My niece was born 6 weeks after my daughter. She has a beautiful face, compared to my daughter’s but she is now suffering from a mild form of eczema, a skin condition also known as atopic dermatitis. It is a form of inherited allergy. In some cases, the eczema develops into asthma. Luckily, in my niece’s case, it is confined to dry skin and occasional rashes on her cheeks.
According to some sites like babycenter, the allergic reaction is triggered by allergens in the baby’s diet. If you breastfeed, the reaction may be triggered through the food you take, transferred to your baby through breast milk. The allergic reaction may also be exacerbated by irritants like soap, lotions and detergents, or even by heat.
Apart from the rashes and her dry skin, my niece also is easily irritable, does not sleep for long and cries a lot due to her skin problem. Thus, this takes a toll on the mother and the babysitter as well. The babysitter asks that the mother switch to a soy-based milk to reduce the allergic reactions. It worked for awhile.
Then, my sister in law (the mother) took my niece to see a skin specialist. All this while she has always taken her to child specialists, until a friend of hers introduced her to this doctor at Taman Segar. He told her that this might be due to the diet she took when she was pregnant. The culprits identified: fresh milk and mangoes. Yes, of all things, mangoes, the fruit, may be a cause to this hypersensitive skin problem. He promptly gave her a list of things that the daughter must avoid to prevent repercussions.
He also gave her some medication which I think could be steroids that may help reduce the rashes. She is also advised to reduce the use of soap when she bathes her daughter (warm water will do) and the lotions she use on her daughter’s skin must be for sensitive skin. This lotion is available at pharmacies, although a it is advisable to get a prescription for it first.
Since my sister in law has just started this this past weekend, we shall see if my niece’s condition recovers or not.
Strangely enough, this also happened to the daughters of one ex-colleague of mine, who has two daughters and one son. Both daughters suffer from eczema, the older one until she was 7 months old and the younger one, having a worse case, still suffers occasional bouts of rashes and itchiness whenever she takes the wrong food.
The son does not exhibit any such conditions and has shown no clear signs of having any allergies at the moment. I sincerely hope it stays that way.
So if you hear of old wives’ tales that you should not eat certain foods during pregnancy, take heed. You need not follow through with all of them, but take most in moderation instead of submitting all out to the cravings. It’s true that you are what you eat, but in this case your baby becomes whatever it is that you eat during pregnancy.
Disclaimer: I usually suggest to friends of mine to seek second opinions from physicians and specialists, when dealing with issues regarding the health of children. As such, I also ask that you do your own research, ask around and consult your physicians before making any decisions based on what you read here. This is as much a disclaimer as it is a point to ensure that whatever decisions you make for our children is made from an educated standpoint. Make well-informed decisions for your child.
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