Distribution Of Eczema In Babies
As eczema
worsens, the skin becomes more itchy, red, thickened, and grooved, and may
blister, weep, and crack. The typical distribution of eczema is on the face,
behind the ears, on the fronts of the elbows, the backs of the knees, the
hands, neck, and trunk.
The eczematous infant has food
allergy until proven otherwise. If
formula-fed, then the formula is to blame and needs to be changed. Cow’s milk
is a common cause and switching to soya based formulas may help.
If the infant is breast fed, then mothers diet
contains the problem food and need to be changed. A decision has to be made
based on the severity of the infant’s conditions. If the eczema is mild and the
infant is otherwise health and happy, the best decision will be to use steroid
cream sparingly to control the skin eruption and monitor the child carefully
for further symptoms.
If the eczema on your baby is more severe, especially if other
health problems are associated, then mother should consider doing the Alpha
Nutrition Program herself.
She retreats to Phase 1 foods for 10 days or
longer – until her breast-fed infant settles and the skin begins to heal. It
takes several weeks for the skin to heal completely and unfortunately, if
mother indulges in small treats the infants skin may react strongly and
postpone healing for more weeks.
When is is time to introduce solid foods to the
infant, the phase 1 list of Alpha Nutrition foods serves as the guide to first
foods. If the infant does well with mother eating phase 1 foods we are more
optimistic that these foods will be well-tolerated when they are fed to the
infant directly.