This is my first time posting.  I live in Israel.  I am becoming a LC but
have been working with mothers for about a year.  I am writing about my own
personal experience.
        I developed severe excema only on my hands when pregnant with my first
child, and it carried through to nursing until she was 12 months and got a
bit better when I stopped nursing.  With my second pregnancy, it stopped
totally, and returned in the hospital about 24 hours after delivery.  I
suffered from   SEVERE excema only on my hands for 17 months while nursing
my 2nd (very often).  No doctor believed me when I said it was directly
related to hormones, although when I took 6 days of oral prednisone it
disapeared completely.  Unfortunately, due to the fact I was nursing, I had
to stop after 6 days, and it came back full force.  I tried every
medication and treatment that was possible for a nursing mother, and my
skin condition did not respond at all.  I had a feeling the excema would go
away when I stopped nursing, and sure enough, I began to cut back on my
feedings, and got my daughter down to one a day.  The week I felt myself
begin to ovulate for the first time since her birth was the week my excema
disappeared completely.  Subsequently, I became pregnant, and although I am
still nursing more than once a day now, the excema is cured.
Has anyone ever heard of severe excema related to breastfeeding?  The
doctors had no idea which hormone might have been going haywire.  I am
worried about what will happen with my next brestfeeding experience.
Thank you,
Jessica Billowitz