Get off your elimination diet (and turn this sad plate frown upside down 😄). Let's get your child's diet back on track and make it as broad as possible!
If your child has IgE food allergies, work with your practitioner to determine what's appropriate. It's critical you work with your practitioner regarding the specifics of your case because we can't cover those here, and food reactions, depending on the severity, can be life-threatening.
In the absence of IgE food allergies, you can do the following:
Pick the top foods you want to add back into the diet.
If you took out the top allergens (eggs, dairy, wheat, fish, shellfish, soy, peanuts, tree nuts), and your child does not have a medically identified allergy to them, and you aren't noticing a difference with them out, they should be on the list to add back in. Keeping out the top allergens increases the risk of developing an allergy to them later.
Other foods that should be on the list to add back in are any of the healthy, whole real foods you removed (based on speculation or even IgG testing) that you miss the most/most want your child to eat.
For a classic re-introduction schedule, you'd do the following
On day 1, pick the first food, and your child will consume it at least twice that day, separated by 3-4 hours.
It will be the purest form of that food. For example, if you want to try chocolate, you’ll use cocoa. If there are any reactions, this will allow you to trace them to the food better. If you used milk chocolate in this example, you wouldn't know if the cocoa, milk, sugar, etc., is causing the problem.
The rest of your child's diet will remain the same except for this one, new food introduction.
On day 2, you will remove that food again and remain on the normal diet you've been following.
If there are no reactions, on day 3, you will try the next food using the same process.
On day 4, remove the food you tried on day 3 and remain on the normal diet you've been following.
Day 5, try the next food...
If you aren't sure if a food caused a reaction, stop eating it, wait for the reaction/symptoms to stop (this may take a few days), and then repeat the process with the same food.
If any foods cause a reaction, stop eating them, and wait for the reaction/symptoms to stop before trying the next food (this may take a few days). Foods that are confirmed to be reactive can be kept out of the diet.
Once a food is tolerated (can't pinpoint a reaction to it), keep it in the diet!
Careful monitoring of symptoms is essential. Here is a document to help do this (make a copy and save it to your computer): Food Re-Introduction Tracker
I’ll touch on gluten because it comes up a lot, too. No one needs to sit around and eat gluten all day long. It has no nutritional value, and there are plenty of gluten-free foods you can feed your child instead. Even if you don’t notice a big difference in your child’s skin with or without gluten, it is absolutely a problem. It can prevent true healing from taking place because it is inflammatory and it wrecks the gut. In the absence of celiac disease or identified gluten sensitivity/intolerance, I think it’s reasonable to allow your child to enjoy treats for special occasions or when you’re out and about and options are limited, but there’s no reason for gluten to be a dietary staple, especially when your child is struggling with chronic skin rashes.
Keep out foods that you know trigger reactions or that your child has a confirmed allergy to and that you've been advised to avoid. They should not be part of the re-introduction process.
It's critical you work with your practitioner regarding the specifics of your case because we can't cover those here, and food reactions, depending on the severity, can be life-threatening.