Reintroducing to discover cause of eczema?

[erinboberin]

We're on day 11 of our whole 30 (egg-free), so I realize a lot can happen between now and the reintroduction phase, but I tend to be a bit of a planner, so I'm wanting to map things out now (especially since we'll be on vacation for a week of the reintroduction).

 

I'm doing the whole30 with two kids. Ages 4 and 2. Naturally, the reasons for all of us are different. My two year old has had terrible eczema on her wrists, elbow pits, and hands since she weaned off breastmilk completely 6 months ago. We tried eliminating dairy (with the exception of butter) and eggs a couple months ago, and didn't see any change. It's almost completely gone now though.

 

This presents a couple of questions. Is eczema something that shows up right away after exposure typically? Is 4 days enough spacing for this type of reaction, or should we plan on spacing it out more? What types of things should I watch for in a child who can't really express herself?

 

[ladyshanny]

I have eczema that is caused from dairy.  For me it comes up within a couple days of eating dairy and lasts for up to 14 days afterwards.  I get itching in my eczema areas before the redness/rash ever shows up.  That's something you could watch for.

 

If you are wanting to do a really involved trial to figure it out, you may need to introduce dairy products for more than just a couple meals at a time and you may even want to separate dairy into casein and whey to figure out specific reactions.  You would then need to probably go Whole30 compliant until the last of the rash disappears.  So it's going to be a long, long trial.

 

Note, you may not have seen a reduction in the issues while you were still including butter as she may be very sensitive.  When I use butter on veggies from time to time (not on W30), I will get a flare up within 2 days.

[erinboberin]

That's good to know. My 4 year old is sensitive to eggs and dairy (eczema and vomiting with eggs, diarrhea with dairy), so I've kept things pretty minimal with my younger daughter. I would definitely prefer this issue to just be dairy and not gluten, so that gives me hope.

[erinboberin]

Perhaps I spoke too soon. Yesterday she was scratching all evening, and sure enough, today she's got some new redness.

[AndreaLV]

I get what I call eczema, but I'm not sure if that's what it actually is. It starts out as teeny little blisters, but as I scratch and they ooze (gross, I know), it does look like eczema. I learned through a food sensitivity test that mine is a delayed reaction to vanilla! I just wanted to throw that out there. I never would have figured that out on my own. Hopefully you can figure your daughter out with reintroductions, but if not, keep testing in mind.

[erinboberin]

We just finished day 30. I also eliminated a few other this like almonds, banana, avocado. We'll see how the reintroductions go. I discovered one of her triggers is pistachios, so I'm guessing tree nuts are a problem. But that isn't something she ever ate before the whole 30, so I know there's something else.