Allergies, Ear Infections, Eczema and Impetigo

Maya went in to the Allergist to check on her allergies. Consensus, Yep! she is still allergic - to everything! This winter was a challenge for Noah but he is healthy and happy. He is generally a happy baby which is good or I think he would be a real handful with all of his ailments. We continue to struggle to find foods that he can (and will) eat. Gratefully he does pretty good with baby food fruits and veggies but he should be moving on to the much cheaper table foods. We are trying to alter our cooking and eating habits to include items that he can eat (although he usually just plays with it instead of eating it). Jill was eating ice cream one night with Noah on her lap. He really wanted some and Jill thought a very small taste wouldn't hurt. His lips swelled up immediately! We knew he was allergic to dairy but hadn't realized how allergic. Jill still feels bad about that. He was sick for his first birthday and he starting getting a rash on his face which we figured was his eczema. At his one-year check-up the doctor said it looks like impetigo and he also had a mild ear infection in both ears. We started a regime of antibiotics and new ointments for the skin (one for the face and another for the rest of his body). It really cleared up within a few days but as soon as the antibiotics ended it all came back and he was so fussy that we took him into an InstaCare. He now had a full blown ear infection in one ear and the impetigo did not go away. This doctor gave us a stronger antibiotic but after four days there was no improvement of his skin, he was itchy all the time, had very loose stool, and developed a very bad diaper rash. It looks like he may be allergic to penicillin based antibiotics. We took him back to his doctor to check on his ears and discuss our concerns with this skin. Luckily the ears were looking better and we obtained a referral to a dermatologist. The dermatologist looked at him for about 20 seconds and told the nurse, write up the prescriptions this boy has severe eczema. He gave Jill a brief education on Noah's imbalanced immune system. This imbalance is non-treatable and genetic and the symptoms include eczema, food allergies, seasonal allergies and asthma. We learned that the eczema gets worse whenever he gets sick. That makes sense to us now. The doctor also gave us lots of advice on using moisturizing creams, 100% cotton clothes, steroid creams and lots of love. The creams seem to really be doing the trick. He only seems to go one or two days before the eczema flares up again. But at least we have a day or two of clear skin. Round two of the accidental dairy allergy test occurred when Corey mistakenly grabbed the regular yogurt instead of the soy-based yogurt. The projectile vomit, extreme itching, and hives was not nice. Zyrtec to the rescue! It was my turn to feel like a bad parent! Follow-up visit with the dermatologist resulted in more steroid creams and a new cream for his extremely raw buttocks. His diaper rash looks very painful and he let's us know that in fact it is very painful every time we try to wipe his bum. No fun! We are very hopefully that we are finding some solutions to his ailments and are so grateful he is generally a happy baby.