Regimen for Dealing with Baby Eczema

Personally, I'm a long-time sufferer of eczema. I had it as a child and was well into my twenties before I "grew out of it". Even now, every so often, I'll get patches, but I deal with them aggressively with prescription topical steroids as soon as they start to appear, which seems to have done the trick for me lately.

Lovebug ended up getting eczema on her face at around 4 months (I'm blaming it on extensive air travel). At a regular doctor's checkup, she was prescribed mild OTC hydrocortisone and some kind of anti-fungal cream, and we were able to keep it away by using Exederm cream anytime she started feeling a little dry. Even though her skin got better, the eczema never really went away, and she was still always a little patchy.

When Lovebug was about 15 months old, she had a pretty bad episode with large patches on her torso. We took her to a pediatric dermatologist and got a stronger topical steroid (mometasone furoate) and we changed up our daily routine. She has since had beautiful, baby-soft skin! Yay!

Here's what we do:

1. Bathe: we moved from daily baths to every other day. We also cooled down the temperature considerably. Her baths are now a few degrees cooler than body temperature at 33-35°C (91-95°F), versus a few degrees warmer. We use Exederm Baby Eczema Shampoo for her hair and Bioderma Atoderm Gentle Shower Gel for her body. Towel drying is more of a gentle wrap with minimal rubbing. It's really just a step to remove excess water before the most important one...
2. Moisturize: while her skin is still damp after her bath, I use a good 5-6 pumps of Bioderma Atoderm Creme and massage it all over her body. The she gets to run around naked for a good 5-10 minutes before we dress her for bed. She also gets a moisturized on non-bath nights after her warm washcloth sponge bath, as well as every morning. It's so important to maintain the lipid barrier on eczematous skin or it will dry out.
3. Medicate: we used the presciption cream only on the patches, while they were still red, before moisturizing. 

I honestly wish I'd found the Bioderma Atoderm range earlier in my own life. I've stolen her regimen and both Lovebug's and my skin have been amazing since using the shower gel and moisturizer. Other moisturizers that work a treat for eczema are good old Vaseline and Glaxal Base. When dealing with something like eczema, I like to stay away from "all natural" which could exacerbate things, and go for what's chemically proven to work.

If you've had to deal with eczema in your child or yourself, I'd love to hear about what you do to combat it. Please share with us in the comments :)