Eczema and diet

[kath]

Has anyone found eliminating anything in particular from their childs diet has helped with their eczema?

DS2's eczema is quite bad atm. I do all the usual skin care stuff, and nothing is helping.

We generally don't eat many foods with bad additives, but there are a couple that slip through like in margarine, sliced meats etc.
I'm going to try going stricter with this though and see if it helps. Has anyone found a connection with eczema and additives?

I've had a couple of people mention eliminating dairy... I personally think this would be really difficult as he loves his dairy, plus it would be hard to not give him dairy while my other kids have dairy. Plus I worry about calcium intake? How would he get calcium if he didn't have dairy? He doesn't eat leafy greens .
Has anyone tried eliminating dairy for ezcema?

Any other suggestions of triggers?

Please help!

Thanks.

[DFH's Mummy]

Does he eat a lot of citrus and strawberries, a lot fo acidic fruits? They can cause eczema.

A friends daughter had really bad eczema on her face until she swapped her to soy milk instead of cows but she eats dairy in other forms.

[skyblu]

when Ls skin was bad we tried eliminating dairy.
but, we found out it was the right creams that made a difference.

he's not got an allergy, so to speak, but the dermatologist told us that it could make the eczema last longer if he keeps having dairy during a flare up. (he was only staring on solids at the time, so it was me that had to do the eliminating!)

we had a skin prick test done, well worth it. it takes all the guesswork out of it all. he had really mild reactions to dairy and cashews. thankfully he can eat loads of dairy now, we havent had a flare for ages. (touch wood!)

he told us the main concerns for exaccerbating eczema are generally dairy, eggs and wheat, unless they have a specific allergy.
i'd really recommend getting a good pead dermatologist. ours was fab. his skin was basically clear withing 3 weeks, and now he has gorgeous baby skin!

[lovelee]

When I was a child I had eczema and my mum tried eliminating things from my diet. She found that it went away when I stopped drinking orange juice. As a teenager it came back and when I stopped drinking cordial it went away. My little brother gets it from citrus juices too. I definately think it can be diet related. I haven't heard of dairy induced eczema before, but anythings possible. I hope you find the answer

[Chas]

As a kid - oranges would make my eczema flare up every time?

Still dont eat them now but I think it maybe a bit of overkill because I havent had eczema for years!!!

[agentcorn]

Hi there

DDs flare ups are mainly due to strawberries, yoghurt and tomatoes. We haven't eliminated these things completely, but are trying to keep them at a minimum for her. Good luck with finding the cause of the flare ups.

Cheers, Sally

[~MissUnderstood~]

I used to think DD's was food related. Not so sure anymore. After writing down weather, temps, whether it'd rained.. what we'd done and where we'd been.. It's more weather related and letting it dry out makes it worse. So I just stick to moisturising her at least twice a day and more if I feel it and it feels dry and she hasn't had a flare up in AGES!

[hotNpreggo]

DD seems to be outgrowing her eczema..having not had a flare up for a good 8 months now (had a bad flare up on our move from Vic to the NT at the end of last year)...

We did find founds known to be high in salicylates to be a contributing factor, particularly strawberries, tomatoes and citrus fruit. Our biggest problem is DD loooves strawberries and tomatoes, so elimating completely was difficult...we did however limit her intake, as well as the usual trial of lotions and potions. I found massaging in olive oil to work quite well, at softening and moisturising the skin.

Another factor for DD seems to be lavender oil...depending on the product, the oil concetration and purity, depends on the reaction...usually its followed with a eczema flareup...but we did have one case where we were trialling a 'headlice preventer' product which contained all natural oils etc, where the poor little mites whole face became quite swollen to the point she could barely see out of her eyes. Its amazing the amount of products, especially skin friendly products contain lavender!! Funnily enough DD's eczema first appeared after we started using some JJ's nighttime lavender bath stuff...it was her peadiatrician at the time who suggested we stop using any JJ's products and switch to the the QV products, but thats a whole other story!

ETA...wanted to add this link, on salicylates and sulphar based products and eczema..
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.in...acteczema2.htm

[Cathie]

Avocade and rockmelon make me flare up.

[Renee1]

My daughter has eczema as well. I did abit of reading about elimanating foods from childrens diets and it said you shouldnt do it unles advised by a skin specialist. (i got advised by the local health food shop owner that i shouldnt be giving her wheat). It also said that the best thing for children is to just keep it managed and that over 80% grow out of it by the age of 5 yrs. They recommended using alpha kerri oil in bath and then aquaous cream after bath on skin and also whenever skin flared up. my dd is being a shocker right now but ill try and find the link...