Chlorine Allergy?

[studentmomma]

Hello! DD was recently diagnosed with eczema which I think was caused by dairy. It has cleared up - dry skin but no scaly patches and minimal redness after eliminating dairy and treating with a moisturizer. So, there is a history of being allergic.

Last week we started a mom and tots swim class. This weekend I noticed mild hives covering her back. Then, after the most recent class the hives were more severe and also on her chest and stomach area. We took a shower to wash off the chlorine and they seemed to clear up. We have not introduced any new foods lately. So, it sounds like a reaction to the chlorine, right?

She has been in chlorinated water before with no reaction, but it was summer and this water has a far higher chlorine content than the pool this summer.

If it is an allergy can I finish up the swim class or will it get progressively worse? It is very important to us that DD learn to survival swim early - our family had a child who drowned a while back - but not at the risk of her long-term health. I know there is a natural pool that wouldn't be out of the question but we're delaying vax and from my understanding some nasty bugs can survive in natural pools.

Sorry for the length of the post. Looking forward to hearing from you mamas!

[WC_hapamama]

Chlorine is an eczema trigger for me, but not an allergy.

Are you putting anything like sunscreen on her?

[studentmomma]

No sunscreen - it's an indoor pool.

[mbbinsc]

My 3yoDD gets hives and eczema with exposure to chlorine. It seems to mostly get her skin, though she did get asthmatic with a cold right after a trip to the waterpark. I don't know if it was a cause of the asthma or just bad timing. We live in SC, so we could go to the beach instead of the pool. I still haven't figured out how she'll learn to swim if she doesn't outgrow this one!