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http://malliejane.blogspot.kr/

Not my blog but thought it might be of interest. Good luck!

No advice, but I'm following along. My daughter has a pretty severe eczema patch on her ankle that we've been trying to remedy for the past few months by eliminating dietary stuff but nothing seems to work so far. (Full disclaimer: We tend to fall on the hippie side of medicine, so we're going to try cod liver oil and some herb tinctures before moving on to medicine and such.)

LO had this when he was 6 weeks old - turned out that he is MSPI.

Once I cut out dairy and soy everything cleared up!

DD had this since she was about 3 months old and I did a full elimination diet of dairy, soy, nuts, eggs, corn, etc. Or so I thought! During the elimination diet, DD would go through waves of it getting better then worsening. She had patches on both her cheeks, a bit on her lower back, and the worst ones around her ankles. We kept her in socks and mittens to prevent scratching and tried all the lotions / moisturizers / jellys out there for eczema. Cutting out dairy and eggs eliminated the eczema patch on her lower back and lessened the ones elsewhere. After months of ups and downs with DD's eczema flairs, I finally realized that while I cut corn out, I had been cooking / eating foods with corn starch. I still can't believe I never made that connection. Once I cut the hidden culprit out, all her eczema started healing and now at almost 13 months, it is gone! Aveeno Baby Eczema lotion for face and Cerave moisturizing cream for body was our best combo.

On the ped derm - when I saw mine she told me that while eliminating foods could help, more often than not Atopic Dermatitis will go away on its own after the first year. They both told me not to go nuts eliminating foods. I heard this from my ped and ped derm - but that wasn't good enough for me. I knew that eliminating certain foods, while wont completely heal, will at least lessen the severity of it. I say that corn starch was the hidden culprit but you know, it may also be a combination of that with her outgrowing it. Her digestive system maturing as the docs would say.

Whatever it is, the one thing that worked best for us through all of it was consistently keeping that baby lubed up like mad and only bath in lukewarm water with NO soaps of any kind (DD hasn't bathed with soap since 4 months - sounds gross but I promise you my baby is clean and smells clean!). Immediately after bath at bedtime and while she was still damp, I'd rub Aveeno on her face/neck and Cerave on the rest of her body to lock in as much moisture as possible. In the morning and also throughout the day, I'd repeat with the Aveeno and Cerave. The key is to never let the skin dry out, since that is when it gets very irritated and can open. When she gets particularly bad flairs, I'd dab the smallest possible bit of Cortisone 10 on it so it doesn't itch her as much.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask if I missed anything. I obsessed over DD's eczema since it started and it definitely was a lot of trial and error before I found what worked. It will get better!

@sloaneandpuffy: it gets easier I swear! I've been dairy/soy free for 6 months! Mrs. Jacks wrote somegreat posta about it and I am happy to answer any questions/give food recommendations if you want

Like @littleveesmommy what works the best for us is lukewarm tub every day, no soap, then seal in the moisture right out of the tub using aquaphor. a lot of people swear by vanicream too. we do the cortisone when he gets little spots here and there.

I have severe atopic dermatitis on my face and neck - it's basically been a 3+ year flare with only brief periods of improvement that seem to come out of nowhere, with no change in diet or treatment. LO is 8.5 weeks and has eczema on her chest and back, plus cradle cap. The pediatrician just had me start a dairy and soy elimination diet yesterday. I am torn between hoping diet is the answer (so I dont have to keep putting steroid cream on LO) and selfishly hoping it doesn't work because being dairy/soy free is such a PITA. I may or may not have cried several times anout this yesterday!

@SloaneandPuffy: Thanks for the encouragement! I could probably stand to eat less cheese anyway...