baby eczema and breastfeeding diet

[kitpuss]

My 4 month old has developed eczema and I am keen to do anything to help it. I'm using E45 and aqueous cream from the doctor but his skin is still quite sore.
Does anyone know if I should be looking at my diet - he is exclusively breastfed and I am wondering whether I should stop eating dairy and eggs etc, but I'm not sure if it might help or if I'm just being a bit over the top!

I tried to change my diet when my DS developed eczema at about 3 months old, but it didn't seem to do anything. What we found seemed to help was bathing him in plain water just once a week (but washing his hands, face and bottom every day, again with just water). Or maybe he was growing out of the eczema at that point anyway. It is hard to be sure. Hope you find something that works for you.

The main thing to avoid is dairy. Having said that ds was bfed and I avoided dairy but his eczema stayed terrible. It started clearing up when I stopped bfing and started giving him formula . I got something called Diprobase and that worked fairly well. We also bathed him in Oilatum (sp?). You might already know this but you need to be really careful with washing powder. You can get some which are ok for eczema.

Sorry, meant to say Diprobase was from the GP. Ds ended up with steroid cream as his eczema was really bad.

Try cutting out dairy for a month and see what happens. You can replace it with soya (don't buy that awful 'So Good' stuff, it tastes like condensed milk. Sainsbury's own brand or Alpro Soya have a much milder flavour and are easier to get used to.

Also, what do you use to bathe him? Plain water is sufficient and won't dry his skin. You can then use grapeseed or olive oil to moisturise him afterwards, as the baby products on the shelves are all laden with chemicals (as are E45 and aqueous cream). I say all this as a lifelong eczema sufferer who did the above for my DS when he had a rash in his first month.

Last thing - is he very snuffly? If he has a lot of raspy mucous it might indicate a mild milk allergy - nothing to worry about, but when you're weaning him you should bear it in mind if he appears to react to milk. See more info here. It may not be relevant for your DS, but if it is, it could help you out - my GP had never heard of milk allergy and I had to cajole her to have my DS tested. It turned out that he did have this.

Hope this helps!

Sorry, meant to add that although E45, etc are good products in many ways, I'm wary of using heavily chemical-laden stuff on very young babies as their skin is so sensitive. Also it's worth noting that Aqueous Cream and Emulsifying Ointment are made from petroleum (just read the label), which can apparently dry the skin (how bloody ironic - good old altruistic pharmaceutical companies, making us dependent on their products forever).

having read many threads on here about eczema it seems that a lot of people with eczema react to the very things that the doctor first prescribes( aqueous cream, e45 etc)Obviously each person is different but this mioght be something to bear in mind. The cream which everyone raves about on here and the one which has worked wonders for us is aveeno. Its oatmeal based and very soothing. I was using oilatum on DS2 (7 months) but with not much improvement, tried petroleum jelly etc and also got prescribed some steroids which did help but obv don't wont to use long term. Started using just aveeno and within a week so a difference. His excema is now more or less under control( flares a little if he itches alot) but we still use aveeno at least twice a dat if not more. Aveeno can be prescribed.
hope this helps.