Table 3 Primary theme, qualitative codes and supportive quotations

AD can benefit the maternal-infant bond

AD elicits empathy

“It’s not like ‘oh gross, I don’t want to touch it’. Its more ‘that looks uncomfortable. I want to fix it’.” -Participant 1, male child, 1 month

“it was really hard to see him so uncomfortable and so bothered by it” -Participant 7, male child, 18 months

Increased caregiving

“I think it [AD] makes us closer in some ways. I’m making sure that I am putting his cream on, and like we always have our daily massages with his lotion…just to make sure that he is being taken care of” -Participant 1, male child, 1 month 

“I am taking care of him more, like it is a better relationship because I always have to look after him and I always have to think about him, in a good way. Cause I know that he needs me, he needs me to take care of him more” -Participant 3, male child, 7 months

Few negative impacts on the mother-infant relationship

“I would say that we have a really good relationship, regardless of the eczema” -Participant 4, female child, 8 months

Interviewer: “Do you think your relationship with your youngest has been affected by his eczema in any way?”

Participant:—“I don't think so. I think that we just have the relationship we have with him because of, you know, who he is and his little personality” -Participant 8, male child, 14 months