Introduction

I knew something was different when Colin was just a little baby, his baby "acne" didn't clear up, I bought a Moby to wear him and every time I wore him, he got overheated and irritated looking.  By the time he was 3 months old, it was clear, my baby boy had eczema....but not just anywhere....everywhere. His face, arms, chest, back, legs, hands and feet were all covered.

October 6, 2010

In these pictures Colin was not yet 4 months old, as you can see, he had already become an expert scratcher. I, dealing with eczema my whole life and moderately with my oldest daughter, knew immediately what it was...and so on to the remedies.

October 17, 2010

Oatmeal facials and bathes, vitamin E oil rubbed in the skin, plain water bathes, various lotions and ointments, switching over detergents and the list goes on and on, I tried remedy after remedy, sought advice from friends and family.... nothing worked.....

October 19, 2010

Leg

Arm

It seemed to get worse and worse by the minute sometimes! There were days that were just, okay, but never any thing substantial. When we took him to the pediatrician she prescribed some ointment and for then, that was to be square one. I wasn't too thrilled to have him on more meds, but I was desperate.

We then heard of a woman, through word of mouth, that had started a company of all natural products because her son had eczema, they carry an eczema kit, that was supposed to work magic! So the first chance we got we purchased it and boy! were we amazed!!

The results were fast! Stunning! and surprising! He looked wonderful!! 

We went from 

to

All Natural

I regret to say our joy was short lived, as fast as it worked, we were back to the start. I do still use these products for myself and I am very pleased with them, I think Colin's case was just more then they were intended to handle. Back to black and white pictures, back to being stared at and questioned in the grocery store, back to feeling hopeless.

I soon scheduled another appointment, it was obvious something major had to be done, and so we were referred to a dermatologist. The appointment was scheduled for January and boy, it could not come fast enough....at this point I was borderline depressed over the whole thing. Itching, Oozing, Scratching, Weeping, Bathes, Medicines, Stares...I didn't even leave the house with him anymore, I turned all the errands over to my husband, I couldn't understand why people couldn't look passed the eczema and see what a truly beautiful boy he was, it was heartbreaking. 

We made the hour long trip to UVA and met with some wonderful Dr's that developed a specialized plan for his skin care, we were happy to have something in hand to hopefully bring some relief to the situation. I started immediately, bleach bath, don't dry, mix ointment and cream for face, mix ointment and cream for body, cover head to toe in vaseline, benedryl once a day. GOT IT! Slowly but surely we saw improvements, with the occasional patch of rash here and there and some residual redness on previously effected areas.

Beautiful <3

When he started eating baby food I was very, very cautious. I knew that allergies and eczema walked hand in hand and so 1 baby food at a time, it was. Then after a while there came a day when I was like, you know what, let's try something different, you have done fine so far, i'll bet you'd like mac & cheese ! and so we tried, and what a mistake that was....within 15 minutes, he had the tell tale signs of an allergic reaction, a sift and severe outbreak of eczema on his face, lips swollen and all that. OnWARD! to the ER! 

Needless to say, we were back to being less adventurous with his eating endeavors. When we came home I looked at the ingredients of the food he had eaten......tuna oil!? Does this say tuna oil!? Well that makes perfect sense, seeing as how my oldest is allergic to fish, it HAD to be that! Everything seemed to be taking pace and moving forward.  Then I did it again, only this time I fed him this.... and Oh my GOSH, what a mistake..his face turned deep scarlet red, his nose started making profuse amounts of snot and hives alllll over....Back to the ER. This time I was clueless, I cross checked and couldn't find anything that I saw as a possible trigger...

A little bit of time passed and his eczema seemed to want to rebel again, I was having a harder time controlling it and it seemed to have a mind of it's own, I called his derm and an appointment was scheduled for the next Monday. At this time I told her about his allergic reactions and how his eczema wouldn't clear up even though I was doing the same thing. She made a few adjustments and a few more prescriptions and an appointment with an allergist.

Again, his skin started doing better and the next week we went back to UVA for the allergist. Needless to say, there were positive reactions.

He was prescribed and EpiPen Jr and we were told what to avoid, given some resources and told to continue on with the derm's skin regimen. I had printed out and taken along the ingredients for the foods he had reacted to and the only common thing was whey derived from milk.... he tested positive for milk, along with eggs and peanuts.

We have done a lot of research and joined groups and forums, we have cried and felt out of control, we are afraid to take chances and so, even with the eggs and peanuts having a 50% chance of being wrong, we have voided our lives of these products, at least until he is retested before he starts school to see if anything changes.

Which leads me to this blog. I will be recording what steps we take, changes we go through, eating habits we get rid of and what we take on.This will include recipes, Dr's advice, life changes, challenges we face and overcome. 

I look forward to sharing this adventure with you.