Diagnosing the severity of a baby’s eczema can be difficult, primarily because they cannot talk very well. Asking them to rate the intensity of their itch on a scale of 1 to 10 just won’t work! Hence we need some other methods from which to judge just how bad it really is.
Besides the obvious look of their skin – how widespread the eczema is, how red and inflamed it is, the amount of excoriated scratch marks there are, and whether it is wet or dry – a very useful method of gauging the intensity of a child’s eczema is by looking at their sleep. The relentless itching that is associated with eczema is often times worse at night, and in a young child this will usually translate into frequent periods of wakefulness, crying and scratching.
It is not uncommon for children to wake 4 to 6 times through the night from itching. They may also become very hot, kicking their blankets off in order to cool off. By paying attention to these signs we gain much information as to how bad they are suffering. While some rashes, like seborrheic dermatitis may look really bad, the impact it is having on the child may be minimal. Sleep is a good gauge.
Not only do sleeping patterns give us a good gauge of the intensity of your child’s eczema, it is also a good method to measure whether a given treatment is working or not. When the inflammation level in your child starts to cool off, say from herbal medicines, their sleep will improve. They will no longer be waking to scratch, but rather will sleep soundly through the night. This is obviously good for the child, but is most certainly good for the parents, as now everyone gets a proper nights rest!
Wishing you health,
Dr. Trevor Erikson
Copyright © 2019 Dr. Trevor Erikson