Preventing the Eczema Skin Rash

An effective treatment to eczema skin rsh, without the side effects of prescription medications, is to remove the triggers that have been identified. Depending on the trigger, treatment can involve anything from changing soaps to purchasing dust-proof mattress covers to removing the carpet to keeping the baby in soft cotton fabrics.

Food Triggers

If food is thought to be the eczema trigger, one way to quickly prevent the skin rash is to change the baby's diet by removing the most common food allergens. These include milk, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts, fish, and tree nuts.

1. If your baby is breastfeeding, remove the suspected allergens from the mother's diet; or
2. If your baby is fed either milk- or soy-based formula, switch to a hypoallergenic amino acid-based formula, like Neocate®, along with a special diet.

Other Food Allergy Symptoms

Children with food allergies also tend to suffer from gastrointestinal and respiratory problems such as:

• Excessive diarrhea
• Projectile vomiting
• Colic
• Wheezing
• Low or no weight gain

To better determine the food allergen, your physician may refer you to an allergist who can conduct some allergy tests.

Currently, there is no single test to diagnose eczema. However, your doctor may conduct allergy tests to give you a better indication of what is triggering your baby's skin rash.

1. Allergy skin testing – This is the most common type of test. The doctor will expose a small portion of the baby's skin to a small amount of various allergens and monitor the baby for reactions. The results of the test are available the same day.
   


2. RAST testing – This test is usually done if your baby's eczema is so bad that the doctor cannot find an unaffected part of the skin to test. Your baby's doctor or nurse will draw some blood and send it to a lab for an analysis, which will reveal what substances or foods your baby is allergic to. The results of this test are usually available in one to two weeks.