What’s the Connection Between Food and Eczema Flares in Kids?

Written by R. Morgan Griffin

• Which Foods May Trigger Eczema?
• How to Find a Food Trigger

Could diet be to blame for your child’s eczema?

It’s possible.

Up to 1 in 3 kids with eczema has a food allergy that could make symptoms worse. If you remove some choices, it could make a big difference.

But since finding food triggers is tricky — and eczema can have lots of other causes — don’t jump to conclusions. Work closely with an allergist.

When you have a food allergy, your body reacts to a harmless treat as if it’s a dangerous germ and attacks. Symptoms — like swelling — are side effects of your body’s defenses.

Eczema doesn’t seem to be an allergic condition, but reactions from food can make it worse in some kids. It’s more likely in babies and young children.

Some foods are more likely to bring symptoms. The common offenders are:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Wheat
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Soy

While trigger foods can make eczema worse, experts don’t think they’re really the original cause. Instead, it seems to result from “leakiness” in the outer layer of skin that lets in irritants, germs, and allergens.

Some are obvious. If your child eats lobster for the first time and breaks out in hives 15 minutes later, it’s 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.

Be methodical. Only eliminate one food at a time. If you ban dairy and gluten at the same time and symptoms get better, you won’t know which one made the difference. Use a food diary to keep track of what you get rid of, and the changes that brings.

Move slowly. A positive skin test isn’t reason enough to cut out a food. Lots of kids test positive for foods that don’t really cause symptoms. Plus, if you get rid of too many foods, you could cut out nutrients your child needs to grow and develop. So for their sake and yours, be sure before you take a food from your child’s diet permanently. Work with your doctor.

Keep using other treatments. Even if you find a trigger food, getting rid of it may not make the rash disappear. Stick with the other things your doctor recommends — like skin ointments, lotions, and medicines. Continue to steer clear other allergens like dust mites, pollen, or pet dander, too.

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What to do if the child itches all the time

1. Atopic dermatitis

Occurs when the barrier function of the skin is impaired. The reason is the peculiarities of the gene encoding filaggrin (a protein responsible for the regulation of cell development). It protects against dehydration and controls the reactions of the immune system in the skin. Symptoms (itching and dry skin) appear before the year. Rashes occur in overdried or combed places.

Factors that increase dermatitis: increased sweating, decreased air humidity, exposure to irritants (soaps, cosmetics, wool, detergents, acrylic, food and household allergens, various skin infections).

They are treated with proper care using emollients. If the inflammation is severe, anti-inflammatory hormonal or antihistamines are used.

2. Urticaria

It consists in the appearance of itchy flat-raised red blisters that turn pale when squeezed. Acne resembles a nettle burn. It occurs due to the expansion and increase in the permeability of blood vessels.

The reasons why a child’s body itches may be an allergy to medicines, food (strawberries, citrus fruits, bananas, pineapples, spices, tomatoes, chocolate), insect bites. Or a reaction to food additives – a number of dyes, sodium benzoate, sulfites. Some types can occur with viral infections. This is urticaria associated with cold, which occurs during physical exertion, squeezing the skin.

Usually itching goes away on its own. Acute attacks are stopped by antihistamines.

3. Allergic contact dermatitis

The cause of skin itching in a child with contact dermatitis is the effect of medicines, plants, metals, and cosmetics.

Allergic dermatitis in children is treated by excluding contact with an allergen, using an anti-inflammatory hormonal agent. In addition, the child should be tested for allergies in order to exclude the recurrence of allergic episodes.

4. Prickly heat

Appears with strong sweating (if the child is excessively wrapped up). The channels of the sweat glands become clogged, leading to the appearance of a small rash with blisters and severe scabies. Passes by itself, you can relieve the symptoms of the bath.

5. Infectious diseases

It happens that there is no contact with substances. But why does the child itch? Itchy skin is a frequent companion of viral (chicken pox, erytherma, hand-foot-mouth disease), bacterial (pyolerma, scarlet fever) and fungal infections.

Viral diseases go away on their own, if the causative agent is bacteria or fungi, a course of treatment with appropriate drugs is prescribed. For relief, use antihistamines, cooling lotions with calamine.

6. Infestation

The baby’s skin may itch due to small mites. Severe itching increases at night, rashes appear between the fingers, in the abdomen, armpits, wrists, genitals. Pediculosis causes itchy scalp. Itching in the anus is a sign of infection with pinworms.

Eliminated by antiparasitic drugs – tablets, herbal infusions.

7. Insect bites

Itching can be a reaction to bites (midges, mosquitoes, fleas, bugs) or stings (wasps, hornets, bees, bumblebees, gadflies) of insects. After single bites, itching disappears after a few minutes or within three hours. If there are a lot of bites or they caused a strong reaction, the use of antihistamines will be required. How to treat itchy skin? To reduce itching and pain, you need to apply a hormonal anti-inflammatory cream. The sting should be removed as soon as possible.

8. Water allergy

What to do if the child itches without a rash? Scabies appears within half an hour after contact with water and lasts up to 2 hours. However, there are no rashes. Such symptoms are the reason for the obligatory visit to the doctor and the consultation of the pediatrician.

9. Organ diseases

Itching and rashes can be a symptom of damage to the kidneys, liver, hematopoietic and endocrine organs. Such a small rash in a child itches constantly and conventional remedies do not help.

10. Psychogenic disorders

Nervous itching in a child may appear due to depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental illnesses. Neurological disorders in children and their consequences may also appear after reading an article about itching, talking about diseases, parasites, or the presence of a sick person.

Is it possible to bathe a child with a rash

Hygiene rules for children say – if you have an allergy or not, you need to wash anyway. True, subject to a number of conditions. The water temperature should be around 37 degrees, you can not use washcloths, brushes. Apply soothing creams. Many parents ask how to soften the water for bathing a child. Water should be filtered or boiled. Chlorinated water must not be used. You can add a weak solution of sea salt or ready-made extracts for bathing babies.

Let’s talk about herbs

Soothing baths for children are helpful in relieving allergy symptoms. Use an infusion of herbs for baths – chamomile and string. You can use coniferous bath extract for children, tincture of calendula, motherwort, lemon balm and mint. Nettle and lavender will soften the skin well, and thought bark will dry out rashes, relieve itching and irritation. Infusions are prepared from dry raw materials, pouring boiling water over a handful of the collection and standing for several hours. Then they filter it, pour it into a bath and bathe the baby. In the case of making such infusions for bathing on your own, you need to very carefully check the quality of plant materials and very strictly monitor the preparation of the product. If this is not possible and there are doubts about the quality of herbal ingredients, it is better not to risk it and use ready-made bathing extracts suitable for this situation.

In case of allergies on the face, one should wash oneself with infusions or blot the face with cotton pads soaked in herbs, avoiding contact with the eyes. Herbs like tansy and broom will not work as they are used for adults.

How many times a week to bathe a child

Too frequent baths can harm and cause allergy symptoms. The optimal series of water procedures is two to three times a week. Bathing should be done when the umbilical cord has healed. Again, plant extracts can be added to the water, which soften the baby’s skin and provide optimal care for it. The water must not be hot. After bathing, be sure to rinse with clean water.

Watch out for “genital itching” in girls

One of the most common complaints doctors hear from parents of little girls is itching in the vulva.

Complaints are formulated something like this: “The girl constantly fidgets in her chair”, “hands are always in the groin area”, “does not sleep well at night”. There can be quite a few reasons for itching, but all of them necessarily require attention from the parents, and often the intervention of a specialist.

The main causes of itching in the genital area in girls:

1. Allergic vulvitis. Redness and itching appear as a reaction to an allergen, such as washing powder or food. Moreover, other areas of the skin may not show signs of allergy. Sometimes there is an odorless mucous discharge. These symptoms will disappear as soon as the allergen causing them is removed.

2. Irritative vulvitis. This disease occurs when there is a lack of hygiene. On the vulva, girls have sebaceous glands that produce a secret for protection. But, when the secret accumulates, discomfort and itching appear. The treatment is very simple, you need to establish daily hygiene of the external genital organs with plain warm water.

3. Candidal vulvitis. This is a serious fungal infection, which, unfortunately, is now also found in preschool girls. May appear after prolonged use of antibiotics. To treat this disease, you need to consult a pediatric gynecologist, take tests and get the right prescription, self-medication is wrong and dangerous.

4. Worm infestation. The appearance of parasites in the body, such as worms or pinworms. Parasites can appear if there are animals (dogs, cats) in the house, the child plays in the sandbox in the yard in the summer, where dogs and cats can go, in the village or in the country the child eats unwashed berries and fruits. Treatment is carried out by a pediatrician.

5. Lichen sclerosus or vulvar leukoplakia. Serious chronic disease that can be diagnosed at an early age. Manifested in the initial stage by itching in the vulva, especially in the evenings, the appearance of whitish spots on the vulva and perianal region, thickening of the skin and mucous membranes.