Hi everyone

I am at a loss and have looked up the archives for more info, but
can't seem to find more answers - amazingly, because I would have
thought this would have been quite a common problem for us.

I am working with a mom and second baby, aged 4.5 months, who has the
most severe eczema I have ever seen.  The baby scratches her face
raw, and mother is becoming sleep-deprived from holding baby's hands
at night in an effort to reduce the scratching (they co-sleep). Mom
is heavily committed to breastfeeding long-term and baby has been
exclusively breastfed since birth (home-birth). Mom herself was
breastfed, but I don't know how exclusively, and she herself had
eczema as a child.  The first baby, also breastfed, also had eczema,
but not as badly as this.  She says her whole family is riddled
with  it.  Surprisingly, the baby is really good-natured under the
circumstances, but the itching is clearly driving her mad, and mom is
becoming embarrassed to take her anywhere because of the unsightly
scabbing on her face, neck, hands etc.

At my suggestion, mom commenced a complete elimination of all bovine
protens (milk products, beef products) at least a month ago.  The
baby's eczema improved slightly, and the previous cradle-cap is
almost resolved too.  But in reality the eczema has only improved by
a small degree.  Mom also consulted a homeopath recently who
recommended "challenging" with dairy/bovine to confirm that trigger,
and sure enough, the baby's eczema returned with a vengeance.  So we
think we're on the right track, but clearly there is more going on
here just a very severe reaction to bovine proteins. I'm missing something.

Before I recommend widening the elimination to possibly include
wheat, eggs, nuts, or any other foods - is anyone able to share any
experience of any similar cases?  If so, what worked to resolve
really severe eczema in an exclusively breastfed baby other than
long-term avoidance of bovine proteins?

Thanks for all help or comments.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England

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