Have Any Other Breastfeeding Mothers Tried an Eczema Elimination Diet?

L., it will be difficult, but once you find what it is you will be so thankful. I could never pinpoint it when I was breastfeeding. We recently took our son who has eczema to the allergist to figure out what was going on...to our dismay he has a CORN allergy! If you get bored, google it. It is a common cause of eczema. This isn't just "corn" but high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, maltodextrin, dextrose, regular corn syrup, etc. Just a thought. Since the diagnosis and cutting out ALL corn his eczema has cleared up. If I accidentally give him something that has corn in it, his rash appears on his face within an hour! Good luck. I hope that you figure out what is causing this!

There can be so many triggers for eczema that I couldn't find my trigger even while I was NOT pregnant. I've had eczema for years. My doc has said that temperature, weather, stress and foods can all be triggers. My 9 month old also has eczema but my pediatrician suggested against adjusting my diet to figure out a trigger. While you are breastfeeding, your body needs everything that it can get to power you and your baby. If you take away from your diet, you may also take away nutrition that you need.

I would definitely consult your pediatrician and doctors for more information prior to eliminating foods from your diet.

A friend of mine suggested the cream sold on this website - www.timandjosh.com. I have seen the results on her baby daughters. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but will and post results.

For my son it was eggs... but we didn't know it was eggs until we did an actual blood test (which was more awful for me than him) and also found out he is deathly allergic to almonds and hazelnuts, but only mildly allergic to egg whites. SO, once we knew I eliminated whole eggs but not products with eggs and he has only minor flare ups now if he's had too many products with eggs (like waffles and tortellini in the same day). And of course we eliminated nuts, and now have to carry an epi pen. Blah. Good luck.

Ugh. I'm on an allergen elimination diet right now because of my 5-month-old's eczema.

The good news is that his eczema goes away when I have eliminated the known allergens. I have also lost a few extra pounds and now weigh less than I did before I was even pregnant.

The bad news is that it is nearly impossible for me to eat out. And I'm spending a fortune at Whole Foods.

I took the plunge and eliminated milk, soy, nuts, wheat, shellfish, and eggs. My son's eczema went away almost completely within two or three days. He also sleeps so much better when he doesn't have eczema problems. I added eggs back in after a week, and he had a horrible eczema flare-up. So eggs are out until I'm done nursing.

I'm also finding that he may have some other allergies that are less common. Right now, my son looks like a burn victim because of something I ate over the weekend -- possibly corn or tomatoes. It is a lot of trial and error, and I want to get these things pinned down before I start him on solids. It's a pain in the butt, but it will pay off when you have a happy baby with clear skin.

By the way, the best thing to do is to completely eliminate the possible allergens and not just cut back. You'll be able to more definitively determine what is bothering him this way. Make sure you keep a log of everything you eat and how his skin is looking.

Good luck to you. I definitely feel your pain.

Dairy and soy are the top two allergens that go through your milk to baby. When I eliminated dairy, I did a six-week elimination of all dairy, just to see if there was a change. It didn't fix the problem, but I lost 10 pounds!

I was advised to eliminate dairy while B/F b/c my DS was having some serious spits. The more I cut out, the better he did. After getting my head around the fact that I mustn't have dairy, it was ok for me. Now that I am not b/feeding, I am back to having dairy, but in more limited amounts. I realized that the belly ache I had after dinner with my inlaws wasn't due to the company, but to the ice cream dessert.