Eczema and Milk Allergy

I would say yes, wait to introduce all milk products. My son is exclusively breastfed and had a bad reaction to milk in my diet too so I had to stop eating cheese, yogurt and drinking milk. I also switched to drinking soy milk. My doctor said that we should wait to give any milk products until he is a year old and just do it slowly to see if he has a reaction. Some babies grow out of it after a year and others stay allergic.

I would definitely eliminate milk and dairy fro your diet - although don't expect that it will keep her completely from having outbreaks. You also have to consider lotions and soaps that may be harsh to her skin.

I have a good friend who started introducing a high quality Aloe juice to his son's diet at about 6 months. I think most doctors recommend later than that but his son's excema is COMPLETELY controlled by drinking a small amount of aloe juice everyday. The kind he uses is Ultimate Aloe from Market America. It can be drunk straight from the bottle or diluted in juice. I have tried them and they actually taste pretty good. Here is the link for the juice

http://www.marketamerica.com/pgp/index.cfm?action=shoppin...

Milk products typically aren't introduced until after baby turns 1. Baby yogurt is an exception since it is suppossed to be less difficult to digest and less of an allergen. So when you start solids, stick to the AAP's recommendations.

Eczema is a funny thing. It comes and it goes sometimes without treatment, sometimes with seemingly endless treatment. Doctors do not really know what causes it.

So before you decide she is allergic to milk pay attention to other things; laundry detergent, clothing fibers, house temperature, water temp in baths, bath products, sweat, etc. There are many many eczema triggers. I still haven't figured out what triggers my 2 son's eczema, and I probably never will.

Treat the eczema as recommended by your pediatrician, and if I were you I'd continue enjoying milk & soy.

A.

Yes. Avoid all milk and dairy products (including the hidden stuff--casein, lactose etc) in both your and her diet. When your daughter is at baseline (no eczema and healthy), you can try adding a pure dairy form (milk, yoghurt, or cheese) into your diet (or hers) to see if she reacts to it. Chances are she will react to milk, but some people can tolerate cultured dairy, but ALWAYS test. Eczema takes several days to a week to show up, so don't add anything except that one form of dairy for about a week. Also watch for things like excessive wetting, fussy behavior, night waking, eye circles etc. (Check out Doris Rapp's "Is this your child?" for lots of subtle allergy signs.)

If your daughter does not react then test another form of dairy until you know what she is able to tolerate and what she can't.

Many people who react to dairy can/do develop a sensitivity to soy, so I would consume it with caution (Well I wouldn't--DD's allergic to it :P) Think about increasing your consumption of nuts & seeds to get the calories an nutrition you have been from milk and soy. Hemp milk, sesame milk, cashew cream, coconut milk, almond milk are all great for cooking and adding to coffee/tea, and on cereal. With the exception of coconut milk they are easy to make if you have a blender and a tea towel. Also, you didn't mention fish--if that is a possibility, it's another great source for fats and vitamins.

Need more suggestions on food alternatives feel free to ask :D
R.