Eczema, breastfeeding and allergies

[flib]

Hello fellow sufferers

I've been done this path before with my 7year old son who still has eczema but used to have asthma as well which was a bit more dramatic and more of a worry at the time!

DD1 has perfect skin but DD2 who is almost 6 months old has terrible eczema which she's had pretty much since birth. She has it all over her body. I've been using all the usual creams as well as the 1% cortisone. I ran out recently and tried to use sorbolene, dermeze, bath oil etc and it started to get bad again. When I got some more and it started to clear up again, I realised that she'd stopped waking up every 2 hours at night and we've had some decent sleeps. Just as well as I was really suffering from lack of sleep!

Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if it may be due to allergies and I'm wondering how early babies can be tested. She's still almost 100% breastfed but has started on baby rice with breast milk and stewed apple.

What sort of test do they do? Blood test or scratch test?

Also I'm assuming that if she has any allergies that I could be affecting her through my diet. Has anyone been able to reduce their child's eczema while BF by giving up certain foods? I plan to BF for at least a year.

Do you see a GP, paediatrician or dermatologist?

Thank you!

[oleander]

My DD went through all of this and she's now 6.5 months old.

She has had eczema since she was about 2 months so I took her to a dermatologist at about 3 months old and they did a blood test which showed positive for nut allergy. I cut out nuts from my diet (BF exclusively) and it cleared up the eczema a little.

I then took her to an allergist and they did the scratch test, which is more accurate than the blood test. She was found to have nut AND egg allergies.

I cut out both from my diet and her skin is now near perfect.

She only gets the occasional bit of eczema on the backs of her legs, in the creases behind her knees. Other than that I rarely use the cortisone cream, just bathe her in Hamilton bath oil and use some QV and Dermeze cream for all over moisture.

The Allergist referred me to a Dietician and they told me the things to feed her when she starts solids.

I started off by taking her to the womens & Childrens Hospital and they referred me from there so I didnt pay for any of these appointments.

[flib]

Hi Leila's Mummy

Are Leila's allergies serious (needing epipen) or considered to be food intolarences? Do you need to get her tested again in say 6 months or a year or did they say these food will always be a problem?

We're off to the GP tomorrow so it's great to go with a bit of information!

Cheers

[flib]

My GP has refered us to a dermatologist so we'll see how we go.

Cheers

[oleander]

The ones that she reacted to blistered, kind of like a mozzie bite.
28 - almond
31 - peanut
45 - egg
H - histamine to make sure it's working

[flib]

Thanks for the photo. It really helps to see what they do. How long did it take for the reaction to show up?

Cheers

[oleander]

We had to wait 15 minutes then they use a little ruler and measure the reaction spots.

On my DD the reaction came up within the first minute. Kind of like a mozzie bite.

[oleander]

I just thought I'd add that the redness on the back of her neck is a birthmark and has nothing to do with her allergies

[youngones]

Hi flib,

We have pretty much the same story as Leila's mum - Lily has had eczema since about six weeks, head to toe, currently managed with 1% hydrocortisone and emollients like Dermaveen and QV intensive. We were very lucky to get to see an allergist when she was about 4mths and he did the skin p rick test and while she reacted strongly to peanuts (7mm), her histamine reaction was almost double (13mm). It only took a minute for her to react and the reactions just kept growing as time elapsed.

I have since cut all nuts out of my diet, as most nuts are processed together, so cross contamination is high. Lily's skin has improved, but she still gets flare ups and we still need to manage it with cortisone. She will have a follow up visit at 1 year for a rechallenge, full nut screen and to get her epi pen, as she is considered anaphylactic to peanut. We can't get the epi pen for her sooner, as it is only for 10kg plus and she is only 6.5kg now.

We got a really good list of low allergy foods to start her on and for each, we only give it in the morning for five days before trying something new, or giving it to her later in the day. If you give bub something at night, they may react while you're sleeping and that would be bad.

We've tried lots of 'miracle' eczema creams, but I think that many of them probably only work on mild cases.

I've certainly noticed her skin is worse when I have processed foods, so we mainly only eat fresh and where we can, organic foods now. I've also just done a re challenge with me on mushrooms and I think she might be reacting to them too.

Now she is 6mth, our allergist wants her to start on Zyrtec liquid twice a day, as he feels that her histamine is really over reacting, so it may help enough that we can give up the cortisone except for flareups.

Good luck and let us know how you fare with the tests.

[Zarwen]

I can understand the worry and frustration.
I have a 4 year olds who has grown out of this egg allergy, which was diagnosed via prick test at 6 months, his eczema was gone within 3 weeks of taking egg out of my diet and he was continued to be breastfed until 31/2 years. We though we had the allergy this understood and knew the signs. So with my daughter has had eczema everywhere from 4 weeks, pricks tested at 3 months and allergic to egg, we were not surprised. However, through elimination diet and challenges she now at 5 months is intolerant to gluten, yeast, diary, and soy, as well as sensitive to salysilates and amines. My diet is very limited, but it has made a big difference to her. I continue to breastfeed her but am finding I keep getting asked when I am going to wean. Breastfeeding with allergy and intolerance is very do able, but it takes support and determination. We have prick testing in 2 weeks to determine whether any of the intolerances have developed into allergies, as new allergies can develop and the sensitization window is different for each food. We have been through a lot of different issues with this area so if I can help anyone let me know.