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Our son was born in San Antonio, TX. (We had moved there for four years while my husband starting off his career.) He was jaundice after birth and had to sleep with that blanket light for the first few days. Other than that, he was very healthy.
He gained weight at a rapid pace. By the time he was two months old he was a chubby baby. Then one day he started getting a rash on the left side of his face. I put lotion on him and thought nothing of it. Unfortunately the rash became larger, and seemed to be more red and itchy.
I made an appointment with the pediatrician for the following day. She told me it was eczema and that I should cut wheat and nuts out of my diet because I was nursing. She informed me that the protein in the foods I was eating was passing through my milk and into his system. He was having a reaction to something I was eating.
So, I stopped at the grocery store on our way home from the dr’s office to buy some foods that contained no wheat or nuts. I ate the new diet for a week and he showed no improvements. I made another appointment with his pediatrician the following week. This time she prescribed him some over the counter lotion and asked that I also take milk and all dairy out of my diet.
I made another trip to the grocery store for new foods to eat that contained no wheat, no nuts and no dairy. After week #2 still no improvements. This went on and on and on until they finally agreed to food allergy testing at the age of ten months. By that time I had eliminated wheat, nut, dairy, fish, and gluten from my diet.
Eight months of our son’s life was spent with large red patches of eczema all over his body. He was constantly scratching. He slept very very poorly at night. He was covered in little scrapes. He would go into these tantrums of sorts scratching his head and screaming. Whenever I would hold him he would start rubbing his face into my shirt to alleviate the itching. It was not easy.
Our poor son spent the majority of his time as a baby absolutely miserable. However, when he was not having a reaction, he was very smiling and very happy. My husband traveled every week for business. He was home only on the weekends. Our oldest son had just started kindergarten. Both of our families were across the country in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. And here I was, in Texas feeling completely hopeless and helpless and just wanting answers to make my baby happy.
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