baby food allergy eczema

This is an inflammatory skin disease caused by abnormal immune reactions triggered by food allergens in infants and young children. The peak incidence period is within 6 months of age. 90% of allergens are concentrated in eight common food categories: milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, nuts, fish and shrimp, soybeans, and mangoes. The core response principle is "precise allergen avoidance + scientific skin care + dynamic regulation of immunity." Blind all-category taboos may delay the growth and development of children. **

Last week, when my best friend came to the door with her 6-month-old little Nuomi, half of her face was covered in red, oozing rashes from scratches, and there were still a few bloody marks on her forehead from fresh scratches. In order to cure the eczema, she had already banned nearly 20 kinds of food from her baby, and she didn't even dare to put soy sauce in her own complementary food. As a result, the baby's rash didn't go away, and the babysitter lost half a catty when weighed, and she was so anxious that she shed tears.

In fact, I have encountered quite a few similar cases in the past two years. Parents are most likely to go to two extremes, which happen to be two of the more controversial ways of handling these cases. One group believes in "morning is better, sooner is better". As soon as a rash occurs, all possible allergenic foods will be stopped. I wish I could only feed my baby millet porridge as a staple food. ； The other group is "tolerance first" and believes that eczema is caused by the skin being too dry, so just apply more moisturizer and eat everything as usual. In fact, both of these statements have applicable scenarios, and it is impossible to say who is completely right and who is completely wrong - if the baby is in the acute attack stage and the baby is so itchy that he can't sleep all night long and the rash still oozes yellow water, then he must strictly avoid the identified allergens, otherwise eating a bite of eggs will make the rash not go away for three days. ； But if you have reached the remission period, the rash only appears sporadically, and you still stare at seven or eight foods and dare not let your baby touch them, it may delay the immune system's establishment of tolerance. The 2020 "Evidence-based Guidelines for Food Allergy in Chinese Infants and Young Children" also mentioned that timely introduction of common allergens to babies at high risk of allergies at the age of 4-6 months can actually reduce the probability of long-term allergies.

Oh, by the way, don’t just take the food IgG report that costs hundreds of dollars and treat it as a “taboo”. I met a parent who was very exaggerated before. The report showed that the baby was “intolerant” to rice and cabbage, so he cooked millet porridge for the baby every day. After drinking it for two months, the baby’s face turned as yellow as a small orange, and the rash did not heal. Now the academic community has long made it clear that the IgG index reflects the history of food exposure and is not a basis for allergy diagnosis at all. To really confirm whether it is food-induced eczema, the gold standard is the "food avoidance-provocation test": first stop the suspicious food for 2-4 weeks. If the rash is obviously gone, then add a small amount of this food once, and the rash recurs, then you are really allergic to it, otherwise it is just a guess. If you find it troublesome, keep a food diary every time you add new food. Add the same food and observe it for 3-5 days. Don’t add pumpkin today and add egg yolk tomorrow. If you get a rash, you won’t know who to blame.

Many people think that since it is caused by food allergy, they just need to avoid food and that’s it, which is not right. Last month, my neighbor's baby developed eczema due to a cow's milk protein allergy. My mother had already switched her to deeply hydrolyzed milk powder, but she still scratched her face every day. I went to her house and found that she applied body lotion to the baby only once every three days. The air conditioner was turned on at 28 degrees Celsius and the baby was still wearing thick cotton socks. It's weird that this was better. The basic care for eczema is always moisturizing. No matter whether it is caused by food or not, apply non-irritating moisturizing cream 2-3 times a day. During the outbreak period, use the weak hormone ointment prescribed by the doctor (such as desonide cream). There will be no side effects at all within one week of continuous use. It is much better than having a baby scratch his face and leave scars. My neighbor was afraid of hormones before, so he endured it for three months. In the end, two pigmentation marks were left on the baby's face, which took half a year to disappear. It was not worth it.

Many parents have also asked me about my thoughts on traditional Chinese medicine. There are also child care doctors around me who recommend adding a little steamed yam puree, poria powder and other spleen and stomach-strengthening ingredients to their babies during the remission period. Some parents also say that the frequency of eczema attacks has indeed decreased after giving their babies massage. Although there is currently no large-scale evidence-based basis for this part, as long as the ingredients added to the baby are not allergic and the operations are done by regular institutions, there is no harm in giving it a try. There is no need to adhere to the standards of Western medicine.

By the way, if you encounter a baby with eczema who also suffers from vomiting, diarrhea, or even out of breath, don’t hesitate to go to the hospital immediately. That is a severe allergic reaction, which cannot be solved by applying ointment at home.

In fact, raising a baby with allergies is really not that stressful. I have seen too many babies whose immune systems have fully developed after the age of 3. They could not touch eggs and milk before, but now they can eat cakes and drink yogurt without any problems. Don't be afraid to give your baby anything just because of a few rashes, and don't force your baby to suffer. Take your time. How can you raise a baby without running into pitfalls?