Symptoms of eczema in newborn babies

It is relatively common for newborns to have eczema. The causes of neonatal eczema are mainly internal and external. For example, poor diet may cause eczema in babies, or milk stains at the corners of the mouth may not be wiped away in time during feeding, which may cause symptoms of eczema in babies. At this time, it is easy to experience itching and pain, which may lead to swollen lymph nodes, etc.

Symptoms of eczema in newborn babies

Exudative eczema often occurs in obese infants with exudative constitution. It initially occurs on the cheeks, with erythema and unclear borders, and densely distributed needle-tip papules, papulovesicles, blisters and exudate on the erythema. 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 eroded surfaces with large amounts of exudate. In severe cases, the entire face and scalp may be affected. If there is secondary infection, pustules may be seen, accompanied by local lymph node enlargement, and even systemic symptoms such as fever. In a small number of children, due to improper treatment, the disease spreads to the whole body and turns into erythroderma, which is often accompanied by diarrhea, malnutrition, swollen lymph nodes, etc.

The dry type of rash is common in thin babies. It is characterized by light red to dark red patches, dense small papules without blisters, dry skin with no obvious exudation, and grayish white bran-like scales on the surface. The face, trunk, and limbs are often affected. In chronic cases, there may also be mild infiltration, hypertrophy, cracking, scratches or bloody scabs.

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 develops 1 to 3 months after birth, gradually improves after 6 months, and most children gradually recover on their own after 1-2 years old. Some children develop the disease during infancy or childhood. The severity of the disease varies. The rash is 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 can even spread throughout the 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. There may be exudation, erosion and secondary infection. The children are irritable, cry at night, have difficulty sleeping, and often itch all over. Since the lesions of eczema are on the epidermis, no scars are left after healing.

4. If your baby is fed with milk powder, you can try switching to goat milk powder. Some babies are allergic to milk. For breastfeeding babies, mothers should first avoid eating some irritating foods. If your baby is very strong, you can try changing to milk powder.

Care methods

1. Keep the skin clean and dry. When bathing your baby, use warm water and non-alkaline bath agent to clean the baby's body. For babies with intertrigo, special attention should be paid to cleaning the folds of the skin. When taking a bath, the shower gel must be rinsed off. After washing, wipe the moisture off the baby's body and apply a non-oily moisturizer to avoid hindering the normal breathing of the skin. The baby's hair should also be washed every day. If the baby has seborrheic dermatitis, washing the head carefully can remove the scabs. If the scab has hardened and stuck to the head, apply olive oil on the affected area and then wash it after a while.

2. Avoid external stimulation. Parents should always pay attention to changes in temperature and humidity around the baby. Babies with contact dermatitis should especially avoid exposing their skin to cold wind or strong sunlight. In summer, after your baby sweats during exercise, you should wipe off his sweat carefully; when the weather is cold and dry, you should apply anti-allergic non-oily moisturizer to your baby. In addition to paying attention to weather changes, parents should not let their babies wear clothes that are easy to irritate the skin, such as wool, silk, nylon, etc.

3. Trim the nails short. If your baby suffers from severely itchy atopic dermatitis or contact dermatitis, parents should trim their baby's nails regularly to reduce the chance of scratching.