Eczema - did your child ever grow out of it?

[Feierabend]

DD2 (5 months) has had eczema for the past 3 weeks. We're trying to get on top of it with steroid creams and emollients but every time one patch heals, it just flares up somewhere else. Do I need to prepare for the long haul? If your child had eczema, did he/she ever grow out of it and if so, when? And did they develop any related problems such as food allergies? Would love to hear everyone's experience. Thanks so much.

My DS had eczema, it cleared up when I started giving him goats milk instead of cows milk. He has no other allergies.

DD2 is currently fully breast fed so I am not sure it can be allergy related anyway at this point?

dd2 is nearly 11 and she still has bad eczema.

However, I believe the majority do outgrow it by school age.

DD had it from 6 weeks old , now all clear apart from odd flare up at back of her knees.
Found Aveeno emollient cream and bath oil most effective. She too was breast fed and I worried about allergies but she is fine - there is a family history of atopy on DH's side. Good luck - it is horrible for you and her.

Fruity, how old is your dd or when did it start to get better? I have Aveeno oatmeal bath - not the oil, it's a powder but was worried about bits of oatmeal getting stuck in her skin folds and making things worse. Will try to buy the oil.

Ds2 had exzema and was bf. It cleared up after I gave up dairy.

Squid, does he have dairy now?

DS is 2.5, had eczema from about 4 weeks. In the end I used natural therapies. It's gone now, he's been clear for about 3 months.

Could have developed alleriges to foods via your milk - you could try eliminating dairy from your diet for a couple of weeks, see if it makes a difference. Wheat is usually the other biggie, or gluten. When you wean, I would avoid anything gluten based for a good few months just to be on the safe side.

I do sympathise, it's bloody horrible isn't it ! I'm due DC2 last week, and petrified we're going to have a similar journey

Feierabend he can have goats milk but not cows. When he was weaned, he would vomit any cow's milk in yoghurt or cereal and get eczema if he had cow's milk in something else like baked goods. He just hates anything with milk in it though and I really struggle to give him enough.

DS(9) developed eczema when he was weaned - we controlled it by switching him to goat's milk and being v careful with washing powder as changing this would cause a flare-up. We used sudocrem and for bigger flare-ups, GP prescribed Eumovate cream which worked brilliantly, but we used it as seldom as possible.

For the past couple of years he's had no flare-ups and I'm slowly introducing more cow-dairy into his diet - so far so good, though am still v careful re: washing powder, but I think he's pretty much grown out of it.

He also has a peanut allergy and possible house dust mite allergy which he's not growing out of - but as my brothers/mum have asthma and DP has allergies/eczema poor DS was probably doomed to some sort of allergy from the start!

DD1's eczema disappeared when I gave up cows milk when she was 7 months old. More recently (she's now almost 2) it has come back slightly but only small patches - not all over like it used to be.

There seems to be a theme here - that it's often dairy related... right?

I had really bad eczema I still have it but no where near as bad

it reacts to lots of things but dairy isn't one of them its just a process of elimination really and once you know what you react too it does get easier

Definitely dairy-related for my DS, then other things (ie washing powder) seemed to cause trouble when he was sensitised.

It is sometimes dairy related.

Well I might try not to have any cow's milk myself for a couple of weeks and see if that makes a difference. Can't do any harm can it? So can I still eat goat's cheese? And, if it does make DD's eczema better, does that mean I'll have to wean her onto a dairy free diet?

There is usually far more than one thing which acts as the trigger and the triggers can change. That is why people tend to spend a lot of time eliminating one thing after the other, in case they find something that makes a big difference.

Sometimes they find it, often they don't. You decide if you want to go down that route for your child.

It can't do any harm, no

DS's cleared up as soon as he stopped (and I stopped) having dairy. IMO it is usually dairy related.

Incidentally, DD2 also had runny green nappies for 6 weeks after her first set of jabs. I am now wondering if it is somehow related. I am praying she is NOT dairy intolerant as I am a cheese and yoghurt lover and can't imagine what you'd give a toddler who can't have these things. But I'm happy to try cutting down on dairy myself for a short time to see if it makes a difference. I realise of course it could be something completely different that causes the eczema... sigh...

What do you base that opinion on, picante?

dogonpoints, you sound like the voice of reason that is my DH I know where you're coming from.

I know of at least two children (one who is under GOSH) who have severe eczema, and it is not dairy related. One of them is 8, and they are yet to find the trigger for his.

My ds's eczema cleared up by the time he was 7 ..no dairy allegy