Welcome to the diet and allergy section!
This section will look at:
- Would avoiding particular foods help my child's eczema?
- How do I know if my child has a food allergy?
- Should my child have an allergy test?
- What should I do if I think my child has a food allergy?
Would avoiding particular foods help my child's eczema?
A healthy well balanced diet is important for keeping your child's skin and body healthy. The usual advice about what food introduce at what age applies to children with eczema too.
Many families worry that their child with eczema should avoid certain foods. But usually people find that this doesn’t make a difference. Other things, such as soap, are more likely to make your child's eczema worse
I feel like I ought to be cutting out dairy for him but I would have to do it for his sisters too or he would get upset. I’ve been thinking it might just be too much hassle, but if I knew it would help I would do it.
A small number of children with eczema can have a reaction to certain foods. There are two types of food reactions:
1. A food allergy
A food allergy happens when your child's body reacts straight away to certain foods they have eaten. Your child may start to wheeze, get tummy ache, or throw up. Your child's face could swell up or they could get lumps (hives) on their skin. Their eczema may also flare up during or soon after a reaction.
Food allergies are slightly more common in children with eczema, but are not the cause of eczema in most cases. It is more likely that eczema in babies makes them more likely to have food allergy later, not the other way around.
2. Delayed reactions to food that may make your eczema worse
A small number of families with eczema find that certain foods can make their child's eczema worse. This is a delayed type of food allergy. Reactions happen 1-2 days after your child has eaten the food, instead of straight away. These reactions are caused by a different part of the body’s immune system than food allergies. It is more difficult to test for delayed reactions.
The next sections will give you advice on how you can tell whether your child has a food allergy or if certain foods make their eczema worse.
Does my child have a delayed reaction to food that makes their eczema worse?
Your child may have a delayed reaction to certain foods if:
- Their eczema always gets worse 2 days after eating these foods
- Their eczema is quite bad and does not get better after using flare control creams and moisturising creams
Your child's eczema is unlikely to be due to a delayed reaction to food if:
- Their eczema started after they were 2 years old
- Their eczema is not too bad or affects only small areas of their body regularly
I was at the Allergy Clinic for my peanut allergy. So I asked them about my daughter’s eczema but they thought it wasn’t related to food. And now she’s grown out of it anyway
Does my child have a food allergy?
Your child may have a food allergy if:
- Your child wheezes or has difficulty breathing straight after eating a certain food. Your child may also get tingling in the mouth or back of the throat, swollen lips or tongue, be sick, or pass out. If your child gets any of these problems, you must call for an ambulance straight away to get urgent medical advice.
- Your child has itchy and swollen patches and a nettle sting like rash straight after eating or touching a certain food. If this happens, your child should not eat this food until you have talked to your doctor about it.
Does my baby have a food allergy?
Babies under 6 months may have a food allergy if:
- They have eczema or a rash
AND
- They have long-lasting colic (when a baby cries for more than 3 hours each day)
- They have an upset tummy for no reason. This may include being sick, having diarrhoea, or being constipated
- They have blood in their poo
- They are not gaining weight. You should visit your doctor if you think your child has a food allergy
Top tip!
You may want to try using moisturising creams more than 4 times each day and flare-control creams once a day. If your child’s eczema is not getting better after doing this for 2 weeks, then it is worth looking into delayed reaction to foods.
Check out the section on 'flare control creams'. This section will tell you how to get control of eczema when you have a flare-up
What foods might my child react to?
Milk and eggs are the most common foods that cause reactions in babies. Peanuts are the most common food that cause reactions in older children. Babies can sometimes be allergic to peanuts.
Other foods that can cause an allergy include wheat, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, soya, lentils and some fruits.
Should my child have an allergy test?
Allergy tests are not very good at finding out what is making eczema worse
This is because allergy tests only work well for food allergies that show up straight away. They are not usually helpful for delayed reactions to foods that happen with some people with eczema.
Allergy testing from the Internet or High Street is not accurate.
What should I do if I think my child has a food allergy or a delayed reaction to food?
Most children can control their eczema by using enough moisturising and flare control creams. But, you should see your child's doctor if you think they have a food allergy.
You may want to try the food challenge if you think your child has a delayed reaction where their eczema gets worse 1-2 days after eating certain foods.
Find out more about the food challenge
The food challenge involves giving your child the food you think they are reacting to 2 or 3 times a week for 2 weeks. If their eczema doesn’t flare up, then it’s OK to keep eating the food. If their eczema flares up, then stop the food and try the food challenge again in 2 or 3 weeks once the eczema has gone.
You should only do this food challenge when your child’s eczema is under control. This is so you can see exactly what is happening when your child eats the food. You should not do the food challenge for possible allergy where your child's body reacts straight away.
If your child has a flare up of eczema 1 to 2 days every time after eating the food, then this may mean that this food is making the eczema worse.
Cutting out certain foods can make it more difficult to follow a well-balanced diet. So it is important to talk to your doctor or nurse if you are going to cut out certain foods for more than 2 weeks.
Never cut out more than one food at a time. This makes it even harder to keep a well-balanced diet. It also makes it difficult to tell which food is making your child's eczema worse.
What other foods might affect my child's eczema?
Some foods can make eczema worse because they have things in them that irritate the skin, rather than causing an allergic reaction. For example, strawberries, citrus fruits (e.g. oranges), and tomatoes can cause an eczema flare-up on the face if they touch your skin, or if the saliva stays on the skin.
Putting moisturising creams on the face and neck before and after eating these foods can help with this.
Click on the names below to read stories from other people with eczema:
Priyanka's story
I was going mad with all the different suggestions for things to cut out. Some days she was fine and then she was worse again.
Sometimes I thought I could see a pattern of what was setting her skin off and then she would flare-up and I couldn’t find a reason. So I started to keep a food diary and found that there really was no pattern with what she was eating.
Now I think it is mostly the weather which makes it flare up.
Rebecca's story
Alex had always had a bit of eczema, but it wasn’t really a big problem for him.
At about 18 months it got worse. At the point where he started to look like a burns victim we decided we would try anything. I saw the doctor who told me to try cutting out dairy. I did and he gradually got better.
A few months later we tried him back on normal milk and within a few days he was worse. But, now he is 3, we find he can drink normal milk and his skin is not bad at all – nothing we can’t control with moisturising creams and the odd bit of flare control creams anyway.
Should my child take food supplements?
Food supplements are tablets, liquids or powders that contain nutrients that you can add to a normal diet. For example, vitamins.
There is no clear research evidence to show that food supplements help with eczema.
Top Tip!
You will find links to more information about these topics in the ‘other resources’ section, which you can get from the ‘more about treatments’ menu above