ECZEMA
I am writing this blog for the moms who are currently desperate to get some sleep because their child wakes them up all night itching. My son woke me up all night long starting at around nine or ten months. After he had his first initial allergic reaction to peanuts, he began waking up all night long. I finally put him in the bed with me, since I was the one waking up, not my husband. It was easier to have a bottle by the bed and feed him. He craved milk all night long. We finally just started substituting with water, as a friend suggested, and he began waking up a little less. A little. lol! Now i would say if he wakes up, it is maybe once or twice for unknown reasons (I believe stomach pain is causing this). Life is alot better in that sense now.
My first two children had a normal amount of eczema. They were like many other newborns/infants and had it on their face. My youngest child, now 2, had it first on his face as a newborn. I thought it was normal and it progressed a little bit, but nothing to worry about too much. I thought it was from breast-feeding and his face getting milk on it, then laying skin to skin while nursing, causing his skin to become irritated.
As Asher got older, he began to have severe bouts of bright red circles around his eyes, like a raccoon. He would break out all over. I have tried so many different remedies. I tried the African Black soap from the naturopathic store, We even noticed the perfume free/dye free detergent broke him out. We now wash all of his clothing when new because the dye breaks him out. He is allergic to dust mites, so he breaks out worse when he has been sitting in the floor for extended periods of time as well.
At the advice of his allergist, we have removed all red and yellow dyes as much as possible. Honestly, I have removed all food dyes as much as I can. There is a healthy alternative, which are products with natural food dyes from items such as beet juice. We are slowly learning.
To this day, we are still battling the eczema. He will have severe flare ups. We can use Aveeno, but citric acid can irritate eczema in a child. FYI.... buy the one with the dark blue lid. It is not as tough on your child's skin flare up. There are many things you may see in my posts that a Dr. may fight to the death to disprove, however I have documented everything with photos, so I can see the various reactions and go back over what may have caused them. I have already had a slight debate with two allergists, who we are no longer using, because I told them he breaks out from fruits and anything with citric acid. They claimed it was impossible because it would show up on an allergy test. The third and final allergist, whom we LOVE, agreed and said citric acid doesn't have to show up on a test and can have much to do with eczema flare ups and can be connected to peanut allergies as well.
We removed dairy from his diet for the most part, and use rice milk. We have gone to a gluten free cereal, but I am sure it has some form of gluten in it. It is a no brainer to keep him away from smoke and I also keep him away from animals too, since he is allergic to dogs.
Now for some helpful info. I am finding in my research that a child can be tested for H. Pylori, and it can still come back negative when in fact they are positive. That is the case with many tests. H Pylori and other intestinal parasites can be the culprit with eczema. It is best to check it out, because the entire eczema ordeal can be intertwined with acid reflux and then later asthma, then can progress to food and/or environmental allergies, and can just go on and on and on in a domino effect. Our son is being tested on Tuesday for parasites. He was previously tested in a regular lab, and his results were normal, but I know in my heart this is the issue. I will be posting more on this hopefully in less than a week when I receive his results. Dairy is a culprit and yeast overgrowth in the gut. I am checking into the Vitamin levels being low as well as magnesium, iron, zinc, and even thyroid being low too. Check your childs temperature everyday, and if it is running below 98.6....really more in the 96-97'ish range, this is an indication your child has low thyroid as well.
I am not a fan of steroid creams, but I am also a mom who weighs my options when the dr's recommend a new medicine. Right now, it would be cruel to withhold anything that could provide him relief. I do believe in natural meds, but... I will make sure that he has a regimen established and his skin clears up first before using the holistic route first. My son is currently on a steroid cream mixed with a perfume free/dye free lotion. He is also on a very expensive cream that he uses once a day. It should be like gold due to the price and the amount of time it took the insurance company to approve it. :-) . I am thankful that our allergist is not a fan of steroids either unless it is an emergency, such as a severe reaction to an allergen.. etc. My son is also on Singulair granules, half a pack a day sprinkled in his drink. He is taking a prescription strength antihistamine three times a day, and a medicine for his stomach twice a day. Also Vitamin D drops daily due to a deficiency.
