Our post today is a special guest blog entry from Nicole Smith. Her blog is Allergicchild.com and she is also the author of the books Allie the Allergic Elephant: A Children’s Story of Peanut Allergies, Cody the Allergic Cow: A Children’s Story of Milk Allergies  and Chad the Allergic Chipmunk: A Children’s Story of Nut Allergies. Nicole has also served as Treasurer for the non-profit organization, Kids With Food Allergies, Inc. and is currently serving on the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI) Advocacy Steering Committee. We would like to thank her for guest blogging for us.

Living with food allergies and eczema has become quite normal for our family. Our son, Morgan, is now almost 14 years old and has lived with food allergies his entire life. He is anaphylactic to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish. He is severely allergic to dogs, cats and other furry animals. His eczema is our ongoing battle. He is allergic to grasses, weeds and trees. He currently is receiving allergy shots in the hopes that his seasonal allergies will be minimized, and maybe he will be able to pet a dog in the near future!

From his first few months, Morgan had severe, weeping eczema across his body. It was everywhere – behind his knees, on his hands and feet, and even behind his earlobes. His skin was constantly infected, and I coated him with lotions and over the counter steroid creams to not much avail.

Morgan as a baby

Morgan’s eczema was helped by using Eucerin® lotion in the paste form, and by sparingly using Elocon® lotion (a steroid) when he was an infant. The Eucerin® is almost the consistency of lard.  Wal-Mart sells a generic brand of this that costs about 1/2 the amount of Eucerin®, and we’ve found it to be equally as good.  We slathered it on him every night.  When he was a baby, we applied it every time we changed his diaper.  The Elocon® lotion is a steroid cream, so we tried to use it only when his eczema got very severe. 

The eczema moved around his body as he grew older, but it has never entirely disappeared.  For a while, he had one finger that regularly sported an eczema spot if he ate any food with food dyes!

The use of heat in the winter time dries out his skin, as does swimming in chlorinated water in the summertime.  So, there isn’t a season where he gets a break.  If we forget to use the Eucerin® paste, his eczema will crack and fissures will form.  He has been put on antibiotics, which ended up curing the fissures.  However, we try to not allow the eczema to get this out of control.  The Elocon® lotion will sting if put on eczema with fissures.  He would cry in pain which hurt me almost as much as him – and made me more aware of staying ahead of his skin problems.

Morgan’s eczema gets worse when certain foods are added to his diet.  We notice that processed foods with yellow and red dyes made his skin much worse, so we removed these from his diet entirely when he was young.  This helped the eczema to disappear, yet it would amazingly reappear for no apparent reason. When he was a baby he was severely allergic to eggs; when this allergy disappeared, we started feeding him foods containing eggs, only to find that his eczema flared up.

We live in Colorado Springs, which has hot, dry air in the summer.  However, combining the heat with sun lotions is a recipe for disaster.  We use titanium dioxide sun lotions since they seem to be kinder to his skin.  Certain fabrics such as nylon bother his skin, creating eczema-like blotches.  Long ago, I began using laundry soap that is free of all dyes and perfumes.  None of this cures his eczema, but it helps it to not become worse.

Morgan today

Now that he’s a teenager, he’s responsible for taking care of his skin. As with most teenage boys, hygiene is a difficult daily practice! For a while, the prescription medication Singulair® cured his eczema completely. Now it doesn’t work as well. Since he started allergy shots his eczema seems to be worse, yet he is also in the middle of puberty. Our allergist had told us that some patients experience worsening eczema with allergy shots, yet his environmental and pet allergies are much better. It’s a difficult trade off!

When he has a bad eczema breakout, we have begun wet wrapping his skin with CeraVe® moisturizing cream and Betamethasone steroid cream. (He also takes an antihistamine, such as Xyzal or Zyrtec once a day.) We apply the steroid first, then the moisturizing cream and then hot, wet gauze to wrap his skin sealing in the moisture. Adding socks or ace bandages over the top insures the gauze stays in place. Keeping the wet wraps in place overnight helps the worst eczema spots. Twice a day wet wrap treatments can do wonders for his skin!

We feel like detectives on most days, attempting to find the cause of the eczema. It might be food related, contact related (such as grass or clothing articles) or none of the above. We would love to find the magical cure to make his eczema disappear. In the meantime, we’ll keep searching for what works for today to ease the itch!

 Nicole can be reached at:

Allergicchild.com

425 W. Rockrimmon Blvd, Suite 202

Colorado Springs, CO 80919

nicole@allergicchild.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleshieldssmith 

I often speak with parents of milk allergic babies and I hear a lot about rashes that appear on the baby’s face and body.  It is heartbreaking to hear how much they itch and scratch uncontrollably. And for many parents it is hard to determine if their child has just a typical baby rash or if it is a symptom of something more serious – like a rash caused by an allergic reaction to cow’s milk.

Atopic Dermatitis or eczema are two types of rashes that are commonly caused by a milk allergy. But without a diagnosis from the doctor of a cow’s milk allergy, how would a parent know that this is the cause?

You should always refer to your pediatrician to help you understand what is causing your little one’s eczema, but it’s also important to look at the big picture. Sometimes a baby with cow’s milk allergies, will also display other symptoms in addition to a rash. For instance, you may also see symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, gassiness, wheezing, runny nose, and colic.

If you do see a rash accompanied by any of these other symptoms, make sure to keep detailed notes and share all symptoms with your doctor so that your little one can get diagnosed and treated faster.

Also, make sure to work with your pediatrician to come up with a plan for healing your baby’s skin –  no matter what is triggering the rash, it is important to heal your baby’s skin as soon as possible. Some recommendations the doctor might suggest include:

• Bathing your baby in soothing lukewarm water

• Using a milk soap or non-soap cleanser

• Avoiding bath oils and perfumed powders

• Applying an over-the-counter lubricant to your baby’s skin

• Keeping your baby’s fingernails filed short so the scratching won’t do as much damage

• Dressing your baby in soft cotton fabrics to prevent possible fabric irritation

• Keeping your baby cool and avoiding hot, humid environments

• Trying to keep your baby distracted from the itchiness with fun activities

Did your little one have a rash due to a milk protein allergy? Tell us about your experience and what you did to treat it.

-Christine

At two and a half months old, R.J. was experiencing a painful, itchy, red rash on his cheeks that quickly spread to his chin, ears and neck. By the time he was four months old, the condition worsened, spreading to his scalp, back, stomach, legs and diaper areas.

Baby R.J. was miserable. The rash was so itchy and irritating that he was constantly scratching his face and rubbing it against anything he could find. He was extremely fussy, crying excessively and having difficulty sleeping. R.J.’s condition affected the entire family.

His father said “I personally had a difficult time eating and concentrating at work, as it broke my heart to see him suffer.”

R.J.’s parents took him to several doctors who tried several different treatments, all to no avail. Treatments included topical steroids, topical antifungals and oral antihistamines. They purchased dust-free bedding, allergen-removing carpet shampoos, high-quality air purifiers, a shower filter for R.J.’s bath water, chlorine-free diapers and wipes and 100 percent cotton bedding and clothing. R.J. still had no relief. R.J.’s mother was breast feeding and tried eliminating possible food allergens from her diet as well as switching to a milk-based formula and then to a hydrolysate formula. Nothing worked.

Finally, the family found a pediatrician who recommended Neocate, an amino acid-based formula used to treat infants and children with an allergy to dairy proteins. The dairy allergy can cause a variety of gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin problems. For R.J., the allergy had manifested itself as eczema.

“Neocate worked almost overnight to improve the rash,” says R.J.’s father.

In less than a week, R.J. was sleeping better, crying less and the rash had reduced so much that it was barely visible. R.J. enjoyed drinking Neocate, a nutritionally complete amino acid-based formula that will provide him optimal growth.

One of my favorite parts about being a nutrition specialist is talking to parents. While sometimes I just answer questions, other times I am able to hear a family’s actual allergy story. This is great because it helps me understand what parents are really going through.

Unfortunately, one thing I constantly hear from parents is that it took months and several doctor visits before their child was finally diagnosed with milk protein allergy.

Since there seems to be a lack of awareness about the symptoms of milk protein allergy, I wanted to quickly run through some of the most common symptoms – the more allergy parents or soon-to-be parents know, hopefully the better the diagnosis process.

Because one of the symptoms of a milk protein allergy is extreme fussiness, doctors often dismiss the other symptoms and diagnose the baby with colic. This happens all too often, causing little ones to suffer for far too long.

For more information on colicky babies and milk allergies, check out the article: What is Colic.

Other common symptoms of a milk protein allergy include:

• Diarrhea
• Bloody stool
• Vomiting
• Skin rashes
• Fussiness
• Low or no weight gain
• Gassiness
• Wheezing
• Failure to thrive

If you’re baby is experiencing any of these symptoms, visit your doctor. And in the mean time check out testforallergy.com to take a free test online that will help you determine if your baby has a milk allergy.

- Nita
Neocate is now on Facebook!

A few weeks ago, I shared the story about a little boy named R.J. His primary milk protein allergy symptom, eczema, was much more visible than some of the other symptoms. I’d like to share another testimonial from a mother whose little girl displayed different symptoms with her milk protein allergy. What these two stories do have in common, though, is that both children suffered from symptoms that seem like just typical baby ailments so it took longer than it should have to get a correct diagnosis and start treatment.

From the first night that Jill brought her new little girl, Natalie, home from the hospital, she was sick to her tummy. Natalie suffered from painful gas, diarrhea and vomiting. Natalie was screaming constantly and it was taking a toll on the entire family. After weeks and numerous visits to the pediatrician, Natalie was finally given the correct diagnosis of a milk protein allergy and was put on an amino acid based formula. For the entire story, click here.

Unfortunately, I have talked to countless parents who experienced these, and the other symptoms of a milk protein allergy, often for too long than they should have.

If any of these symptoms sound a little too familiar to you, visit http://www.testforallergy.com/ for a quick “test” to see if your child is showing sings of a milk allergy. If so, the site will also provide you with helpful information you can discuss with the pediatrician.

- Sarah