eczema / dry skin...

[suzi2]

My DS (12 wks) has very dry skin and I think he's starting with eczema. Not a huge surprise as both me and DH have it quite badly.

Question is, since I am breastfeeding, could something I'm eating be triggering it? My friend is aGP and has said that it can't really be an intolerance as he is too young and has only had breastmilk.

Any thoughts? I'm not overly worried, just more curious...

[Chandra]

It could be so many things that you could drive yourself crazy before finding out, it could be something you eat, but it could be also something in the environment (like all those things that trigger your own eczema). I have heard about people reducing the intake of milk but I'm not sure about how has that worked.
The only thing I can suggest is to post this thread under the allergies topic. It would have a bigger chance to be seen (and answered) by one of the eczema mums.

[mummy23]

My DS1 had really dry skin when he was born (he was 6 days late btw), and it was on and of until he was about 1, and i suffer with psoriasis.
I spoke to the doctor when he was about 3 months old and was told that it looked like baby eczema and prescribed my DS with aqueous cream (apologies for bad spelling)
Anyway the cream helped with the dry skin and as i said above he has not had any problems since he was about 1 year old!

HTH

[alux]

dd's eczema started at about the same time. now 6 mo. old. I have just started the process of getting her tested for common food allergens. It helps to know that milk allergies is common in my family and that dh suffered terrible eczema as a baby, source of it still unknown. I figure that if it turns out that she is allergic to cow's milk then I know not to feed her it. OTOH, if it turns out that she isn't allergic to dairy then I can happily feed it to her.

The paediatrician I saw today did say that some cow's milk protein enters breast milk and can irritate. Since I decided to avoid dairy products for her sake, her eczema has improved though other factors could also have helped it improve and stay fairly mild.

A work colleague told me her mum suffered it for 35 yrs and it stopped when she moved house. The only thing that was different was her water company. Something in the water was irritating her. Of course, it is more difficult in my opinion to eliminate environmental factors.

[suzi2]

Thanks - I forgot there was an allergy forum so have put my message on there. I don't eat much dairy at all as I have a slight intolerance myself. I'll maybe try cutting it out altogether.