When your child has eczema, packing their school lunchbox can feel risky but it doesn't have to be. Some foods may flareup eczema while others make skin (and minds) calmer too. Let's break down which foods to watch out for, and which ones to pack with confidence.
When concentration is broken, children with eczema can struggle to keep up with learning and may fall behind their classmates. Over time, this can chip away at their confidence, which is why what your child eats at school may matter more than you'd think.
Parents often ask how they can help their child feel more comfortable at school. One simple step is to avoid eczema flare-up foods in their lunchbox, helping to minimise the risk of flare-ups during class. And it's worth packing a good rash cream too, so they have something on hand if their skin gets uncomfortable during the day.
In this blog you will learn:
- Top 5 worst lunchbox foods for eczema
- Foods to avoid with eczema
- Eczema lunchbox ideas for kids
When you read Worst Food #5 don't freak out.
There is no denying that children love sugary treats and this blog is not telling you to deprive your child for life (I promise).
An eczema-friendly lunchbox can help to minimise pain, so your child itches less and concentrates more while at school.
Remember, this is the worst lunchbox foods. You can feed your child all of these foods if you want to, at any time, even when at school. You can choose to save them for special occasions or the weekend or holidays or choose the eczema-friendly alternatives while your child has eczema.
A healthy lunchbox is linked to setting healthy boundaries, and it teaches your child how to delay gratification, which is an important life skill.
This is what I mean by setting healthy boundaries. And it made my life a lot easier when raising my eczema baby, Ayva Lily.
When my daughter was in primary school, about the age of eight we had this constant argument about foods.
Every day we walked passed the local grocery shop on the way to and from school. My daughter would always hassle me to buy her an icy pole (ice lolly/ice block). It was right there, inside the shop, waiting for her to buy it and she could not understand why sometimes it was okay but other times it was not.
Every day there were arguments and tears. Until I did this one thing:
I told her when she could have the treat.
I used this slogan:
"Iceblock day is Friday after school",
and she heard it every day for a week, then on Friday she got her treat—a lemonade ice lolly as it was the only type that was 'eczema friendly'—low salicylate and free of artificial colours.
Soon after, instead of demanding an icy pole, on the way to school she asked "When is it Friday?" Kids learn quickly and we never had another argument about it. But don't quote me on that, it was a long time ago.
Worst Lunchbox Foods For Eczema
There are lunchbox foods that trigger eczema in children, and they can quietly make skin incredibly itchy, and that discomfort can make it hard for them to concentrate in class. Here are the top 5 lunchbox items to avoid, along with some eczema-friendly alternatives.
1. Margarine, a hidden eczema trigger?
It's the fake butter we were told was a better choice for our health, but is it?
Margarines are made from vegetable oils and have been touted as a healthy alternative to butter but research is emerging to suggest otherwise. According to a large cross-sectional study in Germany, families who predominantly use margarine (as opposed to butter) are more likely to have children who develop eczema by age two (Bolte, 2001).
While genetics play a role in the appearance of eczema, the same researchers found that frequent consumption of vegetable oils, margarine or frying fats during the last four weeks of pregnancy significantly increases the risk of having a child who develops eczema by age two.
Why is margarine an eczema trigger?
- According to research from the RPA Hospital allergy unit, more than 40% of eczema sufferers react to artificial colours, which are common in margarines
- antioxidants BHA/320 and 319 also trigger eczema symptoms in 21% of people with eczema, and
- food preservatives cause a worsening of eczema symptoms in more than 50% of eczema sufferers (Loblay and Swain, 1986).
There is another problem with margarines: they are rich in omega-6 fatty acids. Eczema sufferers often can’t process omega-6 correctly so the fatty acids become pro-inflammatory and form leukotrienes which can create eczema flares.
The verdict: margarine and skin inflammation may be linked, but more research is needed to confirm this. Still, it is best to limit margarine if your child has eczema. A safer option may be a small amount of pure butter, if your child is not allergic to dairy.
Pure butters in Australia include Just Organic butter (from Aldi) and Mainland Buttersoft. If choosing butter, avoid brands that contain any kind of additives, especially annatto/160b as they may flare up eczema.
2. Munch and crunch: dried fruits, grapes, kiwi fruit and citrus
Munch and crunch is a great school ritual to get kids eating more fresh produce, but not all fruit and veg snacks are eczema-friendly, so it helps to choose your child's munch and crunch items wisely.
Many popular fruits like apples, grapes, kiwi fruit and citrus, and processed fruit sticks, are naturally high in salicylates and/or amines, common eczema and food sensitivity triggers.
One parent noticed her son would wriggle and twitch through class, and his teacher even commented on how “he’s the child that can’t sit still”. It turned out to be the apples. On a low salicylate diet for one week, he sat perfectly still and was able to concentrate better.
Dried fruit can be just as tricky. One dried apricot contains around 16mg of sulphur dioxide, a sulfite preservative that can worsen itching and make concentration harder for the rest of the day. Sulfites are considered an "anti-nutrient," as they destroy vitamin B1 and folic acid, and may trigger eczema flares and asthma attacks in sensitive individuals. Sulfite-free dried fruits like dates, sultanas, raisins and prunes exist, but they're very high in salicylates and amines, which can also worsen eczema.
In our systematic review on food chemicals and eczema, we found 31% of people with eczema experience flareups from histamine-rich foods, and 53% have flareups from salicylates (Fischer, 2025).
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High-salicylate fruits: grapes, kiwi fruit, avocado, plums, passionfruit, pineapple, strawberries
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High-histamine triggers: citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and mandarins
The verdict: fruit is not off the menu entirely. Eczema-friendly fruits include a handful of blueberries and small amounts of pear, ideally peeled.
Image: Blueberries are rich in antioxidants for healthy skin, while being low in salicylates, when eaten in moderation. They are the best fruit for eczema.
3. Dairy Products
Dairy products including cow’s milk, flavoured milks, cheese and yoghurts are common lunchbox items but they could be making your child itchy at school. Here’s why.
- according to Australian researchers Loblay and Swain, 38% of eczema sufferers are allergic to dairy (diagnosed by a skin prick test)
- a systematic review reported 36.4% of people with eczema have challenge-proven allergy or intolerance to dairy products.
Baked dairy products may be better tolerated (e.g. baked into a muffin).
When natural is not best for eczema:
Many brands of yoghurts, including yoghurts made for children, often contain a natural colouring called annatto which can be listed as 160b or 'natural colouring' on the ingredients panel. However annatto should be avoided as it can cause eczema flare-ups and other documented adverse reactions including skin rashes, obsessive head banging, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches and learning difficulties in sensitive individuals.
The verdict: Make your child's lunchbox dairy-free for at least 4 weeks to see if it helps your child's skin, and use eczema-friendly alternatives such as organic oat milk or rice milk. Skip yoghurt in the lunchbox as even the non-dairy ones (coconut based) are rich in salicylates and sugar, which can make eczema itchier.
While everyone is different, pure butter tends to be better tolerated than most dairy products.
4. Fruit juice sugar: eczema trigger... or is it something else?
Besides the risk of tooth decay, children with eczema or asthma are often better off avoiding fruit juice or saving it for special occasions (as a treat).
That's because fruit juices may trigger eczema flare-ups and asthma attacks in kids who are prone to these conditions. Here's why:
Mixed juices containing grape juice and other fruits are packed with three itch-promoting natural chemicals: salicylates, MSG and amines (Malakar, 2017; Loblay and Swain, 1986). Any type of juice could give your child a maddening itch because all juices are rich in salicylates (you'll find more information on these chemicals throughout the Eczema Life blog).
The verdict: skip the juice and pack a water bottle in their eczema-friendly lunchbox instead. Filtered water is fantastic for both the skin and overall health, and a Brita water filter jug is an inexpensive way to filter tap water at home so it tastes better.
5. Junk food additives and eczema
Chocolates, doughnuts, cream buns, flavoured chips and soft drink (sodas) are common junk foods culprits that can worsen an eczema itch and may contribute to uncontrolled flareups.
Is it the sugar or the additives in junk food, like doughnuts and lollies, making kids itchy and unable to concentrate in class? It's probably the additive, but some kids react to sugar too.
High levels of refined salts, sugars, trans fats, preservatives and artificial additives in takeaway food are thought to drive eczema, asthma and hay fever symptoms. Research from Auckland University, using international data from almost two million children and adolescents, found kids eating fast food three or more times a week were significantly more likely to develop severe eczema, with young children 27% more likely and teenagers 39% more likely to develop severe asthma.
The same researchers found vegetable-rich diets helped: teenagers eating three or more daily servings saw an 11% reduction in eczema symptoms, and young children saw 14% improvement.
- Meat pies and sausage rolls contain nitrates linked to worsened eczema symptoms in 43% of eczema sufferers.
- In our systematic review, chocolate intolerance affected around 41% of children with eczema, compared to 12% of adults (unpublished data).
The verdict: minimising junk food and food additives may help reduce eczema flare-ups and itchy skin at school. Every child is different, so the best way to identify your child's personal eczema trigger foods is to remove a few suspect foods for a few weeks, then reintroduce them one at a time to pinpoint which ones cause a skin reaction.
Eczema Lunchbox Ideas For Kids
- Water is the best drink for eczema. Keep itchy kids hydrated.
- Munch and crunch options: peeled carrot or peeled celery sticks (unpeeled is stringy and unpleasant to eat so peel them to make these pleasant to eat), and fresh blueberries or a small amount of pear.
- Treats: Lemonade icy poles, white marshmallows, and plain potato chips may be okay too, if they are free of colours and other additive. Note potato chips can have vegetable oils with hidden BHA (320), which can flare up eczema so check for reactions on a non-school day.
- Butter may be better than margarine
- Homemade blueberry muffins, made with ingredients to suit your child's allergies
- Plain rice crackers with no flavour enhancers (avoid numbers), no seaweed or soy sauce
Image: Our blueberry muffin, test recipe (designed to test food intolerances)
Help for eczema school kids
Sensitive children need firm, confident parenting. Because when kids act crazy in public places or get itchy and scratch their skin until it bleeds, due to additives or salicylates, we all suffer.
A few tweaks in their diet may help their eczema and their confidence, and it's comforting to know you can do something to help ease the itch. It could begin with a more eczema-friendly lunchbox.
Find lunchbox menus and recipes in The Eczema Diet book. See below for details and check out the FAQs below for more tips to get your child on board with an eczema-friendly lunchbox.
