my son gets this when he has dairy. the skin is an eliminating organ and so it could very well be food-related. if she eats everything, it would be difficult to identify the culprit w/out doing an elimination diet. but that may be too rough on her. can you just eliminate one food at a time for a few weeks and see what happens? dr. sears lists a lot of allergy culprits on his website, too.

Hi Rita
I agree with Dedra...
anytime the body has an internal issue it comes through on the skin.

The diet is hard to work through but try the main culprits like eggs, milk, gluten, soy and corn.

I will be back and post some more here to help.

Hey Rita,
I have food sensitivities and so do both of my boys. Creed's are worse than Trajan's and they are all different. Creed's sensitivities relate a lot to his behavior and Trajan's seem to affect his skin more. I have both.

When I eat tomatoes too frequently I end up with a very angry, itchy, inflamed rash on the inside of my elbows. It drove me insane before I knew it was allergy related. I also have other skin issues when I eat the rest of the night shade family. Trajan ends up with more of the dry kind of eczema rashes which I am sure is related to dairy. I have heard of quite a few people who end up with rashes due to dairy but it certainly isn't the only thing that can cause it.

You mentioned that you noticed the rash appear soon after she ate...what I would do before you head down the full elim diet is to just keep a little diary of what she eats and when you notice the reaction. If you begin to see a pattern with say...dairy, just eliminate that one first and see if the rash disappears. If it doesn't then you'll have to move through additional foods. I'd definitely start with the usual main culprits though....soy, wheat, corn, and eggs if it's not dairy.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Oh me too Brandy on that rash locale..makes me crazy and I still cannot figure out what food or product it is!!

I wonder if it isn't dairy. Last year, when she began to drink formula, she got what the doctor said was eczema. It went away for a little while but I got suspicious when it came back and now doesn't seem to ever go away fully.

Rachel doesn't seem affected by it, not like she was with her drug rashes. Are there other symptoms I should look for with the common allergies? The only other thing I can think of is that both of my kids (Rachel and Emily, the 5-month-old) are extremely prone to diaper rashes, even with prescription cream. Now, Emily is breastfed and the only solids she gets is rice cereal with nothing else added. Rachel had the same diaper rash problem when she was a baby and taking breastmilk.

I like the idea of doing the diary before the elimination diet.

Chronic dipe rashes can be a symptom. TMI warning...Creed had green icky poops when he was a baby. I could NOT figure out why he started getting these kinds of poops. I finally linked it to dairy. Trajan also has issues with his bottom due to rice. There are other kiddos that I know of that get rashes and/or itchy bums due to dairy.

Sometimes people get a lot of phlegm with dairy too. My step dad's throat closes up if he eats it too late at night. The symptoms vary widely really but here's a site with some more to look at:
http://www.medicinenet.com/food_allergy/page2.htm#C
http://www.healthrecipes.com/allergy_symptoms.htm

The second one is really very comprehensive and some would say that anyone w/o sensitivities could have them, which is true. However, if you notice that your dd has more than just a few then I would definitely mark those in your diary and watch when they flare up or decrease. Also, if you elimi dairy and she starts asking for milk alot or cheese and what not, then you can begin to assume that you are on the right track. As Traci mentioned, allergens cause an opiate like effect in a sensitive person's body and they crave what they shouldn't have. I do this regularly once I have an offending food too many times in a week or month. It can be really difficult getting over the cravings and a friend of mine that used to work w/ ped allergy patients said that some parents said their kids would cry at the fridge bc they wanted milk so badly.

I need to go get the boys tucked in but wanted to post this quickly before I do. Good luck Rita!!

update

I just wanted to fill you in. Turns out Rachel has environmental allergies (dust, tree pollen). The doc put her on an antihistamine, so we'll see if this does any good with that rash.