Dear lactation friends,
Iīm Ingrid Rowshan, a Swedish lactation consultant working and living in
Spain. I would need your qualified help for a great concern I have with my 6
― month old son - he is suffering from a nasty eczema on his cheeks and neck
and has very frequent, liquid stools. All signs of allergies. I am really
becoming desperate and I donīt know what to do. So I need your wise,
experienced support for what to do next. I have searched the archives, but
still donīt know what to do. I actually need a lactation consultant, the
problem is Iīm the only one around here.
I myself have multiple food allergies, allergies to dust, dogs, dust mites,
perfumes etc. My 6 year old daughter had terrible problems with eczema when
she was younger, asthma, foodallergies (at least to 20 different things),
temper tantrums etc. She is now much better thanks to me reading and
applying Dr. Doris Rapp book "Is this your Child" and homeopathic treatment.
Dad "only" has pollen allergy.
Elliot had a natural birth, no vaccinations, no vitamins, no nothing but my
milk. From the very beginning he was spitting up a lot of milk after every
feed. He also drooled abundantly (he could completely soak a bib in an
hour). At 3 ― months of age he developed a terrible eczema that started on
his neck and slowly spread down his chest. It was bright red, weeping,
itchy. Some days it was really bad, other days almost completely gone. The
doctor diagnosed atopic dermatitis and prescribed a weak hydrocortison cream
and a normal skin cream to keep it soft. He didnīt think it had anything to
do with my diet.
I started to keep a close eye on my diet (despite doctors opinion). I soon
realized that chicken, beef and mustard made his skin transform in front of
my very eyes. He would nurse and a few minutes later his cheeks would become
"bubbly", bright red, weepy and the skin would crack up. He desperately
started to scratch with his nails to make it all worse.
He also reacted to eggs and lamb, but not as strongly. I cut out on all of
these offenders plus dairy just in case. After these dietary changes the
drooling and spitting up stopped. Eczema was cured on his chest but moved up
to his cheeks instead. Several days in a row is skin is almost fine (they
heal overnight) and other days they are in an awful shape again. He has
yellow stools 6-7 times a day, quite liquidy, never green.
I keep a diary of all I eat and therefor I know he tolerates rice, wheat,
fish lentils and pork. I prepare all food myself from scratch. Sometimes I
think I have managed to pinpoint the offenders and then again his skin
mysteriously becomes bad again. In our house there are no animals, no smoke,
no perfume, and it is not the detergent.
Besides above symptoms Elliot is fine. Had doubled birth weight at 6 months.
Sleeps very well at night and naps a few times during the day. Is a very
happy, sociable and active child that rarely cries. Is very early in his
motor development, crawled at 5 months.
To make things more complicated Elliot wants to eat! He has been showing
very strong sign that he is ready for some solids so I started slowly. The
result was the following:
Banana. - O.K
carrot - O.K
Melon - weeping eczema
Pear uncooked - skin red
Pear cooked - better than uncooked, but still reaction
potatoe - O.K
pumpkin - weeping eczema
We are talking about maximun 2 teaspoons here! The pumpkin was ecological,
no pesticides. He thoroughly enjoyed eating all of the above. But now the
little one is back on exclusive breastfeeding and I have to eat in hiding
otherwise he gets mad if I donīt offer him anything.
What should I do? Continue E.B.F or try offering other foods? If he has
such strong reactions just through the breast milk, what will happens if he
himself eats something offending?
I have given him homeopathic treatment without any improvement. This became
long, but I wanted to give you all the details. Elliot and I eagerly await
your input on our "case".
Ingrid Rowshan, B.Sc., IBCLC
_________________________________________________________________
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