"seasonal" eczema questions

[J's Mama]

Hi. My 3 1/2 year old son has had eczema since he was about 6 months old. It started out pretty mild. It only appears in the winter and every winter it gets worse. Since it's seasonal I have my doubts about it being an allergy. Can anyone speak to this? This winter it's horrible. The patches on his legs are raised and bright red; they look like burns! And in just the past few days, he seems to be getting some right above his lips and on his cheeks. The lotion that has worked the best for us so far is Burt's Bees Buttermilk. Also, if we wanted to try an elimination diet, where would we start? It seems so overwhelming! Any help is appreciated!

[SquishyKitty]

Has he been allergy tested?

Usually, overly dry skin causes my breakouts. That, or super warm/humid temps. Also, new water (if we travel or whatever, the house we live in has a well and very clean water).

Perfumes, dyes, and even some fabrics like wool also cause flare ups.

I know it sounds off, but I swear the best lotion I have found for my eczema is St. Ives mineral therapy.

Is there a way to put a showerhead or whatever in your bathtub that filters the water?

[Lineymom]

My ds has much worse eczema in the winter because drier air = drier skin. This is his worse year yet and he is 7. We are retesting for food allergies this week.

[J's Mama]

It's definitely dry in our apartment. Especially in the bedroom where we don't have a radiator and thus have to use a space heater. I bought a humidifier for this winter though.
He hasn't been allergy tested. He has a peanut allergy but I only know that because he had a reaction to it.

[luv-my-boys]

Yes for us DS exzema is very much triggered by seasons. It is much more worse in the winter than any other time of yr. I think partly because of the dryness of the air indoors (heating) and also he tends to wear long sleeves which sometimes combined witht eh dryness can be a little irriating. Usually as the weather dips we increase the moisture and oils we apply to him. I noticed you mentioned he may have a peanut allergy. I would take a look at any products that may end up on his skin. For instance DS had a horrible dairy allergy which also reared its head as exzema. But what we didnt realize was that a lot of products had by products of dairy in them as "moisturizers" or skin soothers" so here we are buying all this stuff and in fact we were slatering on the very thing he was allergic too. Once we realized that his skin cleared up a whole lot better and is much more managable now.