My first child had significant eczema beginning around 3 months of age - angry red blotches.  As he was only receiving breastmilk, I was convinced that changing my diet would cure things and began a strict elimination diet.  My husband is a mathematician and we created a rating system that compared the food I was eating / eliminating along with a daily skin rating.  Finally, right before Halloween - we saw a trend in the numbers and my husband did some calculations.    The data indicated that chocolate was the culprit.  My heart sunk as I had been looking forward to all of that left over Halloween candy, but I abstained and his skin stayed clear - until the spring.  Despite my chocolate avoidance the eczema returned.  Fast forward many years - we now know that my son has seasonal allergies that for many years caused eczema between March and October.  As he got older, the eczema improved and he barely has any - but he still has major allergy symptoms for one month out of the year.  

I have no doubt that food allergies / sensitivities do impact breastfed babies - but I like to tell this story as a reminder that correlation does not always indicate causation and that sometimes only time will tell what is causing a symptom.

Ellen

Ellen J. Rubin, MA, IBCLC, LLLL

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome