A video shared by Surrey mum Lottie Darwen has gone viral, attracting millions of views after she revealed how she finally found relief for her baby daughter’s painful eczema.
Lottie, who lives in Staines-upon-Thames, had tried endless treatments to ease daughter Arabella’s suffering, before stumbling across a game-changing product.
She decided to post about her experience on social media, sharing a video that documented Arabella’s remarkable improvement after using ScratchSleeves — a unique solution designed to help with skin conditions.
The video has since been viewed more than nine million times on TikTok.
“I never expected the video to go viral,” Lottie said. “It’s been incredible to see the video resonate with so many people. If it means even one more baby gets some relief, and one more parent gets some rest, then I couldn’t be more grateful.”
ScratchSleeves are soft wrap-style garments that feature sewn-in mitts to stop babies scratching irritated skin. The product is already popular with many parents and is known for helping to minimise skin damage while supporting the healing process.
As the owner of LotaBeauty, operating from No.9 Boutique in Egham, Lottie admitted that managing work alongside caring for Arabella during flare-ups was a heavy burden.
She explained: “Being a mum and running a business is a challenge at the best of times. When your child is unwell and you’re not sleeping, the stress becomes overwhelming. Finding something that worked for Arabella didn’t just help her – it really helped me feel like I could cope again.”
“We’d tried everything, and I was exhausted, worried, and feeling helpless. Within minutes of putting ScratchSleeves on Arabella, she stopped scratching. It was such a relief, both for her and for me.”
The video also caught the attention of ScratchSleeves founder Jae Rance, who connected with Lottie and expressed heartfelt appreciation for her story.
“We created ScratchSleeves because we lived through that same nightmare with our son, Max. To see another family find the same relief we once needed so badly – it’s just incredibly moving. I’m so proud that our solution could make such a difference for Arabella.”
“We also started the ScratchSleeves blog to share our experience of bringing up a child with eczema. We write about day-to-day practicalities which the medical professionals typically don’t know about, like what prescribed eczema creams can do to the innards of your washing machine, as well as providing well researched evaluations of the many myths about the condition. This blog has now been published by Souvenir Press as ‘The Calm Skin Guide’.”
“Everything we do is designed around making life easier for parents during what can be a really rough time. Lottie’s story is exactly why we started ScratchSleeves in the first place.”
Despite the outpouring of support, Lottie’s post also received a small number of hurtful and inaccurate comments, with some falsely attributing Arabella’s condition to her mother’s pregnancy diet.
Experts caution that eczema is a complex condition driven by both hereditary and environmental factors. Criticising parents can add unnecessary guilt to what is already a difficult experience.
“We’re really sorry that Lottie’s very sweet video of Arabella attracted such unhelpful and ill-informed comments,” said Jae.
“They may have been well meant but eczema is such a variable condition that what works for one person, can have the opposite effect for another. As my grandmother was fond of saying: ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’.”
