excema and allergies

[potlaura]

hi
  Was wondering if anyone could help me Tom develped quite bad Excema in the last five weeks and the only thing that i have been giving him differently is strawberry mousse i know that is bad but hid dad let him taste some and he loved it so he had been eating it ever since. what do you think i am lost for answers and thought someone here might be able to help

[Mom to M&M]

I would DEFINITELY cut out the strawberry mousse. Strawberries (and raspberries as well) can be highly allergic and are not recommended under one year of age. Additionally, the mousse would have milk/dairy - which I also think is too early at his age.

Try that and in the meantime you can use some Cortaid on the excema and/or even just some Aveeno cream. Where is the excema?

[Shdef]

Definately avoid the strawberries. My wee sister has got bad eczema. She avoids all E-numbers, tomatoes, strawberries and maybe carrots as well, I don't know. She also has to avoid stress. The body has got a lot of natural hydrocortisone if you don't want to use hydroortisone cream. The skin sets the natural hydrocortisone free if you wash the eczema with cold water. Then put vaseline (or better 50/50) on. If it flares up badly you should get some hydrocortisone cream on. Humovate and Fucibet seem to help her, Trimovate help as well if there is a fungal infection, too.

One thing... if there is EVER anybody you know with impetigo please please please keep him away from that person until it is healed. We had a horrible experience with impetigo and eczema, it was all over her body, everywhere 


Good luck!

BTW, eczema also goes hand in hand with asthma and hayfever so there are a few precautions to take...

Don't overdo it with the dairy, remove all flowers from the house, don't give him any nuts or peanut butter...

[potlaura]

thanks
         i know the mousse is bad i so regret it . the excema is all over his stomach and back and also behind his knees. boy do i feel awful thankd for tips. the doctor prescribed cetraben for skin and hydocortisone for the bad areas but have not used the hydrocotisone yet.

[Shdef]

Something else I just remembered... Try to not turn the heating on too much, if you do, put something wet on it (like a vase with water or wet towels), use co-op non-bio washing powder (very cheap, very good and won't irritate his skin) and don't use softener. Don't use any soap, just warm water. My wee sister hasn't seen soap ever and she is very clean and nt smelly .
Fresh air helps, too

[Ennypen]

Although I agree that you should cut out the strawberry mousse at the moment just in case don't beat yourself up too badly about it. There could be other things that have triggered your LOs excema - and you might never know what.

 My William has terrible excema and is a right mess with it at the moment and I have no clue as to what caused it to break out. The only thing I have found that makes any difference (and I have tried all sorts) to his skin is to use petroleum jelly bp three times a day and to avoid all soaps and fabric softeners and to try not to have our central heating on too high or too much as it dries everything out. Ive also bought a wonderful humidifier which may be helping. Also dress you LO in nothing but cotton - washed in non bio with no softener. Will often spends bad days in his pyjamas which are loose fitting cotton.

My doc assures me it will get better when the warmer weather comes and he can be in less clothes and we do not need the heating on so much. He also said its very common and most LOs simpy grow out of it with no lasting effects.

H xx

[Ennypen]

Oh by the way... the one thing my Heath visitor told me that i would never have thought of..

Do not use commercial bathroom cleaners or bleach on the bath in which your LO has his bath... no matter how much you rinse away these cleaners some of it stays on the surface of the bath and ends up on your LOs skin. She advised me to use Fairy Household soap - the green stuff - which I got easily from Tesco.

H xx

[Shdef]

We use Miltons to clean everything... Funny Ennypen, sometimes Doctors DO say the same cause we both nearly wrote the same stuff



BTW... another thing... olive oil in the food seems to soothe her eczema quite well...

[potlaura]

thanks everyone i got some great ideas just hope it works 

[happymami]

Hi
Sorry if my English isn't so good. I've read that allergies are very easy to find but very difficult to loose. We have to try to postpone it's appearance.

Remember: is very important to humidify your LO's skin... vaseline is a good idea, it retains water in the skin, but it isn't humidify. Use it immediately after bath, but I suggest to use another kind of product three times at day. Ask your doctor for a non-allergenic lotion. I'm using know Atoderm... this is a french product, I think...

Good Look!

[Aleksandersmom]

My 4 month old was diagnosed with eczema at the end of February and I have been taking him to an acupuncturist to get treatment.  I breastfeed and cut all allergenic foods out of my diet (I had been off dairy since he was a month old -- we noticed early on that it bothered him) and still couldn't tell exactly what was causing it.  We changed laundry detergents to a dye-free, perfume-free brand and that didn't seem to help.  His treatments help though!  He is too little for needles, so he gets acupressure and it works wonders!  I was even able to add egg back into my diet -- something that made him break out horribly.  You can find the information on the treatment at this website: http://www.acudebra.com/index.htm  It explains what type of testing and treatments are done for allergies. 

Before you use steroid creams on your babies, please do your research!  Steroid cremes can cause problems with the immune system down the road.  You can find a lot of information on this website:   http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/steroids.htm
I have never put steroids on my baby and I never will.  We have been able to manage his eczema without the creme, even when it was really bad. 

Hope this helps!  I know how hard it is when you can't eat ANYTHING and your baby still looks bad.  I weigh under 100 pounds -- 10 pounds less than when I got pregnant, because I had to cut so many foods out of my diet and still breastfeed around the clock.  Good luck to you all!

[shelliz]

Can anyone tell me if they have ever tried using flax seed oil (either in your diet if you are breastfeeding or in you lo's solids) to help control excema?  I have read some on it and I am wanting to try it. I wanted to know if anyone had tried and if so...did it work. Thank you in advance!!! 

Shelby

[Shdef]

I know that olive oil works, so why shouldn't flax oil

[squeaky's mum]

How bizzare! I have been feeding Sophie a tbsp of something called Omega Oils ( it is a mix of flax, sunflower and olive oils) with each solid meal she has and her eczema has improved a lot since. I hoped that this was just because the eczema was going away but maybe the Omega oils are helping. I'll try a few days without when we have finished the bottle and see if the eczema comes back.

Claire

[shelliz]

Here some info I found on Flax seed oil and excema:  http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/substances_view/1,1525,783,00.html


I have also read that for babies (if the mother breastfeeds) that it is easier for the baby to digest the oil if it is consumed by the mother.

I hope it works. I took my first dose today! Yuck!!

Shelby