How to Stop The Itch-Scratch-Cycle - All You Need to Know

Hey, I am Kloe, Mum to a child who had his first eczema flare at 8 weeks old and was on daily steroids from 10 weeks old. After 8 months of using them, I finally stopped and switched to a more natural approach. I was shocked that within 60 days, my baby’s skin went from 95% covered in severe, debilitating eczema with 24-7 itchy skin to 15% with moderate to mild and over time the itching has got less and less as we continue to break the itch-scratch-cycle. 

We are now 15 months steroid free and can control his flare ups without medical treatment. On this blog, I will just focus on the itching. I have some other posts on how we stopped steroids and our journey to better skin. 

The Skin Function 

The skin is made up for different layers. The top layer, the epidermis, is the initial issue when it comes to eczema. 

Around 50% of people with eczema have a “dry skin gene”. This is due to having less of a protein called Filaggrin. The job of this protein is to bond the epidermis together which in turn, stops moisture (our natural skin oils) from seeping out and stops any substance (good or bad) from getting into the deeper layers of skin.

Eczema is not a dry skin condition and instead is due to a faulty skin barrier. This is one example of how the skin barrier is broken and why symptoms of eczema are dry, itchy, cracked and inflamed skin.

For other people with eczema, who do not lack filaggrin, the skin barrier is still broken but just due to another deficiency or malfunction. This may be due to another gene such as being atopic. This is where the individual has an overactive immune system and can have a tendency for eczema, allergies and asthma. Some people have all three, others have one or two. 

The epidermis’ function is to protect the internal body from outside harm from getting inside. The deeper layers of skin have many cells such as nerve cells and immune system cells. These interact with our bodies including our brains. 

When the epidermis is broken, this protection is flawed and thus is not stopping outside substances from making contact with these deeper layers and cells. In other words, the outside world has access to the inside of our body. 

The purpose of our skin is our bodies first line of defence.

Why Is Eczema Itchy?

 

One theory is that when these cells come into contact with anything (literally), they send a signal to the brain which sends a signal back to flick the skin - I.e. remove the substance as the brain and cells know these deeper layers of skin shouldn’t be exposed to the outside world. 

The cells can trigger this same response, even when the barrier is not malfunctioning because that’s what it is meant to do such as when a fly lands on us and tickles our skin BUT in this instance, this motion successfully removes the fly and this system is not triggered again. 

With eczema, there is always something touching the skin - even air, so this response is constantly switched on. 

This could we why even non toxic things can result in the constant itch. 

How to Break This Cycle

We must approach this from multiple angles, and allow time to heal, bring inflammation down and break habits. 

We must try and reframe from saying “don’t itch” because it’s impossible not to and for a child this may feel like they are being told off and doing something naughty. Even when it’s behavioural, they are still not being naughty. It can also be incredibly frustrating to be told something that is so intense you simple cannot stop; instead we must support our child through these symptoms both mentally and physically.

Generally, eczema isn’t itchy due to habit, it is itchy because it’s so intensely itchy, but there can certainly be an element of habit once the skin has improved. For my son, he still experiences itching - probably more than his remaining patches warrant.

He has grown up constantly feeling itching and he doesn’t know any different or why he’s itchy. He just itches when he feels itchy BUT now his skin is improving, I have noticed when the itching is habit or more so behavioural and when it’s not. 

If he doesn’t get what he wants, he will also itch. I believe this is for two reasons:

1. Stress can make us feel itchy but also it can make it just eczema itch as a stress response. Often eczema can flare up during emotional or stressful life experiences like during exam seasons, break ups etc. When a child with eczema is stressed it can make their skin flare and become itchy. We must support during this time and know this is not habit and is a stress response.

2. He knows itching gets my attention - because he knows as soon as he itches, I drop what I’m doing in 1 second flat and go to him. Sone behaviours are learnt, and there is a small element of itching that may be learnt. I know when my son is doing this now and I respond calmly by picking him up and don’t mention the itching; just respond to what I know he is stressing about. 

Distraction Techniques 

Whatever the reason for the itching, we must use distraction techniques. When my baby was going through the worst of it, we would spend hours outside. This is mentally calming for us but it’s also very stimulating for a young child; new noises, new smells, new things to see, cars rushing around, people, animals, trains etc. If we weren’t out walking I was carrying him. We had lots of contact naps, co-sleeping and breastfeeding really calmed him down. 

Find things that can grab your child’s attention and put a lot of focus on it for a few minutes. Give it a few minutes and the itching should calm a little. If they keep going back to itch, just keep distracting and trying new things. I used to do lots of singing and dancing during the worst flare up. Go into our garden or look out the window, pointing things out. 

Distraction may feel like it doesn’t work at first, but I absolutely promise this will be a huge part at breaking the cycle. 

Environmental Factors 

Along with distraction, we must also directly relieve the eczema symptoms, and the focus should be on all the symptoms and not just the itching. 

Above I explained about a protein deficiency and other genetic reasons for a broken skin barrier. Whatever the reason for the broken skin barrier, we must reduce the irritants our child’s skin comes into contact with. This will reduce inflammation dramatically, which will improve the itchy sensation over time. 

Please do a diary to actually work out what your child’s MAIN irritants are. There are lots of common ones but your child’s skin will interact with these all differently. Once you have done a diary to identify these triggers, we must make changes to reduce the impact they have. 

When I done a diary, I discovered that bathing was the cause for my sons weeping. As soon as I stopped, the weeping did. I tried again, and the following day, the skin weeped severely again. So I stopped for a long time, and then only re-introduced once the other symptoms were reduced and the eczema was no longer active. He now can have baths without any issue or weeping.

I created this organic clothing business for a reason - Clothing saved us. 

During our worst days I didn’t even think about how clothing was affecting my baby’s skin and didn’t focus on natural clothing but quickly discovered the importance of cottons and bamboos, and even how 95% cotton and 5% polyester was still a problem.

I have done a blog on the best fabrics for eczema - have a read about that here.  

When we choose the right clothing, which is also about styles (high necks, built-in mitts etc.) not only can we provide comfort and reduce worsening symptoms with sweat inducing fabrics but we can also reduce infection risk and is fundamental to breaking the itch-scratch-cycle. 

Clothing can provide a physical skin barrier - defending off irritants and substances from pet dander to weather to chemicals, and even the air!

Take our winter accessories as an example. Wind chill and general cold weather can worsen symptoms because cold air doesn’t have much moisture in it and the wind can dry away any natural oils but if we use snoods, hats and gloves to cover the skin, it acts as a barrier to reduce moisture loss and stop the harmful winds from freezing the skin and making it sore. Wind can actually create burns and eczema is more sensitive to cold weather so it’s important the skin is covered and well protected. This will reduce winter flare-ups. 

Generally, children with eczema (and adults too) cannot tolerate their skin being out - the fresh air can actually stimulate the itchy sensations so covering in clothing at all times is important to break the cycle. Over time, like I did with bathing, you will reduce symptoms and can slowly reduce the amount of clothing but when the skin is severe, flaring and active, it is best covered. 

The other things to address are things like if you have pets, pollen in the house (windows), house temperature (particularly at night), dust, chemicals in particular the ones used around the house and determine whether the skincare you are using is suitable. 

Once you’ve addressed all of these factors, over time, the skin should reduce in severity and should stop flaring. This will bring the inflammation down and reduce itching.

Diet

This one is an important one for a few reasons, and is complex so will need its own blog post to properly dig into it and cover all bases. There could be multiple things at okay here that could be impacting the skin’s function. Keep an eye out for when I release this blog. 

Skincare

There are many out there that claim to reduce itching and we didn’t find any of those to help, but when we stopped using steorids and switched to Sudocrem, we also tried wet wrapping therapy.

The Sudocrem itself seems to soothe my sons skin and he now even asked for it if he feels itchy, which is a cute and heartbreaking moment all rolled into one. This immediately stops the itching for him. Since starting BSK, other parents have found the same. The zinc oxide in it is a powerful anti-inflammatory and really calms the skin. I will do a separate post on zinc soon. (Always so much to cover with eczema) 

Wet Wrapping Therapy  

This is where you wet a bandage or clothing and apply it over your skincare to enhance the skincare properties and use the wetness to retain our skins moisture levels. 

For us, and many others, this was a breakthrough. When the skin is weeping it can be hard to get the cream to sit on the skin, but if you work out how and use this technique when the skin is flaring, severe or stubborn areas, as well as to reduce itching, it really works. Within days you will see a major reduction of skin symptoms.

I hope you have found this blog useful and you have some new things to try. I am certain that if you follow these, things will improve for you, but please also allow time for each tip. I know it’s incredibly hard to endure, but just a little longer and tbinfs will start to improve. 

Read my other blogs too as this will help understand eczema from other angles. 

Note: Please consult with a medical professional if you are concerned about your child’s health in any way. This article is just sharing my experiences and is not intended to treat or diagnose your child. Always consult with your doctor before starting any treatments.