ECZEMA IN BREAST FED INFANTS AS A RESULT OF SENSITIZATION TO FOODS IN THE MOTHER'S DIETARY

Abstract

Eczema in breast fed babies has been even more puzzling to physicians than that occurring in the artificially fed, or in adults. Its etiology has been almost wholly a mystery; treatment has been empirical, and results have been as unsatisfactory as one would expect. Recent researches give promise of a rational explanation of the cause and a scientific method for the cure of the condition. It has been shown that breast milk may transmit foreign proteins derived from the foods of the mother and it is contended that these proteins are responsible for eczema in at least a large percentage of breast fed babies.¹It is the purpose of this paper to offer further clinical support for this contention. Since Czerney's work on exudative diathesis appeared his idea of disturbed fat metabolism as a cause of eczema in breast fed babies has dominated opinion largely.²Finklestein's "salt" theory