Eczema - suspecting food intolerance, not sure what though

[maba]

My 4 mo has had dry skin for almost 3 months now, but it's not all over the body, just his knees, elbows and some patches on his chest. And behind his ears the skin is crusty. When I asked my pediatrician about it, she said not to worry and that if it gets worse she can prescribe hydrocortisone. I believe most skin disorders can be cured by diet. I eat a relatively healthy diet devoid of processed foods, gluten, soy, vegetable oils and sweeteners. But I do eat dairy (a little bit of whole milk in my everyday cup of coffee, some yoghurt every now and then and ghee), eggs, nuts, all of which I understand are allergens. DS eczema isn't too bad as in I don't think it causes him discomfort yet but I'm still worried. Is this a food allergy, how can find out what is causing the issue? Also, he has a lot of dry wax in his ears. Every time I nurse him, I see yellow specks in his ears that I remove with my fingers and I see them again. Once, I removed a small pellet of wax that was visible. 

On a side note, DS has been having watery stools for the last 2 days. I took him to the pediatrician and she said there's nothing to worry about it. It doesn't smell foul or anything, just watery and very different from his normal BM. Today it was mucousy and stringy. He's had mucousy stools in the past but that was when I had over supply issues which have resolved now.

TIA!

[DevaMajka]

Just quickly, because ds is trying to destroy the computer desk- Those are his symptoms, and I am fairly certain they relate to foods. Sorry, I'll be back later.

[DevaMajka]

J (18mos old) had eczema from about 5mos old. IAt first it was in his diaper area, but that healed and then it popped up on his elbows and knees (which are common eczema places), and bum cheeks. It usually been pretty mild, with flareups that correspond to eating sweet potato, and I don't know what else. Eggs are a common eczema trigger, as are peanuts (and other nuts?). Also apparently milk, which does not trigger ds's eczema. His eczema doesn't seem to bother him either, except the couple times it got really bad.

A pediatrition (sp) who studied children's skin diseases for a year, told me that in a small percentage of kids, eczema is caused by food. Now, I don't know how they could be sure of that, because I'm sure most of the parents wouldn't have done an ED to figure it out past the top 8, kwim? Like I said, ds's biggest trigger in the beginning was sweet potato of all foods, and there's a pattern with bananas.

I'd say your ds's mucousy poop could easily be a food reaction. I showed a mildly mucousy poop to a dr, who said it looked normal (huh?), but sure enough an hour later he had a MAJOR red ring around his anus, so that tells me he definitely ate something that didn't agree with him. Sometimes J's poop is watery, sometimes mushy, sometimes mucousy. There's definitely a correlation with raisins and kiwi and mucousy poop, but again, I don't know what else.

For the eczema, my ds also reacts to detergents (not natural ones) and cold/dry air causes eczema on his cheeks, and seems to react to certain soaps. I found a specific lotion (Dermamed Baby healing cream) that helps his eczema more than anything else. Vaseline works best on his cheeks. Also, if his eczema is more than just mild, a bath will make it flare up for the next couple hours, even if we don't use soap.

If your ds's eczema comes and goes, you'd likely benefit from food journalling. Even if it just flares and improves, it might help find the biggest triggers, then you can go from there. If it were me, I'd take out some of the top 8 plus anything you already suspect before going to a more strict ED. Chances are, it's one of those. In your food journal, make sure you make note of any lotions, detergent changes, etc- anything like that that can commonly trigger eczema.

[maba]

Thank you so much for your detailed post DevaMajka. DS has perpetually dry skin in the areas I mentioned. And now that you've mentioned it, his anus region is red sometimes too. I ate a lot of eggs when I was pregnant with him and I read somewhere that being exposed to certain foods in utero can also cause allergies. 

As for baby care products, I use California Baby soap, Weleda baby lotion and Weleda baby oil for massages. I give him a bath everyday and used to apply soap every other day, but now I've limited the use of soap to once in 3-4 days. I use Rock n' Green detergent for his and my clothes. DH uses regular Tide detergent. 

How long do I have to eliminate the triggers before I can notice changes? How long do these allergens stay in the body before they are flushed out of my system and I can see changes?

[DevaMajka]

I would say that you should see an improvement in a few days, maybe a week, most likely. It's hard for me to say, because I haven't identified any triggers for sure, other than sweet potato. That was about a year ago, but I do think there was an improvement in a few days. But when I change my diet, I notice a change in his eczema within the next few days. I think in general, you can count on an improvement in a week, but some of the ladies here have reactions that last longer.

Wheat (and gluten) and dairy can take longer to get out of your and his system- a couple weeks for dairy, and up to a couple months for wheat. That's not to say that you can't see improvement before that, just that it *can* take that long.

Also, in my case, if his eczema is above a certain level, it probably takes longer to clear up because it's easily triggered by other things, that don't affect it when it's more mild.

When he reacted to detergent (on a hospital gown), he reacted the same day, and was a lot better overnight after I put him in his regular clothes.

As far as the Rock n green, that's probably safe. He could be reacting to the Tide though, so keep an eye on that. For lotions, I tried a bunch before I found something that worked for his eczema, it's just trial and error. You may want to look for a natural lotion intended for eczema - I think they often have calendula in them. Angel Mama Earth Baby has one, I think. CJ's Butter has a lotion that people like for eczema. My fave is the Dermamed baby, but it's expensive.

gotta go- the kids are fighting. If you have any more questions, please ask :)

[smilinggreenmom]

I am so glad to hear that your family eats a healthy diet - we have found that to be so important for our son who has had awful eczema since he was a baby. We went to so many doctors and all of them did the same tests. The problem was that every test showed us something different! The one thing that has helped our son so much has been his children's chewable probiotic. He has been taking Belly Boost for two years now and it has been amazing for him - his skin looks great, he feels great and he can eat so many more foods. He does have actual food allergies and we avoid these foods and carry his EpiPen. But we found that his eczema was caused from artificial ingredients in our foods (mostly) and our home (cleaners, soaps etc). We now eat a mostly whole foods diet, both of our kids only drink water unless it's a special occasion and they also both take their probiotics now. I also recommend during bath time that you add some olive oil! It is such a great (an inexpensive) and non-irritating way to help the skin retain moisture. I hope this helps your little one.