I really need advice, support, anything!

Aww! I'm sorry she is allergic to so much! Glad you have an answer now though as to what is causing it.

Re: diapers.....does she get rashes on her butt? I have Daph in FB too and she doesnt get rashes but when I let her sleep on a fleece baby blanket, she got a bit of eczema on her cheeks. I wonder if it makes a difference (??). When I used disposables on vacation for Jev I used the 7th gen ones too. In the store they were a rip off but I bought them buy the case at drugstore.com (free shipping) and they were usually discounted there too.

I definately wouldnt do soy formula because of the phytoestrogens in it. That is my worry with soy. Plus breastmilk is the best thing for allergies. I see a banner on the side of this website for a cookbook for dairy, gluten free recipes...maybe that would help? At Trader Joes (and healthfood grocery stores) I see special foods that are dairy, egg, wheat, gluten free......like waffles/cereals and other premade foods. I'm gonna see if I can find recipe websites.

Geez, that sounds hard Amalie's allergic to dairy and that's bad enough. I can't imagine dealing with so many sensitivities at once.

Your mom is probably trying to help. My mom says some goofy things too when she's trying to be helpful.

Eggs are pretty manageable to eliminate unless you are just a big egg eater. You can often substitute flax seed paste for eggs when baking. Dairy is harder as there is soooo much hidden dairy. Even soy cheese often contains whey or casein, annoyingly.

Wheat and especially gluten are tricky if you like your breads. I have had good success with oat flour in many cookie and quick bread recipes; oats are sometimes contaminated with gluten though.

It's true that it will take a while for all the allergens to clear your system. You might want to ask her doc if there's something topical you can give for short term relief while the elimination diet 'kicks in.' Amalie has eczema also, and while it's mostly under control, it still flares up from time to time for unknown reasons. We have a prescription cortisone+lidocaine cream for those times. I don't know if you can use something like that on an infant though. Before we tracked down the dairy allergy she also got some relief from Gentle Naturals Baby Eczema Cream.

As to the diapers, well, you gotta do what you gotta do, you know? We use sposies too, because we don't have a washer. We get store brand ones which are also not perfumed and are cheap.

The worst part about dealing with eczema, for me, was the months before we tracked down the (main) cause, when nothing would really clear it up except Elidel, which I was scared to use. Hopefully you are now over the hump and Samara's skin will soon be cleared up!

How big is Samara? I have a lot of infant sized prefolds and could send some, if she's not too big for them already.

I'm sorry to hear that your mom is not being more supportive of breastfeeding. She probably just wants to make things easier for you and your babe and thinks that switching to formula would do that. I bet if you want to keep breastfeeding, you can find lots of support and help from the forums here. Let us know what we can do to help - I see Desiree is already surfing for recipes for you!

that sucks Bethany. im so sorry to hear that you have to eliminate so much. i am trying to eliminate dairy but its so hard...i cant imagine.
im sure your mom is trying to help and just doesnt want to see you go through so much. try to see what she says as an expression of love for you. but you know what is best...and it is to keep bf'ing. it will only take a few weeks, and like you said, she has had this condition for awhile and it doesnt seem to bother her.
as far as dipes, i dont know what size she is in but i have some small and med's. are your fb's meds? you can get rid of those very quickly im sure. is she allergic to the inside? not what you stuff it with?
keep strong. s (although i cant really send the smilie thingy right now).

i clicked on the picture of your beautiful little girl and gasped because her eczema is so like what my dd had at her age. i was pressured by everyone, stangers on the bus even to switch to formula. i am so glad i didn't. dd is now three and still nurses and still needs it so much. and she is still itchy, but it is worlds better. WORLDS.
please pm me if you want to talk about things that we tried, or are still trying. (right now i'm attempting the SCD, sort of, that people on the healing your gut tribe talk about.) i truly believe that EVERYTHING we did helped in someway. but i swear to you - the biggest leap in healing happened right after we saw a chinese herbalist who treated me only, and after that i vowed to think of my milk as healing, wonderful, alive and magic, just like yours is. follow your intuition - it is your greatest tool. i have to run but i'll come back to this thread and check on you. i so wish i had a picture of dd to share with you. i never thought i'd see her so smooth and clear. it will happen, it's just a long road. and it's so hard when it's on their sweet face. everyone has something to say about it - i used to cringe when every damn person who would talk to dd would start with "poor baby" and how that would change her perception of herself. ugh - i'm totally rambling, sorry. that picture, i just, it seems like so long ago, but i remember the pain of the worry so clearly.
for what it's worth you can eat well and plenty - i'd be happy to talk anytime about recipes, ect.
all my love to you mama - she's beautiful and i'm sure she's equally delightful - sending strength.

This thread has been so interesting to me, because although we are not dealing with baby eczema, we are dealing with some other issues and at this point are basically a wheat, dairy, sugar/sweets, and cold-food-free household. We are also leaning towards starting to eliminate some environmental issues (such as no more enzymes and botanical oils in our laundry detergent, for example).We have also been working with a traditional chinese medicine dr. with some amazing results.

I really feel that you should not stop breastfeeding, but just adjust your diet and perhaps work with a TCM practitioner to heal the problem from within. She will gain so much by breastfeeding both in terms of overall health and emotional stability from the closeness to you.

A question for some of the above posters - I am wondering if there are other things birthjunkie can eat, such as grains?
- Does brown rice have gluten?
- What about other grains such as oat barley, millet, quinoa, amaranth, spelt?
- What about other milks, like oat, almond or hazelnut?
- What about buckwheat? That is actually a seed, but can be used like a grain.

Quote:
here's what my understanding is:
brown rice - okay
oat - not okay with gluten intolerance
barley - ""
millet - i *think* it's okay
quinoa - okay as long as you can eat corn
amaranth - okay
spelt - can go either way (depends on the person), but better to err on the side of caution

almond/hazelnut milk is okay and easy to make yourself
not sure about buckwheat

like pp said, no rice dream beverage. veggies/meat is by far the easiest way to go and it's more like how we should eat anyhow.

believe me, it's easier to do than what it seems to be. once you get going it gets a lot easier. you can do it mama!

First of all . Thank you all SO much for your support. You have no idea how much it means to me. I haven't talked to my mom yet. We usually talk every day. Thankfully Dh is totally supporting me in continuing bf'ing. I was sure he'd side with my mom and encourage me to take the easy route. I was shocked that he was as supportive as he was last night. He told me that he knew it would be hard, but that he knows how strong I am and he has faith that I can do it.

Desiree, thanks for looking up recipes. That's really nice. Oh, and I'll have to check out Trader Joes for those dairy/wheat/egg free foods.

Heather, I think Samara may be too big for infant prefolds now. She's quiet the chunka! LOL!!! But thanks so much for offering.

Aileen, I know what you mean about people saying, "Awwww, poor baby." It is getting kind of old, but I know they don't mean any harm by it. I look forward to Samara having an "after" the battle picture with clear glowing baby skin.

Satori, thanks for the heads up about Rice Dream! I would have never thought to look for gluten in that. And wow, you've been doing this for 5 years?!?! WOW! I can't even imagine going that long. But, I suppose after you get over the initial hump it gets easier. Right?

Courtney, I didn't know that store brand diapers don't have those gel pellets. Hmmm, learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info!

Everyone else who I didn't personally address, THANK YOU for your support and kind words. Every single post here is like another hug to me, and I really, really, really, need it right now.