Diet taboos for children with acute rash

First, you must not add new foods that you have never eaten before. Second, you must temporarily avoid highly irritating, highly allergenic, and difficult-to-digest foods. Third, you must not blindly avoid all foods that will lead to insufficient nutritional intake. Most of the other "no food" and "no meat and fish" spread online actually have no clear scientific basis, so there is no need to be overly anxious.

When my baby was 10 months old, he suffered from acute rash. The rash broke out after three days and nights of fever. My mother took away my freshly steamed egg custard and said, "If you have a rash, eating eggs will leave scars and make the rash difficult to get out." I was so frightened that I quickly called my best friend who is a pediatric nurse and discovered that many families have fallen into the pit of excessive dietary taboos related to this disease. Speaking of which, I browsed several parenting platforms at the time, and they all said anything. Some said that even milk should be stopped, and some said that you can eat anything. My head was spinning at the time, but later I figured out that the core thing is to see the baby's reaction.

What’s interesting is that there are indeed differences in the views of traditional parenting and modern evidence-based medicine on this issue: the “food taboos” often mentioned by the older generation are based on the past experience of poor living conditions, generally poor nutritional status of children, and weak immunity during the rash period that can easily induce other allergic problems. It is not completely unreasonable now, but there is no need to extend it to all animal foods. For example, some Chinese medicine doctors recommend avoiding highly allergenic foods such as seafood, mango, and pineapple for three days during the rash period. The general view of evidence-based pediatricians is that as long as there is no history of allergies to these foods before, it is perfectly fine to eat them normally. Both views are actually reasonable. You can choose based on the situation at home, and there is no need to argue about right or wrong.

The only thing that really has to step on the red line is new food. Two months ago, I met a mother who was walking her baby in the community. The day after her baby had a rash, she prescribed a new Blueberry Soybean because she had a fever and lost his appetite. As a result, the baby developed a red rash around his mouth that night and had diarrhea. He went to the emergency room overnight. The doctor couldn't immediately tell whether it was an allergy to Soybean or an accompanying symptom of an acute rash. It took him two full days of observation before he was relieved. He suffered a lot for nothing. After all, the immune status of children during the rash period is inherently more volatile than usual. Things that they were not allergic to before may be temporarily intolerant, let alone new foods that they have never tried. If allergies are mixed with the symptoms of acute rash, it is too easy to misjudge. It is better to suspend the introduction of new complementary foods during this period for a week. It is not too late to add new foods after the rash has gone away. It really has no impact to eat new foods a few days later.

Also, don’t give your baby anything that is too exciting, such as French fries, candied fruits, or braised pork with heavy ingredients. After a fever, your child’s gastrointestinal function will be weak, and digestive enzymes will be secreted less. Eating these high-oil, sugar, and salt foods will cause indigestion and flatulence in mild cases, and vomiting and diarrhea in severe cases. The illness that should have been cured in 3 days will end up with a lack of energy for a week. There is no need. If your child is prone to getting rashes and rubbing his eyes after eating seafood, you can temporarily avoid it during this period to avoid aggravating the discomfort. If your child usually eats anything, there is no problem at all. Steam cod, boil some minced shrimp and put it in porridge.

There is really no need to starve your baby for some unfounded taboos. The baby has had a fever for 3 days. How much energy has been consumed on the body? He has no appetite and eats very little. If he is not allowed to eat anything, his immunity will not improve and he will recover slowly. My family listened to my best friend's advice, and except for adding no new complementary foods, we gave her the usual steamed eggs, minced chicken, and pumpkin puree. Although the baby ate less than usual, he was not hungry. The day after the rash started, he felt energetic and went to pull the cat's tail. It’s funny to say that. I also saw some people saying that not eating even coriander would cause more rashes. Now that I think about it, I was really overly nervous.

In fact, acute rash in young children is a minor disease that "it will be fine once the fever subsides and the rash appears." There really aren't that many rules when it comes to diet. The key is not to add new foods randomly, don't give too heavy food, and don't starve the baby. The rest can be done as comfortably as you want, and you don't have to make the whole family nervous.