BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: Grants on April 19, 2011, 07:37:42 am
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Hi ladies,
DS is 19 months and has developed eczema about 2 months ago. The eczema is on a few areas of his body and it doesn’t get any better. The GP has seen him twice about this. At first I requested a powerful moisturiser. So I got Epaderm. The Epaderm didn’t work and the eczema got infected. So GP gave him a course of antibiotics and hydrocortisone cream to use on the infected area (fold of left arm) until it gets better. The course of antibiotics finished a month ago. I have tried stopping the hydrocortisone as I don’t really like him using it. But when I stop using it seems to come back again.TBH even the hydrocortisone doesn’t manage to make it look normal at all.
I’m going to look into take him to a homeopath but in the meanwhile I would like to do a test, withdrawing dairy from his diet for awhile to see if it makes a difference?( he was sick after drinking his milk last night and this morning so that’s why I think dairy might be the culprit? ).
How do I go about this? Do you think he is too young for soy milk? Is soy milk actually a healthy option? Is there any alternative that I can use? Perhaps coconut milk or rice milk? I’m not sure about the whole thing as I have never had any experience with food allergies before? Do you think he might be allergic to other things such as oats?(he loves oat cakes).
Thanks for reading
xxx
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hey! You know what I would suggest :P and I won't say it. Try it so it won't become a long term allergy for M! If you would take him to homeopath who can't cure and still cost you.. might as well give it a go! Remove it when it's still new! I have something to share with you... i'll PM you. xx
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It may be an allergy to SLS detergents rather than to a food substance, especially if it is in the folds of his arms/legs rather than all over.
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koe, I PMed you back. x
Hi Anna! :)
I don't know really. We do use a non bio washing liquid. It is starting to appear everywhere. It is on his hands, wrists, belly, chest, area around the mouth.(the chest and mouth ones are only starting now, but the mouth area one comes and goes). I gathered that DS has a very sensitive skin as when he plays with sand, glue or play dough at nursery the eczema on his hands and wrists gets much worse????
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Short version:
SLSs are in all laundry detergents (including non-bio), all washing up detergents, all bath products (including 'sensitive' and 'baby' products) and all body products (yes, including Epaderm). SLS are a well known skin irritant, and lots of people attribute the rise in the numbers of eczema cases with the rise in use of SLSs.
Stan used to have horrible eczema which regularly cracked and got infected. We went SLS free about 18 months ago and ever since his skin has been 98% clear. I VERY rarely have to use hydrocortisone cream - once every six months or so, if that.
It's very easy to check if it may be an SLS problem, but you need to prep a bit. First you need some Dr Bronner soap (most health food shops have it). Dr Bronner is a 'pure' soap, it has no SLS in. Then you need a new, unopened tin of Vaseline. And a roll of kitchen towels.
Wash your hands with the Dr Bronner soap, (don't dry them), then wash one of your LOs arms or legs under running water (not in a sink or bathtub as they will have SLS residue on) again with the Dr Bronner soap. Dry the arm or leg with paper towels (not with a bath or hand towel as they will have SLS residue on from your laundry powder). The apply a thin coat of Vaseline (to form a barrier to SLS from clothes/carpets etc). If after 30-60 mins you can see an improvement in the skin on the washed arm/leg, you'll know that the SLSs could be a problem and can look at cutting them out.
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Wow Anna! I will def try that. Do you think I can find this soap in holland & Barret? What about in big supermarkets? So what do you do with Stan now ? How do you wash his clothes, bath him etc?
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Haven't seen in it H&B only at smaller independents - you can get it on Amazon though
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bronners-Castile-Unscented-Baby-Mild-Liquid/dp/B000O55I9O/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1303229198&sr=8-5
It's expensive but it lasts FOREVER, you would use less than a tsp to wash a kid from top to toe!
So, I am basically lazy and didn't want to change up everything in our lives, so I started out by going SLS free for laundry and bath/body stuff. It turns out, that was enough to totally clear Stan's skin. Some parents have to find solutions for dishwashing/house cleaning etc, so I'm lucky we didn't have to do that.
For laundry I use Pure Liquid Soap Flakes by Dripak. They're pretty economical, get laundry clean. There's no 'clean smell' but if you miss that you can add a shake of essential oil to the detergent tray. You need to wash things quite a few times to get the SLS out - I did all Stan's laundry and bedding about 5 times (don't need to let it dry between cycles), and now I just use that for all of our laundry. Now that his skin is totally settled I can do the OCCASIONAL wash with a 'regular' powder if I have a heavy stained load etc. Also, now that his skin is settled he can sleep overnight at his granny's (she uses regular powder) without it flaring his skin.
For baths, I try to encourage him to have a shower and just use a tiny bit of Dr Bronners to wash him. DH and I still use SLS products for our showers, so if he wants a bath I use a tiny bit of Dr Bronners on a flannel to rinse out the tub (to get rid of residue), and he has a plain bath, no bubbles. Dr Bronners is fine for the hair too, although tbh I usually just rinse it, he really doesn't need shampoo and his hair never looks greasy/dirty. Again, now that his skin is totally calm he can have the occasional (once every couple of weeks or so) bath with a few mild bubbles in and it doesn't flare up. That is a treat though, he knows it makes his skin sore and itchy if we do it too often.
For after bath/shower, we used unrefined virgin shea butter (also can get on Amazon). It doesn't smell good and is kind of a PITA to use as it is so solid but it is fabulous (AND no SLSs). You could try olive oil or sweet almond oil, coconut oil... I'd really avoid the specialist skin creams though, at least until his skin is totally settled. Again (there's a pattern here), now that Stan's skin is clear, I can sometimes skip the moisturising altogether, or we can once in a while use a 'regular' skin cream (E45 or Oilatum or whatever) without it causing a flare.
Wow, epic post! Hope something here is helpful!
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Loads of great info Anna :D I might try that soap, we just use water in the bath and every couple of weeks DH will wash Olly's hair with Johnson's :o. We use Eco balls for washing clothes etc.
Re dairy - personally I would think it strange for him to develop a milk allergy at 17 months. Not sure what other people think about this though. You could try taking dairy out if you want. My dietician wants to get us on soy milk as it is high in protein. We are on oat milk now though as we aren't 100% about soy yet. You could use any of the milks you mention but make sure he gets enough calcium, fats and protein from other sources.
Oats are an unlikely allergen I think.
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Anna, it is all very very helpful! :-) I haven't used the hydrocortisone for 2 days now it is infected again. I'm fed up with it so I will def buy the soap and do the test. I will let you know how we get on. How long would you say it took Stan to get better once you started using the soap and washing powder ? Buntybear, I wouldn't say allergy but perhaps an intolerance to dairy ? He has too much dairy as he loves it. So I think cutting a bit of the milk intake might help ??? I have read a few times that eczema can be linked to dairy and Laura(babybarr) mentioned that her brother develops eczema if he has too much dairy. I don't really like the idea of soy milk either. So perhaps I will use coconut milk as it has more fat in it. What do you think ???
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His skin was noticeably and significantly better very quickly - within a week I would say of getting all his bedlinen/towels clear of those nasty irritants. I can't begin to tell you the difference. Right now he's got about 3 x 10p piece size patches of eczema and this is the 'worst' his skin has been for a year, probably because I've got complacent and less vigilant about SLS. But I can definitely live with this!
When we we trying to clear his eczema but before discovering SLSs, we did eliminate dairy but it didn't make any difference at all. But of course your experience may differ! :D
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I just got an email from a friend with a kid the same age has Stan saying thanks for the SLS advice her daughter's skin is MUCH MUCH better after two weeks going SLS free.
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Anna! thanks a million for the information!
I'm on the same battle with my 7mo DD... and I'm not at home so I don't have a GP to call to...
I'm gonna run allergy tests on her today. The doctor here in Italy said it is indeed very early but it may give us a light! I'm trying soy milk, shifting between the normal formula and the soy one but I think it's too early too say something (started yesterday), but I really might try the soap test!
All her bad flare ups started when we travelled, but I can't isolate the problem since we had to change formula brand, soap brand, and here in italy even the water is different! (I mean for bath, for the bottles I filter and boil!)
Thanks so much for the info, anna, and best luck with you coming LO :)
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SO interesting Anna! Thanks for the great info.
Grants - I'd probably try one route first rather than both at same time. So you know what is causing the problem? And normally I'd probably say go the SLS route first given what Anna has said. BUT given all of your LOs sleeping problems, etc I do suspect food intolerances with him and dairy is a good first step. I'm MUCH more in favor of coconut milk (or coconut milk mixed with rice milk even) than soy milk TBH.
I owe you a PM back - will get on that - been crazy here with Passover and DD of school this week!
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Anna, improvement in only 2 weeks it is amazing! :-) Karen, I think we are cross posting here. Lol I should have checked your PM first. I posted on the sleeping thread instead. Lol. So yes trying one route first makes sense but I have already tried the milk tonight. I gave him half of coconut and half of rice milk. Is this right? I couldn't do the SLS route first because I have to order it from Amazon and it will take awhile to arrive with the easter holidays etc. I'm a bit desperate as his eczema is infected again so I started the milk first. X
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Grants and M. (LifeGiver). I hope that you find out what causes it soon so that you can start managing it. hugsss xx
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I've brought DD to a doctor here and he advised me to run allergy tests on her, even though she's very young. The thing is I have loads of food allergies (not serious ones though) so he agreed and introduced me to another ped who could do that.
I went to see her today (the ped) and she told me not to do any major changes in DD's food before the tests, as it's not worth trying to cut something without being sure if that was really the cause.
She told me to buy those old glicerine bar soaps to wash her clothes (and grate it if I want to use it in the washing machine) and have me some creams and bath stuff to help clearing her skin.
We'll be back there for the tests on Tuesday.
I have even bought the soy formula already! O.o but I'm putting it on hold. I just with (with all my heart) that the results don't show allergy to many things!
Hope you, Grants, have some luck with the milk test!
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Hi ladies,
Just a quick update. M slept better for 3 nights but yesterday he had a very rough night-not sure if it was because DH forgot about the trial and gave ds normal milk with his cereal in the morning??? Perhaps it is too early to tell what might have caused it. Another thing is that we have visitors atm so ds's routine is all over the place so it’s hard to pin point what is causing the good nights: non-dairy or change in routine??? Time will tell. The Eczema is looking better only after 5 days of trial. It is not 100% healed but its def looking better! :)
Anna, I’m still waiting for the soap. So I will do the soap trial as soon as my dairy trial ends. I will let you know how it goes.
Lifegiver, I hope your tests go well tomorrow. Please keep me updated. I have a question for you or anybody who have any experience with allergy tests. I didn’t know that they could test for food intolerances??? I always thought the only way to discover if somebody had a food intolerance was through food elimination trials??? Are they going to run allergy tests on your DD, Lifegiver, or are they going to run intolerance tests?
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Karen, I forgot to ask on the last post. Do I need to worry about supplementing the fat content of Ds's diet because he is not having cow's milk? Another thing, what is the logical explanation about not giving him soya milk? I know a bit about the hormones in it and also the fact that all soya crops are genetic modified but not really sure how to make a point about it. I'm just asking as I have a mil who is pro soya milk so I need some good explanation to be able to dodge the indoctrination about soya, iykwim?!
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Where are you lovely ladies??
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How are things going?
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Hi Anna, please read last three posts as the update. Waiting for some more advice from you girls. Btw I received the soap today :-)
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Sorry hun I can't help you re the milk/soya questions. Has he still been sleeping better since your last update?
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If you are giving him enriched rice milk with coconut milk or something like that no need to supplement. As for soy milk, here are some links that might help explain things:
http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/soys-negative-effects
http://reliableanswers.com/med/soy.asp
http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/avoid_soy.htm
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No problems Anna ;-) yes, amazingly he is sleeping better :D Let's hope it continues. I'm going to do the soap test this weekend. I received the soap today but I have just realised that I don't have unopened vaseline. Thank you so much Karen! :-) just one more question. Do you know of any cheese or yogurt substitute? All the yogurts I have found so far are soya based???
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How long has he been dairy free now?
I've heard that Daiya cheese (http://www.daiyafoods.com/products/cheddar.asp) is the best dairy/soy-free cheese substitute. And I know they make a coconut milk yogurt, but if you can't find it yogurt is pretty easy to make. See here: http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/04/25/homemade-coconut-milk-yogurt/
Glad he's sleeping better and fingers crossed it continues!
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Thank you very much for the links Karen :-) ds has been dairy free for 9 days. But I think I have spoken too soon. He woke up once the night before last and woke up twice last night. He sttn for 4 days in a row, which is a miracle, but now he is having nws again ??? Tbh the nws are not as bad as they used to be but I'm not sure what to think anymore??? His eczema seemed to have improved a bit though. Does anybody know if it is possible to test for food intolerances?
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I had this blood test run for DS and it's apparently quite reliable. http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/food_allergy_igg.asp
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Thanks again for the link Karen :-). We have decided to try NAET with ds. His eczema is back to looking worse than ever so I hope NAET can get rid of it tbh.
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Keep us posted - hope it works!
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The NAET practitioner is on holiday atm so I will keep you updated once I have started. x
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M had 2 green poops (first thing in the morning) this week. Some nights (NWs) it feels like he is having cramps? DH thinks he is off the wrong thing (dairy). Maybe he has a problem with wheat and not dairy???? But I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must be to cut wheat off a toddler’s diet. That’s why NAET is my only hope TBH. Any thoughts about the green poop?
Anna, I did the SLS test. It didn't look any different but tbh we are going to try changing the washing powder and soap (for SLS free) as M's skin is very sensitive. So I'm sure it will be beneficial. I’m just waiting for the end of my exams and then I will be able to dedicate to clothes washing etc....
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Hi, so is it about 2 weeks he has been off dairy now?? You saw improvements at first but not so much now right? Are you sure there is no hidden dairy in his diet?
As for wheat, there are good gluten free bread, flours and pasta easily available. You could give this a go for a week or so?
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Or you can get the food intolerance/IgG test done that I had sent you - that might provide some answers?
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quote author=Buntybear link=topic=190999.msg2210681#msg2210681 date=1304774355]Hi, so is it about 2 weeks he has been off dairy now?? You saw improvements at first but not so much now right? Are you sure there is no hidden dairy in his diet?[/quote]
Yes. It is about 2 weeks or so. And yes I saw some improvement with the NWs but I'm not sure if it was because of the dairy and or the visitors. As DS was really busy with the visitors here+ he didn’t nap much either when they were here.
We are managing the eczema but it is not that great TBH. What do you mean about hidden dairy? Could you please elaborate a bit more on that Bunty?
you can get the food intolerance/IgG test done that I had sent you
Karen I did have a look on that but it looks like a lot of hassle as it is a US based thing and TBH I didn't really understand much about the ordering kit etc. I think it would be a great thing for us if we lived in the US but to try and deal with something like this over here I think it will be a bit of a nightmare.
As for wheat, there are good gluten free bread, flours and pasta easily available. You could give this a go for a week or so?
I know. Thankfully we have a great variety of these in the UK. But wheat is almost in everything, iykwim?!?
Taking dairy off his diet is difficult in itself as his options of meals at nursery are limited now+ we have to provide the milk, bread spread etc at nursery. I can't imagine how worse it will get for the wheat, iykwim?!? Plus is soooo sad for him not to have dairy though :( He loves his coconut/rice milk but he really misses his cheese, pizza etc...... :(
We are just waiting for the NAET practitioner to get back from holiday for us to start the treatment. Is there anything we can do in the meanwhile? Apart from cutting the wheat as I’m dreading it :(
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Hi, I TOTALLY know how hard is is - see the allergies Olly has??!! And now we are cutting certain types of fruit too!
I am not sure what you can do except for cut out the foods that you think are casuing the irritation (mucous and pain). I wish there was a cure or even some medecine to help!
Our nursery is pretty good when it comes to Olly's food. I only have to supply our own milk (and bread if I want him to have it) but they adapt their meals for him.
Hidden diary is just the dairy that is kind of cooked into things KWIM - ie there is milk in salt and vinegar crisps etc...
If you do want to do a wheat free trial I can help with some meal plans/recipes for you so that you can get it all in and it won't be so daunting :P
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Thank you for holding my hand Bunty! :) I will PM you when/if I'm ready for it. It is just not a good time now with my exams. If I'm going to cut anything I need to be 100% with it and there is too much going on in our lives atm. Iykwim?!?!
Have you heard about NAET Bunty? It seems really good and claims to cure these kinds of allergies. I will def have a go at it for DS and myself as conventional medicine is pretty useless for this kind of thing.
xxx
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Yep, when you are ready - a week shouldn't be too hard for you to trial it and should hopefully see some results.
No, not heard of it. DH is VERY iffy about anything 'alternative' so would take a lot of convincing!
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Thanks.
Have a look at this thread. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=189220.0
It is where I found out about NAET and then I realised I also had the NAET book as DH bought me the book ages ago for my own allergies and I ignored it completly. Now I'm slowly reading it and I'm amazed with the whole theory and we are going to treat DS too. It does sounds a bit 'out there' at first but if it works who cares!! lol
I will keep you updated with our treatment and I will let you know if it works for us.
Koe is having success with NAET and another person on the thread also mentioned that their DH had been cured as well.