Rash is Back, Dang it

After disappearing completely last week, I began to eat something that made him break out. It was actually several things. First, I thought he wasn't really allergic to citrus and started eating it again, but AAT confirmed this week that he is. So that is probably part of it.

Also, AAT confirmed last week that he is allergic to sorghum (grain), well I neglected to realize that it's in this gluten free flour mix that I use all the time, duh, so it was that too.

I also became suspicious of coconut but AAT showed no allergy to it, but I'm going to avoid it for now until the rash is gone again.

Lots of people have been asking me what I'm eating. I have to admit it is tough.

Here's his current allergen situation summed up:

Allergic--Confirmed by Diet and AAT (Advanced Allergy Therapeutics treatment):
Wheat, Soy, Tomatoes, Chocolate, Peanuts, Cashews, Almonds, Pistachos, Citrus, Sorghum

Suspected by Diet but not showing up as sensitive when tested by AAT: Corn, Coconut

AAT Confirms sensitivity but he's not so allergic that it makes him break out: Yeast, Caffeine

I am trying to completely avoid the first two categories with various levels of success. Corn is extremely difficult to completely avoid in all forms all of the time.

I definitely plan to start reintroduced corn and coconut soon, since supposedly he's not allergic . . . but I want him to be completely rash-free first.

But yeah it's getting harder as my diet continues to be trimmed--especially of grains. I think I'll go shopping and get some rye bread and crackers soon--he's supposedly not allergic to that--I just cut it out because it had gluten, but at this point that doesn't matter, I just need more variety in my food.

When I'm at home, I am okay--I just eat lots of rice and beans and lentils and oatmeal and fruit and veggies, which honestly is a healthy diet. But NEVER being able to have sweet things, bready things, etc is very hard. It's like I'm nutritionally okay but I miss the pleasure of eating a variety of foods. :(

Going out or eating anywhere besides my own house is pretty much guaranteed to make him break out the next day, which is difficult.

But I've been getting creative with making it work--I have a whole bunch of things I've been making and meaning to post about lately. All the cooking is fun and delicious but it's a lot of work. So recipe posts to come!

4 Month Appointment (And more about the rash)

So James (the hubby) and I took LJ (little James, hehe) to the pediatrician's today for his 4 month check-up!

James is growing and healthy! He now weighs 14 lbs 9 ozs (45%) and is 27 inches long (97%)!

He got his combo shot vaccine today (Diptheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hib, Polio) which we had skipped from his 2 month appointment. This time, I breastfed him WHILE she gave him the shot--that worked out well, he only popped off to let out one little shriek and then he was back to nursing, though somewhat upset, obviously.

The doctor said we can start giving him food if we want to but that we could also wait. I told him we'd probably wait until 6 months before we start really letting him try anything.

About the rash--THANK YOU everyone for all your concerns, questions, suggestions, etc!

To give you an update, the rash is almost completely gone now! I think I have everything that he is allergic to figured out finally! And just when I was ready to throw in the towel . . .

This is what I've been avoiding: Wheat, barley, rye, corn, soy, peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, tomatoes, chocolate, citrus . . .

Some of those things (barley, rye, citrus, especially) I'm actually not sure if he is allergic or not. If the rash continues to heal/improve and is therefore pretty much gone by Monday, I will start re-introducing foods then, starting first with the ones that we are least suspicious of.

To answer some of the questions:

YES it is definitely food allergies. I have seen myself that it breaks out after certain meals heavy in allergic foods, and has been improving steadily over the last month that I've been on a restricted diet. The only reason it has taken me this long to figure it out is because certain allergic ingredients have been "hiding" in foods I eat all the time--like corn in EVERYTHING, soy oil in everything (especially the hummus I was eating all the time), etc.

NO it is not an allergy to laundry soap because it is ONLY on his forehead which is in contact with less laundry than any other part of his body. He did react to Dreft soap and the rash at that time was around his neck and chest--which makes sense. We switched to All Free and Clear and have had no more issues.

NO it is not an allergy to lotion. We use no lotion on him except in the last couple days we started using Aveeno and he hasn't had a reaction to that--if anything, it's helping. Normally we put coconut or olive oil on him and on the rash. It does not appear t be a reaction to those things either since, again, we use it all over him and only his forehead breaks out.

NO it is not an allergy to soap. We bathe him infrequently--maybe twice a week, and 75% of the time use no soap on him at all. When we do, we use Dr. Bronner's and an all-natural baby shampoo.

YES we talked to the doctor today and he said the Aveeno lotion would be good for it. I have heard several rec's for Aquaphor so as long as it doesn't contain soy or corn or other allergic ingredients I will probably pick some up. He also said that it definitely looked better, so that the elimination diet seemed to be working.

YES we have tried cortisone and it didn't really help the rash (which is common for a food allergy rash, that cortisone wouldn't help very much). I'm not sure if it would help the itching, but luckily the worst of that seems to be over. I did ask James (the hubby) about cortisone and he wasn't a very big fan, so we'll probably skip it for now.

YES he is basically too young for an allergist or formal allergy tests.

However, about two weeks ago we did start treating his allergies with AAT (Advanced Allergy Therapeutics). It is (sort of) a slow process though because you can only treat one thing at each visit, and first they treat general things like histamines (to prevent over-reaction), and digestive enzymes (for general gut health), etc.

AAT sort of deserves it's own post though.

But we definitely have some tools up our sleeves to deal with this and I am FINALLY seeing a really good result from the elimination diet. So as frustrated and ready to lose it as I was yesterday, today is a new day and it really pays to see my dieting effort pay off!

I actually think part of why he was itching SO badly yesterday (or the day before) was because it was really starting to heal deeply. So as aggravating as it was, it was actually a good sign!

So that was our appointment and more about our rash woes/SUCCESSES, hehe.

Itchy Head

Now that James is getting better and better control of his hands, it is more and more obvious that some days his rash itches him horribly. If gets out of the swaddle at night, sometimes we wake up to his forehead scratched to bits and blood smeared all over it and under his fingernails. I think he's the most likely to scratch when he's half asleep, so naptime is another time where he's apt to scratch himself silly.

I feel awful but I don't know what to do. It seems to be the most itchy about two days after it gets inflamed--I think during the healing phase. Over the last week James and I have experimented with biting, cutting, and filing his nails, but nothing seems to help when he is determined to itch. This morning was one in which I woke up to him having scratched himself all up.

It was so bad that I put a (clean and dry) cloth wipe on his forehead, and then wrapped it with this ace bandage sort of thing, and then put a hat over it. So he's been trying to scratch it all day but he can't . . . I can tell he is uncomfortable and aggravated, and he's not the only one!

I feel awful that I'm not certain of all the things he is allergic to--believe it or not, the rash itself is still a million times better than it was when I was eating wheat and more things he reacts to, but the itching seems to be worse now, possibly because he's healing and definitely because he can use his hands better.

I'm getting very frustrated, especially after I'm making such a big effort with my diet. I'm considering going on a strict elimination diet like this. I don't know what else I can do! Obviously he is still growing and healthy on breast milk, so if I don't find a total solution, I'll just have to be okay with that, but I feel bad that he's so itchy . . . :(