Finding possible food triggers
Did your baby’s eczema start with weaning? If so then an eczema trigger might well be something in your baby’s diet. However if you stopped breastfeeding around the same time it may also be that your baby became more susceptible to eczema breakouts without the protection of mother’s milk.
Even if your baby’s eczema seems unrelated to weaning, it’s still worth trying to rule out dietary causes, as food still be a trigger for eczema even before weaning.
Like everything with eczema, it’s not as cut and dry as one may hope. Even in children where something in the diet is a trigger, unfortunately it’s rarely the ‘only’ trigger. In children who do have a dietary trigger for eczema, its only in about 10% of those cases it’s the only cause of eczema, so more often than not you still have to maintain good skin care while looking carefully at other causes such as there clothing and how you launder it.
Milk as an eczema trigger
Baby’s intestines are very ‘leaky’ for want of a better word. They are like this to allow antibodies from breast milk to pass easily into the baby’s body to give them protection from illnesses. It also means foreign proteins from other foods, especially cow’s milk, can pass out through the intestines too making young babies vulnerable to dietary reactions. As the gut matures it becomes less leaky which is why many babies and young children out grow their dairy sensitivities.
Baby Eczema faceIf your baby is formula fed your doctor or health visitor may be able to advise whether they think it’s worth you trying a dairy free formula. If you are breastfeeding there is a small possibility that something in your diet can still pass into your breast milk and cause a reaction. Cow’s milk in particular is often problematic for a lot of young children. The Kellymom website is a fantastic source of information about breastfeeding and has sections on sensitivities and weaning.
Remember that care needs to be taken when altering the diets of babies or breastfeeding mums, and your Health Visitor should be able to advise. We have a trained and experienced breastfeeding adviser on our forum who can help with any queries you have. Exclusion diets must be done carefully, and it can take a long time to see the benefits. Cow’s milk protein for example can take 3 weeks to clear a breastfeeding mum’s system, with a further two weeks before it’s gone from the baby, although improvements can often be seen after a week.
Contact reactions
It’s worth mentioning that some foods can cause a contact type of skin reaction. This sort of a reaction, which leaves a redness on the face where the food has been in contact with the skin, mainly occurs with acidic foods such as tomatoes and strawberries. This can often be prevented by applying a barrier cream before eating, see our skin treatments section for more information.
Note: skin reaction can vary from redness or few dots around the mouth to hives or nettle rash, swelling and frantic itching. Always report any dramatic and severe reactions to your Dr or NHS Direct.