dietary query re: eczema.
 

Yo,

I hope this isnt in the wrong place.. its not really first aid worthy.


My baby has eczema i have taken him to the doctors an we agreed we would try stuff at home before he started prescribing stronger potions. I have started E45ing him up and using emollient stuff in his bath rather than bubbles etc, ive also switched washing powders as i had changed it recently sue to a different one being on offer in the shop :P

Im breast feeding, so whatever i eat/drink gets passed onto him, and I have heard that there are certain foods that can trigger eczema, or, at least, that dont help, mainly, milk and tomatoes.

Any experience? any other tips?

spanks mates.

ps: could google i know, but i would like some real life opinions innit.

I have no advice.Just drink gin and eat cake and itll be fine!

IM SO HELPFUL.

I find that citrus fruits are hell for my skin. Dairy too.

Sudocrem is incredible for my eczema, I still use it daily. When things got desperate (I.e one step away from hospital) when I was a baby/toddler, my nana used to pop Vitamin E capsules with a sterilised pin, mix it with aqueous and slather it on, and that used to help a hell of a lot. These days it's much easier to find lotions with high levels of vitamin E in.

Also, I keep a tube of Germolene (the one with mild anesthetic) in the coldest cupboard, the coldness helps a lot with itching :]

Love to squishy, I hope it clears up quickly :)

Also; what emollient are you using? Oilatum is a blessing for me and they do a baby version :)

maybe the alcohol in the gin will help kill any bugs i may pass on liv :P

thank you so much for the advice marie, you may be onto something with the sudocrem, i mean, he doesnt have eczema on his arse!

edit: i got him some oilatum stuff that goes in the bath today, and ive been using E45 the last few days, but its got a lot worse since ive been using E45 weirdly enough.

No problem, Charlie :)
I'm allergic to E45, it makes mine worse too.
I swear, Sudocrem is the answer to everything :)

Oilatum is very gentle and smells amazing! I find that it really softens my skin and really helps healing. It leaves your bath really slippy afterwards though, so if you bathe with or after him, be careful :]

The midwife lady recommened trying olive oil on my baby cousin. Apparently it did help.

you know what, before having a baby, i didnt realise just how awesome olive oil is.

it can be used for basically everything!

E45 sometimes upsets my skin....

Doublebase is amazing stuff and its fun to play with in the bottle.... its a basic moisturis-y type stuff.....

Unfortunately I have no idea about what dietary stuff might be bad for it as I gave up stopping mine occurring years ago and now just cover myself in cream and cut my nails regularly so I don't scratch it....

With washing powders, one type biological or non-biological is meant to be better for eczema... however I cannot remember which as I just buy the cheap one, lol!

Biological seems to be much better for my skin!

Dairy also is bad for my eczma, and sudocreme is the best thing for anything skin related!

I'm not keen on E45 either, I usually use aqueous cream as it's quite agreeable with my skin, I feel vitamin E oil helps too. When I was a baby my Mom always bathed me using emollient and used aqueous cream too, both were prescribed from the doctor so I'm not sure of the name of the emollient. As Marie mentioned, keeping creams cool can be really soothing.

As well as avoiding dairy products, I've known people that felt fats from meat triggered their eczema to flare up, and so avoided eating a lot of meat. I wouldn't know personally though because I'm vegetarian.

Hope it clears up soon :)

thank you. what helpful folk you are.

i think i may ditch the e45 then, as i mentioned, its gotten worse since i started using it.

today the osteopath that we see did something or other to do with helping is tummy incase it is a bit irritated. hippies!

A friends neice had excema realy badly. Her mum cut out diary from her diet and it has become a lot better.

Lol, solving dry skin & dressing salads everywhere! :-p

Ditch the e45.
Try sudocream.
There are heaps of "all natural" type creams available, often on the internet, that contain little more than stuff like: olive oil, beeswax (be mindful of allergy potential), almond oil, vitamin e. See if you find one you like the look of and try that.
Clothes made of wool can trigger it, I know it's winter for you guys so be mindful of what he's wearing and go for cotton and natural things except wool.
Try using aqueous cream instead of soap for his baths, if you use any soap.
Cutting out dairy and/or citrus fruits might help too.

Thank you for the advice.

i will switch to soy milk i think. I have stopped using soap and am using emollient bathy stuff instead and have been using sudocrem today. Ive also had him sleeping in just his nappy to try and reduce clothes rubbing on his skin.

Its mostly on his albows, under his arms and under his chin(s) :P It looked different today, like lots and lots of tiny white headed spots.

Hmm that could be heat rash or a rash that babies often get called erythema toxicum. Which is basically just because something (soap, wool etc) is irritating his skin and is not an infection. It can get infected though (as can eczema) so if you think it looks infected pop to your GP for some cream.
Just keep trying and hopefully you will hit the right combination of cream/soap/clothes etc that help it.

When I had it as a baby, I'm sure it was Aveeno my mum says she used. And non-bio washing liquid/powder made the bits on my body much better (the bits on my head/face had to stay put until they decided to get better of their own accord). They do anti-allergy washing liquid stuff in Boots (not sure about powder), which is the only stuff that doesn't make me itchy nowadays. Dermol is another emolient you could try for the bath :) you can get it in various consistencies as well :) And vaseline stops itching :)

After a chat with the sleepover social worker support person this evening, it made me think about Oliver's eczema. After talking about eczema, which a fellow housemate has, he suggested to her to look into using goats soap and papaya to clear it up. So I'm passing this piece of information onto you. Also maybe wean him onto goats milk when you stop breast feeding.