"Thanks for your question! Our Healthcare Expert will be answering some questions every week but in the meantime, here's a little tip from our Careline! When baby’s body is exposed to the allergen, it produces an antibody called IgE which then affects the organ systems, causing symptoms ranging from itchy, watery eyes, sneezing and even rashes. Some children are more prone to allergies than others, and family history plays a part too. However, a lot of kids do develop allergies for no apparent reason too. Allergy testing is not as simple as getting a blood or prick test. This is because you need to make sure that what your child has is significant enough to warrant her to go through the entire allergy testing process. This could also be a difficult and anxiety provoking process for a 4-month old. Also, the skin of very young children may not be as reactive as older children and adults and hence, the results need to be interpreted more accurately by the allergist too. For your assurance, a lot of children do outgrow their allergies. What you can do now is to keep a detailed journal to keep track of when the symptoms appear or flare up so that you roughly know what could be the triggers. It is recommended that you speak to your pediatrician for your child's condition."

"Infants with moderately to severe eczema has a higher chance of food triggers estimated to be around 20-30%. Allergen testing by skin prick test can sometimes be difficult if the eczema is generalized as the tests are usually done on the upper back, but this is my preferred method even in a young baby. An alternative is to do a blood test, and perform allergen specific IgE testing. There are many options available for skin moisturizing. Sounds like the eczema is very active, so sometimes I would use wet wraps and consider a short course of topical steroidal creams or non-steroidal creams. The advice is kept general and not a substitute for a consultation. Kindly consult your doctor or pediatrician as a detailed history and examination is important to come to a diagnosis and treatment plan."

"Cetaphil was drying for me so i didn't consider using it for baby.. Sigh."

"Thanks! But baby's rash comes and goes, her face and head gets itchy - she starts rubbing with her hands or rubs her head against the pillow. Her arms and legs are now red and patchy. Again. Her dad has eczema, and I'm ruling out dairy intolerance or my diet being the cause.. She's on a mix of bm and similac. Her diaper area and inner thighs have no rash, that's why I'm suspecting there has to be something she's coming in contact with that's causing it. Maybe detergent, i can't be sure since I'm using baby detergent. One thing for sure is that heat makes it worse"

"It is not advisable and accurate for babies this age to do an allergy test. My boy when he was about less than about a yr old had allergies symptoms too, and sent him to a baby dermatologist at Mt E, and was told no need to do any allergy test. Cos by age 18 mths, they will outgrow their allergy. If u insists, u can still req for it to be done, but there is no need to actually. Have u tried Cetaphil? Also, try to take not what could have caused the flare ups, eg: sweat? Cos bb 4 mths old shd be on milk diet only? So it shd be easy to narrow down the cause?"