Skin sensitivity to foods

After giving our DD some mashed potatoes at dinner tonight (which she excitedly smeared across her face), we notice she developed a pink blotchy rash on her cheeks. The only other time she's broken out in a rash on her cheeks was on her 1st birthday from cake and frosting sitting on her cheekies. She does have sensitive skin so I'm thinking it's just a skin issue and not a food allergy.

To our knowledge she dosesn't have any food allergies. She does fine with dairy (milk, eggs, butter) and doesn't have reactions to wheat, gluten, etc..

What do you guys think?

 

Our DD had this, too. She would get a red rash on her face from mylicon drops, applesauce with cinnamon (not regular applesauce) and a few other foods. The rash would be the exact outline of the food smeared on her face. She had really sensitive skin and we had to wash all of her clothes before she could wear them or she would get a rash. Our pedi said it's possible to get a skin rash but not be allergic to the food. My DD is 17 months now, and she has outgrown all of this probably since she was about a year old. HTH, Beth

 

good luck figuring it all out! I thought my ds had some type of allergic reaction on his face last winter... but it ended up just being the cold air! I noticed it again when it got cold here this year too...

 

I notice this happens with my DS a lot. He often develops a rash after eating, no matter what he eats. We've been putting vaseline on his face before he eats and it seems to help.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences too! I'm wondering how long it's going to take to go away. It's still here this morning after a good face washing after dinner and before bed last night. I broke down and put some hydrocortisone cream on it and it seems to be helping it go away. I try not to use it if I don't have too.

It's almost like the mashed potatoes made her have an eczema break out where they were touching her cheeks. It doesn't happen with almost every other food. Something in the potatoes really didn't agree with her skin. Starch maybe?

 

I heard somewhere that any rash around the mouth indicates a food allergy, but I'm not sure I completely buy that. Nate has just been diagnosed with eczema and I know when his skin is dry, he gets very red and raw looking after eating. I think it's the food irritating the dry skin, and it's especially bad when he's eating acidic foods like tomatoes.

Our ped recommended hydrocortizone 1% twice per day, with some sort of lotion or cream on top of that for the eczema. I use plain old Vaseline on his face and it's done wonders. He's gone from looking like he had 2nd degree burns to now looking like the "after" picture on a Clearasil commercial.