way we live our daily life.

My baby Bella is my second child. During the first two years of her life, she was a healthy and happy baby. However, when she turned 2 years old, she started to develop eczema around her diaper area. I went to the doctor, and he said it would disappear with some cream. He assured me that these kinds of rashes are common on babies. But it was not the case for my daugther. The small eczema did not disappear. It started to spread all over her body. 

When she turned 3 years old, around 90% of her body was cover in red, itchy, and oozing dermatitis. By that time I was desperate. Most of the treatments worked for a couple of weeks and then we went back to where we began. We spent more than a year sleepless nights, doctor’s appointments and lots of treatments (conventional and natural ones). 

After many trials and errors, we finally found a hospital in Denver, Colorado. This hospital offers an outpatient program for 2 weeks for kids with severe eczema. They did an extensive care of her skin with wet wrap therapy and bunch of allergy tests. Thankfully, she got better, but it was just the beginning of a journey. We have to work a lot with her, not only with her skin and allergies but also with her self-esteem. 

miami moms blog eczema

After all we went through, we realized that we have a kid with a chronic condition. We will have to live with it, like it or not, and we have two options. First, to look on the dark side of this situation, or second, to learn to live a great life no matter what. OF COURSE we took the latter choice! I want to share with you some of the things that have worked for us.

Tips for Families Who Have Children with Severe Eczema 

In our daily life:

The first thing we did was to hire a Psychologist to help Bella understand that being different is OK.
The Psychologist also helps her to deal with the way people look at her. She has learned to answer the questions others usually make. Questions such as, “What is that rash on your face or in your legs?” This has also been helpful for us too. 

We need to always be prepared. 
We can’t just jump into plans as we used to do. I cook all of my daughter’s food in advance and make sure I always have food ready in the fridge for her. She cannot eat anything at any party. I usually bake her gluten, egg and dairy free cupcakes and cookies. When I freeze them they are easy to keep on hand.

miami moms blog eczema

I keep a small bag with her moisturizing cream, allergy medicine, and Epi-Pen in my purse.
I cannot leave it in the car because it is too hot outside in South Florida.

At school:

I send a note to her teacher the first day of school.
I write down all the things that my daugther is allergic to. Also, I add to this note the things that trigger her, like soap or hand sanitizer. She cannot use them on her hands. We also get the form from the pediatrician for the EpiPen that she has to keep at school.  

I make a note of all the birthdays in the classroom.
This helps me to plan for the days when there will be a special celebration
 where I should send treats for her.

And what about the playdates?
This is one of the hardest things. Living in year round summer in Miami it is hard for us to do many outside activities because of my daughter’s eczema. However, we plan according with Bella’s condition. We take advantage of the beautiful weather from November through March. We go to the park a lot in the spring and after April and in the summer months we try to do indoor activities. Some days we can swim in the pool for a while. 

miami moms blog eczema

Even though we can feel overwhelmed at times because of all the restrictions that our daughter has, we keep looking at the bright side. We are thankful for all we have!

What tips and strategies have you found helpful for managing your child’s eczema? 

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Gabriela Morales
Gabriela Morales is originally from Valencia, Venezuela. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering in 2004 from Universidad de Carabobo-Venezuela. She married her college sweetheart in 2006. In 2012, she was transferred to USA because of her job, and came with her family. She is a working wife and mom to her 6 years old daughter and 10 years old son. She has her own clothing brand for kids with skin problems, which was created after her daughter was diagnosed with severe eczema. She is an advocate for eczema sufferers and want to create awareness about it. She also has her own blog https://sumycotton.com/blog/, where she writes about living with a kid with a chronic condition. She loves to travel, play with her kids, enjoy a good cup of coffee with her peers, and a movie night with her husband.