I remember coating my DD down with eczema cream. She had ear infections, too, which added insult to injury. Oddly, she was never sick otherwise. Stress can wreak havoc on one's body. When I get stressed, I literally get sick to my stomach, and ordinarily I'm the type of person who never has disgestive issues. I don't know what to suggest other than to follow the doctor's recommendations and get rid of anything that might irritate the skin. That would include anything that has fragrance or irritating ingredients. Try Vanicream. I have sensitive skin, and it really helps. You should be able to get it at CVS, drugstore.com or Amazon.

Dear Thistle, one of my daughters has struggled with eczema since she was three months old and someone fed her a bottle of formula without my permission--she broke out over her whole body. Since then it's been up and down and it's very much food related for her. So I do recommend logging everything you put in your mouth to see if there's a correlation--the antibiotics sound like a very likely culprit! With all due respect to the medical profession, I haven't found doctors always the most helpful or knowledgeable when it comes to allergies. We have had to do a lot of sleuthing ourselves. Best to you and the little one!

Oh the poor little thing! And poor mum too. It is a worry for you.
Doctors say it is generally caused by contact allergies, and I agree that it is the best place to start, especially as you are similar! But if that doesn't work, I would look to diet before you panic and think it is unmanageable.
My dermatologist was 100% sure mine was not food related - couldn't have been surer! But it didn't fix with reducing contacts, and going all natural. And then I stopped eating wheat, when it disappeared like magic. Took about three days, it was like a miracle.
So I wouldn't rule food out. One way to fiddle with it is to dump a high allergy food for a week or two, and see if there is any difference. Not a foolproof method by any means (allergies are complicated!) but it is low intervention and worth a try if the other things don't work.
Sending best wishes...

No time to read other replies, so apologies if I'm repeating someone.

I'd recommend give homeopathy a go. My son (also exclusively breast-fed) had eczema which coincided with teething problems, so of a long time I had not realised he was having it at all. Once it was diagnosed we were also given steroid creams, which I did not want. I tried homeopathic treatment and it worked for him.

Thistle, I think you are on to something with your own antibiotics - some of their effect must get to the baby when you're breastfeeding. Doctors are not often quick to discuss the perils of antibiotics so they do seem to dismiss the connection sometimes. I don't know enough about newborns myself, but if you can find out if it's okay to give them probiotics in small amounts, I'd probably give that a go if it were me. I imagine it could take a week or two to notice a change.

Hi Thistle,
I have a dd (11) with multiple skin issues including eczema and psoriosis, Here are a few recommendations to help:

1. No fabric softeners or bounce sheets in the dryer
2. white cotton next to the skin as much as possible
3. Immediately after bath moisturize all over with a very simple pure moisturizer. Crisco is actually amazing. It's very purified, has no scent, and is all natural.
3. You can spritz with a bleach spray after bath (before moisturizing) - 1 tbsp bleach (not concentrated, unscented) diluted in 1 cup water
4. Humidifier in the room at night
Really a lot of it is keeping things moist and unirritated. Another good moisturizing cream is pure Shea butter - we get it from L'Occitaine. It is unscented.
The ocean also helps. Whenever we do a beach vacation her skin clears up. Wish we lived by the beach! Not sure if it is the sun (extra vitamin D) or the salt water.

Good luck.

Hi Thistle,
I'm so sorry your daughter has bad eczema. You mentioned she is exclusively breastfed. Many times eczema can be due to food allergies. Have you removed dairy and soy from your diet? The proteins are passed on through your breastmilk and if your baby has milk or soy protein intolerance they can develop eczema and other symptoms. All three of my kids had bad infant reflux but it turned out to be due to dairy. With DD I never figured it out because I only did a brief trial off dairy and didn't eliminate all sources like butter, yogurt etc. She had so many problems with waking frequently, refusing to feed, slow growth, not wanting to drink milk, etc. I feel horrible that I didn't realize what was going on then, now that I know with the boys. But she never had the rashes like they did and eventually grew out of it at age 2-3. DS1 had reflux and eczematous rashes whenever I consumed dairy. When he was 6-8 weeks he had what looked like pimples all over his face and body. They said it was "baby acne", but it was really eczema from milk protein intolerance (see example photo below--not DS)! Also symptoms like poor sleep and runny nose. His symptoms resolved once I changed my diet to eliminate all sources of hidden dairy like casein or whey. You can start seeing improvement within days, although it can take up to 2 weeks for the protein to leave your milk. DS2 I already was dairy-free but he was still having the exact same type of reflux/eczema symptoms as DS1. I found out he is also intolerant to soy protein (50% of milk protein intolerant kids also react to soy) and eggs. He did have a mild reaction to those on his skin test, but since it's not an IgE mediated anaphylactic allergy it doesn't show up on skin/blood tests. It's a delayed type hypersensitivity response so the symptoms can appear 24-48 hours after the exposure. It may be worth a try to eliminate dairy and soy from your diet first, and then try an elimination diet with the rest of the top allergens if that doesn't work. It is a real hassle for me to avoid so many different foods (especially when I slip up and DS2 reacts), but is worth it to me to still let DS2 have "real milk" instead of just the almond milk that he isn't allergic to. I'm working on weaning him now that he is 2, and can't wait to start eating whatever I want again! Just thought I'd share my experience in case it helps you--I had to learn things the hard way by trial and error! Hope your DD's eczema gets better quickly!

Oh dear :(... I hope DD gets better soon.

Ds1 (now almost 7) has always suffered from eczema since birth. But not nearly as severe as you describe. Our skin specialist however thinks children grow out of it (may take years). He has only advised plenty of Cetaphil and suncream... and mild topical creams (white patches on face and scaly itchy patches on scrotum, eyelid and nipple!) Two different types of minor eczema he said.

I am really hoping he grows out of it soon ... because it keeps recurring and is pretty annoying Fingers crossed your little one will grow out of it too ...