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.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

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.

Food Allergies

My heart breaks seeing him suffer. Our last doctor's visit he had lost a pound. They placed him on thyroid medicine and digestive enzymes.

With trial and error I have discovered he's highly allergic to eggs, cashews, almonds, coconut, olive oil, sunflower seeds, cows milk and maybe allergic to corn and bread. I have yet to find a solution or for everyone who believes in formula one that would work. I am still breastfeeding. I added flax oil into my diet to try to get some fat. We will see if that helps.

I did find a recipe to make my own formula which I would highly recommend to those who can't breastfeed. The key to breast feeding that I've learned is calories. If you want to diet, you will never produce enough milk. I am in search of fat and grease and calories because I am breastfeeding. Oddly though the weight still came off no matter how much I try to eat. You have to pack your diet with calories to maintain a milk supply. I think most women are fearful of eating extra food in fear for gaining weight. It's worth it in the end.

Milk, cheese, beef, cashews, almonds, eggs, coconut milk and fish oils were all items that I noticed if I ate would help boost my milk supply. Unfortunately baby is allergic to most of them.

I will never understand formula users. I won't pretend to either. It is a choice so I will refrain from passing judgement. While I think there are better options, it just requires more sacrifice on the moms part. I can't say I'm not jealous. Breastfeeding is hard work but to me it is worth trying to ensure that my child gets the best possible chance there is.

I don't believe not producing enough milk is a reason. There is a reason your body isn't producing its because it requires consistency, dedication, calories, fat and sleepless months and months. I am on a very very limited diet meaning less calories and less fat which means I pump more than the average working mom to get enough milk for my child. In other words I am tired and don't have much time to myself but again it is worth it.

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!

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.

Yellow Skin

Chinese Herbs... It looks bizarre but so far this has been the only thing that has helped us. This looks awful but its amazing compared to what it looked like. The dead skin dries up and flakes off the difference the oozing and raw skin has diappeared.

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.