Oozing cheeks - 3 variables - Thoughts?

[capsgirl08]

It's always up and down on the rollercoaster -- I don't think we've been at baseline in a long time. Right now, he's had red cheeks for a while, and they've gotten redder, and now he's scratching at it. Found him in the stroller today with blood all over his cheeks and hand

I had put coconut oil on it on Sunday, 2 days ago -- didn't see a reaction, so I continued. No change until today's bright red.

Today, I had put Vanicream on it. DS has wheat allergies --- and I noticed a "stear" ingredient in Vanicream. Someone mentioned that those are wheat derivatives. Is this so? We put it on the rest of o his body with no problems that we can see.

Just started eating corn again last night. Why did I do this? I guess I just thought there was no way he could be allergic to corn --- I'd cut out gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, fish, and figured corn should be safe.

Any of those 3 things seem like a *more* likely cause than the others? I know this kind of a figure-it-out-yourself kind of question...just wondering if anyone thought the Vanicream could have caused it.

Thank you!

[capsgirl08]

I just remembered. We had him in the nursery for a few minutes on Sunday, so I could change his diaper. There were babies walking around with cups of Cheerios. I tried to keep him away from them. He managed to crawl away from me for a bit as I was changing his diaper, and I think he touched one.

He also put a toy to his mouth. Something I've been wondering for a while is whether the detergents we use in our dishwasher or the cleaners they use for the toys in the nursery could be irritating his chin/cheeks.

Or whether it's just that there are always Cheerios everywhere despite me telling the workers he's allergic.

Oh well. I guess this time there's just too many variables...

[Chinese Pistache]

When you were on the ED , what WERE you eating? It seems like there is still some food in your/his diet that's causing the oozing cheeks.

[capsgirl08]

My diet: (Breastfeeding)

Meats: Chicken, Beef, Turkey, Pork, Lamb (Not more than 1 day per meat...but I got a little slack this past week -- groceries tough to get...)

Veggies: Spinach, Beets, Carrots, Squash (Yellow, Zucchini, Pumpkin only), Potatoes (Just in the past couple of weeks), and as I said above, I just had Corn last night.

Fruits: Mangos, Pineapples, Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries

Liquids: Water, Rice Dream Original Enriched Rice Milk

Oils: Olive, Coconut, Canola

Spices: Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary

Snacks: Enjoy Life Chocolate Chip Cookies, Rice Cakes, Cassava Chips - olive oil, cassava, sea salt. Just made zucchini bread last night -- brown/white rice flour, tapioca flour, xantham gum (corn, I know), vanilla (corn again).


DS's diet (10 months, today! )

Breastmilk throughout the day and night (co-sleeps)

Solids for dinner only: Just started sweet potatoes again after a 3 month break from all solids. Also had turkey and carrots.

Other back info: DS doing well as far as weight -- 26lbs. Was 10lbs at birth. Had jaundice --- was guilted into formula feeding by doctors (didn't know better!). Labored over a day until C-Section. Took Singulair for my asthma for a month while pregnant. Had thrush after birth, and was given antibiotics. DS on abx 2x since birth for staph. Also had cortisone for a while, but haven't used that in over 5 months.

LOTS of spitup and projectile since birth -- noticed it stopped when I forgot to buy yogurt at Costco. Doctors dismissed my hunch as "folk medicine" ideas.
Eczema started at 3 months,
Started having green, mucusy, frothy poops at 5 months.
Full body eczema blowout at 7 months. Cut out wheat and it all went away in 3 days, except for face.
Constipation -- Not pooping more than once every 4-6 days. Liquidy and vinegary dark yellow/orange.


Wow, well, I got a bit carried away. It has been tough sticking to the diet lately -- been on it since Christmas --- it hasn't really been that long, but it feels like it. My dad really thinks the facial reddening is contact related since it's limited to his face -- but I don't know how to scientifically explain that food triggers can be limited to facial reactions, too.

All right. Thanks, again. I've learned so much since I've started following this board. I spotted a mom at LLL whose baby had red cheeks, and sure enough, he had dairy allergies. I told her about MDC, and she had never heard of it! Hopefully this helps someone else, too.

[Chinese Pistache]

I would guess corn is a problem. Especially since it flared today and not right after the day at the nursery. Also, from your list, you have some foods that I would be very careful with. For example, pineapple and strawberries are high histamine foods and can cause reactions even in people not terribly atopic. Potatoes can also be problematic (nightshade family), but also those Enjoy Life cookies have xanthum gum (corn) and sunflower seed oil.

From your history, you've got all the risk factors for allergy. It's stinks, doesn't it? Many of us here are in the same boat, either c-section or abx or both.

The face inflammation is VERY common in food allergies. It's one of the first signs my ds is reacting to something (followed by mucusy poop and eczema on his limbs).

If you're not keeping a food journal, I suggest you start. It's really hard to remember everything. With a journal you'll be able to see if one of your "safe" foods is causing a reaction. We had allergy testing, but many things came back neg. It wasn't until I kept a really good journal that I identified many other triggers (lots of fruits and seeds).