Dear KP-Parents,
I just discovered this forum and am very excited. Thank you all so much for the information - it is not only useful, but comforting to know I'm not alone. I just spent the last hour reading through the posts and hope to get through all of them, but I have a few questions and hope some of you can answer or direct me to the appropriate posts.

Based on the broad range of successful therapies - it seems I will have to do a lot of 'trial and error' to find a regimen that works best for my daughter. I'm up for the challenge, but would like some guidance from seasoned parents and I'm not sure if all the advice I read is tailored toward a one-year old. My daughter just turned 1 and has had kp for 5 months (dx when she was 7 months old) - it has gotten progressively worse each month. Interestingly her KP started when I stopped breastfeeding, so I will check out the "diet" posts (i have read some of them, but not all).

1) How long to you eliminate a food from the diet before you conclude it doesn't have an effect? My daughter's diet has been cow's milk free for 2.5 weeks. Her skin has not improved at all. I was going to give it a month..is that too short or long?? I'm going to eliminate wheat next.

2) Any comments on goat's milk? Since she's been off cow's milk, she is on soy-formula and goat's cheese and goat's yogurt. Is goat's milk just as allergenic? Perhaps this is why I haven't seen any improvement?

3) Does age of onset correlate w/ disease severity? Based on the posts I read so far, it seems my daughter's kp started a lot earlier than many other children (she started at 7 months old) - does starting earlier mean it will be a "worse" case of KP? When can I expect it to improve? I read all the medical sites on the web (mayo clinic, nih, emedicine, etc) and they give very general information such as "starts in childhood" and "eventually improves". I would love to hear from other parents who have children similar to mine...(ie, kp started before one years old) and how their children are doing.

4) Is one-years old too young to start using the 'acid' and medicated lotions?? I've read about lactic acid, salicyclics, urea, glyolic, etc - some work, some don't - but I didn't specifically read if anyone was using them on 1yr old. I have a bottle of lac-hydrin for my own KP - and I'm considering using it on my daughter. I checked on the web and it said "children under 2" should be fine - but again, i'd like 'real life' wisdom. I will probably try the 'natural' remedies first, but wanted to know my options.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance.

Hi Boopydoo, are you still reading this forum I wonder? I've only just found it and joined and I know your message is old now but I just wonder how you've been getting on. Some of your questions about eliminating dairy and then wheat to try to identify a link between KP and diet are the same things I'm wondering about doing. Just wondering what you discovered and whether you can pass on any tips about how long you have to try for etc.

Jo