Mum who had sleepless nights to stop her baby scratching her sore and oozing skin due to eczema finds high street cure

A mum who had sleepless nights trying to stop her baby from scratching her sore and oozing skin after suffering with eczema across her face has found a high street cure – and now her baby sleeps soundly.

Kaitlin Birbeck, a support worker, said baby Ava would wake up every hour, crying, having previously slept through the night, and the 25-year-old would sometimes have to hold her daughter’s hands while she slept to stop her from scratching.

Ava was just six weeks old when she had her first skin flare-up and her GP told Kaitlin it was “slight eczema”. However, treatments did not work and the baby’s skin got worse until it started “weeping” and “oozing”.

Searching for a solution to ease Ava’s discomfort, Kaitlin discovered Balmonds Skin Salvation online and, ordering the product, she was shocked by how quickly the baby’s skin started to clear up.

Now, Ava has clear skin and Kaitlin uses the cream on her cheeks twice a day.

Kaitlin, who lives in Durham with her partner, Ryan Pringle, 26, a groundsman, and Ava, who is now five months old, told PA Real Life: “There was a week where she was up every hour and scratching everywhere.

“I was up with her and not sleeping because she was in pain and discomfort. She would just scratch constantly and I would have to cover her hands or hold them to stop her from doing it.

“I was sceptical about trying Balmonds at first but I am amazed by how well it’s worked. Both me and Ryan couldn’t believe it when it cleared up Ava’s skin so quickly. I’m really happy now that she’s not scratching anymore. My daughter is no longer in pain.”

Ava’s skin issues were first raised at her six to eight-week check-up in October 2023, where the doctor confirmed that she had slight eczema.

Kaitlin said: “It just got worse from there really. She was prescribed an ointment at first that did actually work for about a week but then it stopped working.

“When I told the doctor, they gave her another cream but that didn’t work for her.”

Kaitlin noticed that Ava was scratching her skin a lot and seemed to be in discomfort and, when her skin began weeping and oozing, she decided to take the little girl to hospital.

There, they were given steroid cream which Kaitlin was told to try for five days before contacting her GP for another prescription.

Kaitlin said: “The doctor gave us another cream to use but nothing was working.

“She was scratching her body quite a bit and I had to put boots on her hands to stop her. Sometimes I would have to hold her hands while she slept just to stop her from hurting herself by scratching constantly.”

Remembering how “frustrated” she felt that she could not find a solution for her baby, Kaitlin said: “I was looking for anything that could help and we tried several different types of creams just to try and help her but nothing was working and her skin was just getting worse.”

By Christmas 2023, Ava’s cheeks were inflamed and irritated, and Kaitlin said friends and family began to show concern.

She added: “My family would comment out of concern about how red she was and my mum actually took me to the hospital because I just didn’t know what to do.

“They could all see how irritated her skin was and how much it was bothering her but I didn’t know what to do to fix it.

“It was difficult over Christmas with her being in discomfort and even getting pictures wasn’t nice for her to have a bright red face.

“At its worst, I had a full week where she was up every hour, where normally she doesn’t do that, she sleeps through the night, but she was up every hour, just scratching everywhere. It must have been really bothering her.”

When nothing prescribed by the doctor seemed to work, Kaitlin went on the hunt for high street creams available to order online.

Searching for a remedy in December 2023, Kaitlin found Balmonds Skin Salvation and, after reading positive reviews, decided to try it.

Applying the cream to Ava’s skin, within 24 hours Kaitlin said the difference was stark as her eczema seemed to clear up overnight.

She said: “I was searching for the best creams to use for baby eczema and information about Balmonds came up. I saw a picture of a child’s skin, how it was before she started using it and then after, and I thought I’d give it a try.

“It just seemed to work but I was really surprised by how quickly it started working. Even my partner commented that he was shocked, he couldn’t believe how well it had worked.

“Within a day, there was a noticeable difference and after two days her skin was pretty much clear.”

Now, Kaitlin has a daily skin routine with Ava and applies the Balmonds cream to her face twice a day, saying her skin is now “completely clear”.

She added: “Ava did have a flare-up a couple of days ago but it’s gone back down now.

“The difference is incredible – she’s no longer scratching constantly and instead is able to sleep through the night and, most importantly, she’s no longer in pain or discomfort.”