[klile]

My wonderful, content 4 month old baby boy has what I think is pretty severe eczema. He's exclusively breastfed and our family has zero history of allergies. His older sister had dry skin as a baby but also has no allergies. We live in a high desert region (VERY dry, especially in the months since he was born). His 4 month well-baby appointment is tomorrow and I'm just looking for tips from other moms. I'm sort of expecting to get the run-around from the pediatrician here.

His skin has a slight rash all over, but it's really severe along his jaw line, where his chubby cheeks rub against his drool-covered shirts. I am currently treating him with Aquaphor several times a day, socks on his hands most of the time when he's falling asleep, and Eucerin immediately after a bath. I give him a short bath every other day and don't use soap on his face.

With no history of allergies, should I still suspect my diet and try to eliminate dairy, etc? Should I ask for a prescription hydrocortisone cream? In the past several weeks, it's so up and down where I think it's getting better and then it flares up again, and it just takes one moment of him scratching away at his face for it to bleed and then we're back to square one as far as healing. Also, does anyone know about the risk of scarring?

Hopefully his pediatrician will be helpful tomorrow, but I thought I'd come here because you all have been so helpful to me in the past. Thanks in advance!

Katie

 

[changingseasons]

Don't have time to type much, but... come over to the allergy forum, and check out my blog (link in sig.)

I would definitely consider removing dairy from your diet for a few weeks to see if that helps. (I would also eliminate soy at the same time since those allergies seem to go hand in hand.) Other common triggers are eggs, gluten, and corn.

Don't expect too much information from your ped- most don't know much (if anything) about food allergies/intolerances in babies.

 

[LadyCatherine185]

Quote:

Originally Posted by changingseasons I would definitely consider removing dairy from your diet for a few weeks to see if that helps. (I would also eliminate soy at the same time since those allergies seem to go hand in hand.) Other common triggers are eggs, gluten, and corn. Don't expect too much information from your ped- most don't know much (if anything) about food allergies/intolerances in babies.

:

 

[eastkygal]

My DD1's eczema showed up over vaccination sites in her thighs at 6 months. I believe vaccines were a direct trigger for the allergies she now has. Dairy is the only food allergy, and dog, dust, mold, etc are environmental ones. We tried everything natural before taking her to an allergist and getting medicine. Most peds don't know how to deal with eczema in my opinion. Allergist is the way to go. DD is now on Atarax and Locoid Lipocream for times of breakouts. At first I'd try things like coconut oil, possibly less bathing, but if you do bathe use warm water only and the bath should be about 20 minutes, coconut oil all over afterward.

 

[treehugginhippie]

Yes, I'd def def def do a food elimination diet for awhile to see if you see a difference. DD1 it was peanut butter that cause her eczema. DD2 got it too and I've eliminated corn and 3 weeks later I'm starting to see it go away a little bit. She's also sensitive to dairy & eggs. Basically for us, any allergenic foods that I ate almost everyday while pregnant is a trigger for her. I won't do that again if I have another baby now that I see the connection.

Oh and it took up to 8 weeks for the eczema to go away completely.

 

[MoonWillow]

My family had no history of allergies either but my dd has severe ones.

 

[frontierpsych]

My son is almost 8 months and has severe eczema as well. We're working on it. Right now he is on an oral steroid to allow him to heal up, but can only take that for 3 weeks. We're still working on finding the cause.

 

[Unconventional1]

DS had it with soy too- it is still a trigger- especially Braggs aminos and lecithin- if you try to eliminate foods like soy and dairy- you have to read all labels, you would be surprised as to how many foods have these ingredients hidden in them, and not all labels of foods with soy list it as a potential allergen, so you have to actually read the whole ingredient list.

 

[janasmama]

You can also try Bach's Rescue Cream on the affected skin to help with the immediate soothing.

 

[eastkygal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by janasmama You can also try Bach's Rescue Cream on the affected skin to help with the immediate soothing.

Ooooh, yes! I forgot that that was the best natural product we tried for DD's eczema. That and Weleda bath products. We love Weleda.

 

[spirit4ever]

My dd has excmea from dairy/soy and now I'm thinking, possibly corn..

since its so dry where you are what about a humidifier?

I really like Dr. sears site on excema http://askdrsears.com/html/8/t081800.asp

 

[VeganCupcake]

We struggled with eczema with my DD starting just about 3 months. She also had rashy spots on her cheeks and chin that didn't look like eczema, but like rubbed spots. Everyone always told me it was from rubbing on something, but I was with her 24/7 and never saw any evidence of rubbing. It's a classic allergy rash.

My pedi told me it was just the dry winter air (we live in the high desert too) but a humidifier didn't help. Creams didn't make a difference for long, either. Even cortisone would only clear it up for a day or so, and then it would come back.

An elimination diet did the trick. I don't eat dairy (well, that was easy as a vegan), soy, or gluten anymore. Her skin is just beautiful now. It started to work in just a few days and within a couple of weeks she was completely clear.

 

[beadmama]

My DD is allergic to polyester and food allergies. At 5wks she had this horrid rash that looked almost like a burn and it turned out to be polyester. It is everywhere! It mostly happened when the polyester was wet, think wash cloths and burp cloths. We also eat a various allergen free diet.

 

[mel_mama]

I also have a 5 mo with pretty moderate to severe eczema. He started showing signs around 2 mo and I took him to the ped twice for it. He was scratching so much, he was cutting himself and bleeding, so I finally said "this is it. I'm taking him to a dermatologist." Before this, the ped just recommended aquaphor and cetaphil lotion. I also tried eliminating dairy for 2 weeks, but with no results. The aquaphor and lotion weren't doing much at all to relieve the redness, scaliness or itching. He also had it bad in the folds of his neck, to the point of chafing and bleeding! We also tried an OTC hydrocortisone cream, which kind of helped, but not enough.

Point of this rambling is that I am SO GLAD I finally took him to a dermatologist. The doctor is also a pediatric dermatologist, he confirmed that our DS has eczema and gave us a series of prescriptions that DO contain steroids, but they are topical so he said not to worry. Honestly, they have worked WONDERS for DS -- 5 days later, the rash and sores have healed and he isn't scratching!!!!!! It's wonderful. Please let me know if you'd like the names of the lotions, I can probably dig them up at home (they're long and I can't quite remember the names!)

 

[mel_mama]

Also, bathe everyday. A mild tepid bath. Not hot. Use CeraVe lotion over his body and whatever prescriptions your dermatologist writes out to you on the "hot spots" to cool down the rash. The CeraVe lotion is available at a drugstore OTC and works wonders. DH also uses it for his eczema...

The derm also told us that 1x a week, put a tsp. of Clorox bleach in the bath water. This diluted bleach bath helps to prevent staph infections and bacterial growth.

Haven't tried this yet, simply b/c it kind of scares me and I'm getting such great results with the scrips and lotions...

May also try to eliminate soy as it seems lots of people on this board found that this elimination helped their LO's eczema. I actually drink quite a bit of soy milk, like 2 glasses a day... Yikes!

 

[changingseasons]

Please be aware that steroid creams can not only damage the already sensitive skin, but will drive symptoms deeper into the body where they can turn into more serious problems in the long run. Eczema is your bodies way of getting rid of toxins and inflammation through the skin. If you suppress that, the inflammation stays in the body. It's a much better idea to figure out what's causing the inflammation and get rid of the source.

 

[mommysaurus]

With my DS it turned out to be egg. we were dairy free almost from the beginning, notice symptoms of diary sensitivies during his first week (had a prior child/ren with food allergies). The eczema peaked at 4months and I was in denial about the egg..ugh! I finally eliminated it and his eczema disappeared.

 

[ZippyGirl]

My good friend swore that nipple butter helped her dd's eczema. She went on an elimination diet and tried a gazillion things recommended by her naturopath and pediatrician. Anyway, now she just slathers the nipple butter on her baby girl. She posted a review the nipple butter here. I'd love to know if anyone has any thoughts on why this worked in this particular situation.

 

[Jojo F.]

Try cutting out dairy and take evening primrose oil. thsoe things cleared my skin up like a dream.

Oh, Egyptian Magic Cream is awsome

 

[ainh]

Egg, from my research and experience, is the number one eczema culprit. That means cutting out ALL egg -- muffins, mayo, egg noodles, etc. Both of my food allergic babes get bad eczema flares if I eat just a bit of egg...whereas they get mucousy poops from dairy/soy. Nuts and seeds (sesame in hummus, etc) turned out to be the surprise culprit in DS1 -- sesame is now thought to be the #4 most common allergen in the states.