Eczema

[MangoMommy]

My 3 mo old has really bad eczema. The skin on her torso and legs feel like sandpaper. Anyone have advice on what I should do or what to use? I don't get a lot of dairy (lactose intolerent myself), I use a free/clear detergent, Burt's Bee's wash/lotion, we only bath her every 10-14 days and just wipe her down in the meantime.

I've been putting California Baby calendula creme on without much luck.

TIA!

[moonlight mom]

I would think it is food allergy related. You might need to do an elimination diet to find out the cause. Check out the allergy forum for help.

[moonlight mom]

Oh and I have had a lot of luck with the aveeno advanced care product line on eczema flare ups.

[Super~Single~Mama]

You say you don't get alot of diary - can you totally eliminate it? give it a few weeks and then if that doesn't do it (I hear that it can take 2 weeks for diary to leave you system completely - I'm not an expert though so the allergy forum is the place to go) try a full elimination diet?

Good luck!

[Mama Mko]

Originally Posted by moonlight mom

Oh and I have had a lot of luck with the aveeno advanced care product line on eczema flare ups.

Yes. The Aveeno Advanced Care lotions have helped my son's very dry eczema a lot. I highly recommend it.

Also, you might need to try to cut out different foods. My son's eczema turned out to be caused by corn.

[henny penny]

Yes, try the Aveeno Advanced Care cream. We did strict elimination diet, oat baths, many, many all natural, ($$$) organic potions to no avail. I had ds's prescription cream in hand when I spotted Aveeno at the drugstore and gave it a shot since I REALLY didn't want to do the prescription cream for a wee one. It worked! He's grown out of his eczema for the most part, but we still use the Aveeno for occasional flare ups.

[heatherdeg]

Eczema is often food-related. It's frequently dairy (so not only milk, but ingredients that have "casein" in their name or whey, etc.) but can be anything.

The "big 8" account for 90% of all food allergies and they are:

Dairy
Egg
Peanut
Tree nut
Seafood
Shellfish
Soy
Wheat

That being said, there is an alarming rise in corn reactions but it may just be processed corn. We're going through this learning process now with our son: he seems to be okay with fresh, organic corn on the cob (or the same in popcorn form) but not corn syrup in any form. We're still trying to figure it out.

If you want to go elimination diet, here's a link to instructions:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T041200.asp

[elmh23]

While eczema is often food related (and you should look in to that), my children get it from enviormental allergens. Ds's flares up really bad when juniper is in bloom.

What we do when we're having an eczema flare up is to give them an oatmeal bath often (I've done it as much as 3 times a day.) It rehydrates their skin. Some kids don't do well with this, but I know several who do better when bathed often.

Also, I would stop using the Burt's Bee's products on her. They always my kids skin worse. Now we only use homemade soap or Dove soap on their skin (they don't seem bothered by any shampoos I've tried for some reason.)

Good luck.

[Charmie981]

If milk is a problem, then stop using the BB products...their baby products often have buttermilk and/or wheat germ in them. I Burts Bees, but their baby products are not great for sensitive skin, IMO.

You can also try adding some EFA's to your diet...maybe in the form of flax seed oil or Udo Oil, which is a blend of flax and other oils. I've also heard that flax seed or Udo Oil applied topically is a great help for eczema.

I have a friend who, with her third baby, fed her half an avocado a day, on average, for the first couple of months she started solids (a bit after 6 months...don't do this now!!) and had much fewer skin problems after starting solids, and still has fewer skin problems than her older sisters. We both really think the EFAs in the avocado helped!!

[mckittre]

I had eczema as a baby and child, and it never had anything to do with food. Just skin contact reactions (salt water and grass were big ones for me), as well as drying soaps, etc... So go ahead and try the diet thing, but it may not have any effect. I've mostly grown out of it as an adult.

[lthw]

I didn't figure out my dd's sensitivity to gluten until she was 3. She had seriously bad eczema her whole young life, I wished her skin would feel soft like other kids' but like you said it was like sandpaper (and oozing and gross in all her skin folds). The pediatrician just kept encouraging that I coat her in Aquaphor, and give her benadryl to help her sleep, to break the itch/scratch cycle he said. : I tried elimination of wheat early on while we were EBF, but didn't know about the possibility of gluten and all the foods it's in so the elimination had no effect. Then a couple of years later I read a book that gave some of the indicators for a food allergy and she had some of them - a light bulb went on for me. We eliminated dairy and gluten at the same time - I did a lot more research about gluten. Her skin started to improve really quickly. Turned out that dairy had no effect when I added it back but adding gluten back made an obvious difference, within half a day her skin started to worsen. It was tough, and there was definitely a learning curve while I figured out everything that gluten was in (plus I was still nursing so I had to stick to the elimination, too). Dd also has general skin sensitivity and sometimes gets hives when she's stressed or from contact dermatitis, so we only use free & clear detergent and only California Baby products (except sunscreen, we use Badger). But it is absolutely worth it. Good luck, if you want any tips, feel free to pm me. I wish you luck! Oh, and we now have a 5 week old baby, who started to show signs (speckly skin) of the gluten sensitivity within the first week of life, so I am off gluten again. It's not too bad this time around!

[MoonWillow]

Moved to Health and Healing.

[simcon]

I found a lot of help when dealing with my 4 month old with full-body eczema in the allergies forum--here's what worked for us:

I started an elimination diet, but two weeks into it, I just switched it to a total dairy elimination diet (my daughter had a sensitivity to dairy until age 6, although not while I was bf her, so it was the likely culprit). It took a full month for the eczema to clear, and while I was doing that diet we also followed the current Mayo Clinic advice to bathe more frequently and moisturize intensively within 3 minutes of getting out of the bath.

So our baby G got a nightly bath with California Baby sensitive body wash and then a layer of California Baby Calendula cream on his eczema, and then a full body layer of coconut oil within 3 minutes. When the eczema was down to spots (many spots down from the full-torso and back sandpaper rashes plus spots and sores), I just used the Calendula on the spots, and then coconut oil all over.

He's 8 months now and has completely clear skin, and his skin has been clear for a couple of weeks now. If I slip up (a work lunch recently had nothing that didn't include cheese.., his spots start to flare up again, but we can get them under control again by reinstituting the regime.

Oh, I also was taking some EFAs, but not terribly regularly.

Good luck!!

[velochic]

A modified Feingold diet, homemade soap and the Aveeno products have helped us. The biggest help has been that I make our own soap now. Lye, lard and water. No additives, no dyes, no perfumes.

EDT: Dd is 7 now and we have dealt with this all her life. I have it, too.

[MangoMommy]

nak

Thanks for all the advice! I'll start reading up on gluten free. I eat very little dairy (like only a few times a week, literally a slice of cheese) so I don't that's it but who knows. I also have sensitive skin, and DS6 also had eczema as a baby but it was more related to the dry air because I cleared up whenever we'd visit FL/humidity. (we lived in Maine at the time)


Oh and can I add that I think it's awesome that everyone just assumes I'm nursing? So nice that it's treated as the norm! (and I am nursing, it is the norm LOL!)

[calebsmommy25]

We have been battling eczema for quite some time now, and have tried (like all of you) so many different things. The Earth Mama, Angel Baby line is great. Expensive, but great. The lotion doesn't always clear up my ds's skin, but really calms the itching. We do have the butt balm which I use for flareups, and also the shampoo/bodywash. We also grind oatmeal for baths too. Just another idea to choose from. I hope you find out what is causing it soon...

[fruitfulmomma]

It could very well be a food reaction and that is certainly worth checking into but for a non-food perspective...

My oldest girl has non-food related eczema. It looks totally different than my gf daughter's and acts differently too. With my gf daughter once the allergen was removed she cleared up. My older daughter however gets flair-ups from stress and also from dog allergens, it is all over her body, and gets bloody from her scratching it and it can take weeks or even months to clear up unless she is put on steroids. As a natural method she does really well on CLO or Flax-Seed Oil because she needs the fatty acids.

We use BioKleen laundry detergent and California Baby Super Sensitive skin care products (all gluten and dairy-free). We used to use Apricot Oil from BB's but ever since they sold out to Clorox they have changed their ingrediants several times and I no longer trust them at all. If you can find a good apricot or grapeseed oil, I think NOW makes a brand, that would be good for rubbing on the flared-up spots.

[MangoMommy]

I wanted to add that she also has a little stuffy nose. She's not sick though,and she also has been fussy and having a hard stomach. I am starting to think it is something I'm eating. Her ezcema is like dry dry skin all over, no patches or inflamed areas yet.

Today I ate: (not a great food day)
biscuit w/sausage, orange juice
pizza -pepperoni, green tea
ravioli (spinach) with olive oil/parm cheese (no sauce) water
coke (my weakness)
edamame for snack

So I see dairy, soy, wheat and caffine in there..are those possible triggers?

Off to read some more to figure out what to eliminate...

[buttercups.nest]

There is a soap you can buy from Rocky Mountain Soap company that i meant specifically for excema....I have it on my hands and have been using this to wash my hands instead of regular soap. What a difference!!!

Good luck!

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by MangoMommy

I wanted to add that she also has a little stuffy nose. She's not sick though,and she also has been fussy and having a hard stomach. I am starting to think it is something I'm eating. Her ezcema is like dry dry skin all over, no patches or inflamed areas yet.

Today I ate: (not a great food day)
biscuit w/sausage, orange juice
pizza -pepperoni, green tea
ravioli (spinach) with olive oil/parm cheese (no sauce) water
coke (my weakness)
edamame for snack

So I see dairy, soy, wheat and caffine in there..are those possible triggers?

Off to read some more to figure out what to eliminate...

The top 4 intolerances are dairy, gluten, soy, and corn. You look like you have all of them. It's probably not caffeine though they do make caffeine-free Coke (though it's full of corn).