Will giving up dairy help my baby's eczema?

[beansprout]

Ds is 5 months old and has a few patches. Dp has suggested I give up dairy for a while as I am b/f. Is this likely to help? Any other suggestions?

TIA

Sympathies. DD had a few patches too. this isn't exactly scientific, but I never gave up dairy (what, cut out butter and chocolate? no fear) or restricted her diet once i'd stopped breastfeeding, and it petered out. whereas the only other child i know who had bad eczema was put on a ferocious dairy-free diet and it continued to be a problem.
what does your GP?HV recommend?

Hi Beansprout - I think whether this would help or not is dependant on lots of factors - how severe the eczema is, whether it's genetic or infantile etc. DD started with eczema at 2 months (there's no family history) and we had real problems getting it under control. The hv and doctor were reluctant to change her milk, but after weeks and weeks of using hydrocortisone on her every day, I decided to change her milk myself (I didn't bf). I was reluctant to use soya, and so have been giving her Nanny Goat Milk Formula. She has no other dairy in her solids either. She does still get tiny patches but a small dab of hc once gets rid of them, and I can honestly say that her eczema is 95% better than it was on dairy. Every child is different, and if your ds's eczema isn't too much of a problem and your not too keen on dairy-free then don't worry about it - I was at the stage where I was ready to try anything. If you do decide to go dairy-free, give it at least a month (it can take that long before there's any real difference) - whatever you do, good luck.x

Hi,
My dd started getting eczema at 6 months, Gp didnt say anything about dairy products, he gave her some aqueous cream, you can use it as a cream or a soap so i cut out using baby soaps and her skin cleared up in a mater of days. I suffer from eczema myself and tried cutting out dairy and it didnt make any difference. You cann get aqueous cream over the counter.

I stopped eating dairy when dd was about 6 months old because of excema. I don't think it made any difference at all but it made me feel a bit better because I was doing something. We stayed off dairy until the other week (she's 14 months now) and since reintroducing dairy I can honestly say she's no better nor is she any worse

Cut bananas out OF his diet for two weeks and see what happens. My DS's skin was so bad when he was a baby but I read on the net somewhere about banana allergy, stopped him eating them, skin perfect ever since. Worth a try. Best of luck.

Also strawberries, peppers and tomatoes

Having not eaten any egg for a year and a half because it gives my ds chronic excema, I would have to say I wouldn't give up a whole food group (I did give up dairy for 6 months) for "a few patches". It's hard reading every label, every time and thinking about alternative sources of nutrients. The protein hangs around for up to 2 weeks, so if you make a mistake and have some dairy by accident you go back to the drawing board.

Also it might not be dairy, it could be egg, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes - it could be anything. By the time you have performed an adequate exclusion diet your ds could have grown out of his eczema.

I wouldn't exclude any food group unless you have had skin prick testing. Seeing that big lump on my ds's back was the ultimate motivation to go on a strict diet.

BEansprout, get Aveeno Cream for the baby and avoid any kind of soap in the bath including baby products (which to my knowledge and experience are the worst offenders)it may help to sort the problem more easily, after all it's only a few patches so no need (at least not yet) of taking extreme measures.

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