He's a Doll

When I think back over the last few months, I can see that, in many ways, we've been lucky. We haven't had to call his doctor many times with emergencies. The exception was the one day he threw up and I couldn't figure out why, but, a few hours later, he was fine. Eczema has been frustrating, but, as his doctor pointed out, there are worse things.

Trying to control eczema without steroids was frustrating, but I was given so much contradictory advice. His doctor didn't think he needed them, but I can see now that we should have used them much, much, much sooner. The first dermatologist gave him steroids only, and that's not really a good long term plan for managing eczema.

I read somewhere that uncontrolled eczema can flare up without much reason. So, now, finally, it seems like we have this under control. He's not all red everywhere. He's not covered in rashes. Now, when we take him out, people don't say, "Oh, can't you do something about that rash?"
Instead, it's, "Oh, he's a doll." I feel like sometimes that we've been so caught up in managing these issues that we haven't or at least I haven't been able to enjoy him being a baby. On June 2, Ben will be eight months old. Probably five of those months have involved struggling and battling with eczema. Now, it seems like we have a good routine going.

Put Cerave on him with every diaper change. Put Epicream Barrier Cream on him two-two three times a day. During flareups, use Desonide Steroid Cream. Bathe him daily, usually just after dinner, though this can be adjusted. Use Niz Prescription Shampoo. If he's having a flareup, apply Elocon or Elotone (Ben's sleeping on me so I can't get up to check), to his head. Also, we, usually Jamie vacuums the upstairs daily, especially where he sleeps, and we wash his sheets 2-3 times a week. Yes, this leads to more laundry, but we haven't been buying cream after cream, lotion after lotion, hoping that something would work.

If you had asked me a year ago, I think I would have thought doing all of these things would be hard, but now they don't seem so hard. They just seem necessary. And, now that Ben's eczema seems to be under good control, we can just enjoy the little milestones of babyhood. He's crawling and teething and pulling himself up and then crying when he falls back down. He's smiling and laughing and chasing the dogs and seeing things he wants and going after them and getting mad when one of those things happens to be something that he can't have. He is, always has been, a good baby, and now his skin looks good as well.

Dermatologist #2

Ben has his followup appointment with the allergist on Friday. We are now switching him to Children's Benadryl since neither Zyrtec or Claritin seems to be working to help stop the itching. On the Benadryl bottle, it says do not use on children under 2. Probably because you really have to be careful with the dosage. For sunscreen, the allergist recommended just trying pure Zinc Oxide cream. Zinc oxide is the active ingredient in many diaper rash creams. It was an hour-long appointment but helpful. He will go back to the allergist in September.

Today was our appointment with the second dermatologist. We almost thought of canceling since Ben's skin has been doing so much better since we started on the steroid. But we didn't know what to do to manage Ben's eczema once he stopped the steroid, and, also, Ben scratched himself last night on places where we hadn't put the steroid. So we went.

The office was crowded, but the wait wasn't as long past his appointment as the last time. Our appointment was at 12, and they saw us at about 12:15.

The dermatologist that we saw wasn't the dermatologist but a physician's assistant, but she seemed really nice and knowledgable. She told us to stop using Disney's Gentle Naturals and go back to Cerave, but Cerave in combination with other things. When I mentioned that Cerave seemed to irritate him, she said that any moisturizer would seem to irritate him if it was put on an area where he had cuts from scratching. She also said that she didn't know of anyone who was really allergic to Cerave.

So we are going to keep using the steroid but then stop using it when the inflamed spots clear up and then also use another lotion in spots where he tends to flareup to prevent the flareups. Then, she also prescribed a shampoo and a special lotion for his head to clear up cradle cap and stop the scratching there.

She also told us to get an allergy mattress cover for his crib, vacuum his room daily, wash his sheets 2-3 times a week, give him a daily bath (or squirt him down if we can't bathe him) and then apply a moisturizer. We will go back in a month. I forgot to ask about sunscreen, but the allergist had recommended that we try just regular zinc oxide cream. We tried to find that at Target but they didn't have it. At Target today, we looked for an allergy mattress cover for Ben's crib but couldn't find that either. We dropped off all four of the prescriptions at a local pharmacy. I am wondering how much they will cost, but if they help Ben's skin clear up and stay cleared up, they will be worth it.

Steroids

Ben's skin has looked so good these last few days that it seemed like a miracle. I thought it was a miracle.

My last post was about how Ben was scratching so bad that he bled. And he's had this one scab on the side of his face for months and months that finally went away as if by magic.

Only it wasn't a miracle, and it wasn't magic. It was steroid. Jamie put the Desonide that the dermatologist had prescribed on him without telling me. I didn't know until today.

I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, I am glad that is working. On the other hand, I wonder if it's only a temporary fix. Will the eczema go back to being just as bad after we stop the course of steroids? Also, should we have tried this months ago, since it is working so well.

Ben has his appointment with the second dermatologist on Monday. Should we have waited till then? We've only had these steroids for a few weeks, so it's not like we could have started too much sooner? But should I have used them as soon as I got them?

Does anyone have experience with using steroids for eczema or skin flareups? Did the skin stay cleared up after the course of steroids stopped?

Scratches Till He Bleeds

Yesterday, Jamie and I went to pick up my bike. I tripped--on the curb on the way into the store and scratched up both hands and one of my knees. I felt like an idiot--like something out of a movie for complete nerds. I was bleeding. Later, Ben would bleed.

Someone asked me yesterday morning if we had Ben's itching under control now that we knew what he was allergic to. I didn't know what to say, but, now that I've thought about it, I can say that it's not that simple. As the allergist said, his scratching isn't always related to what he eats. Sometimes, he scratches when he put him down in his crib. I think that's because he hates being there. Sometimes, he scratches in his car seat. Yesterday, while we were in route to the bike store or there or on the way back, he scratched the scab off the side of his face. That is the worst problem area. But I had hoped that, this time, he would finally heal.

Maybe we didn't put enough lotion on him while we were out. We had left his diaper bag in the car, and he had an eczema flareup. Maybe the lotion isn't working as well as it used to, though we gave him a bath last night, and most of him, except where he scratched himself last night in his crib looks good.

Ben fell asleep around 9 or 10, and we took him upstairs. He woke up around 12ish. He was only crying for a few minutes I think, because Jamie had just checked him and said he was asleep. I went to check on him and his right arm was covered in blood. It looked worse than it was, but it was nonetheless alarming. What caused him to be so itchy? Was it the new shampoo--we tried Neem? Was it the fact that he had not yet had his allergy medication. He was on track to get it just at that time that he woke up.

We will change the time that he gets it so that he gets it before he goes to bed. Somehow, the schedule got off track. His allergist appointment is this Friday. We'll ask what we can do. And his appointment with the other dermatologist is coming up soon.

After I found him like that, we cleaned his face with water and put only Vaseline on that spot, just in case the lotion was irritating him.

I checked him this morning and his skin looked good, except for that spot. We're trying a different diaper Huggies Pure and Natural. We couldn't use Huggie's when he was younger because of blowouts and leaking, but unlike most Pampers I've seen these are fragrance free.

Ben is in a good mood this morning. He's playing in his Exersaucer, and he's already had some tummy time. After he scratched himself, I stayed up with him for about an hour to make sure he was okay and he wouldn't scratch again. We really need to do something about that spot. For now, we'll only put on Vaseline, give his allergy medicine earlier and hope that one of his doctors has a good solution.

Gluten-Free Date Night

Jamie and I went on a full-blown date on Friday, something we haven't done in a while. There have been other days where we've rented a movie and brought it home or gone to a quick take out meal with Ben, but this was a movie and dinner, without Ben.

First, we dropped Ben off at my parent's house in the South suburbs of Pittsburgh. Then, we backtracked to the Robinson Towne Center area. We went to see the remake of The Nightmare on Elm Street movie at the new movie theater out that way. We both remember the film from childhood, but Jamie is a bigger fan than I am. I used to watch the films at sleepovers with my Crestline Drive girlfriends along with other films such as The Shining and a movie in which the creepy killer asks the overwhelmed sitter, Have you checked the children yet?

Jamie and I went to a late afternoon movie. He got popcorn, which is naturally gluten-free, and I got Coke. Then, we went to P.F. Chang's. We've never been there before, and I'm not sure if we would go there again, but they have an actual separate gluten-free menu, and I asked to make sure that the menu items that I ordered did not contain eggs or nuts. We ordered the chicken lettuce wraps, and I got a salmon with ginger and veggies. For dessert, I got this flourless chocolate dome thing. After dinner, we went to the R.E.I store, and I semi-impulsively decided to buy a bike. Except the decision was not that impulsive at all. I bought one a few years ago at Wal-mart, and it's just not very good. It's hard to shift gears and hard to use. Maybe it never really worked right. We are picking up the bike tomorrow. It's a pink Townie bike. I like that it's easy to drive, easy to break, and it only has three gears. Our date night culminated with a trip to Starbucks on the way home after picking up Ben from my parent's. During the night, the sky thundered, Harley the dog shivered, and Ben screamed. It was back to real post-baby life. We were glad to get Ben back, but we also enjoyed our night apart from him.

Earth's Best Shampoo and Body Wash May not be Best for Ben

So, I decided to try Earth's Best Shampoo and Body Wash on Ben about a week ago. At first, we just used the shampoo, and it seemed fine. After we used it, he wasn't scratching his head until it bled, so it seemed like a success. But, then, yesterday, we used it as a shampoo and body wash. It had been a while since Ben had had a bath. I'm not sure why we had waited so long. Even though many people now believe that daily baths can help inflamed skin, sometimes they can dry out Ben's skin, especially his head.

Yesterday, his skin was looking somewhat red and inflamed, especially on the sides of his face where his cheeks meet his neck. Those seem to be the worst spots, along with the back of his head and behind his knees, but the difference is the scabs in those spots are really hard to heel since they are so easy for drool to hit and Ben to scratch.

Now that Ben is eating fruits and veggies pureed, his poop has changed texture. This has led to sore bum and led us to try and figure out which diaper rash cream is best.

The rash around the line of his diaper is gone. I believe that the Stage 3 Pamper's Cruisers were causing it. We switched to Earth's Best, but that didn't help. What we didn't realize at the time is that they are made with wheat. We switched to Seventh Generation. Although the rash around his diaper line cleared up, some of the rest of him got red. Maybe that was even the partial cause of his sore bum? Also, the diapers aren't absorbent enough for at night. Two nights in a row, they leaked. So, we switched to Stage 3 Pampers for Sensitive Skin. These seem to be working well in terms of absorbency and not causing a rash along the diaper line.

In the meantime, to try to clear up the sore bum, we have tried: Balmex, Desitin, Bordeau's Butt Paste and Badger Balm. Badger Balm didn't seem to work at all for Ben. In fact, when we applied it to behind his knees, they seemed to get worse. In the past, Desitin has always worked, but I stopped using it and switched to Balmex to try to get rid of the diaper line rash. I don't think now that that was the cause of it. Butt Paste seems to work better than Balmex, but the rash is still there.

I don't think that there is one remedy that is going to work for every baby because every baby's skin is different. In the meantime, I ordered three new shampoos on Amazon for Ben. The ingredients in Badger Balm Baby Balm are: *Extra Virgin Olive Oil, *Golden Yellow Beeswax, *Castor Oil, *Calendula Extract and Essential Oil of *Roman Chamomile. Does anyone have any idea about which one of these ingredients could be irritating him? I don't think it's calendula, since that is in the Disney's Gentle Naturals that we use on his head. As for the Earth's Best Shampoo and Body Wash, I wonder if the lavender could be irritating him. Why don't they just make it fragrance free? The reason why we tried it is that none of the fragrance free things we tried worked either including Dove for Sensitive Skin as a Shampoo. Thanks a lot, Mr. Overcharging Dermatologist. But, still, Ben's skin looks a lot better today, so it's back to more frequent baths. Also, the Zyrtec seems to be helping even though we had to use generic yesterday until we can get some of a non-recalled batch.

Product Recall on Allergy Medications, Tylenol, and more

Hello, everyone,

I just wanted to let you know about a product recall that may affect your child's medication. McNeil Corporation is administering this recall because "some of these products may not meet required quality standards."

This recall affects certain batches of Children's and Infants Tylenol, Children's and Infant's Motrin, Children's Benadryl, and Children's Zrytec.

More information on the recall can be found at: http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/page.jhtml?id=/include/new_recall.inc.

I checked the NDC number on Ben's Zyrtec and Tylenol, and both of his medications were in the recalled group.

If you have some of the recalled products, do not return it to stores. McNeil is offering a high-value coupon or a refund.

Itchy Neck, Diaper Dilemma, and Gluten-Free at Chipotle

The last few days have been eventful. I attended my sister's graduation on Saturday and had a friend visit on Sunday. Because I wasn't home Saturday, I didn't have as much control over the food as I was eating as I normally would. I ate things that looked like they were wheat free, but I wasn't sure--leftover grilled fish for lunch plus some rice. At a graduation party at my sister's friend's mom's house--some salmon, roasted potatoes and meat. But did one of these things possibly contain gluten?

Ben was itching his neck yesterday, more so than he has recently. There are a few possible reasons. One is that I may have accidentally eaten something on Saturday that irritated Ben's skin. Another is the Desitin. I switched back to this because part of his bum is red and sore. The diaper rash has cleared up along the edge of his diaper now that we've switched from Pamper's Cruisers to Earth's Best to Seventh Generation, but he's been using his bum a lot, and that's where it's sore now. We really liked Pampers Swaddlers, but he started getting a rash all the time around the edge of his diapers. I think it was around the time he switched to Cruisers. Earth's Best are absorbent, but they contain wheat, and that gave him a rash also. The rash is gone with Seventh Generation, but they aren't as absorbent, and he's been getting pee all over him at night. We're going to now try Pampers for Sensitive Skin. There's also Huggie's Pure and Natural, but we've never liked Huggies and have had absorbency problems with them. So, hopefully, these will work. I also am curious to see what cream will help with his sore bum. I'd like to use A&D ointment, but that contains Lanolin. Does anyone have any recommendations for a cream or ointment for soreness? Should I just try Vaseline? I also bought Bourdeau's Butt Paste to try.

Last night, we were wanting Mexican food for dinner, but since Ben was itchy already, we decided not to chance the local Mexican restaurant, since we're not sure if they have anything truly gluten free. But I had read that Chipotle is really friendly for people on a gluten-free diet. Almost everything, except for some of their burritos, is gluten-free.

According to their website:

I want to avoid gluten. What can I eat at your restaurant?
Most people wanting to avoid gluten can eat anything we serve except for our wheat burrito tortillas, our soft wheat taco tortillas, and possibly our hot red tomatillo salsa (there is a small amount of distilled vinegar in it which some gluten-oriented websites still say might be problematic, although most don’t).
Everything else is fine to eat for most people wanting to avoid gluten, including our crispy corn tacos, our corn chips, and our burrito bowls (no tortilla). However, you should know that it’s possible our corn may have a small amount of gluten from potentially co-mingling with gluten-containing grains in the field.
If you are highly sensitive and would like us to change our gloves, we would be happy to do that at your request. Additionally, because our folks work with wheat tortillas all day long, there may be the possibility of cross-contact in our restaurants. We encourage you to carefully consider your dining choices ("Speak," 2010).

Wendy's and Arby's also offer some gluten-free options, but they aren't as extensive. What about you, dear readers? Do you have any good advice about absorbent diapers for sensitive skin, sore bums or gluten-free dining? Signing off, for now. . .