Baby Eczema- Help!

doodlesmom

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 8:24 pm

My son actually had very bad eczema that resolved itself at 10 months or so after he went into anaphylactic shock. I don’t know how it’s related, but that’s what occurred.
I find that since most kids outgrow it, it’s best to make the kids as comfortable as possible by moisturizing etc. and waiting for it to pass.
You can eliminate the common triggers and detergents but if that doesn’t help then just make him comfy.

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 8:41 pm

I had two kids who developed eczema as very young infants. Both had clear allergies to food, as in, we tested, eliminated the positive foods, and within a few weeks the eczema disappeared completely. One of those kids we had tried everything under the sun, including steroids, before testing. Nothing helped. BH with my next I was smarter. FTR the second child did not have any vaccines before developing eczema (I don't give hep b vax in the hospital either). I would do a blood test if skin tests aren't giving you an accurate reading (although our skin tests were always accurate). The blood tests nowadays are much better at detecting and measuring levels. Yes it's difficult but eczema is much worse than a three minute blood test.

amother

Salmon

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:17 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I really appreciate all the Imas out there who took the time to advise.
So I just spoke with the allergist.
He said that the skin tests are actually not very accurate and that there are many false positives. The most accurate way to know for sure is to eliminate the food and see if it gets better.
So for now, I will stay the course and eliminate eggs and milk from my diet for 2-4 weeks.
So what do you ladies eat???

True, skin tests can be inaccurate in a child this young. Additionally, if a child has bad eczema, their body can be in a hyper-reactive state and they can have many false positives.
But, not always will you see relief after eliminating the allergen, which is something to keep in mind. As I said before, my child has severe chronic eczema that did not improve much even after removing foods that this child is definitely allergic to. I'm not saying this to discourage anyone, just to point out that even if you don't see improvement, that is not proof that the child is not allergic to whatever food was removed from their diet.
Not to minimize how difficult it is to cut eggs and dairy out of your diet, but at one point I was eating only 4 different foods for weeks. I ate chicken for breakfast. You definitely have options, depending on what you like. There are lots of dairy-free milk options, non dairy yogurts and cheese. Sourdough bread does not contain eggs. They are a few options of granola bars that are nut free. Salads, fruits, soup. Pasta is usually egg-free although there are egg noodles so always check labels. I suggest reading through older threads in the allergy forum, there are lots of ideas and recipes there.

amother

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:31 pm

octopus wrote:

But why are you going off of two things at once? What did the allergist say about that? No test is absolutely reliable. Nothing is as reliable as actually ingesting the food itself. I would think going off one at a time will be more accurate?

Haha. My original intention was to only go off eggs, but decided to add dairy after reading here that it would be more accurate to go off all possible culprits and add in one at a time.
If she is allergic to both dairy and eggs, just going off eggs wont help. And I wont know if she is actually allergic to eggs or not because the milk will still cause the eczema...
I think he was ok when I told him I was going to go off both.
As mentioned, the first test we took showed negative in everything except peanuts.
The second test, we retested all the things from the first test (except peanuts) and it came out POSITIVE for eggs, dairy and wheat. So that's why I was so confused. Were they false negatives the first time or false positives the second time?....
Sad

gamanit

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 11:48 pm

My son had eczema as a baby. I was advised by some fellow mothers to go off eggs, milk, nuts etc and to reintroduce one at a time to see what he's sensitive too. I found out that he was sensitive to milk and peanuts and terribly allergic to his diapers. My son's doctor told me to stop eliminating the foods immediately though because eczema means he's sensitive but if I cut out the food completely he might end up with a full blown allergy which is much riskier. He also said that with eczema any irritation anywhere leads to flare ups everywhere which meant that even the cradle cap on his head was irritating him everywhere else. We worked out a routine which worked great for us and cleared his skin completely.

1) Minimal use of soap. I bathed him as needed but used as little soap as possible (sometimes skipped the soap altogether)
2) Whenever I saw any cradle cap I treated it with Selsun Blue (doctor recommended)
3) After the bath while the pores were still open I put olive oil head to toe (this was amazing)
4) The doctor prescribed a cream for behind the ears
5) Applied zinc oxide cream in every crevice like elbow, behind the knees, neck area, etc
6) Doctor prescribed a powder for the diaper area
7) We used cloth diapers as much as possible and found a brand that was the best from the disposables for whenever he was in disposables (the babysitter didn't want to try cloth)

These days his skin is generally fine. He did have a minor flare up a few weeks ago when he ate a peanut butter sandwich and didn't wash his face afterwards (literally turned red exactly where the peanut butter was) but it cleared up pretty quickly with olive oil. b"H I'm really glad we didn't end up going the elimination route because while he's still slightly sensitive to both milk and peanuts it never did become an allergy. Like I said, he even eats peanut butter sandwiches Smile

amother

Mon, Dec 07 2020, 7:08 am

gamanit wrote:

Did you ever test him at an allergist?

blessedflower

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 10:07 am

I need some advise. My baby is 12 weeks now and has eczema and slimy diapers. I want off diary over 3 weeks ago and saw a big difference with his diapers after 4 á 5 days. But his eczema got worse. I only use shampoo for atopic skin and good moisturizer. I wash him every other day and change his linnen every day in case there is some spit up on it. I stopped eating eggs last week monday. I don't see a difference yet. At the moment his eczema got worse and also his diapers are bad (it never got good 100%). I'm so confused.
Someone recommended that I try putting food on his skin to see what he will react to. He has spots that are clear. Can I find a clear spot that's without eczema and put some raw eggs, milk or peanut butter on it? I would keep some fenistil with me in case he gets a strong reaction.

OP how is it going for you? It's so difficult for me and my doctor is not supportive at all

amother

Salmon

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 10:12 am

blessedflower wrote:

Maybe he has MSPI? Just because of what you're saying with the diaper situation... Has your doctor considered this? Maybe you would need to try getting him off soy and see if that makes a difference.
My doctors recommend bathing every day, provided that you apply a good moisturizer immediately after every bath. Do not rub the baby dry, just pat him gently with a towel.
I personally would not try putting food on my child's skin. Can you find an allergist that would be willing to test your baby?

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 10:14 am

blessedflower wrote:

Poor baby. Why don't you go to an allergist and do real testing? Please do not do your own version. You can pay privately if your doctor is making it difficult to access care.

blessedflower

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 10:57 am

My dd was allergic to cows milk and had only little bit of eczema. But she was always constipated. My baby is also constipated. So I went to the dr and he said that I'm having the facts totally wrong! He wouldn't listen. He never saw the blood results from my dd, how can he tell me I'm wrong!? I went with her to a child gastroenterologist. I didn't diagnose her myself?
Problem is that on the skin is often not accurate, only blood test is (that was I was told when I dealt with my dd) and my dr refuses to give me a referal for bloodtest.
I went to a dermatologist with dd so had him take a look at my baby as well but his eczema was very okay that day. So he said it's nothing, only dry skin (he only a the face). But I know It's not. The nurse at tipad chalav was shocked that the dr didn't help me. I feel so discouraged. The dr here never take me seriously and make me feel like I'm an overprotective stupid mom. So I figured I'll try to do my own thing...
I'm case anyone things I'm actually overreacting, his skin is all flacky, he has cuts all over his face because he scratches it. And over all his body he has red patches that are flacky. Only behind his ears the skin is open even though I was so very carefull to dry him well.

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 11:10 am

blessedflower wrote:

Skin tests are much more accurate than putting food on his body yourself (not to mention much safer), even if they're not as accurate as blood tests. Many people have gotten answers from skin tests (including me, for three of my kids, all when they were babies).

amother

Forestgreen

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 11:14 am

blessedflower wrote:

Watery diapers is usually a sign of a soy allergy.
Doing your own skin test is dangerous, and not as accurate. The allergists skin test actually injects the allergen into the skin to see a reaction, and they have medical staff on call of a disaster happens.
You need to go to an allergist to figure this out. Good luck!

blessedflower

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 11:31 am

amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:

he is actually constipated and his diapers are slimy not watery. His diapers are like glue. Skin tests with my dd weren't accurate that's why I didn't feel like bothering to go do it now. I'll look into it.
Anyone know of Dr Heimlich in Jerusalem?

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 11:39 am

My baby’s blood work showed allergy to eggs as well. But as it turned out it’s only to raw egg as in ice cream, omelets etc.. when it goes thru a chemical change my baby is fine. So please check if that’s the case by you since it’s a game changer. I know my advice won’t be popular. But I wish I would’ve tried to wean my baby and put him on formula. It takes around 2 weeks for food to leave the breastmilk. It was so hard to indicate what he has a reaction to. Once I weaned him and he started eating solids I was able to figure out his triggers and that’s when he cleared up. The benefits of him feeling comfortable outweighed a million times the benefits of breastfeeding. He was delayed in everything. He started walking by 20 months right when he started feeling better. Started sleeping through the night so he was much happier during the day. He started saying some words following one step commands. Before that I just nursed him 20+ a day to make him happy since otherwise he scratched and was crying. Loads of hatzlucha!