She is now a normal eighteen year old with no more symptoms of eczema, asthma or hay fever and has been free of irritation of the skin, inflammation and unbearable itching for over fourteen years.

This is the story of how my wife and I cured her. This article contains personal views, offers an alternative and natural way of dealing with childhood eczema such as anti-allergy bedding and may give fellow sufferers some hope.

The first signs of childhood eczema are a redness which our GP like so many family doctors and heath visitors ascribed to nappy rash. Various creams and emollients had no effect and eventually the diagnosis was eczema. We saw many dermatologists who although honest and professional prescribed very much more of the same.

I started researching childhood eczema in particular and investigated alternative therapies. Finally we threw the conventional medical books out of the window and embarked upon the following course of action which can be split into four categories; diet, environment, clothing, medication.

DIET

It is a widely held belief that eczema is an allergic reaction so that in the first instance children are tested against various substances to see if certain foods produce the well known red patches that cause dry skin and scratching.

I do not hold to this. What I believe is that childhood eczema is a deficiency in the body’s natural immune system. The immune system like everything else in childhood needs to grow and develop. What happens in eczema is that the immature immune system produces anti-bodies to fight something that isn’t actually there, hence the rush of naturally produced histamine to the body’s weak spots within the folds of legs, knees and arms.

The first thing I discovered was that research conducted at Great Ormond Street Hospital uncovered the fact that no one had ever had an allergic reaction to either lamb or pears. So we put the family on a diet of lamb much to the disgust of the elder children!

One of the common causes of dermatitis, infantile skin complaints and intestinal problems is an allergy to milk based products and the prevalence of gluten in the diet.

So we stopped giving her the normal baby milk and substituted soya milk which has fewer if no allergens at all. You can also try goats milk but continuing research back in the early 1990s seemed to suggest that soya milk could lead to early tooth decay. We have not found this.

The next thing we noticed was that certain foods did bring on a worsening of the skin irritation caused by allergens. The classic example was bananas. They contain a similar substance to histamine and therefore caused an imbalance in the immune system.

I started keeping a diary of everything she ate and drank and found that one thing held true. Certain ingredients put into normal foodstuffs such as colouring or preservatives had a huge damaging effect on her health. You can now access all ‘E’ numbers quite easily but manufacturers now use the proper chemical terms so you can’t be too sure of what is in the food your buy. Not all E numbers are harmful but its best to find out to be sure of exactly what it is in your shopping basket.

I kept the e-numbers in a folder with their correct name and read the backs of every tin and jar of food. To this day we shop daily and everything is fresh.

There has been a lot of research lately about the effect of fizzy drinks filled with preservatives and colourings on the moods and tempers of infants and even older children. This was quite evident to us over sixteen years ago and there is now much on hyperactivity in children.

Some e-numbers are fine and necessary; some e-numbers she could tolerate but mixed with another substance in a sort of cocktail caused the usual eruption of the skin. It is not patriotic to say this but sweets, cakes and most things that children like that were manufactured in the UK were not good for her. Foodstuffs from the European market had no adverse effect at all.

Keep a diary as detailed as possible and note every reaction. For instance I found that pigeon feathers caused a severe rash if she brushed them against her skin.

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