5 week old baby with terrible skin, pls help!

[BigBumpBonnie]

DD2 is five weeks old and has got really bad skin mainly on her face. Its just one big rash and feels really dry she also has yellow scales over her forehead and around her eyes. the health visitor has prescribed epaderm cream which i have started using but it doesn't seem to be helping (it also makes her face really greasy!). Does anyone have any idea whether at her age she will grow out of it or does she have excema for good? My dh has very bad skin and i'm worried she's inherited it. Is there anything better I can use and could it be that she's allergic to the formula milk she's on?

[SoupDragon]

bum - was going to ask if you were breastfeeding as there'd been a thread about putting breastmilk on bad skin!

Anyway, I found Kamillosan cream worked really well on DS2s dry patches - it's sold as a nipple cream in Boots, Tescos etc etc. I'd also stop using bath products when you wash her and stick to plain water.

[troublesmummy]

I was told by my doctor that most babies have it, as their skin is just getting used to the outside world. Apparently. It may be something different but they just told me to stop putting products in the bath etc, not to use fabric softener and to use non-bio. But i'm sure you already know that. Ds's skin cleared up in a couple of weeks if i remember rightly.

[BigBumpBonnie]

thanks SoupDragon. I'm only bathing her in plain water and as little as possible. I will try that cream you've suggested and hope that helps.

DD1 had quite dry skin as a baby but nothing compared to this, it really has got bad. The hv didn't seem concerned but tbh didn't really look at her properly so I'm thinking of taking her to docs on Monday.

[SoupDragon]

DS2s skin was worse than DS1s (but not as bad as your DDs sounds) I tried the Kamillosan in desperation as it was all I had at the time and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Hope you get it all sorted.

[zippitippitoes]

It is quite common to have spots, peeling patches etc at this age...if it is due to her skin developing naturally it would improve in the next few weeks.

my dd2 did have this at this age and did go on to have excema but she peaked at around 12 to 18m months and then later grew out of it. She was breast fed though so can't answer the formula question.