Hello there baby mamas! I am so honored to be a guest blogger and share some of my knowledge on food allergies, hives and eczema.  My name is Kati and I have a 15 month old daughter “R”.

My healthy baby girl never seemed to have any health issues until August 28th. We went to the mall to a playgroup to spend some time with friends. After the playgroup a friend and I decided to take our little ones to the food court to grab a bite to eat and feed our kids. I brought her lunch and only fed her baby food. Towards the end of our lunch I noticed that my daughter was starting to break out in red blotches all over her body. I quickly decided to start walking to the car and take her right to the pediatrician’s office.  Upon removing her from the stroller to move her into the car I realized that the blotches were hives and were spreading quickly all over. I was so scared and as you can imagine the 10 minute drive felt like an hour.

When we arrived at Dr. E’s office we were seen very quickly. We had been to his office two days prior for our one year check up and R had received her chicken pox vaccine as well as one of her HIB vaccines and we had start to switch to whole milk. Dr. E and another doctor from the practice examined her and agreed that this was not the chicken pox (the chicken pox vaccine can cause an outbreak of chicken pox I learned). They also agreed that she was not having a reaction at the injection spots. So what to do – treat the reaction and bring down the hives. Dr. E gave a Rx for a steroids to bring down the hives and also suggested a daily dose of Zyrtec. He also warned me that the hives would get worse and possibly come and go for 3-4 days.  And put her back on her formula.  

A week later R still had hives. I decided we needed to see Dr. E again. As we sat in the waiting room her hives were getting worse. I was so worried. Dr. E said that we needed to see an allergist. So I called but the allergist, Dr. L, could not see R for until she was off the steroids for a month. Another week went by and R still had hives. How could this be happening to my little love bug! So another call to Dr. E and visit to Dr. L.
Dr. L decided that we needed to remove all dairy and soy from her diet for 2 weeks and we would do the skin scratch test. We had to put her on a special formula. The options we were given were Elecare or Neocate. Both had to be ordered online and were very expensive. She took to the Elecare Vanilla formula.

Test day came and I was terrified. She was tested for over 60 items. The results came back that she was allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, melon and dust. Dr. L wanted us to continue the non-dairy non-soy diet for another month. In that month R got hives again and developed eczema on her face, belly and legs. So after another visit we decided to do a new test referred to as a Skin Patch test. The alternative was an invasive blood test. The Skin Patch tested her for 15 foods (milk, eggs, corn, chicken, beef, chocolate, etc…). The patches are placed on the back for 48 hours. They can’t have a bath or get sweaty (not an easy task with a toddler). Then they take the patches (large bandages) off and let the skin breath for another 24 hours before doing the final reading. So we found out R is also allergic to eggs and corn. So we can’t vaccinate for awhile. When we do we have to weigh the risks to the benefits of dealing with a reaction. We are still keeping dairy products out of ¬her diet for another two months but we have added soy back into her diet. And I have moved her to Silk Soy Vanilla Milk and she loves it. Her allergy to corn is not severe enough to remove corn syrup and oil from her diet thank goodness! Corn syrup is in almost all processed foods.

I found that when R had hives loose fitting or soft clothing was most comfortable for her. So I started making clothes for her and have started by own business. To check out some of my great designs and accessories visit www.kjfdesigns.wordpress.com.

Through this process I also visited a wonderful dermatologist who recommended some wonderful products. I am pleased to say that the new products have improved R’s skin and fingers crossed we have been hives free for 2 weeks. Dr. L informed us that R will hopefully grow out of her allergies by the time she is eight! For the time being we are reading labels and asking lots of questions. Below is a list of alternative products we have switched to and have helped improve R’s skin.

Products Alternatives:

Diapers:
•    Seventh Generation – can be purchased at Babies R’ Us and Whole Foods
•    Nature Baby Care – can be purchased online at www.diapers.com (these  are white so they look great under clothes and dresses, and don’t leak)

Soap:
•    Dove - white bar soap
•    Glycerin Soap – Available at Whole Foods

Shampoo:
•    Free & Clear Shampoo/Conditioner

Moisturizer:
•    Vanicream
•    Cerave

Laundry Detergent:
•    All Free & Clear
•    Purex Free & Clear

Formula: (available at www.babywuvinc.com)
•    Elecare
•    Neocate