Avocado or Hummus

After his feeding today he started to turn red which was from milk pumped last week 10/3/2013.

I was eating avocado and hummus that day. Two theories I will be omitting this week. Pray it doesn't her worse as the day continues.

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Monday Breakthrough

Jace looks like a little boy rather than a baby. His skin is poking through. Praying we have crossed the barrier and things will begin to turn around.

I have removed seeds and nuts from my diet and now avocado. I added fish oil to try to replace some of the fats associated with avocado and beef (currently not eating beef either). I added wheat back into my diet Saturday night. I had flour tortillas. I noticed my stomach didn't appear happy about it. I know that stuff is extremely hard on your intestines so we may need to continue to stay away from it.

Yesterday Jace was unhappy if I wasn't holding him. It makes it difficult to get anything done when you're holding a baby. We went to a baseball game in the morning for a little bit. It was nice to get out of the house. The sun didn't seem to bother him at first but 20 minutes later he was scratching. I'm not sure if it's the sun or the plants but he does look so much better than before.

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Mass Hives

Wednesday night Jace was sitting in the living room with dad and started to break out in hives.

It started with his feet turning red like an angry athletes foot burning red and spread up his legs arms and face. The odd part his abs and torso were spotless. The hives were so bad they started to blister and in the center were these white dots. I was heating up his food and it continued to get worse. We gave him a warm bath which it started to calm. Then I tried lotion. The aveeno Eczema cream and the got progressively worse. So bad to the point I was ready to go to the ER. I rushed to the pharmacy and found Benadryl.

The photos are after 1/4tsp of Benadryl. I hate giving him something that clearly states do not use if under the age if 6 YEARS! However even his lips started to swell.

The Benadryl calmed it enough that the swelling and blisters oozed out everywhere. (Strange?) but they still left they mark everywhere. This was the strangest outbreak as it's been 4 hours since his last feeding. For something that severe it is odd to me it was what he ate.

Bright and Early

Big sister woke with a bloody nose. Poor thing had blood everywhere. Perhaps on her way to wake mom she woke brother.

It was still dark outside and She is wide awake freaked out by the massive amount of blood everywhere. Of course I don't blame her. Jace was cooing in his bed. Not an excited I'm awake coo but a purposeful investigative hey-come-get-me sound.

Glad this chair has suddenly become useful. The bath chair we used while sister took a bath and I tried to wake up.

He looks so much better today!

Car seat cover

We are currently working to recover our car seat. I've discovered when Jace is in his seat for long periods (like to the store and back) he gets progressively redder. Turns out he is having an allergic reaction to polyester.

We have a Chicco Keyfit 30 car seat. I contacted the manufacture but they only carry 100% polyester products. They said they could not sell me a pattern nor could they custom make one because it wouldn't have been crash tested. I didn't realize every time they change the carseat cover they crash test them.

I have Chicco car seat, pack and play and highchair that are all 100% polyester. It's strange to watch especially when he sits in the high chair. His face turns bright red.

So far this cover is an in between until the cotton cover is completed. We bought fabric now figuring out how to put it together is the challenge.

It is crazy how just covering it has helped the rash subside. Some doctor's swear this is eczema, but the typical case of eczema doesn't react to the fabric they sit on or get worse when given antibiotics and steroids.

Before Acupuncture

These are photos prior to Jace trying acupuncture. The skin is inflamed red and extremely hot to the touch. It would ooze oils that literally would burn his skin clean off like acid.

We are not cured but its a relief to have patches of skin poking through. It's amazing what a different baby he is. With the majority of his body inflamed and hot he didn't want anyone touching or holding him that ran hotter. My husband is naturally hotter so he didn't want anything to do with him. Me on the other hand I run a degree or two cooler than normal so I was his relief.

Now that he's starting to heal he loves hanging out with his dad. They are so precious together which has helped give me a break as well.

Simple eczema rash

Eczema? This was a few weeks ago after an unexplained flare up. The hardest part about all of this is not knowing.

My problem is I feel like I did this to him. It really is heart breaking. I shouldn't have eaten this while pregnant or taken that or done this... At least this newest doctor tells me nothing I could've done its in our genes... Although I might've done something right by avoiding his shots.

While I'm not anti vaccines I did not vaccinate my children. Had I not had complications during pregnancy and had healthy children yes I probably would've done the shots. Only I have children with compromised immune systems.

Eczema is a blanket answer even if it is an answer. It's used to describe the allergic reaction or something unknown. Because it could be anything it is very hard to cure.

The bandaid cure is steroids. I feel bad for those parents that trust the doctors so willingly. Steroids will (hopefully unless your Jace) clear the reaction. However it doesn't actually clear the allergy. It suppresses it deeper into the child's body so he or she will have complications later on in life.

A couple at my daughters dance class has a boy Jace's age. He too was diagnosed with eczema. Only his parents use steroid cream. It sounds like they have to use it pretty regularly. If they don't use it the rashes will come back. I feel bad for them. Obviously their child is allergic to something or is having complications with something... So scary the long term effects it will have.

The weird part is the glossed over look he gets in his eyes when it happens. You can't tell in this photo but its heart breaking to watch as the hives or red tiny bumps slowly spread. You can literally see them spreading. This was after feeding which I may have narrowed it down to Coconut. So at least we are off coconut.

Happy Baby

Curious Baby

We switched from a Nanny who was caring for Jace and only Jace back to a home daycare sitter.

I was nervous about leaving Jace at a house all day with a number of children.

Day 3 at the sitters and so far he looks less red, less peeling skin and no repetitive scratch marks. On top of that the sitter changed him regularly and is comfortable with the reusable diapers so he had zero wardrobe changes.

He seems a little more irritated when I left. With the Nanny he would willingly go to her and would coo at her. This morning he did not want to let me go and fussed that I was leaving. The sitter said he likes watching the other kids which I think is good for him. I am a little nervous... it is almost like they start out perfect trying to please you and then the get comfortable a few months later and things start to change.

Last night however Jace was awake until 12:30AM when I finally just had enough and let him cry for about 10 minutes before he fell asleep. He would rub his face on my shoulder and whimper. I know it itches but not sure why he was awake. He figured out how to pull the bumper down to see out the crib. it's 100% Organic Cotton so it's not thick and easy to move. The problem... he bangs his head on the wood to get our attention. we might need to go back to the other bedding.

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The New PEDs Dr.

I love our newest PEDs doctor. Maybe I am partial to him because he was my doctor when I was a child. He took all my notes and looked over them. He then looked at my child and said this is definitely not Eczema. 

Anyone who understand Eczema knows that steroids make eczema better not worse. Also eczema doesn't spread. By this time the red bumps were spreading down his child and across his neck. His arms were covered from fingers to elbows and his legs were covered from ankle to knees. The problem that was unexplained was that red bumps would suddenly appear and slowly creep across random areas of his body for no explained reason.

We were told to see a Chiropractor Doctor/Allergist. There is this theory in regards to muscle testing that you can decipher if someone is allergic to foods or items within close proximity to the person by how their muscles react.

He gave us an antifungal medicine to combat the effects of all the antibiotics that we had been given. Unfortunately because babies are developing it was quite possible that the interlining of his intestines were damaged. This was the first time that I had felt relief after visiting a doctor. He told me he wanted me to be on an everything free diet. In other words NO dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs), gluten (wheat, bread, pasta, pastries), soy, nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers), and YEAST. In other words my already limited diet was cut in half. 

The problem: my child's skin dries to the point where it cracks open and bacteria gets inside causing a staph infection. The solution was to keep the skin hydrated. How do you do that when every type of ointment caused the rash to get worse. He suggested that it was quite possible he was allergic to petroleum products.

This theory would make sense why vaseline base products made everything worse. Unfortunately the cream based brands didn't change Jace's condition, but this was an answer different than the blanket answer I kept hearing.

The Allergist

Breathing treatments

Since the Dermatologist made us worse we went to an allergist.


Diagnosis - Eczema
Treatment - 20 minute warm baths, food diary, no lotions or creams, use prescribed ointment
Medications - antibiotic, steroid ointment (stronger than Dermatologist prescribed), Albuterol for a breathing machine and a steroid for the breathing machine.

My child was hardly 4 months old and they gave him 5 refills of steroids and medicine that has serious side effects. I was appalled when I went to his office. First the PA argued with me about my allergies. I was highly allergic to Milk. I know so because when I consumed it prior to being pregnant I couldn't breathe. Whether someone diagnosed me or not I know that my body cannot handle dairy. The PA told me that blood tests are not conclusive in regards to allergies and that the only way to determine if my child is allergic to something is to feed it to him.

I had been keeping a food dairy for a few weeks, but they didn't want to look at my notes. They wanted me to write down everything from that point forward on their printed matrix. I went home with 5 prescriptions for a child that was 12lbs.

I researched albuterol and the harmful effects it has on people. I grew up with asthma. I had been pumped full of all kinds of inhalers and steroids. Had they figured out I was allergic to milk maybe I wouldn't have been tortured with inhalers and living a life thinking there was no solution but life dependent medicine.

Albuterol is a great rescue drug. If you cannot breathe, yes it is important to use. However, the same drug that allows you to breathe also inhibits this by making your body dependent on it. Thus a never ending cycle. It weakens your lungs and your bodies ability to breathe on its own. I have been without steroids and inhalers for 7 years now. When Jace was first given the breathing machine I had to sit with him and hold the mask because he was so tiny. I found that I was breathing in a lot of the fumes myself. I discovered a few times how my lungs cringed and it was almost hard to breathe for no reason at all like they were remembering the difficulties I once had.

I stopped the breathing machine. I filled the steroids but did not use them. I was stuck. On one hand I had a doctor telling me that my child was allergic to water and it was making his condition worse. His counterpart was telling me that I needed to bath him for long periods of time. His theory was to bath him long enough that the pores opened and you could cover him in the harmful meds he had prescribed. He thought it was an allergy not a skin condition. In other words I was doing this to my child.

I was already Gluten (wheat) free, dairy free, soy free, and peanut and almond free and strictly breast feeding.

I started with the bath using bottled water and bathed him until I couldn't stand it any longer. I tried the eczema creams at the stores. Every time any type of cream touched his face he would turn instantly red. By this point he was so red he looked like his skin had been burned. It oozed and crusted. It was so bad that he would scratch would later become infected.

After this point my PEDs doctor wanted to send us to another state. I decided he had given up with he wanted to pump us full of more antibiotics so I found a new PEDs dr.

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The Dermatologist

The peds doctor continued to pump us with antibiotics thinking our unexplained redness would go away. When it didn't... he sent us to a dermatologist...

The Dermatologist... he made me the angriest of all the doctors put together. He diagnosed my child with eczema before I had even removed him from the baby buggy. He laughed at me when I said it is not eczema. He didn't listen a word I said. He said that it was eczema and that I would be back in three days thanking him for saving my child. He said he could've diagnosed him from across the waiting room. Apparently all red faced babies who are teething have eczema.

Diagnosis - Eczema
Treatment - no bathing, cover the child in vaseline from head to foot, no water, use prescribed ointment
Medications - antibiotic and steroid ointment

He told me that it is a RASH, and it was nothing that I was doing to my child or that I was putting into my body because I am breastfeeding. His diagnosis was a RASH. He gave some speech about how my child was too clean and I bathed him too much. I hadn't bathed him in 2 weeks, but according to him the water I wasn't using was causing this red scaled bumpy skin.

Against my better judgement I went to the store and bought all the ointment creams he suggested. Vaseline, Aquafor, Eucerin, Steroids, and more antibiotics.

I covered my child's face from chin to forehead in vaseline. Within minutes the red rash around his chin and ears spread from ear to ear and slowly continued to crawl across his nose and across his forehead. I headed back to the PEDs doctor even more panicked. The PEDs doctor called the dermatologist while I waited to discuss his remedy. He stood by his answer saying that my child has eczema and that he stands by his diagnosis.

The steroids... I didn't cover my child in this medicine which was suggested. I took a tiny amount and placed it around his ear to see what effect it would have. The nickel size red patch reduced to the size of a dime and then a few hours later it was three times the size and oozing with a yellow liquid that turned into a crust and the next morning blood was oozing from his ear.

Photo - after ointment remedies (soon spread to nose and forehead)