Keeping the skin moist is the mainstay of treatment of Eczema. You may need Steroids for flare ups, but through out the year, use loads of emollients (moisturisers).
Put the bath additive like Oilatum Bath, in water and let the child stay in it for 10-15 min. After taking him / her out, dab him dry (don’t rub him with towel). While the skin is still a bit moist, apply moisturiser in a single stroke technique in the direction of hair. Don’t need to rub t till it disappears, as it’ll remove the oil from the skin. Leave it to absorb and put clothes on. You can apply steroids on the affected area prior to applying the moisturiser.
There are no standard rules on whether to apply a topical steroid before or after using an emollient. Some people are happiest using an emollient first to prepare the skin, followed by the topical steroid. Whichever order of care you choose, it is important that you leave as long a period as practical, ideally 20–30 minutes between the two treatments. This is intended to avoid diluting the strength of the topical steroid preparation, and to prevent the spread of topical steroids to areas not affected by eczema.
Topical steroids should be applied with clean hands so that the skin just glistens. It can sometimes be difficult to judge how much steroid to use and there are now guidelines on the amount required to cover body areas that are affected by eczema. These are based on the Finger Tip Unit (FTU), which is the amount of cream or ointment that just covers the end of an adult finger from the tip to the crease of the first joint when squeezed from an ordinary tube nozzle . One FTU is enough to cover an area of skin the size of two adult flat palms. Different parts of the body require different amounts of topical steroid
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