Help from the doctor

Yesterday morning, I woke up in a panic, as my sweet little four and a half month old daughter was covered in speckles of a tiny, red, bumpy rash, and the rash on her forehead (which she was trying so badly to scratch the night before) was covered in a yellow crust.  So I called the pediatrician's office, and we were able to make an appointment with the nurse practitioner.

Little Bear's rash stumped the nurse practitioner, so she called the doctor in.  The doctor said it was a yeast rash combined with patches of eczema.  She gave us a prescription for diflucan.  It should help the yeast rash as well as the eczema patches (as they supposedly go hand in hand).

Also, she wants me to vastly broaden my diet.  (Pardon me as I let out a very ecstatic, yahooooooo!) I am to continue to avoid corn, wheat, sugar, dairy, soy, nuts, beans, shellfish, and large starchy potatoes (but I can have small, fingerling, or purple potatoes).  I am specifically to include more healthy fats.  Things like flax seed oil, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, salmon.  Also...spices and garlic are good, as are green leafy vegetables.  My focus on eating needs to be centered around lots of vegetables, good proteins like what I've been eating (turkey and lamb) plus fish and chicken, and quinoa and rice are my grains.

Also, we are no longer in isolation. (Hallelujah!!!)

I feel like a new person.  We have more direction.  Little Bear should be feeling better very soon!

So in a nutshell, broader elimination diet for me, continue to use coconut oil applied topically on Little Bear, and a ten day prescription of diflucan.

I'm praying this antifungal medicine is the key.

TED

For the past eight weeks I've been on a Total Elimination Diet because I exclusively breastfeed Little Bear, and her pediatrician recommended this for me.  I amazingly haven't cheated once.  It's amazing what you can do for someone you love!

I would love to say that it has been the cure all for us.  Little Bear has less raw patches, but she still has major eczema flare ups.

So tomorrow I'm calling the pediatrician to get her looked at again.  We need help!

Every time I look at my baby girl, I pray that she will be healed.  She's the sweetest thing!

I don't know what to do but keep to my diet and keep trying new creams.  Hopefully we get in tomorrow and get on a better path for improvement.

CerAve

I used CerAve this morning after Little Bear's 15min pure water bath.  Not five minutes later, her skin was so dry it was flaky.  I'm not calling it a fail after just five minutes, but I'm going to move on and see if there's something else that can help Little Bear through this eczema outbreak.  Wish me luck!

Family to help cure Eczema

On my quest to help clear/cure Little Bear's eczema, I realized that I need to try changing some things I use on me and the rest of my family.  Perhaps we are triggering these outbreaks?

Some things to try:

Use natural deoderant
No longer use perfume
Only use lotions that Little Bear can use
If I have makeup on, don't kiss her
Have my husband rinse his face after shaving
Make sure my husband shaves every day
No cologne on my husband
Keep my hair pulled back
Go shampoo free
Wash the whole family's clothing in Little Bear approved washing liquid
Have family members wash their face and hands after eating
Make sure any creams or lotions on my other kids are Little Bear approved

Coconut oil

Little Bear's pediatrician recommended us to use coconut oil on a Little Bear's eczema, cradle cap, and  diaper rash.  I like that it's natural.  I have to apply this at every diaper change, as every couple hours it seems to wear off and Little Bear is again flay dry.  It keeps her moisturized, but it doesn't seem to cure it.  Nor does it keep outbreaks away.

I'm not calling this a fail yet...  I'm just wanting to try other things to clear Little Bear of the angry (and enlarging) eczema patches...and maybe we can use coconut oil as a preventative once she is cleared up.

Aquaphor

We tried Aquaphor on Little Bear's eczema with poor results this past week.  It seemed to heat up little Bear's skin, and her skin was red and enflamed looking by the end of the day.  Not flaky...but a hot, angry, bumpy looking rash.  I think it is safe to consider Aquaphor a fail for us.

Eczema list of treatments

I have been researching numerous things to try on Little Bear's skin.  I'll be posting updates of how this all works.  I'm hopeful that we will quickly find a miracle product for her eczema!  Maybe this will help someone else down the road...

Dead Sea salt baths
Homemade lotion made with:  Calendula oil, Jojoba oil, Shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax, olive oil, coconut oil
Vaseline baths
Eucerin
Frankincense essential oil
Aquaphor
Cerave
Aveeno eczema
Grandma's Rash Remedy
Exzaderm
Melaleuca's Renew
Coconut oil
Baking soda baths
Apple cider vinegar
Wet wraps
Epsom salt baths
California Baby Calendula cream
Pot of Gold
Sunflower oil
Palm oil