Sorry to hear about yoru daughters allergies. Good thing you found out though. Lactaid is milk it's not a milk alternative. This is probably why she broke out. I am lactose intolerant and I have been drinking lactaid for years, however lately I have noticed that I have had alot of intergestion and gas, so I have decided to start drinking rice milk. I am just recently married and my husband has been drinking it for years. He swears by it; I must warn you though, it is very expensive, even more than Lactaid. I hope this helps.
I have eczema, but I think enough has been said about that. I just wanted to warn you about soy - be careful if you switch to soy exclusively. So many people do not realize there are dangers associated with soy, especially the way it is processed in this country. I would go with rice milk if you have to have a milk substitute. Otherwise load up on other calcium rich foods like broccoli, calcium fortified orange juice and other juices, tofu (which is a different form of soy and processed differently than soy milk), white beans, and sesame seeds (tahini being a great choice) assuming she is not allergic to any of these. You could use soy yogurt sparingly.
To read more about soy check out: www.soyonlineservice.co.nz
and other websites like that. I read an investigative, well researched book that confirmed most of what I had previously read about soy online. I am a vegetarian and I have endometriosis. When I cut out soy, as much as possible except in the more native produced forms, I saw huge improvements with my symptoms.
My daughter, now 11, developed what I believed to be an allergy when she was almost 3. I was told that it could possibly have been due to lactose intolerance. I immediately took her off all cow dairy products and switched to soy and goats milk. It did clear up, but only temporarily.
More tests revealed that she did have a form of eczema and I was told to use only "Dove" soap followed by "Lubriderm" lotion. Every winter it flares up and we just get more aggressive with the lotion.
Last November we were in Barcelona when it flared up. We went to several stores looking for Lubriderm, and found out it's not available there. The pharmacist suggested "Fenistil Gel." That cleared it up in 2 days.
i cant give you a lot of advice. my daughter still continues to battle her eczema. she was tested positive for allergies to milk, eggs, peanuts, dog, cat, etc. etc. etc. when she was about nine months old. she has pretty much grown out of the milk and eggs (no facial redness, gagging, or throwing up, etc) but she still battles eczema. Her dermatologist has at one time or another given her every prescription cream but the one thing that seems to help is Hylira lotion. It is this really thin clear gel type lotion that is prescribed by a doctor. It is pretty expensive but comes in a huge bottle. I lube her up all the time. Her dermatologist also told me to occassionally (every other bath) to add 1/4 cup bleach to her bath water. Although I recently had hear prick tested by an allergist to see if we could pin point her issues and it was totally inconclusive. I have to take her for blood work again. Good luck.
Jessica,
I have been dealing with milk allergies for about 14 years now. My oldest was allergic, and ended up being hospitalized due to milk allergies when he was 2 wks old, and I decided to breast feed my 2nd, hoping he would do better w/ allergies. Well the oldest has mostly grown out of his allergy (meaning he can eat cheese, ect, and drink milk sparingly), but the 4yo is not going to grow out of it, he still gets digestive upsets if he drinks any milk. My advise would be to read every label of any thing she is eating, lots of this that you would never think of have milk or milk byproducts in them ( one instance is strained spinach, I found this the hard way). Even if you aren't giving her milk she could be getting it some where else. I do give the boys soy milk, but not alot, and we eat lots of veggies and other foods rich in calcium, and when X. (the 4yo) was smaller I gave him a calcium suppliment. He can now eat some processed dairy, cheese, yogurt (live active cultures only), and I do give the Lactaid pills when he is going to a party and I don't want him to be daprived of cake/ ice cream, etc., but I do monitor how much he eats of any dairy foods and limit it to a max 3 servings/ day of all dairy. It will take some time to get it right and figure out what she can and can't have, but as I assume with the nut allergies you already read labels for things w/ nuts also look for milk, whey, casin,cheese and protiens of any of these. If you need any more help just ask me, I have gotten this down to a science, where I don't even consciencely think about it any more. Good luck and HTH
Amy
It looks like most everything has been covered in previous responses, but I'd like to reiterate how important it is to remove the foods she's allergic to from her diet, and check labels carefully. I would also recommend having her tested for allergies, and if she's allergic to many things, I'd recommend allergy shots. Speaking from experience, they helped me a lot!
I suffered from allergies to just about everything, and I had eczema when I was a child. My allergy symptoms to foods caused me to feel itchy all over, have stomach aches, wheeze, and caused my toes to crack open and bleed. I felt miserable, anything you can do as a parent to eliminate this for your child is worth it, even though it will be a pain for you to do.
I received allergy shots off and on from age 7-16 for animals, grasses and trees. I no longer suffer from allergies to 99% of the things I was once sensitive to. I am still somewhat sensitive to milk, wheat, yeast and eggs and notice I start to wheeze just a little, get stuffed up, develop phlegm in my throat, and have stomach problems when I eat too much, but I don't have to completely avoid these items now. I am still deathly allergic to walnuts and pecans and must avoid them completely though. It's possible your daughter will be able to be reintoduced to the foods she's allergic to later, but for now, remove them from her diet completely. She'll feel better, and be happier, if she doesn't eat them at all. I'm sorry she suffers from allergies, good luck in keeping her healthy and happy.
Well, you have gotten many responses to your question, some of them are good and some are completely wrong. I don't know where you are in this process, but I know how frustrating it can be. Milk can cause an allergic reaction OR your child can be sensitive to it, but eczema definitely CAN be caused by a milk allergy or sensitivity. I would respectfully recommend that you visit hwwshow.com This is a website that has health supplements and they will help you find what is best for treating your child's eczema. Every child's skin responds to differnt things differently. Some children with eczema will NOT respond well to vaseline. Some need zinc creams to help their skin. There are SOOOO many ways to deal with eczema, you need the help of a professional. There are holistic and homeopathic doctors out there who can help with these kinds of systemic reactions. I uggest that you find a good one in your area.
Lactaid milk only helps if your child is having issues with lactose, a sugar in the milk. If she is allergic to the proteins in the milk, it will do no good. It would seem that she needs to be off cow's milk comepletely for now. There are lots of milk alternatives out there such as goats milk, rice milk or almond milk. If you feel the need to continue giving her milk (which is not necessary at all) try a different option. Almond milk you need to be careful of unles you've already given her nuts. Almonds can cause an allergic reaction too.
hi jessica
my 4 year old have allergies, they all star when she was a baby, she had eczema all over her body, there is no cure for allergies the best is just to avoid what it make you react if you think is the milk, just stop drinking for a week and see what happens, if you think is the dairy then you also have to avoid yogurt, cheese, read all labels, maybe is not the milk maybe she ate something with eggs or peanuts..
You can also so a skin test...put a couple of drops of milk in a bandage and put it in her back leave it there for 2 a 3 days and see what happend....my daughter after 15 min reacts she was screeming...so we knew for sure dairy is a big no no..
good luck dealing with allergies is very hard, there is no way to know for sure you just have to try and see,
pam
I know you've received a lot of great advice about changing diet, etc. You may also want to change the products you ise on her skin. I've been making natural and organic skin care products for a while and would be glad to make some soap and also perhaps lotion for you to try on her that should really help with the allergic skin and eczema.
I have two kinds of soap that might be most helpful to start with--my family and friends with eczema and psoriasis have really found them too help. One is called Repair? and I make it with a very gentle and nourishing goats milk and shea butter soap base and then add a number of natural botanical ingredients such as calendula, jojoba, emu oil, tamanu, etc. It's a very rich and gentle soap that is very soothing. The second is even more basic for people with extremely sensitive skin--just a shea butter-glycerin base with ground oatmeal and no fragrances added.
I also have some wonderful lotions and can make them fragrance-free or with a very mild fragrance. The formula is mild enough for a baby. I can also add botanicals to the motions and creams as well.
Go to my web site and see what you think, and know that I am glad to work with you to customize anything you might like.
Hi Jessica,
I've been reading some of the replies and just wanted to give you a bit more advice on the eczema. I realize you've already gotten a lot of advice on this subject but I suffered with it so much and believe me, it can be unbareable at times. It's been in my family for generations and when I was 16 my mother found a wonderful dermatologist who finally helped me. The first thing he told me (which I did not know before) was that there are over 200 different types of eczema and it's hard to pinpoint which one a person has. That's why you can go through so many different prescriptions and treatments before finding one that works.
One common thread in any eczema is water. The more the skin is exposed to water, the more it can dry out, flake, itch, etc. So if your daughter doesn't get especially dirty and doesn't need a bath every single day, then try bathing her every other day when the eczema is flaring up. You also want to be sure to dry her very well afterwards too. It can help to buy detergents that are fragrance free and dye free and not use bleach in her sheets and towels.
The best advice I can give you is to buy Cetaphil cleanser. It's available over the counter. It's a very mild, fragrance free cleanser that you can rub on and wipe off with a tissue. You don't even have to use water to rinse if the eczema is particularly bad. It also makes a great lotion to help soften the skin when it's dry and flaky. When the eczema was really bad on my hands, I used the Cetaphil in place of soap and water. I only used soap and water when my hands actually got visably dirty. And I used the Cetaphil about a dozen times a day as a lotion too. This was in addition to the prescription cream and pills the doctor gave me. Ask your doctor about it. I highly recommend it in addition to any other treatment and prescriptions your doctor may give her.
Another thing that causes eczema to flare up really badly is acidic foods and juices. Citrus juices and tomatoes bothered me alot, really made the eczema break out and itch like crazy. And be careful about using hydrocortizione creams on her. Baby skin is so sensative and it's not recommended by doctors at a young age as it can cause scarring (white patches) on the skin.
I don't know if milk has anything to do with eczema or not. I've never heard that before. But here's something to think about in regards to the milk allergy........humans are the only animals that continue to drink milk after they've been weaned from their mother AND the only animals that drink ANOTHER animals milk, rather than their own mothers milk. Think about it. Cows milk is made for calves. Goats milk is made for baby goats. Makes a lot of sense to me. My youngest is lactose intolerant and the doctor told me almost everyone has some degree of lactose intolerance because of that very reason. He said most people never make the connection because their reactions aren't severe enough for them to feel they need to see a doctor about it. It's usually put down to a bug/virus or just an upset stomach. Good luck with this.
My son had VERY bad eczema when he was baby until he was about 6 months. We literally tried EVERYTHING from changing the diet, to changing detergents,, baby washes, etc. It was only when I changed ALL of the products in my home to safer alternatives did his condition completely disappear. This is a PROVEN way to get rid of eczema and all around help of your family's health. For more information on these products please visit http://www.momsmovingforward.net and request more info!
Make it a great day!
Christine, Proud Motivated Mom