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.

Hold the Cerave

Since so many people had recommended Cerave, we decided to try it again over the weekend. It did seem to moisturize, and it didn't seem to cause an instant rash, but then Ben itched at his poor, irritated neck--all night.

We weren't sure if it was the Cerave. Maybe his neck was just really irritated to begin with, so stupidly, not wanting to change too many things at once, we kept applying it. When it was really bothering him, we applied Vaseline instead, and that seemed to soothe him.

Also, on Sunday, when we went to Target, we got some Vaseline in a tube. Jamie thinks that Vaseline in a tube is easier to apply. Some other things we did were--we switched his allergy medicine to Claritin. This did not seem to help at all, so we went and got non-generic Zyrtec. Ben's allergist had recommended the non-generic of Claritin, so, after trying that, I thought maybe we should try the non-generic Zrytec.

Ben's regular doctor had recommended Disney's Gentle Naturals. It looks like now that they're just Gentle Naturals, minus the Disney. I had bought the Baby Eczema Cream and tried it before when his skin was really, really irritated and hadn't seen any results, but after applying mostly Vaseline to Ben's neck yesterday, we decided to try it again.

The base of the cream is basically Vaseline--Petrolatum, so it's not like the cream is all natural, but that is a good base for Ben because it seemed to soothe him. I was worried that some of the other ingredients--the natural ones--would cause an allergic reaction, but, so far, they haven't.

In addition to seriously irritating Ben's neck, the Cerave did not seem to help Ben's other eczema spots--behind his knees and in the creases of his arms get the reddest. With his neck and the sides of his face, there is the added nemesis of drool, especially now.

We also switched Ben's diaper rash cream from Desitin, which did work if he got red to Balmex because his doctor recommended not using fish oil, though I don't know why. Balmex also has an ointment, which has a Vaseline base that we purchased. It does not seem to irritate him. Vaseline bases seem to work well for him, as long as they don't contain Lanolistn.

I'm also not sure why the Disney's Gentle Naturals is working on him when California Baby had started to irritate him. Could it be the coconut?

My Poor, Red Baby

Ben is finally sleeping now, but I'm not sure if I can because he's been scratching himself in his sleep, and I don't want him to wake up and scratch himself for a long time while I'm sleeping.

Like everything else, the Aquaphor helped for a few days, and then it hurt. He probably does have a Lanolin allergy. So we tried just olive oil. This didn't seem to be enough for the most irritated place on his body--his neck. We tried corn starch. The corn starch just dried him out too much.

So we tried Lubriderm for sensitive skin. He cried when I put this one. I gave him and bath and tried Johnson's Head to Toe Fragrance Free Baby Lotion. He got a rash all over him.

Then, we put on Cerave. It didn't seem to cause immediate irritation, but he's been scratching most of the night. For Ben, moisturizes for 24-hours equals irritates for 24 hours. What do I try next? I wish that I didn't have to wait so long for the appointment with the other dermatologist.

I wonder if the Claritin is helping even less than the Zyrtec did. It makes me mad because Ben is the cutest, happiest baby. He wakes up and smiles, at me, at Jamie, at the dogs. He's friendly and sweet, and he doesn't deserve to be itchy and red and sore all the time. There's all this technology everywhere, and yet it's so hard to find something that will help keep a little boy from scratching himself until he bleeds. I just don't understand why science doesn't know more about how to manage this condition by now.

The Doctors

I woke up yesterday with a feeling of anticipation-- as if it was my wedding day or the first day of school. I know that sounds somewhat pathetic. After all, it was just a doctor's appointment. Only a doctor's appointment.

But we had been struggling with Ben's eczema for months, and I was hoping for--the impossible. A miracle cream to make it all go away or at least someone to sit down with me and talk to me about lotions, sunscreen, shampoo.

What I got was a 45-minute wait only to see a doctor for five minutes. When I asked about lotions, he said, "You're going to put him on something called Cetaphil." I'm not sure if he believed me when I told him that it makes Ben break out. When I asked about soap, he gave me samples of Dove for sensitive skin. But there's a difference between sensitive and supersensitive. Dove for sensitive skin still contains a long list of ingredients, all of which could be potentially irritating. The terms hypo-allergenic and fragrance free usually still mean break out for Ben. When I asked him what to use on Ben's head, he said, "Just use Dove. It's not like he's going on a date or anything."

Then, he prescribed a steroid. I said I was concerned about potential side effects. One side effect is potential thinning of the skin. He said, "Don't worry, Mom," and said he'd check back on him in two weeks. All that excitement, all that anticipation--for that? I was so mad. I had been condescended to. None of the stuff I wrote down about all the stuff we'd tried was even read. We got the prescription for the steroid, only to discover that it contains sodium laurete sulfate, a skin irritant. I decided that we would ask Ben's regular doctor about steroids when we went in today.

Ben's skin has been getting better over the last few days, although there are still times when he scratches himself until he bleeds. Burt's Bee's Thoroughly Therapeutic, which I discovered at the drugstore by accident, seems to be helping. I had read on the Internet that honey has healing properties and has been found to help heal difficult wounds. But I can't really put honey alone on him. It would make a mess. And, if I used a band-aid on his face, he would eat it off.

Ben's regular doctor said he doesn't think he needs steroids--yet. So, we'll keep putting lotion on him. And I have appointments with Ben's allergist and a different dermatologist next month. For shampoo, we may try Dr. Bonner's Baby Mild Castille Soap. I got it at the Natural Store today. It was nice to be able to take out all my frustrations by buying sweet potato chips, Glutino glutin free pretzels and shampoo.

Olive Oil, Cocoa Butter, Burt's Bees

So, we have been using olive oil and cocoa butter as a moisturizer for the last few days. The olive oil has helped a lot with cradle cap, but none of these things was a very long lasting moisturizer, but what we were using before, Vanicream, seemed to be irritating him. We're still putting Vaseline on after baths, but putting it on all the time makes a big mess. The olive oil made a small mess yesterday when Ben kicked the bottle over. I got a small bottle from Rite Aid that says sweet oil emollient. I have read though that extra virgin olive oil is better.

The cocoa butter seemed to be just as good at moisturizing if not better than the Method Baby lotion that we tried on one of Ben's legs over the weekend. We washed his hair in their shampoo too, and though the shampoo didn't seem to be extremely irritating, it did seem to dry out his head. We probably should have put olive oil on afterward, but we wanted to see what would happen if we just tried the shampoo alone.

I had bought some Burt's Bees products at the drug store the other day. I didn't try them right away, however, because I wanted to call his allergist to see if coconut would likely cause allergy problems since he is allergic to peanuts and cashews. Some people consider coconut to be a nut; others consider it to be a fruit.

Today, though, we got desperate. I had been putting olive oil and cocoa butter on all morning, but when Ben took Jamie out for a little while, in the car on the way back, Ben had removed his cotton gloves and had started scratching his neck until it bled. The allergist called back this morning and said that coconut would probably be okay. So I put on Burt's Bee's Thoroughly Therapeutic with honey and orange. I had wanted to try Burt's Bee's before, but some of their products contain nut oils or wheat, so, if you have food allergies, you have to read their labels carefully.

Burt's Bee's lotion made Ben's skin feel silky smooth. I'm not sure if it also made it a little red, but we had to do something to try and moisturize his skin so he would stop scratching. This product does have a rather strong fragrance. While we are trying to use fragrance free products, I felt that we should try this lotion. Aside from the back of head ( where he likes to scratch and seems to sometimes just do it as a reflex, Ben is not scratching now. I hope that this continues through the night. Ben is also rolling over a lot and reaching for different objects including toys, lotions and Maggie the dog.

"All We Are Is Just Another Brick in the Wall"

Last night was a bad night. Ben was scratching and waking up very frequently. His skin was dry. We were tired.

This morning, I decided to call a dermatologist.

The first dermatologist, who has an office in our town, said he could see us next week, but the only problem is, while he's in our network, he's not a preferred provider, so we'll have to pay $105 for the office visit.

The second dermatologist, who has an office about 15 miles away, is in our network and can see us--at the end of May.

The third dermatologist, who is not in our town but is in our network could see us--in August.

Sometimes, it just seems like things shouldn't be this hard. Why can't somebody help my baby without charging us so much money?

Gluten-Free: What can you eat?

When Ben's allergist said that he was allergic to wheat, at first I didn't really understand. For some reason, I thought, okay, no wheat bread, no problem.

In that moment, I didn't think flour. I didn't think cake. I didn't think pizza. I didn't realize how prevalent wheat is. Ben does not have Celiac disease. What he has is a wheat allergy, an allergy that we hope he outgrows. But, since I'm still feeding him, Ben's allergies to eggs, wheat, peanuts and some tree nuts, have meant radical changes to our diet.

At first, I didn't think I'd be able to eat anything, but the doctor reminded me: He's not allergic to corn or oats or soy or beef or chicken. But being Italian, my diet consisted of a lot of wheat. Pizza, pasta, cake. Wheat was like a staple of my daily life.

But because of Ben's wheat allergies, I've learned that there are a lot of things that I can eat that aren't made with wheat. One thing that is used as a substitute for wheat is rice. There's rice pasta and rice flour. I just found an egg substitute today that is wheat free. The regular grocery store did not seem to have an egg-free egg substitute.

For lunch today, I had Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie.



It's made with organic vegetables and beans. It is gluten free and contains no dairy. I also found some pretty good gluten-free pretzels by Glutino. The one thing that I haven't been quite able to get used to, however, is rice bread.

Facial Sore

Most of Ben's eczema flareup is clearing up though he does have what looks like a little diaper rash at the edge of his diaper on his back.

We've cut back the amount of baths since his skin is not inflamed. We last bathed him on Wednesday and are thinking of skipping the bath tonight because his skin was very dry Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

I called the doctor's office yesterday to ask if it would be okay to put Neosporin on this one sore on his face.

Other spots have healed, but this one spot just keeps flaring up. At times, it has appeared like an oozing sore. It doesn't look infected, but every time it would start to heal, it would flare up again, or he would scratch it or rub against it. It's an awkward place--on the side of his face--the perfect spot for rubbing against and within easy reach of his hands.

We do use cotton gloves on him most of the time though he has learned to take them off.

Since the return phone call that we got from the doctor's office was of no help, we decided to try Neosporin. It is gluten-free, and none of the ingredients looked to be particularly irritating, but you never know.

We applied it last night and then this morning. We want to apply it when we can watch him since obviously we don't want him to get it in his mouth. The skin appears to be, hopefully healing, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

And Sometimes a Rash is Eczema

The Desitin that we put on Ben did seem to soothe him, but it also dried out his skin. So, in the middle of the night, I put some Vanicream on him.

I started using Vanicream a few days ago. Someone on an eczema discussion area recommended it. It's supposed to be good for extremely sensitive skin because it's free of lanolin, dyes, fragrance and parabens.

Popular eczema remedies Aquaphor and Eucerin, which are made by the same company, contain Lanolin. Lanolin is used for its soothing properties, but it is derived from sheep's wool, and so it irritates some extremely sensitive skin.

Sunday night, however, I switched back to Cerave because I felt like Vanicream wasn't working quickly enough, though it did seem to be helping. Cerave contains ceramides, which are supposed to release the lotion over a longer period of time (24 hours) so you don't have to apply it as often. But Cerave contains parabens, and this may have been what caused Ben's skin to get so red and itchy that we had to give him an extra dose of antihistamine in the morning.

Yesterday, Ben's skin remained red and itchy. That's why J. suspected heat rash. Also, Sunday night, we had Ben in a long-sleeved sleeper but with the AC on. The sleeper may have been too heavy. Other nights, however, if we dress him too lightly, he ends up shivering. In order to prevent SIDs, we have not put Ben to bed with a blanket. When is it okay to use a blanket? Some people use 100 percent cotton blankets, which are breathable, but, due to complications after Ben's birth, I am more cautious.

I'm not sure if the corn starch was helping. I'm not sure if we gave it a chance. But the Desitin was temporarily soothing. We're trying to figure out if the neck rashes were caused by heat, drool, eczema or more than one.

We put cotton gloves on Ben to keep him from scratching. Unfortunately, due to much use lately, all of the gloves are in the wash, so I'm holding his little hands, and, today at least, he's not scratching as much.

Vaseline Bath

One thing that seems to be helping Ben's skin is Vaseline baths. When I first read about the idea on the Internet, it seemed crazy, but my husband wanted to try it.

The other day, however, Ben's skin was so red and inflamed that anything seemed worth a shot. So, we did it.

It didn't cure Ben's eczema, but it really helped to restore some of the hydration to Ben's skin. We bathed him again in Vaseline last night.

Actually, what we've been doing is a bath in Aveeno Baby Bath. The Aveeno lotions don't seem to help, but the oat baths do seem to soothe.

Ben's allergist recommended using all fragrance free products on him. This has made shopping for shampoo, for example, to be challenging. We've decided to try this shampoo, which I ordered from the Internet the other day: http://www.exederm.com/baby-eczema-shampoo.html.

Ben has such extremely sensitive skin that he is irritated by both herbal remedies (not sure which herbs are the culprit, however) and harsh chemicals. A lot of over-the-counter lotions and creams contain potentially irritating chemicals or nut oils. Apparently, hypoallergenic just means that the general public would not be sensitive to a product, but Ben is not the general public.

I am learning so much about allergies and eczema. Before, I only had a vague idea of what eczema even was, and now, I am reading and learning and hoping to relieve Ben's super-irritated skin.

We just upped the dose of children's Zyrtec, which was prescribed for Ben in March. So, hopefully, this will help.

If you are also an eczema and allergy sufferer, what worked for you?

Skin Problems

Our son, Ben, who is 6 months-old, is a perfect miracle. However, his skin problems have been less than perfect and less than amazing.

He started developing problems with redness and cradle cap in the first few months of his life. At first, we didn't know what it was.

Upon seeing his red, irritated skin, our doctor pronounced, "It's perfectly normal." He said he thought it would go away on its own.

The doctor recommended using Johnson's Baby Lotion three or four times a day. That didn't work, and, in fact, it seemed to only be irritating his skin. We tried everything that was recommended to us.

Aveeno Baby Lotion didn't seem to irritate his skin, but it didn't seem to help either.

California Baby Calendula Cream seemed to help at first, and then it didn't. We also tried the super-sensitive lotion, and that didn't help, and it also smelled somewhat unpleasant. The Calendula Lotion from California Baby made his skin very itchy.

Eucerin and Aquaphor made his skin red and swollen.

In March, we took Ben to an allergist. She said that helping relieve his skin problems will be trial and error. She gave us samples of Cerave to try and suggested putting one lotion on one leg, and one on the other.

I try to just use one lotion at a time, but when his eczema causes skin inflammations, sometimes it is tempting to just keep putting on lotion after lotion. This does not work, and is not a good idea.

I'm learning that a lot of things in lotions, even supposedly hypoallergenic lotions, can be irritating to people with skin sensitivities.

Ben's allergist recommended that we rip labels off of products that irritate him and put them in a notebook. This can begin to isolate the cause of the irritation. This is a plodding method. I wish there was a cure right now because I don't want my baby to suffer. He is healthy and good tempered, and we love him so much.

A final note in this first post: We had read that eczema can be related to food allergies. We had a blood test done to test for food allergies. Ben is allergic to eggs, wheat, peanuts and some tree nuts. I am feeding him, so this means that I have had to alter my diet. This has been a challenge, but hopefully it will lead to healthier diets for all of us.