Foods That Trigger Eczema In Toddlers

Clothing For Children With Eczema

HappySkin® have a range of incredibly soft Tencel cotton clothing made specifically for children and babies with eczema and related skin conditions. The important difference with the HappySkin®clothing range compared to other organic cotton clothing is that the fabric is coated with a technology called DreamSkin®, The Dreamskin® technology, that is unique to this company has a skin like stricture that prompts the skin to self-repair and therefore encourages the skin to start to regulate temperature once again, just like healthy skin. In addition, to having this amazing coating, the HappySkin®clothing range has flat non-irritating seams to ensure maximum comfort.

To find out more about HappySkin®clothing for children, email their customer service team at or call 01707 260 505.

Article Submitted By Community Writer

Common Eczema Trigger Foods To Avoid

Children with eczema tend to have an over-reactive immune system. Their bodies respond by producing inflammation when triggered by a substance outside or inside the body. Substances that cause this response inside the body include certain foods. These foods can trigger your childs body to release T cells and immunoglobulin-E or IgE. These compounds cause inflammation, which contributes to an eczema flare-up.

To establish what foods may be causing your child to have an inflammatory reaction, a doctor will often recommend an elimination diet. An anti-eczema diet is similar to an anti-inflammatory diet and involves avoiding some of the most common foods known to contribute to eczema symptoms.

Once these foods have been eliminated from your childs diet, you will need to slowly add each food type back into their diet and monitor their eczema following each addition. This will help to determine if they are sensitive to a particular food.

Food Allergies And Eczema

Food allergies come as a result of irregular or abnormal immune system responses after eating certain foods.

The human body sees the food as a harmful substance and then initiates some reactions. You feel the responses as symptoms of eczema.

Some of these include symptoms such as hives, itching, swelling, tingling in the mouth, coughing, and vomiting.

In a severe case of food allergy, anaphylaxis can occur. This is a life-threatening reaction where the throat swells and blocks the airway. Pretty scary, right?

Interestingly, food allergies occur more frequently among people with eczema. And investigation reveals that eczema patients often have food allergies.

Now, it is necessary to know that your body is different from someone else’s. This means that the cause of one persons eczema flare-up can be different from yours.

Discovering your food intolerance minimizes your issues with eczema. A good number of the common foods that cause eczema flare-up contain a substance called gluten.

Gluten is a proteinous substance found in foods like barley and wheat. Though its unclear exactly how gluten affects the skin, there is evidence that they are related.

A research study by American scientists shows the link between gluten and eczema.

It shows that gluten has the same effect on eczema flare-ups, as does eggs, nuts, and dairy products.

Below are common foods that cause eczema flare-ups:

Also Check: What Can I Use For Eczema On My Baby

What Are The Symptoms Of Eczema

Eczema is a chronic condition which causes red, itchy areas on the skin. Sometimes the itching is very severe. When skin is scratched it can break open, ooze and then crust over. Symptoms of eczema can come and go. Babies with eczema often have it on their cheeks, forehead and scalp. Older children often have it on their hands, wrists, ankles, feet, and on the inside folds of their elbows and knees.

What Are The Differences Between The Skin Symptoms Of Food Allergy And Eczema

Skin rashes are common symptoms and appear similarly to the naked eye in both food allergies and eczema conditions. When looking deeper on a molecular level, however, children with eczema and food allergies are more prone to losing water, have increased Staphylococcus aureus bacterial growth, and have an immature skin barrier. This is in contrast with children who have eczema only .

You May Like: Pediatric Dermatologist Specializing In Eczema

Food Allergy And Eczema Flare

• Food allergies are a factor in 30% of young children with severe eczema. This factor is mainly seen in babies.
• The main allergic foods are cow’s milk and eggs.
• The main symptoms are increased skin redness and itching. Some parents report these symptoms start during or soon after the feeding.
• The eczema becomes easier to control if you avoid the allergic food.

How Can You Help A Toddler With Their Eczema

Helping your toddler deal with the itch can go a long way in helping them manage their eczema. When you notice your toddler scratching, distract them with another activity, particularly one that keeps their hands busy, like coloring.

You can also try wet wrapping the affected skin to help alleviate the itch and keep little hands from getting at the rash.

Wet wrapping involves wrapping the skin with a cloth or bandage dressing thats first moistened with warm water. When the wrap is in place, apply a dry cloth or dressing over the wet one.

Clothing can act as another barrier between your child and their eczema. If your child has eczema around their elbows, dress them in long sleeves when possible. If its on their legs, try long pants.

You May Like: What To Do When You Have Eczema On Your Face

Peanuts And Other Nuts

Peanuts are probably one of the most commonly referenced foods when it comes to a discussion about allergens. A peanut allergy can be serious and even life-threatening.

When someone develops a peanut allergy, the allergy tends to be with them for life. Precautions include diligently reading labels, carefully avoiding certain foods, and steering clear of restaurants. You might even have heard announcements on public transport asking passengers to avoid consuming nuts because somebody with a serious allergy is on board.

According to Graham Roberts, MD, a pediatric allergist at King’s College London, more than twenty percent of very young eczema patients below the age of 12 months, already present an allergy to peanuts.

The study involved 640 infants aged 4-11 months with eczema and the results presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology revealed:

• 23% of infants were sensitive to peanuts
• 22% were sensitive to sesame seeds
• 16% were sensitive to brazil nuts
• 20% were sensitive to hazelnuts
• 21% were sensitive to cashews
• 14% were sensitive to almonds

Elimination Diets For Eczema

There are large gaps in research when it comes to the use of standard elimination diets for eczema.

An analysis of 43 research papers found mixed results regarding elimination diets specifically focused on eggs and cows milk for eczema . Most of these studies only involved children, so the relevance for adults with eczema is not entirely clear. No high-quality studies looking at more general elimination diets or more restrictive versions were available.

If we get more specific, some studies have shown that eliminating gluten or high histamine foods can improve eczema symptoms in certain groups of people .

Future research may help elucidate the role that diet plays in eczema more generally and the efficacy of standard elimination diets.

But, as with most chronic conditions, there is no specific eczema diet that will work for everyone. An elimination diet is inherently experimental and is meant to be tailored to each individuals needs and reactions.

With that in mind, here are a few guidelines for following an elimination diet for eczema:

Read Also: Best Daily Lotion For Eczema

How I Cured My Eczema Naturally

Common Triggers For An Eczema Flare

Atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema, is a common childhood problem. It is characterized by irritated, reddened, dry, itchy skin. Eczema can be mild, where there are only a few patches of dry, rough skin. Or it can be severe, where there are many zones of redness and irritation throughout the torso, arms and legs, and the child can be seen scratching the skin throughout the day. Children with eczema often have other family members with the same condition, or with other tendencies toward allergy–such as hay fever or asthma.

The underlying problem of eczema is skin irritation. It can arise where there is friction with fabrics, watch bands, rings, clothes tags. Certain detergents or soaps can cause flares. Other people can develop eczema as a result of airborne irritants, such as cat hair or molds, even renovation dust. You’ll also hear of people having eczema while they live in one city, and it will become quiescent in another–even though their diet or exposure to cats and dogs remains the same. It can be very difficult to sort out what the exact instigator might be–given the multitude of particles present in smog or household dust.

Moisturizing the skin is the mainstay of therapy. Emollients add a microscopic layer that protects the skin against irritants and allergens.

Distinctive features of eczema according to the age of the child

Infancy

Preschool age

School Age

Ways to treat Eczema

Flare-Up Therapy

You May Like: Oatmeal Bath For Toddler Eczema

What Should I Look For When Selecting Skin Care Products

Choose soaps and moisturizers made for sensitive skin. Although there is no single group of products that are right for every child, generally, products with fewer ingredients are best. Expensive products are not always better. If you need help finding products for your child, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

How To Find A Food Trigger

Some are obvious. If your child eats lobster for the first time and breaks out in hives 15 minutes later, itâs probably not hard to figure out.

But with eczema, it’s often tougher. Symptoms may not show up for days after you eat something. If you do find a trigger food and get rid of it, that may help. Still, it may not make the eczema go away. Remember, 2 out of 3 kids with eczema don’t have a food allergy at all.

That’s why working with a doctor is so important. They can guide you toward the real cause through tests like:

Elimination diets. If your doctor thinks a food may be harmful, they may ask you not to give it to your kid for 10 to 14 days. Watch to see if it makes a difference.

Food challenges. After you’ve taken a food out of your child’s diet, your pediatrician might want you to add a small amount back in to see if it causes symptoms. They may want to do this in the office, just in case your child has a reaction.

Skin testing. A doctor can take an extract of the food and use it to scratch the skin lightly. If the area swells up, that could be an allergic reaction. However, it’s not always accurate.

Blood tests. RAST — a radioallergosorbent test — can check for special cells in the blood that signal specific food allergies. Again, it’s not always accurate. Other lab tests can check for cells that trigger swelling.

Tracking down a food trigger can take patience and detective work.

Show Sources

Read Also: How To Get Rid Of Eczema On Your Lips

Wheat And Other Gluten

Although eczema is a skin condition it requires a holistic approach to heal long term. This holistic approach centres around gut healing and immune balancing and gluten is damaging to both of these areas of our childrens health. Gluten is a protein found in grains including wheat, barley, rye, spelt and triticale but lets focus our attention on wheat for a moment.

Modern day wheat is nothing like the ancient nutritious grain it once was. With advancements in farming and processing technology came genetic modification, pesticides refining and bleaching all of which stripped the nutritional content and increased the toxic load of this very popular food. Studies have shown that many children with atopic dermatitis also have a wheat allergy. If you want to know more about wheat check out this documentary by the brilliant Cyndi OMeara.

Now lets look at the broader picture of Gluten. There is a growing evidence that skin conditions such as eczema are strongly related to gastro intestinal conditions such as gluten sensitivity. Atopic dermatitis is 3 times more prevalent in people with coeliac disease. and a gluten-free diet has been shown to improve a range of dermatological conditions such as eczema.

There is no doubt that removing wheat and/or gluten reduces the load on your childs system and improve their eczema symptoms.

Itchy Dozen Worst Foods For Eczema

Nutritionist Karen Fischer’s daughter had severe eczema and avoiding ‘the itchy dozen’ changed their lives. Now her daughter is eczema-free and Karen recently spoke about The Itchy Dozen Worst Foods for Eczema on prime time news .

This article includes the following:

• The itchy dozen worst foods for eczema
• Natural ways to treat eczema
• Further resources for people with eczema.

This article was written by Karen Fischer, and it is an edited extract from Karen’s eczema books:

Recommended Reading: Can You Use Witch Hazel On Eczema

Signs And Symptoms Of Toddler Eczema

Dermatologists have a saying: If its not itchy, its not eczema. These are some of the other hallmarks of eczema in toddlers:

• Dry, scaly, rough patches of skin that may appear red and inflamed
• Rash, which may have small, raised bumps that bleed or ooze when scratched
• Skin that becomes thick, dark, and leathery when excessively scratched

Eczema can occur on any part of the body, but in toddlers, its most likely to appear:

• In the creases of the knees and elbows
• On the wrists, hands, and ankles
• Around the mouth and eyelids

Eczema And Food Allergies

Although the role of food allergies and eczema is controversial, there is no good reason why a lactose-free formula would help a child’s eczema. If a child did have an allergy to a baby formula, it would likely be to either the milk proteins or soy proteins and not to lactose, which is a sugar.

The lactose-free formula may have improved other symptoms, such as gas, fussiness, or diarrhea, but it is unlikely that it would have made his eczema better, so that may have been a coincidence.

If you really think that your baby’s formula, including a milk-based and soy formula, is making his eczema worse, then you might talk to your pediatrician about trying a hypoallergenic formula, such as Nutramigen or Alimentum.

Allergy testing, using an allergy skin test blood test like the Immunocap, could be another option.

It is thought that “In some sensitized patients, particularly infants and young children, food allergens can induce urticarial lesions, itching, and eczematous flares, all of which may aggravate AD .”

Recommended Reading: Pictures Of Nummular Eczema On Legs

How To Prevent Eczema From The Inside Out

Here are two ways to treat your eczema naturally:

12-week low chemical diet

The Eczema Detox is a healthy low chemical diet that is low in sugar and totally free of glutamates/MSG, preservatives/additives and dairy. It also has plenty of gluten-free and vegan options.

The Eczema Detox, which was published in 2018 and is the new version of The Eczema Diet, also shows you how to successfully diagnose food intolerances and chemical intolerances , so you know what to avoid and what to eat to become eczema free.

Skin friendly supplements

There are a range of nutrients to help prevent chemical sensitivity and repair eczema-prone skin, including magnesium, molybdenum, zinc, biotin, vitamin B6 and a range of vitamins to deactivate salicylates and other itch-promoting chemicals. Molybdenum deactivates sulphite preservatives and amines anti-histamine vitamin C and vitamin B6 to help reduce allergic reactions .

But it’s also what you avoid that can make a difference… Supplements usually contain hidden additives that can cause adverse reactions if you are a sensitive type of person that is prone to eczema.

Skin Friend AM is the supplement I created to prevent my daughter’s eczema more than fifteen years ago. It took years of testing before I felt confident that it could help others, and I worked with hundreds of eczema patients who tried the product and provided feedback for years before this product was manufactured in bulk and sold online.

What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Eczema

The signs of eczema :

• are mainly dry, itchy skin. Because it is so itchy, it is often called “the itch that rashes.”
• include redness, scales, and bumps that can leak fluid and then crust over
• tend to come and go. When they get worse, it is called a flare-up.
• may be more noticeable at night

Symptoms can vary:

• Infants younger than 1 year old usually have the eczema rash on their cheeks, forehead, or scalp. It may spread to the knees, elbows, and trunk .

• Older kids and teens usually get the rash in the bends of the elbows, behind the knees, on the neck, or on the inner wrists and ankles. Their skin is often scalier and drier than when the eczema first began. It also can be thicker, darker, or scarred from all the scratching .

You May Like: Eczema On Chin And Around Mouth

How Can Parents Help

Help prevent or treat eczema by keeping your child’s skin from getting dry or itchy and avoiding triggers that cause flare-ups. Try these suggestions:

• Kids should take short baths or showers in warm water. Use mild unscented soaps or non-soap cleansers and pat the skin dry before putting on cream or ointment. Teens should use unscented makeup and oil-free facial moisturizers.
• Ask your doctor if it’s OK to use oatmeal soaking products in the bath to help control itching.
• Kids should wear soft clothes that “breathe,” such as those made from cotton. Wool or polyester may be too harsh or irritating.
• Keep your child’s fingernails short to prevent skin damage from scratching. Try having your child wear comfortable, light gloves to bed if scratching at night is a problem.
• Kids should avoid becoming overheated, which can lead to flare-ups.
• Kids should drink plenty of water, which adds moisture to the skin.
• Get rid of known allergens in your household and help your child avoid others, like pollen, mold, and tobacco smoke.
• Stress can make eczema worse. Help your child find ways to deal with stress .