Eczema and wheat

[greeneone12]

I am so confused and don't really know where to go from this point!

DD has had eczema since 3 months. She is now 15 months. When we started weaning we used soya as research showed that dairy often wass a major player. Now she keeps having screaming fits and terrible wind every evening.

I feel I should try cutting out wheat but I don't want to do it unless we really need to. Also doctor says we shouldn't cut any foods out as her skin isn't that bad.

Cutting out wheat feels like a huge undertaking and an expensive one at that. I obviously don't want my LO to be in any pain at all but websites I have looked at say not to remove a food group as it's really hard to re-introduce when they get older and should only be done under medical advice.

I have asked for allergy testing at my surgery but got told 'it's unheard of' for babies now. Private tests are around £300!!

I just don't know whats to do! Any comments welcome.

Thanks!

Eczema is cruel and watching your little one suffer with it is truly awful. I know from personal experience the torment of trying to find the 'cause' and therefore the 'cure' but unfortunately in most cases there isn't a cause or a magic cure. It's very hard to accept this and it took me a very long time but I really don't think you should remove a major food group like wheat from your DD's diet without any real evidence that it will make the slightest bit of difference. My DS (4 and 1/2) is allergic to milk, wheat, eggs and nuts so doesn't have any of those things in his diet but he still has chronic eczema. It is manageable but never goes away and often flares up for no apparent reason (always worse if he's unwell, hot, upset or having a particularly 'allergic' week but he has lots of really bad flares when's perfectly fit & well). The best thing for eczema is to manage it well with as much emollient as you can possibly put on (when DS was little we used to cream him 4-5 times a day, these days it's 2-3 times), bath them every day using just water and special bath additive (eg Dermol or Oilatum) no shampoo or soap, and steroid ointments on bad patches when needed. There are the more general things too like loose 100% cotton clothing, perfume free non-bio washing powder (eg Surcare), and keeping the radiator turned off in little one's bedroom all year round as well putting a cup of water in the room somewhere, preferably up on a shelf out of reach! I would also recommend asking your GP for a referral to a dermatologist if possible. We used to see a wonderful paediatric skin nurse who changed DS's life. Good luck.

Can I ask how you know your LO is allergic to all those things? I am glad to see we do most of the things you list above although we do have a mini radiator on in her room to keep the glo egg on yellow and not blue. I would worry having no heating in her room when it is so cold outside. At the moment she is having a mini flare up and I am almost at my wits end trying to think about what makes her this way. As you say I have already cut out dairy so don't want to cut out wheat too for no real reason.

Thanks for your reply. I just wish we could get a skin prick test for her and we may then know why!!

DS was very poorly as a baby, sick a lot, difficult to feed, and dropped 3 centiles on his growth chart so GP eventually suggested milk allergy and prescribed soya formula. I wasn't happy with this due to concerns about soya in infants so when we finally got referred to paediatrician he recommended hypoallergenic formula instead (originally Nutramigen then Neocate). DS comes out in hives if he so much as touches anything with milk or egg in and the first time I gave him something with wheat in he ended up in A&E after severe vomiting and head-to-toe hives the size of 10 pence pieces. We have since had skin-prick and RAST blood tests to confirm the diagnosis but his history was enough for the consultant to say he was clearly allergic. He had a wheat challenge in hospital just over a year ago to see if he'd outgrown his allergy but this went very badly (couldn't breathe) and he was then prescribed epi-pens as his reactions are anaphylactic and therefore life-threatening. As I said, nobody really knows why some people get eczema. Unfortunately, some are genetically predisposed to it, especially if there's a history of asthma and/or eczema in the family.

I know what you mean about the temperature in the bedroom and I do worry about this but the skin nurse was adamant that it's better to add an extra blanket (that they can kick off if they want to ) than to have the heating on in the bedroom as it dries the air and therefore their skin. I do admit to occasionally turning on the radiator in DS's room for an hour or two in the evening before bedtime when it's really cold but I never leave it on when he's in there.

Hi greenone, I have a dd who is 5 now and she has had eczema since about 2 months old. She is allergic to egg (skin and blood tests for this) and she had her first allergy tests at 13 months although we did go privately. Did you ever try taking your dd off soy? I think that can cause allergies too so it might be worth considering especially if she is having other problems too.

I think having a heater in the room could cause problems too. My dd prefers to be cold rather than hot. What temperature is the room when you don't put the heater on?

I agree with freefrommum, you can drive yourself crazy looking for a miracle cure. I spent a fortune on creams, supplements and alternative treatments but nothing has cured dd.

DD has definitely improved with age. Her face is no longer affected at all and although it is dry her upper body rarely ever flares up. She has most problems with her legs which are never totally free from red patches.

What do you use on your dd's skin?

We use Hydromol in the bath and have also used Epaderm.

Not dd is older she hates using the emollients but they do really help, it is just a question of finding what suits.

I am so sorry both your DC's are affected by such allergies. It's so horrible :(

We use doublebase which is good. A few weeks ago her skin was so good so I don't think it would be the soy. What yogurts could she have if I took out soy?

I feel so lost :( She scratched herself wragged tonight.

OK if you are going to start eliminating foods from her diet then it needs to be under the supervision of a dietician. Go back to your GP and demand a referral to an allergy specialist - GPs imo are pretty useless wrt eczema/allergies. The consultant will advise you on diet and management techniques like wet wrapping, and will decide if allergy testing is appropriate. (DS1 had terrible eczema from a baby, had allergy testing around a year old which confirmed egg and pulses allergy, he has since been diagnosed with a few more!)

Also we were advised that soya formula was not suitable - if CMP allergy is suspected then you are better off with special formula like Neocate.

My doctor said her eczema wasn't bad enough for referral. Maybe I am being a bit PFB about it...

I obviously don't know what your DD's eczema is like but in my experience they always say it's not bad enough for a referral (I'm convinced they get financially penalised for each referral otherwise why are they always so reluctant?). They told me that for ages and when I finally demanded to be referred the specialist was horrified at how bad it was and said he should've been referred ages ago so don't always believe the GP!

Even our GP was reluctant to do a specialist referral and said that the allergy specialists are not going to do any different. My ds at the time was 3 months old with bad eczema, his face was infected and had bad patches all over his body . His milk, egg and nut allergy was undiagnosed then . Although I strongly suspected he had milk allergy the GP said I was wrong. In fact we had to go private at first. They never made a referral. The doctor whom we saw privately somehow arranged our follow ups through the nhs.My ds is now 16 months and his eczema is much better but it hasnt gone away completely. He has developed few more allergies and it's hard but we are coping.
So greenone12 you should persuade your GP for a specialist referral before you do any elimination diet. But I do agree with freefrommum that eczema can exist independently of any food allergies. Although it's very common for children with food allergies to have eczema

Wow, this is very interesting. My daughter (20 months) has developed mild eczema on her right thigh this winter, and now that I think about it I wonder if it isn't linked to the extra radiator we put into our bedroom (where DD and I cosleep) and keep on a thermostat all night. DD will not tolerate any covers or sleeping bags so we started with double pyjamas as the temperatures dropped this winter before buying the extra heater two months ago. I've noticed the mucous membranes in my nose drying at night (quite painfully, all raw) but thought I could put up with it if it would keep her warm and sleeping. Oh dear... it seems too much of a coincidence to ignore, as she has never suffered from any food intolerances, and the first patches of dry skin appeared a couple weeks after we bought the heater. Hm. I'm going to stop using the heater right away and see if it makes a difference and report back if the thread is still going. I just hope we haven't set an allergic process in motion which we can't reverse

Oh, and I also realise that I stopped drying washing in the garden at the same time, in favour of using a dryer and yes... fabric conditioner. I've never actually used the stuff before and have been quite surprised by how strongly it smells even with reduced doses, but I've quite enjoyed everything being all fluffy and soft. Right, we're going straight back to basics around our way!

I really miss having washing that smells lovely :( but I guess it's a small price to pay.

Coming from a different angle, I would be a bit concerned about the 'screaming fits and terrible wind'. Has she ever been tested for coeliac disease? It's not uncommon for it to be associated with skin problems such as eczema and dermatitis. Worth speaking to your doctor perhaps is she has any appropriate symptoms.

Hi,

I agree that Dr are pretty useless with allergies and eczema. We finally got reffered after a login saw us and reffered her straight away. At the same time I decided to eliminate wheat and dairy from my 2.5 year old. 18 months later there is a huge improvement!!! Hardly even use steroid cream anymore and when wheat slipped into her diet in the early days she was itchy and had pimple spots within 24 hours. She has now been diagnosed as type four allergy sufferer.

This will not show up on a skin prick test. It will w elimination and then reintroduction of foods one at a time. We are under a dietician and interestingly her weight was slowly dropping down the chart 18 months ago and she struggled to put weight on. Now she is growing and putting weight on!!

The diet agrees with her.