Could she have allergies? I'm clueless here!

[ecoteat]

DD (18 months) has been showing a few symptoms that I'm starting to wonder might be allergy-related. She has had a little rash on her nose and cheek for a few weeks that looks like pimples. It improves when I put Weleda calendula cream on it. She's also had a terrible diaper rash for weeks. It got to the point where she had open sores. As that was clearing up, a different, bumpy, pimply-looking rash showed up on her labia. Now it's looking much better, but it seems like there's always something bothering her butt at least a little bit. Also, sometimes her eye tears up for no obvious reason and she has never been a very good sleeper. She wakes up to nurse 1-3 times a night, which is the best sleeping she's ever done. I didn't ever suspect any allergies until very recently--we had no problems when she was EBF or in the first months of solids (she started solids about 7 months ago).

What do you think? She eats pretty much everything we eat, except for processed or sugary foods or things she can't chew with only 3 teeth. She's been exposed to various nuts and shellfish. The only specific food I suspect is carrots, which doesn't even make sense to me--how can someone be allergic to carrots?!

If I do have reason to suspect allergies, what do I do about it? If I take her to the doctor, what would she do during the appt? Could it be something not food-related? We don't have any pets and we heat with wood. Ugh--I'm babbling and grasping at straws here! Any help would be appreciated.

[Chinese Pistache]

It could be allergies, but that rash sounds like a yeast rash to me. You could do a anti-candida diet which basically means your dd only eats protein and vegetables (sugars feed the yeast). You could also try an OTC yeast cream (like Clotramizole or Monistat). I know that many here don't like pharmaceuticals, but if her skin is bothering her, I'd try to get rid of that and then, tackle the root cause. If she wakes a lot, she could have gas related to yeast overgrowth. You can get her on a yeast-killing enzyme (Candidase or Candex) as well as the diet, and definitely get her on some probiotics. Good luck. IMO it's really important to work out the yeast problem because a lot of people have found that it's a precursor to their child developing food allergies (because of the gut damage it can do).

[tallanvor]

Yeast was the first thing I thought of while reading your post. So, I would see about treating that first and seeing if it makes a difference.

And as for carrots, well, I had a friend growing up who was allergic to carrots. It does seem rather strange, though, doesn't it. I've also heard of someone being allergic to green beans, which, to me, just seems wrong somehow. lol No one should be allergic to green beans!

[ecoteat]

I did put some yeast cream on the bumpy rash and that cleared up right away. But it was pomptly replaced with a red, rough patchy rash on her butt cheeks! ARGH! I just want a happy-bottomed baby!

[tallanvor]

If it is a yeast rash, it could take a few weeks to truly get rid of it. And it'll change appearance during that time. Try the yeast rash treatment for at least 2 weeks and see what sort of difference that makes. I know, not fun. My youngest had a nasty case of thrush when she was a few months old.