Support Group

For parents who’d like to explore support groups, there are various ways to do so:

#1 You can fill in the (sharing your eczema story) form and indicate in the last question your willingness to join the support group and I’d put you in the private google group “Best Parent for E Child”. Alternatively, you can email me at [email protected]

#2 The second last question in the form is asking if you are ok with the information you filled in to be published as an interview. The purpose of that is to let other parents who come to this blog know you (and you know them when they do the same) and to build a community of parents who support each other. You can see under the comments section below for how a published interview looks, and your email will not be disclosed.

Over the past 6 years, the comments on this page themselves have come to serve as a source of support for parents – parents read what the best moments and challenging times are like for other families, and feel less alone in their struggle.

#3 I’m involved with Singapore National Skin Centre’s quarterly support group sharing sessions; please get in touch with me if you’d like to be placed on its mailing list! Update in 2021: Activities have been put on hold due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Here is a collection of devotionals that I have created in the hope that it will provide a little comfort and joy for parents caring for their eczema child.

Marcie Mom Top 10 Eczema Tips

Top 10 tricks to keep baby’s fingers busy

Top 10 reasons why parents with eczema child have a tougher time

Top 10 Cooling Places to go with your child in Singapore

Top 5 tips to help your eczema child sleep better

255 replies on “Support Group”

Meet a New Mom! – Jas

Diagnosed with eczema – My son has had eczema since he was 1 years old … he’s almost 10 now.

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – Biggest challenge – fighting the guilty feeling that I’m not doing enough … and that sometimes I feel tired from all the extra effort with child #2 🙁 Best parenting moment: While I was travelling to England last summer, I found a natural, steroid free cream that has done WONDERS for my son. As per usual, I was skeptical at first to try something new and eventually disappointing. Fast forward 6 months – he has been off all his topical steroids meds since early September! His skin is beautiful and soft and he doesn’t look any more like an eczema kid.

Hi Jas!

Thanks for sharing and joining the group 🙂 It’s good that you found something that works for your son, lovely to hear.

Hugs,
Mei

Hi Adrina, I’m tracing back the link that Jas first shared when she filled in the feedback form and the product she was referring to is at this link
https://www.facebook.com/pages/PureCare-Herbal-Cream-for-Eczema-Psoriasis/843266892410143

It’s a facebook page so maybe you can hop over there to see what people feedback.

Take care and if you have any question on any of the posts on this blog or comments, let me know! I’d answer or contact the parent who commented to help you out, cheers,
Mei

Meet a New Mom! – CarrieAnn

Child’s Name – Gabe

Diagnosed with eczema – 6yrs old Children’s Hospital diagnosed him at 4 months old.

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – Best Parenting moment- pretending to be Darth Vader so my son will smile on a rough day. Greatest Challenge- Stay strong and not let my fear for his future take over.

Hi CarrieAnn!

Thanks for dropping by and your son is about same age as my daughter:) Hope his eczema is better now – my kid now has lots of bad scratching, finger biting habits although the eczema is much better.

Hope all’s good at your end, hugs,
Mei

Meet a New Mom! – Tania

Child’s Name – Aid

Diagnosed with eczema – Aid is 13yo teenage boy and in the last 12 months (when his body went thru huge changes) he has redeveloped eczema which has become severe all over his body but worse on his face, eyelids and neck. His skin is super dry. Aid had eczema – as a child but it seemed to have gone by the age of 7.
I worry about his self esteem and mood as he enters into the tough teenage years. Has anyone experienced the same type of flare up in the puberty stage?

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – Best-teaching resilience Challenge- motivating a 13 yo to do anything

Meet a New Mom! – Kath

Child’s Name – Jamie

Diagnosed with eczema – 8/6/2008

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – I wanted to see if there is a support forum where I can find out if other parents have noticed wherher their kids scratch at night DESPITE well hydrated skin. Jamie’s eczema is under control but the itching only at night is out of proportion.

Putting Kath into the private parents’ group email and this is such a common problem, for me too! Night time is the worst, which is why so many of my cartoons are centered on sleep.

Who else has the same issue?

Meet a New Dad! – Ed

Child’s Name – Deacon

Diagnosed with eczema – 21/05/2012

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – Best was when he was born

Challenge is his eczema

Meet a New Mom! – Tsuey

Child’s Name – Xavier

Diagnosed with eczema – 01/09/2012

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – Hi, just to let you know that I enjoy your cartoon very much. Especially those about co-sleeping. I can so relate to it myself and sometimes they brought tears to my eyes, but most of the time they made me laugh. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Mei.

May I know if oral steroid is administered, will eczema go away completely ? How long will that last?

Elomet is quite effective on my boy. On a scale of 4, 4 being very strong, how does Elomet measure up? How long can my boy keep using it?

Thanks again.

Hi again,
By the way, my boy had tried california baby cream too, but nothing change. So we still stick to physiogel lotion as that is smoother and does not “suffocate” the skin comparing to some creamier cream.

Has anyone heard of Bio-resonance therapy. A colleague of mine recommended it can used for allergies and eczema…

Thank you for listening.

I agree not using california baby too, my daughter recently tried natural, well-known brands but ended up too oily for her skin. We are sticking to QV, physiogel. Bio-resonance is not reliable, suggest to skip it esp if your child’s skin is already red and can easily get infected. Need to ‘bring down’ the rash quickly..else too itchy for a child to bear.
Hugs!
Mei

Hi, I just join the blog recently.

My boy turning 4 soon. When he was about 2 years old, he started to have some itchy bumps near the fold of the skin. The cream prescribed by GP works, but whenever we stopped applying, it comes back. At that time, my boy’s condition was still controllable.

Last year around this time when the air was dry, hot and dusty due to the forest fire in Indonesia, my boy’s eczema had a full blast out break. When I mentioned full blast, it means almost every part of his body was not spared. His scalp, face, body, hands and legs are all itchy. He scratched till bled.

We took him to 2 specialist already. His condition will improve slightly, but not fully. The improvement last a few weeks, and then when the weather is hot, the eczema will break out again and we will be back to square one.

He just had his recent episode, and I am totally helpless looking at him suffer, yet totally no faith to bring the specialist appoint nearer.

I had tried changing his milk from Pediasure to Soy base.

He uses cetaphil for bath and physiogel lotion every day. We applied lotion for him several times a day whenever the skin is dry and flaky…. scalp too.

What else can I do ?

Does any one know if Emolet is a very strong medicine? A GP once prescribe that to us, but when we go back and ask for repeat presciption, she would not give.

Desperado…..

Hi Elaine,

Sorry to hear of the eczema flare-ups during hot weather, my daughter’s eczema worsen with sweat/sun too. I keep my gal fresh all the time, change of clothes and shower 2xs a day. Moisturize immediately after shower. Do consider allergy testing, that way you’d know if it’s food related. Try wet wrap to, given the flaky dry skin. Elomet isn’t a strong cream, but ideally eczema should be controllable and steroid cream used for flare-up. If his eczema flares up due to sweat, be sure not to moisturize over the sweat.

Hope above helps, hugs!
Coming for support group meeting on 20th?
Mei

Meet a New Mom! – Jenn

Child’s Name – Noah

Diagnosed with eczema – 15/5/2009

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – Wow, tough question. My kids are 9 and 6 and there have been a LOT of moments. My favorite moment – and it happens daily – is when they are sleeping peacefully in their beds. Not scratching, not arguing, just sleeping. They look so innocent and sweet – it gets me through the next day.

Among my greatest challenges thus far is that my son’s eczema simply won’t go away – it’s mostly on his face and arms. When I look at him from a distance, I see a sweet, happy boy. When he’s in my lap, all I see is the rash. The challenge for me is not saying anything, continuing to treat it with creams without letting him think there’s something wrong with him.

Hi Mei,

I just brought my baby to see Prof Hugo today. He did the allergy test and fortunately my bb isn’t allergic to any food. He gave the chlorhexidine antiseptic solution and asked me to soak cotton wool in it and apply to the red patches for 1 min twice a day. I tried once I got home but found it difficult to apply and keep the cotton wool in place on my bb who is constantly moving his hands and legs. He ended up crying and struggling. May I ask how you did it for Marcie? Do you do it straight after her shower or in between? Tks for your advice!

Hi there! Glad to hear of no food allergy – it’s more common not to have food allergy than parents suspect, and it’s good that you can put your mind at ease now 🙂 I remembered how paranoid and worried over food I used to be!

On the chlorhexidine, I just dip it (facial cotton pad instead of cotton wool) into a small cup of chlorhexidine and wipe over my child. I don’t actually leave the pad on the skin. I do however leave the chlorhexidine there for a minute, before moisturizing. The idea is to first kill the staph bacteria on the child’s skin, so that the subsequent application of cream can be more effective. Usually, I chlorhexidine when she needn’t have a shower mid-day (say after coming back from somewhere not hot).

My chlorhexidine is kept in fridge and sometimes my child finds it cooling, sometimes too cold. Maybe you can experiment with the temperature?

Take care!
Mei

Hi Mei, I wonder if you have heard of epiceram? I don’t think it’s available in singapore but I read that it’s a non steroid moisturiser that works like a medium potency steroid. Seems like it’s similar to ceradan which I have used before on my elder kid. Any idea?

Epiceram focuses on its ceramide properties but supposedly cos it is more concentrated, it can restore the lipids in the skin (then not so dry, so less itchy). Try Physiogel AI cream? At least that you can buy off the shelf 🙂 Also trying chlorhexidine or ask the doc about bleach bath.. Chlorhexidine not supposed to use on face which I see yours have pretty red rash there.. maybe can try on rest of body first. Just clean the skin with it using cotton pad before applying moisturizer, kill the bacteria.
Hugs,
Mei

Tks Mei! I am glad to have found support here. When I first saw your books on the animals not scratching, it just brought tears to my eyes. Our kids must have very terrible itchy times which I can fully understand as I have also gone through unbearable itchiness from insect bites. It’s just so hard not to scratch. I wonder why the little ones are made to go through this.

Hi May, I brought him to NSC once but at that time his eczema was still mild. Subsequently consulted his PD during his check ups and she increased his steroid to a mid potency level cream and she reminded me to only use it for a week to clear the rashes. But the rashes came back as soon as I stop using. She did mention that allergy testing is not very accurate for those under one year old. I have made an appt to see Prof Hugo at the end of the month to seek his advice. I thought the oral steroid course will work for everyone. If it doesn’t, I am just wondering how to cope with his eczema moving on.

Hi Jeline, usually the steroid cream has to be used a few days after the rash (visible) had cleared. I didn’t know this too until later when I came across a research article, and subsequently heard dermatology doc & nurse share it. Prof Hugo is my co-author for our book 🙂 see http://eczemaqna.com but even then, I can’t say that should you be prescribed oral steroid course, it will work for sure. It did work for my daughter, but I also heard of many more parents who were saddened it didn’t work out.
At least Prof Hugo is very patient and will take time to speak with you and understand your take. Take photos of the eczema (in case it subsided or look different on day of visit), log down skin reactions after consuming food/milk, basically give as much info as you can, don’t be afraid to talk!
Hugs,
Mei

Hi Mei,
My 4 mth old bb has been diagnosed with eczema since he was 1 mth old. His condition has been getting worse and it now affects his whole body, limbs, face and even scalp. I have been using steroids on him, moisturizing him like crazy and like what the rest experience, the eczema flares once I stop the steroid. I once tried stopping for 4 days and his eczema came out with a vengeance! It’s just a vicious cycle that I can’t break. He is already on soy formula, not taking solids yet. We changed his washing liquid, kept him cool and did everything I could think of but I can’t can’t seem to calm his flares. It really affects me a lot seeing my poor baby in this stage. At times I feel like breaking down as I feel so frustrated and helpless…..

Hi Jeline,

Sorry to hear of the difficulty with the eczema. I’m thinking whether to book an appointment for allergy test? Usually it is 6 month old for the test to be more accurate, but 4+ to 5 month, not sure it is considered old enough to take. Otherwise, it is frustrating to not know how to manage!
For the milk, we don’t know if it is but most PD guess milk cos without allergy test, food is the easiest to work on. Hypoallergenic milk is another option.
Which steroid cream are you using? Check out the ‘steroid’ tag for potency chart. And are you seeing a specialist? They would have more experience to help.
Same thing happened to mine, and turned out she isn’t allergic to anything but after a one-time oral steroid course, it worked. However, many other moms reported eczema getting worse after the course. In any case, go to an experienced specialist in this area and also if really prescribed the course, make sure it is completed.
Hugs!
Mei

Meet a New Mom! – Jeline

Child’s Name – Gareth

Diagnosed with eczema – 13/1/2014

Best parenting moment & Greatest challenge – My best parenting moment is to see my kids healthy and happy. My greatest challenge will be managing my kids’ eczema.

Hi!
I struggling with my 11mths baby eczema on her face, and chest. Had went KKH, the allergy doctor told me to try steroid. I tried, it came off clear, but once I stopped, the rash came bk, and now its double the rash. Help!

Sorry to hear that Jas. I’m assuming that for 11 month baby and the face, the steroid cream you’re trying is of mild potency, hydrocortisone? I understand that eczema/inflammation is present in deeper levels of skin, therefore after applying steroid and it clears, the deeper level of inflammation might not have cleared thus usually to continue for a few days even after no visible redness.
I can think of avoiding shampoo/bath lotion that contain ingredients that irritate (click on relevant tag on right side of blog), doing allergy testing, wiping with water on cotton pad the saliva/milk, don’t use baby wipe to clean face.
Keep us updated, hugs!
Mei

Hi, I’m looking for anyone who know’s about Singapore airport and the shops there (specifically for food available). We are travelling from New Zealand to UK with a stopover in Singapore. Our son has sever allergies (we’ve done the whole eczema thing and your blog has been awesome), so we are nervous about the travel. He cannot eat so many things so need to plan the trip and make sure we can provide food for him whilst staying at the airport.

I can see they have a Fairprice, but not sure how well it is stocked.

Has anyone else had to do the same thing? Any tips/advice on this appreciated.
Cheers
Jamie

The Fairprice is quite well stocked, some families staying close to the airport even do their groceries there. On the food outlets, it is best to go with the one you know is safe, rather than try to give instruction on how to modify the ingredient/cooking prep. Some restaurants even have difficulty handling sauce on the side for spaghetti, so don’t expect they can tell you what’s in the sauce or change their cooking.

Have fun in Singapore!
Mei

Hi Abby!

How does the cooked food not spoil for 15 hours? I thought after 2 hours, bacteria starts building? That’s why I always pack leftover into fridge within an hour.

Awesome for your effort, after all, plane food isn’t nice 🙂 But a stopover in Singapore with visit to any food centre is a new experience for many!

Cheers,
Mei

Thanks for the helpful replies. I’m also interested in taking food on planes. Mei mentioned about needing to keep it fresh, how do you also get past security with all that home made food?
Thanks again
Jamie

I think food is ok to bring in… only not liquids? Unless you’re taking a budget airline which served food as an option add-on, then they specified no food allowed. Not sure about guidelines relating certain types of foods, like I know Australia is pretty strict about that but they are ok if you say the food is meant for the child with no meat? Not too sure about that 🙂
Excited about trip?
Mei

I think I looked up the regulations for bringing food and tried to bring food according to the guidelines. And yes, you’re right…it can grow bacteria – but I didn’t really have any other choice since I didn’t want to take any chances to eat the food on their plane!

Now that I think about it though, you can probably buy a mini cooler or something to store it in.

Hope that is of some help 🙂
Cheers!
Abby
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