Our Eczema Journey
Disclosure: This post is not sponsored, but rather one I wanted to share based off of the hundreds of requests I have received asking for it over the past year. Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links. These links do not cost you anything to use, but help continue the mission to share such information as this article on my site. Some of the products mentioned were also provided as gifted products to try. All opinions are my own.
Many of you have followed along and asked questions over the past year as we have worked our way through my now two year old’s eczema. And although my eczema part I, eczema part II, and elimination diet highlights remain those most viewed on my Instagram, I wanted to put everything in one place for all of you who have asked for a blog post on our journey.
First of all, this is not a post explaining what eczema is, what causes eczema, or how to treat it. It is rather a post documenting our journey and experience with my son’s eczema, as otherwise shared over the past 12-18 months on my Instagram page.
For more information on eczema itself, please visit:
As always, this post is not intended to replace individualized medical care or attention. Please seek out professional medical advice for any health-related issues, including eczema. I share this post for informational-purposes only as a mom who has tried to come alongside my child with eczema and intervene in as natural of ways as possible using alternative medicine, like diet. I know this may not fit for every family nor align with every medical professional’s approach, so I try to share different lessons learned and credible resources found along the way in hopes that it may help you and your family navigate this uniquely challenging journey.
Our Eczema Journey
It has been just over a year now since I first shared about my son’s eczema. Honestly, it feels like it has been MUCH longer than a year. But seeing how bad it was last summer (without any answers or effective interventions) versus now (having solutions in place) makes me realize how far we really have come.
So if you or someone you know struggles with eczema, I hope that this post might provide you with some insight, ideas, or information to take to your family’s healthcare provider to look into further. Here is his experience with eczema in infancy and into toddlerhood.
Our timeline
February 2018
We started solids! My son was six months old when we began using a Baby-Led Weaning approach. He had no known food allergies nor issues with intolerance to anything ingested through my breastmilk. He had never had any signs of eczema, despite it being common before six months in infants. See a 6 month old’s day in food summary post here.
March 2018
My son was unremarkable for any food intolerances or issues with eczema. See a 7 month old’s day in food summary post here.
April 2018
At eight months of age, my son was diagnosed with perianal strep (basically a very bad diaper rash). Outside of the antibiotics I was given when he was born (as labor stalled and he wasn’t born until over 48 hours after my water broke), he had never taken an antibiotic up until this point. We had tried natural remedies to heal his present rash, but it got beyond something we could manage without an antibiotic and was causing him great discomfort,. He had been taking Klaire Labs Ther-Biotic Infant Probiotics and continued to take this during his antibiotic treatment. There were still no known food allergies nor issues related to eczema at this point. See 8 month old’s day in food summary post here.
Wondering the root causes of eczema (like changes to the gut microbiome and subsequent inflammation)? Here is a great article from The Organic Dietitian.
May 2018
My son ended up being allergic to the initial antibiotic given for perianal strep (he broke out in a full body rash). The antibiotic was discontinued and another one was used to treat it. He had no other issues related to the introduction of solids. See a 9 month old’s day in food summary post here.
As shared in this Eczema Guide from Lil’ Mixins, redness in the diaper area is generally not eczema-related. However, there are some telltale signs of eczema in infants that are outlined here.
June 2018
After the initial bout was treated, my son’s perianal strep infection returned. His pediatrician said this was very odd and unusual, but she tested it and felt confident that is what the issue was (again). A second round of antibiotics was given since we could not get it under control with anything else. It was around this time that we started seeing eczema-like skin issues present, mainly on his face (around the mouth and on his cheeks) and on his forearms. We began to watch and monitor if it went away on its own (which it obviously didn’t) once the antibiotics finished and the rash had healed. I spoke with the pediatrician about this redness between the two rounds of antibiotics, and it was thought to be nothing initially due to all of the other issues with redness and rashes, Unfortunately, from this point it only got worse. See a 10 month old’s day in food summary post here.
July 2018
My son was still on the second round of antibiotics during his first trip (to California for my grandma’s 95th birthday the first weekend in July). His eczema peaked at this point and was at the worst I had ever seen it. There was no denying it (as I think before I didn’t want to believe he had eczema), so I called the pediatrician to inquire about topical steroids to help manage flare ups. However, because his most-impacted area for eczema was on his face, I was concerned about using these prescribed steroids as our first line defense, on a daily basis, longterm, on such a sensitive region (especially considering the package insert said both not to use on children under two nor on the face). Considering I knew how much his hands rubbed this area raw with itching, it was impossible not to worry he would get the steroids in his mouth when upset at the irritation of a flare up. It was at this point I began to do more digging since I knew steroid cream alone wasn’t going to work.
Because this first major flare up happened during the time it did, it led me to evaluating if it was environmentally-induced eczema and possibly related to a change in the products used (i.e. on the linens or towels where we were staying), family members pets (as we don’t have any), the air quality, dry air vs humidity, or the pollutants and allergens in CA versus TX, etc.. There are several causes for flare-ups, so we started there. I also began recording food journals at this point to try to keep track of potential triggers in what he was eating in the case an undiagnosed food allergy was also at play. We had not yet begun changing anything with his diet, but at this point we made an appointment with an allergist to further evaluate any food or environmental allergens that might be exacerbating his eczema. See 11 month old’s day in food summary post here.
According to the American College of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology, it is not recommended to test all children with eczema for food allergies due to the rate of false positives and subsequent unnecessary diet elimination that can result. This was the best next step for us as we tested out over the counter, topical treatments and waited between the initial allergist consultation and food allergy testing several weeks later. However, this is not necessarily the course that is best for every child with eczema. Consult with your pediatrician, allergist, and/or dermatologist to discuss if this is the next best step for your child.
August 2019
At the advice of the allergist, we pursued a skin-prick test (which was done all over his back). Even for all the foods or potential environmental triggers we suspected could be an issue, we were very thankful that there ended up being no allergens found. This was a relief from an anaphylactic standpoint and in knowing he wouldn’t necessarily be living long term with allergies, but it still did not answer what was triggering his eczema so often. At this point, the allergist had no other suggestions so we began to look into more lifestyle-related changes and changed all of the products being used at home to see if we could topically manage it better (as it continued to worsen). Many suggestions were shared and are saved on my Eczema highlights for what type of over the counter products fellow eczema-suffering families liked/have used. We tried such topical and/or household products and continued to record anything food-related in his food diary. See a 12 month old’s day in food summary here.
Wondering the difference between a food allergy and food sensitivity? This is a helpful article from The National Eczema Association.
September 2019
After trying several OTC options (and spending A LOT of money trial and erroring the products recommended), my son had minimal to no relief. We did eventually find some things that did help, but these were for baseline management and didn’t help flare-ups. Such steps included:
Nightly baths using lukewarm water only and lathering with Mustela right after. We then added vaseline as another barrier after the moisturizer. Since baths were usually before bed, we put him in some Mustela pajamas as often as we could (as we had tried changing his pajamas and sheets too). We never tried bleach baths since the most troublesome spot was on his face and the idea of them just freaked me out. Outside of water-only baths, the best luck we had with bath products was when we used Vanicream.
We used Vaseline all over his face and forearms every time he ate. Since his face and forearms were the only areas that had eczema, we wanted this as a protective barrier at meals in particular. We also tried sleeved bibs.
We began trying to promote the use of infant utensils to try to help keep food off his face and forearms (in this messy eating phase of toddlerhood).
We used Mustela wipes to help clean his face after meals or just warm water or a warm cloth, as needed (although this seemed to make him very upset).
Feeding was a very challenging time at this point. He was miserable any time he had a flare up and ultimately was more upset everytime we tried to offer him food. I continued to keep food diaries at this point but still was unsure what the culprit was, as anything I thought it was (and would eliminate) didn’t prevent all the flare ups. While he had been an adventurous eater initially, we had several hard months where eating was a very uncomfortable process for him (and thus for me to watch, as I knew his face was so itchy and irritated). See a 13 month old’s day in food summary here.
October 2019
He came down with Hand Foot Mouth, but we were able to avoid any antibiotics and this was resolved. However, his eczema continued to be a big daily trouble. While we had not yet changed his diet to anything major nor specific yet, by the end of the month we weaned from breastfeeding. This was a difficult decision, as I think it could have really helped his eczema to continue. We had started a probiotic that can help breastfeeding infants with eczema called HLC-B (with the B being for breastfed baby, but there is also one for formula-fed babies), but the amount of time that is recommended for a child to be on it while breastfeeding was not going to be sustainable for us due to personal reasons for needing to wean. We continued to use this probiotic through the time all of my freezer stash ran out and thereafter until the probiotic ran out. I wish I would have started it back in the beginning (around June/July) when we first started noticing potential signs, as I do believe it could have helped his skin. See a 14 month old’s day in food summary here.
November 2019
Knowing that we were going to go glamping and be on the road then without internet service for a week, I bought The Eczema Detox book to begin looking through while away. This was after a rabbit hole of a late night search for the top foods that trigger eczema. The list I stumbled upon seemed to relate to my findings from all of the food diaries I had kept, so I figured it would give us some direction. Also, I knew I would have no way to research things while away glamping, so I bought this book to take with us. This should scream, I was desperate for answers. When we returned from the trip, we began to follow the Eczema Detox diet protocol as outlined for kids in the book. I told myself we would try it for the full first two weeks to give it time to see if the low-salicylate diet recommended made a difference. We started this at the very end of November (after sharing his 15 month day in food). At that point, I didn’t think we had anything to lose as he was miserable and I felt miserable feeding him foods that only seemed to exacerbate the eczema. See a 15 month old’s day in food summary here.
December 2019
We stuck out The Eczema Detox diet for the suggested two weeks, and it was hard! I have never been so overwhelmed as a dietitian mom between the highly specific meal planning, grocery shopping, and amount of meal prep required. Thankfully, he was still young enough that he was less aware of what options he couldn’t have and fairly receptive to some of the alternative foods we were trying instead. These were not foods, however, my whole family was on board with eating. At this point, I was concerned from a nutritional standpoint about the implications of this elimination diet long term, but since we were only trying it for the initial two weeks, we used a multivitamin and his Nordic Naturals DHA (which he already took along with Vitamin D). We also swapped him from Ripple unsweetened milk to the full-fat Oatly option.
The Eczema Detox book provided a helpful starting point, but for us, it did not give the answers nor evidenced-based information I was hoping for to ultimately find healing for my son. As a dietitian, there were some things that jumped out to me as automatic red flags of incredibility (that I didn’t discover in my wee-hour reading when I first came across this resource). I feel it helped lead us to more effective answers, but the book in and of itself made our life and eczema journey initially a lot harder versus better. I am thankful for the stepping stone it was towards identifying what could work for us and I appreciate that it gave me a plan to try as I was overwhelmed after months of shooting from the hip with how to manage his eczema. But the book and detox diet itself was a tremendous amount of effort for me and the dietary restriction was not worth the inconsistent progress we saw with his eczema. With that, I would not necessarily recommend this book unless you know a low-salicylate diet is what you or your child needs to help support the treatment of eczema or other health conditions. As always, consult your child’s healthcare provider before starting any special diet. See a 16 month old’s day in food summary here.
During December, we also found a homemade ointment (saved on my highlights) and Salves of Jerusalem as a ready-made option (that you have to order from overseas). Salves of Jerusalem was the one and only product (outside of topical steroids) that we found helped him. It was safe enough we could use daily and around the mouth, and as of the time of this writing now nine months later remains the only topical ointment we use to manage my son’s eczema.
January 2020
Right around Christmas, we decided to pursue the Mediator Release Test, better known as the MRT test. As a dietitian, I was familiar with this test and the LEAP protocol (stands for Lifestyle Eating and Performance). However, until mid-December, I had never considered pursuing it for my son’s eczema. In talking with some of my colleagues, I felt it might be our best option. Similar to The Eczema Detox book, I liked that it would give us a plan to go off of rather than guessing my way through what potential food triggers were causing my son’s flare ups. However unlike the book, I preferred that this approach was one that was unique to my son’s own inflammatory response and gave us a specific dietary intervention based on his specific responses to each of the foods tested. Additionally, while a debated topic in the health world, I felt from the colleagues I spoke with, listservs I looked through, and professional articles I found on the topic, that this was a more extensively researched approach to finding an anti-inflammatory approach that could work longterm for my son and our family.
We pursued this testing and received our results (shared in my highlights). I had a Certified LEAP Therapist and Registered Dietitian friend help me order our test, interpret our results, and come up with a plan (since although not certified in LEAP, I had a general sense of what was needed and then how to handle it on a nutritional front). I would gladly share her info as a referral, however she does not work with pediatric patients.
To find a Certified LEAP Therapist in your area, Google, “Certified LEAP Therapist near XXXXX” (your zip code). To find a draw site where you can get the MRT test done, you can check the Oxford website here (they are also very helpful if you call). If you decide to go this route and to schedule, be sure to double-check that the date you are getting your child’s labs drawn and the following date they will be received and that the lab will be receiving and able to process results (as we ran into this when doing testing near the holidays).
February 2020 - present
Following my son’s MRT test and the results for his LEAP protocol, we have stuck to this as our diet plan over the past eight months now. You can learn more about LEAP here but in general, this is a summary of how both elimination and reintroduction are approached on the LEAP protocol (that we followed back then and since):
Phase 1 and 2 (for the first 14 days): the immunocalm phase where we removed the more reactive foods
Phase 3 (from day 14 to 90): we begin to reintroduce mildly reactive foods one at a time (those that came back as “high green”)
At 3 months, we began to reintroduce moderately reactive foods (“yellow” foods).
At 6 months, we theoretically could have begun reintroducing highly reactive foods (“red” foods). However, we have yet to do so fully with any success at almost 9 months out. While he can tolerate very small amounts sporadically, we continue to see a reaction with the foods that he is highly reactive to and offer only in small quantities at spaced out intervals until we see improved tolerance to these (which for my son are dairy and wheat).
For more information on FAQs about LEAP, visit here. Other experts in the field (who serve as mentors to fellow dietitians in training to become Certified LEAP Therapists) can be found here. MRT testing and the LEAP protocol can be controversial, even in the dietitian community. So when looking for credible articles on the LEAP diet protocol, I would look to those written by any of these amazing mentors!
Mom to Mom Guide on Managing My Child’s Eczema
Here is the plan that as a parent, I wish I would have known when we first realized my son had eczema. There is NO one size fits all approach to managing a child’s eczema and depending on how mild to severe and the location(s) of your child’s eczema, you may or may not feel compelled to consider the following options. I am outlining these notes based on our experiences and again, encourage you to check with your child’s pediatrician, dermatologist, and/or allergist when considering any changes to your current approach. Information on eczema in children, the best treatment options, and the potential for dietary intervention to assist in the management of eczema are constantly changing. I encourage you to reach out to a pediatric dietitian trained in eczema or a Certified LEAP Therapist for additional support in the area of your child’s diet.
Steps of Action
Talk to your child’s pediatrician. Try over the counter topical creams and if you and your child’s healthcare provided feel it is merited, a prescribed steroid cream as needed. This is a good time to probably find an in-network dermatologist who can also follow your child’s care and help manage their eczema and make professional recommendations. For a list of ointments and creams parents have recommended, you can see my Eczema highlight or the list below of some we tried:
Begin changing products that come in contact with skin. Items such as bath soaps, laundry detergents, sheets, pajamas (some families said fleece versus cotton PJs seemed problematic), etc.
Begin taking pictures or notes. Depending on when your child’s flare ups seem worse (before/after sleep, eating, outdoor play, etc.), begin taking before and after shots to help you document what the flare up was like before and after. For my son, I would take a picture before meal (of him), at the meal (of what he was eating), and quickly after meal (since it was usually of him screaming) to create a log. This was easier to document and save in a folder on my phone than always having a notebook to write in amidst the chaos of meal time with three small kids.
Seek out an allergist’s expertise. Depending on how much quality of life is being impacted and how well managed the eczema is by the above approaches/interventions, consider getting a referral to an allergist. Discuss with an allergist if food allergy testing is appropriate for your child.
Consider if MRT testing and a LEAP protocol is appropriate. If you have done the above and found that over the counter options aren’t effective enough in managing your child’s eczema, prescribed creams are not an option you are comfortable with or feel are effective (i.e. in areas like around the mouth), and you have ruled out any food allergies, you might consider looking into MRT testing and finding a Certified LEAP Therapist in your area who can both help you order the MRT test and give your guidance with implementing the LEAP diet protocol after you get your child’s results.
If you made it this far, I know you are probably really wrestling with how to help your child manage their eczema. I am sorry you and your family are going through this, but I hope something in this post will help point you to the relief, management, and overall best treatment for your family.