Alexis has the worst freaking luck in history.

She has ECZEMA. I thought she had a really bad allergic reaction to something....a rash started on the top of her head and around one eye. Plus, there was blood in her poop. I called the doctor because the blood had been happening on and off for a few days....he said if it wasn't better by in the morning, to bring her and a stool sample in. So, the next morning, I woke up and she was covered in these little red bump all around her neck, ears, and face. There were bumps on the rest of her body, but there weren't a lot in one spot, and they were kinda pinky-peach. So, I called the doc and told him I needed an appointment ASAP, and got one that night. I wrote down everything she's been exposed to since she was born....animals, detergent, food, diapers, everything. He walked in and was like....she has eczema. I thought maybe there was poison ivy on the wood we've burned....but that wouldn't work because I'm highly allergic. So, it's eczema. When one thing heals with that poor baby, something else reers its ugly head.
She also has another ear infection/sore ear. The doctor asked me if anyone smokes around her. My mother and step father sit pretty much right on top of her and smoke....I told him that and he said that's keeping her ears a mess. When I told them to stop, my step dad said that when something about smoking comes up I always yell at them....I was like BECAUSE YOU DO IT RIGHT ON TOP OF HER. So, I start a new job Saturday, as soon as I get some money together, I'm getting my own house!
Just thought I'd update everyone on her condition.
I had to stop using Johnson's everything....he said the fragrances in it just irritate her skin that much more which explains why her neck is so red and bumpy. I now use Aveeno baby. They have special wash and lotion specially made for babies with eczema. I hope it goes away.
PS....The blood in her poop was from a really hard stool she had and it tore a little spot on her butt. Poor girl. He told me to stop diluting her juice to make her stool softer.

 

Awwww...Sorry, I don't have any advice or experience, but i just feel so bad for your little girl. One of my friends has eczema and she was miserable while first trying to figure out what products would work. Hugs for a stressed momma and baby.

 

Hugs as well! My sister had eczema as a baby and I remember my mom trying EVERYTHING to get it to go away...she had a rough time with it. To this day my sister still gets heat rashes and sun rashes, she just has sensitive skin. The Aveeno should help though, and keeping her away from smoke should help too. Good luck!

 

the smoke is most likely messing up her immune system. try your best to keep her away from it. May be try baby vitamin drops to help out her immune system? warm healing vibes are sent her way

 

Wow... I am so sorry to hear that Alexis is having such a hard time, and that you in turn are having a hard time also. I read your post a few weeks back about her 4 month check-up, and it made me sad too. It's really hard being a first time mom(I'll be finding out in seven months what it's like to be a second time mom...EEEK! *smile*) especially when you are looking to others who you think you should be able to trust for help. The last place you'd expect to find trouble is with your doctors and your parents... That's a big bummer.

I'm gonna share with you some of my personal observations... I don't at all want you to feel like I am trying to drag you down, but I know that without some straight forward advice when Leo was a baby, I would have made some bad decisions. Keep in mind, it's just my opinion sweety... Take it or leave it...

Which brings me to my first point... YOU ARE HER MOMMA! Did you need to be reminded, probably not, but it often helps for us to be reminded that WE are ultimately responsible for the health of OUR children. You know that your parents smoking around her is bad, and you are great for having plans to get out, but in the mean time YOU keep her away from it. If they light up in the same room as her, immediately take her out. If they are going to be obstinate and not care about your feelings on the subject, you shouldn't care if they get butt-hurt if you take your baby out of their uncaring presence. Maybe they'll get the picture that you ABSOLUTELY don't want her around it, and be more careful in the future, and if not at least you have gotten her out of the cloud.

A post was made that the smoke could be interfereing with her immune system(as well as being absorbed into her system, building up toxins that will come out through her skin!) and excaberating her eczema... Get her away from the smoke!

My thoughts on "doctors"... They do wonderful good for people in extreme situations that we aren't qualified for... Brain surgery, broken legs, heart transplants and such. But when it comes to babies that are generally healthy, or WOULD BE without their intervention, YOU DON'T NEED THEM! A mother's instinct is often all that's needed to figure out what's wrong if we pay attention to it. If you educate yourself, you'll be able to take care of most problems that arrise on your own. I'm a big advocate for natural remedies, and it's ALL I've used on my son in the past two years, and he is amazingly healthy.

Again, I don't want to make you feel guilty, but it was your complete trust in your doctor that got her on Soy Formula(you said you knew that she had no allergy to dairy). You knew better, but took his word for it anyway, and from what it sounds like, this fool had no idea that he even prescribed it for her in the first place! He just swished his omnipotent pen and you took it on faith in his Doctorness.

She evoloped an allergy to the soy formula right? Eczema can be triggered by allergies. A doctor gave her penicillan(antibiotics) for an earache, right? Eczema can also be caused by immune deficiencies, which could have been caused when the anitbiotics wiped all the good bugs in her body that fight the bad bugs.

My goal here is not to make you feel bad(all us mommas feel guilty when our babies aren't doing so good ) but to show you that taking Alexis to the doctor isn't doing her much good it seems. There is tons of information out there for the taking, if you just make it a point to want to learn. It's your babies health at stake... Worth learning something new for! And when worse comes to worse, and you can't find any thing or can't deal, you can always ask us here on the forums, we'd love to share our knowledge!

Now that I am done with the speech(had to get on my soapbox... I KNOW that YOU can take care of her without so much doctor intervention) I'll tell you what I think might help with her problem.
This is the a snippet I found while looking up natural cures for eczema on google(search engines rock! you can learn so much!)
Eczema is often called Dermatitis, and may be a symptom of an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency. Eczema can be due to allergies, allergies secondary to digestive disorders such as hydrochloric acid deficiency, rashes secondary to immune diseases, genetic metabolic disorders, and/or nutritional deficiencies, especially of niacin (vitamin B3) and B6, as well as other B vitamins.

To minimize your risk of developing eczema, avoid irritating substances, wear natural nonirritating materials, use soothing ointments, and check to see if dietary, nutritional, and/or and allergy-causing factors need to be considered.

So... Lets see... Alexis is almost fives months old, right? If you have started her on any kind of solids yet, I would recommend that you try to find a way to get some flax and yogurt into her. Flax is a great source of Omega three fatty acids, and yogurt(made with LIVE cultures) has all kinds of beneficial organisms in it that will repopulate her intestines and boost her immune system.


What kind of formula is she taking now? Did you switch her to dairy, or she still on soy? Get her off that soy if you haven't already. Another thing you might try giving her is pure goat's milk. When my sisters and I were babies, mom had to put us on goat's milk because we developed allergies to cow dairy. We eventually grew out of those allergies, but the goats milk got us through. The proteins in goat milk are smaller celled than the protein in cow milk, making it easier to digest(like the stuff they tout on formula labels "comfort proteins" or some crap... meaning PROCESSED and UNNATURAL)... Same story with the fats in goat milk. You live in Kentucky so maybe if you are in a rural area, you can find someone with dairy goats.

A note about the flax... It has LOTS of fiber, which may help with her hard stools. The way I got Leo to eat it was mix it with yogurt(kill tow birds with one stone)... I think I started him on it at six months(he was a booby baby, even. Alexis being formula fed might be able to take it earlier?). Omega three's in flax also help with brain function... GOOD stuff for your baby. You can find it in many stores... I know Wal-Mart carries it by their herbal supplements. Make sure you buy the WHOLE seed and grind it fresh in a coffee grinder or blender... It goes rancid fast when ground and should always be stored in the fridge or freezer, grocery stores don't do that. Whole seed doesn't spoil. Buying preground defeats the purpose of the stuff.


A good yogurt is YOBABY ORGANIC... It has acidophilous(sp?) as well as other live cultures good for your baby's tummy. Most yogurt only has acidophilous, which is good, but the more the merrier. Avoid the yogurt with fake coloring and sweetners, those are chemicals, and could be irritating.

One more note... I also found while reading that not having enough acid in the body(hydrochloric acid found in the stomach that digests your food) can make eczema worse. With her bouncing around between formulas and having antibiotics and such could have alkalized her system. Yogurt is naturally acidic, and might help on that level too.

I hope that this helps... And that you realize your strength, and know that you have the power to take charge of your baby's health. Wow... That was a long post... Sorry. I just feel strongly that you are her best doctor.

 

OH! And for her ear ache... You'd be surprised the wonders that herbs can do! Here's a link to all kinds of herbal formulas for various stuff. Near the bottom of the page is Ear Oil, which should help. I've never used it, as Leo had never had an ear ache, but I've used many of their other herbal extracts ans formulas, and they are awesome! This company is located in my home town, and I can vouch for the efficacy of their products and business practices.

http://www.teetercreekherbs.com/formulas/list.html

 

Awww, poor Alexis.

My oldest son had severe eczema as a baby...the only thing I could wash him with was unscented Aveeno baby wash, and Aveeno nonfragranced shampoo (all of the Johnson and Johnson and Baby Magic products made him break out horribly!) But the Aveeno works wonders. It was the only bath product that didn't cause him problems, we tried so many of them before that!

I would give him plain oatmeal baths too which really, really helped when he had an outbreak. I'll never forget the time I used some Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo on his hair and he broke out in welts! It was awful.

To this day, we still deal with some problems, although not nearly as much as we did during his infancy. I still can only use certain bathing products with him or else we'll end up with outbreaks. Not long ago I figured maybe we could get away with some regular kiddie shampoo, dermatologist tested, yummy smelling watermelon...nope. My boys' scalps started peeling (dandruff) within a day of using, and they were super itchy. My younger son also has mild eczema problems, but not as much as my oldest son had, thankfully my daughter has none. I feel bad for them because they can't use most of the "kid friendly, cool" bath products, bubble baths, soaps, otherwise, we'll have major rashes and outbreaks of eczema on our hands. Poor guys.

Although I myself am super sensitive to a lot of products, so they don't really get it anywhere strange. I can't use too many scented products (and albsolutely no perfume!) or I end up with migranes, and many soaps cause me to break out in rashes. So I have to be selective as well!

 

Okay... One more thing. I know you're probably tired of me.:& BUT... I think it is important to note that, while I am sure switching to less irritating products will help make Alexis more comfortable and help with her condition by eleiminating her chemical exposure, it is also very crucial that you treat the CAUSE of her eczema and not just the SYMTOMS. Switching products might be a temporary fix, but if you don't look at what's causing the problem she'll keep experiencing the same thing over and over. Okay... Now I am done.

 

Ivory: She's off the soy. She has been since she got out of the hospital. The foods she's eating, she showed no allergic reaction to. Sweet potatos, Sweet peas, and some fruits. She wears cotton clothing always. And, he didn't say the smoking was hurting her eczema, just her ears.

Did you use plain oatmeal? I was thinking about mixing up a batch of plain oatmeal and giving her a 'mask' of it for a few minutes. Do you think that would help with the inflammation? Hers isn't severe, it's just a LOT of tiny red bumps around her ears and neck and her scalp. The rest are just scattered red bumps. The Aveeno has definitely helped, I lucked out and found one made specailly for eczema, it's cleared it up nicely since I started using it....but we're still a ways off.

My doctor told me that she'd probably have some problems the rest of her life. Her father and I both have super esnsitive skin, and I figured she'd have it, just not like THIS. Neither of us have eczema. I have some dry patches that, no matter what I put on them, still itch, but it's not my entire body.

Same with me. I can't use anything that smells pretty because of all the scents and alcohols. I try all the time, because I'm stubborn, and use the lotion that matches it, and end up drier than when I started.
I can wear perfume, but only on occassion. It gives me a headache if I'm around too much of it.

 

Milk allergy will cause eczema, and taking out the milk will make it slowly fade. It didn't show up suddenly probably because it took so long for the casein protein to build up. Try taking out dairy again, for TWO MONTHS AT LEAST, and see if it makes a difference.

Calendula lotions, like the one from California Baby, is a very good one. It's the only one my friend with eczema will use for her and her daughter.

 

Yes, just your plain old fashioned oats! It made the tub a little messy, but it was worth it. Worked better than the antibiotic ointment one of the doctors tried to get us to use!

My husband has problems with eczema, he gets it so bad sometimes that he's scratching the areas until they bleed. I don't have problems with eczema thankfully, but I tend to break out in rashes or hives.

I totally understand. There are very few things I can use lotion wise that has any scent to it. The only one that really doesn't bother me is regular cocoa butter. I can tolerate that and not get headaches from it. I can use some of the milder smelling essential oils as a perfume, but I still have to be careful with those.

 

both my daughters have mild eczema, i have had the best luck with the eucerin. our ped said that the medicated stuff for whatever reason doesn't usally work on small children/babies so i tried a couple of natural lotions but none of them worked nearly as well as the eucerin


good luck mama!!

 

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This lotion is the absolute best!

 

Good news. Alexis eczema is pretty much gone. I mean, I'm sure she still has it, but her break-out is gone!!!! I let her soak in oatmeal for about 5 minutes each bath, then used the Aveeno Baby for eczema wash, then followed with Aveeno Baby lotion. I used Vaseline on her head and face for about 4 days, then switched to lotion when it got under control. I can still feel little bumps under her double neck and on her outer thighs, but they aren't red and inflammed like before!
The doctor told me it might have had to do with her RSV. He said babies with that get asthma easier and asthma can cause eczema, or something like that. Plus, parents with allergies are more likely to have babies with eczema.
Just thought I'd update everyone on the situation.

 

I'm so glad that Alexis is feeling better!