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DS's allergies worse with nursing? updated w/pics  

post #1 of 51
4/30/07 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 
DS is 17 months and has had eczema for a year. It has cycled through getting better and worse. I have tried diets (SCD, then the Failsafe elimination diet-GFCF, egg free, now rice free, no seafood, no nuts) and I don't what affect they have had. All I know is right now DS's rash is horrible, red welts and bumps. It used to be just on his cheeks, but it has spread to his eyes, forehead, back, legs, a little on his stomach. IN the past 3 weeks we have seen the rash get worse and worse. It is itchy too.

I hate to admit this and have ignored this fact for awhile, but his cheeks always get redder after he nurses or has milk from a bottle (so not spilling on his skin to irritate.) I am eating the same things that he is and I am meticulous about our diet. I have not 'cheated' and had even a bite of food off the diet. I cry thinking about weaning him and I know he doesn't want to but I can't ignore the obvious. I don't even know what I would replace the breastmilk with, I haven't gotten that far.

Is there a way to test for allergies to my breastmilk? What about my milk could be bothering him?
post #2 of 51
4/30/07 at 3:10pm
Well whatever you are eating is in your breastmilk. For example, when my son was an infant he was allergic to soy and eggs. He got it thru my milk.

Have you elimintated all soy from your diet?
post #3 of 51
4/30/07 at 3:11pm
what foods are you avoiding right now? are you avoiding ALL dairy and soy right now? those are the two biggest cuplrits. my son is milk/soy protein intolerant, and this is VERY common amoung babies.
post #4 of 51
4/30/07 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, my diet is very clean. Not a vestige of soy or dairy. I am not even taking any supplements. I have not changed anything in our diet in the past couple months and it has gotten really bad.

One idea I had was that I am allergic to tree pollen and it is really bad here (there is a thick layer over everything outside) if my body is releasing histamine it could be making him worse. He could also be allergic to trees. I don't know. We go to the allergist on May 17th.
post #5 of 51
4/30/07 at 4:30pm
I have read that if you have seasonal allergies, during that time your food allergies can worsen. Your system is kind of on overload and your bucket just dumps. KWIM?
post #6 of 51
4/30/07 at 4:34pm
My son had allergy testing (skin and blood tests0 at five months old, which allowed us to track that his eczema and vomiting were likely due to exposure to egg milk and nuts in my BM. We eliminated his exposures to those and treated the eczema with skin care and creams, and once his skin cleared we've been able to keep it clear through avoiding his allergens.
post #7 of 51
4/30/07 at 5:17pm
Thread Starter 
we went to an allergist in Dec who blew us off, said eczema had nothing to do with food. : So i hope the new allergist will do a lot more tests. Right now I feel like I am blindly stabbing in the dark.
post #8 of 51
4/30/07 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nolansmum View Post
we went to an allergist in Dec who blew us off, said eczema had nothing to do with food. : So i hope the new allergist will do a lot more tests. Right now I feel like I am blindly stabbing in the dark.
What!? You can't be serious. An allergist said food allergys can't cause eczema? Thats crazy!
post #9 of 51
4/30/07 at 5:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nolansmum View Post
we went to an allergist in Dec who blew us off, said eczema had nothing to do with food. : So i hope the new allergist will do a lot more tests. Right now I feel like I am blindly stabbing in the dark.
yes unfortunately, there are a lot of idiot doctors out there. i have encountered several. keep looking!
post #10 of 51
4/30/07 at 6:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nataliachick7 View Post
yes unfortunately, there are a lot of idiot doctors out there. i have encountered several. keep looking!


I know what you mean. My daughter has special needs and we have had some "interesting" encounters. I trust my Mommy instinct alot. Now it looks like I will have to do that with my son. Cause his eczema is back something terrible.
post #11 of 51
4/30/07 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by KatWrangler View Post
What!? You can't be serious. An allergist said food allergys can't cause eczema? Thats crazy!
Even worse, DH took him at his word and thinks I am a crazy lunatic for making any dietary changes. "He's a freakin' doctor, he's got a Phd, what do you have?"

I pointed him towards several mainstream allergy sites, including Mayo clinic. He has finally opened his eyes. Grrr. Makes me so frustrated!
post #12 of 51
4/30/07 at 7:26pm
Parents of Food Allergy Kids is another great resource.
post #13 of 51
5/1/07 at 4:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nolansmum View Post
Even worse, DH took him at his word and thinks I am a crazy lunatic for making any dietary changes. "He's a freakin' doctor, he's got a Phd, what do you have?"

I pointed him towards several mainstream allergy sites, including Mayo clinic. He has finally opened his eyes. Grrr. Makes me so frustrated!
It's so hard to deal w/ all that you have too w/o having to deal w/ family giving you a hard time too. My dd is dairy intolerant & ds is gluten intolerant possibly allergic. My mom keeps saying that hopefully "they'll grow out of it" or "be able to tolerate it." Well, mom, many people are allergic to dairy and wheat/gluten, they're just so used to feeling bad & w/ bad docs out there, it's no wonder they put up w/ it!

I will keep my fingers crossed that this new doc is what you and your ds need.

Sus
post #14 of 51
5/1/07 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nolansmum View Post
we went to an allergist in Dec who blew us off, said eczema had nothing to do with food. : So i hope the new allergist will do a lot more tests. Right now I feel like I am blindly stabbing in the dark.
Nolansmum, I'm sorry you're going through this. I just wanted to caution that the tests might not be all that accurate either. My dd was skin tested for the major allergens and came back pos for corn and dairy (at 17 mths). Later, we had her blood-tested for a whole slew of things (including dairy, corn and other things she'd clearly reacted to) and it ALL came back negative. It was very frustrating, especially since the blood draw was so traumatic.

With your description of your ds's skin, could it possibly be yeast? Breastmilk could exacerbate it on contact because it's so sugary (despite the fact that it's antifungal, thrush still manages to thrive in babies' mouths on on mothers' breasts). I know you guys have dealt with yeast before, but if the rest of your diet is clean, maybe it's back.

Also, the tree thing sounds like a possibility. My sil's kids both get bad eczema when their environmental allergens are in force. And I just remembered, her kids were blood tested for environmentals at 18 mths and they got accurate results (various trees/plants, animals, etc.).

Good luck with your new allergist.
post #15 of 51
5/1/07 at 6:09pm
The skin prick test is more accurate than the blood test.
post #16 of 51
5/1/07 at 7:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by KatWrangler View Post
The skin prick test is more accurate than the blood test.
Right now we cannot skin prick because he is broken out in hives all over his body.

I think he is having a bad reaction to the antibiotics, among other things.
post #17 of 51
5/1/07 at 7:21pm
I would do the blood test. That's what we've used and at least it will give you a starting point to see if there is something that you might be eating that is aggrevating his allergies. It's something that you will want to know whether you wean or not so you know what you can feed him.

While you are waiting to do that you might consider writing down everything that you are eating to see if you notice a pattern of worsening (maybe it is bananas, or wheat, or egg, or something else).
post #18 of 51
5/1/07 at 8:23pm
Thread Starter 
Here are some pictures:
This first one is 2 weeks ago, a pretty normal state for his rash:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF2240.jpg

These 3 are today:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF2256.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF2259.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF2262.jpg

I keep track of everything that goes into both of our mouths. We are on a very restricted diet and have not changed anything. After he had the antibiotics (last thursday and friday because he had a 105 fever and a very high white blood cell count) I have been giving him probiotics from custom probiotics, dairy free. I am wary of starting any new supplements but I know that antibiotics kills everything good and bad so I am taking the chance. I don't think it is a yeast infection. He has no diaper rash, in fact the small red ring that is usually around his anus has not been red in the past few days. His tongue is a nice pink color, no white. I must explain better, his rash has been steadily getting worse over the past 3 weeks, then sunday, mon and today it has been out of control. I think he is now reacting to the antibiotics.
post #19 of 51
5/1/07 at 8:42pm
I get terrible hives also from sulpha drugs. It seems like it took a few days to show up. Did you call the doctor about a different antibiotic?

I think it is a great idea to do the probiotics.

I am sooo sorry you are going through this. It must be terrible to see him so uncomfortable.
post #20 of 51
5/2/07 at 12:29pm
Oh, wow. Poor little guy. It looks like as you said, blood test is your best bet. Could it be environmental? Like fabrics or carpet? Just throwing out ideas.
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