The Eczema Saga

Sean probably has had his eczema for about 3 months now. We have since be able to control it, but it isn't going away. I have learned as much as I think I can about the issue and got as much advice as I can handle (sample below), but I'm really starting to think it's due to a milk protein allergy. That would explain his eczema and the constant runny/stuffy nose he seems to have had since birth and had never really gone away. So, just yesterday, we switched him to a, more expensive, soy based formula. I'm of course hoping that it works, however, I have read that up to 50% of kids with the milk protein allergy, also have the a soy allergy. This condition is hereditary..and all of dan's nieces have the issue and eventually had to switch to the Elecare formula.

Update:
Um...after some research, I'm really confused. I'm not sure what I'm feeding him :( I guess it's not soy based... and I'm confused if its non soy and non dairy..or if it's just a broken down milk protein. It shouldn't be this difficult to figure out.

• Perry Peterson Food allergy?

  March 28 at 10:59am · Like
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  Tina Whiting Awe poor little guy I feel so bad for him!

  March 28 at 11:15am · Like
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  Nena Garcia We had to switch to non scented soaps and lotion. aveeno (or the generic equivalent) is what we switched to. Theres a few more brands that were suggested let me know if you want those too. Also we had to stay with the baby laundry soap (not dreft)or the free and clear ones. She still breaks out a little bit once in a while but it has definitely gotten better.

  March 28 at 11:20am · Like · 1
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  Holly Povish Aww poor little guy! Mittens and cream to hopefully help?

  March 28 at 11:25am · Like
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  Amber Patterson I recommend Vanicream, it's the only lotion I can use and is safe for children. My mom had to keep my nails really short and I slept with mittens. The daycare has to be careful of cleaning products they use too.

  March 28 at 11:47am · Like
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  Sandy Semrow Giese I was just reading that coconut oil is supposed to be very helpful for this?

• The ONLY thing that ever worked for my son's eczema was Gentle Naturals Eczema cream. It has become more difficult to find, but WELL worth it. Cleared it up within two weeks of the first treatment.

  March 28 at 2:37pm · Like
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  Marie Crotty Aww poor little guy!

  March 28 at 3:30pm · Like
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  Michelle Schultz Adalynn gets really red patches on her cheeks that look like wind burn but its just super dry areas. I use eucerin aquaphor healing ointment on the areas and it helps a lot. I also only give her a bath ever 3-4 days with aveeno baby wash. I hope that might help 

  March 28 at 3:57pm · Like

4th Trimester

So, this past weekend I participated in this: http://4thtrimesterbodies.com/stephanie-stach/

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm not a person who is comfortable with their body and I wasn't comfortable sharing my entire story with everyone - so i'm not sure i'm really a good candidate to participate. I had the option to pick the photo that would be used, but I didn't like myself in any of them, so I just had the photographer pick the one she liked best. In addition, the shoot went nothing like I had planned. Sean was in a bad mood and wasn't his normal happy self, so there were no smiles from either of us. I was going to share more of my story too, but as I was talking I could feel myself ready to cry so I held back. I'm debating contacting the project and submitting the rest of my story so they can use it in book. A friend of mine who inspired me to do, didn't end up actually going through. However, after she saw my photo, she said I had inspired her and she contacted the project to participate. I was sent home with two bonus shots, below:

Bragging

I obviously think highly of Sean, but I guess so do the ladies at daycare!
A bunch of them seem to think he's the happiest baby around, hardly ever cries, always happy, will sleep through just about anything, and is even happy when other babies are upset.
Almost from day one they said he took to daycare a lot better than most.
Just last week one of his teacher's told me he's the youngest in his room and is more physically advanced then some of the other babies.

Go Sean! Momma so proud :)

Starting to move

He's starting to roll over more consistently now..mostly from back to tummy but he will also do tummy to back, just not as much right now. We are also starting to need to strap him into his chair now b/c he's squirming out.  When he's on his back he moves around the floor pretty good by doing a sort of dolphin move.

He's definitely not crawling yet, but he's sort of getting close. he has the legs and but down, but he doesn't seem to have the arm strength yet.

Skin History Update

He finally saw this doc yesterday. I guess the rash he has all over his body is actually eczema too. So, we have to start him on steroid cream :(. Two types, one for his body and a lower strength one for his face. And we have to use Aquaphore on top of that. 2-3 times a day. So basically we are the farthest away from natural remedies that I can think of. But I can't seem to find any natural remedies that work for his case. The exceptionally cold winter we are having is making things more difficult to manage. Also, unfortunately doc thinks it could take up to 2 months to clear up.

Holy Pimples Batman!

I'm breaking out like crazy, almost fast enough that I can see it happen.

Also, Sean is still in 3mon onsies (he's almost 4months old) but he's in 6month jammies (anything w/ legs on them). We seem to be getting his eczema under control with the use of California baby calendula cream. It's not gone, but it's looking much better. It's pricey, but good. I gave a jar to daycare since they are around him so much.

Sean's (rough) skin history

He was born with extremely dry skin - supposedly due to being nearly "overcooked".
Once he was done shedding like a snake..he developed baby acne.
Now that the baby acne is gone, he has developed what seems to be eczema and a general rash.
We have just tended to let things run their course, but now we are trying to manage.. I am trying to keep him moisturized as much as possible and put my essential oils on him. We are also going to start washing his clothes in a gentile detergent.
Oh yeah, he also malls his head with his finger nails so bad that his head is bleeding and full of cuts. We also tried to manage that but it's getting out of control. He has officially lost his hand privileges and we are keeping mittens on him at all times with the exception of gym time. So, i'm also working on keeping those healed. They do seem to heal pretty well/fast, but they just keep reappearing.

 I hope things will just run their course and we don't have a long battle with allergies and things.