I was age three in this pic and as far back as my seven older siblings remember, I had progressively worse eczema from birth. I do remember my little legs and arms being rashy and itching.
By age five my mother began to put long knee socks over my arms at night and pin them to my pajamas. I vividly recall chewing holes through those socks repeatedly to satisfy the urge to scratch. I don't know if she put steroid cream on me at that age as it had been invented shortly before my birth in 1955. My sisters are not sure either but they do remember a stinky coal tar ointment which some are now finding again to be helpful for eczema.
To this day, I detest anyone telling me to stop scratching. It is like telling someone to stop breathing in my opinion as the scratching does ease the annoyance for a while. The important thing is how I scratch and that means short nails, gloves when I was really bad off and keeping the skin clean with Epsom salt baths or a dab of apple cider vinegar.
Researchers now say that itching comes from the same sources as pain so the better way to handle a child scratching is to try and ease it with natural ointments and tube wraps at night if helpful. Topical steroid creams are not the answer for sure!