Eczema Update

What is going with the symptoms of your eczema? Well Lina<3, let Mommy tell you:

Lina<3, symptoms of the eczema has been very minimal. The dryness on your body is well maintained, and managed with daily moisturizing for few times a day (three to four times a day). Mommy is trying a different moisturizers to see which one last the longest on your skin in term of moisture. The Aquaphor Baby healing ointment was not good for your skin. It made you even itchier, which made you scratch even more. You tried it for a few days, and Mommy figure out that this ointment had to be culprit. After eliminating it, it was definite that ointment was making your scratch more. You were having an allergic reaction to Aquaphor ointment. The Weleda calendula ointment was not effective enough on your skin. Mommy only put the calendula ointment on your red cheeks (when you have redness cheeks due to a reaction to too much wheat or change in temperature), but it did clear it up a little bit and then the redness would come back worst later in the day. This calendula ointment needed to be constantly applied to the cheeks. Mommy concluded that we do not need this calendula ointment anymore. We had tried this last summer, (and it was not effective), and tried it again about a few weeks ago for a few days, and still is not effective enough for you to continue using it.
The dermatologist suggested that we used a drop of baby oil (Johnson's brand used) on your scalp to control the cradle caps on your head, after washing your hair. After using the baby oil on your head a few times (after shampooing your head with Cetaphil Restoraderm body wash), it made your scratched your head intensely. Although the baby oil seemed to have kept your scalp less flaky and moist, it was not something we should continue using. Mommy used a tiny drop of extra virgin olive oil instead on your head (after washing it), and it kept your head moist. We do not use too much of the oil as oil does clogged up the skin, and we do not want that to happen. Mommy brushes your hair daily (three times a day) to keep your scalp from drying up to much, and helps with the massages your head so you do not feel the need to scratch.

Food elimination was tricky, and not so fun for you. From your recent blood work, you have allergies to peanuts, cow's milk, and egg whites. There are some allergens to wheat and soybean products as well. It was easy to eliminate cow's milk, and peanuts all together from your diet since you never had it in the first place. When Mommy was still breastfeeding you, Mommy eliminated these things from my diet as well, and had good results. The tricky part is how much soybean products and wheat products to give you. You are on organic soy milk (regular, not formula), and you can not have any other soybean products with it. When it comes to wheat products, you can not take more than two slices of whole wheat bread, or too much of your organic puff snacks (which contains wheat). If you have too much wheat products, it makes your cheeks bright red, warm, and scaly.

Lina<3, you will continue to use Cetaphil Restoraderm body moisturizer, and Alba unpetroleum jelly on your skin. As needed, we use hydrocortisone ointment, and antihistamine to control itchiness. As your pediatrician said "you have to control the itch to control the scratching". There is still minimal scratching but it has been managed. Mommy does remind not to scratch when you are scratchy and directed you to do something else. With less scratching, your skin healing up, and there are less dry, and dark skin patches on your neck, arms, and legs. Your left ear has been healed and the skin no longer opens up. Your ankles are better looking since you stop scratching them so much, and the skin on your ankles does not get red or open  up.

Lina<3, your skin has come a long (since three months old) and it is looking better and better with less dryness and scaly skin. We are on the right path to being eczema-free...


Feel to share one's eczema update as well, and what works. 

Disagreeable Day

Yesterday was a very disagreeable day for you, Lina<3. You woke up crying and you went to sleep with some fuss. You have developed this whiny, and needy crying whenever things do not go your way. I hope that it does not develop into anything more later on.

The day started out with you waking up earlier than your usual time (9-10am) at 7:30am from not sleeping through the night and was up for an hour and half at night time. You woke up crying, and being fussy. Mommy hoped that you would fall back asleep in my arms in my bed, but you did not. I had placed all your stuff animals and toy phone on bed with us, so you can play with it but you saw Mommy's phone that  you kept reaching for. Even fussed when you could not reach the phone. After you stop fussing a little, Mommy let you play the phone (which has a great feature of Kids Corner). For breakfast, Mommy prepared a bottle of soy milk with cereal for you, and all you wanted to do was point to your cabinet where your snacks was stored and then did a whiny cry/scream you were pointing. After you ate your breakfast, you calmed down a little bit until you saw Mommy eating breakfast and wanted it too. So back to the whiny scream/cry. Mommy tried to ignore your behavior as much as possible as a way to discourage the behavior. There's are some distractions that kept you calm, by playing with some of your toys, scribbling with your crayons. It does not last long. With the whiny crying/screaming/whimpers, there was also a lot of scratching. When Mommy tells you to stop scratching, it made you even more disagreeable, and more whiny. Mommy played with you and that kept your attention and stopped the fussiness.

Getting ready for nap time was a struggle with the scratching, whining, and crying. You did not sleep long, about an hour and half. You woke from your nap, crying. After lunch, we went for a walk outside in the driveway and went up the block. When I said, we went for a walk, I meant that we both walked. You walked up the block with Mommy :). But it was a struggle trying to get you to turn back around to go back home. You struggled when Mommy held your hand and tried lead you back toward home (more like pulling you, lol but you are awfully strong). You fussed so Mommy picked you up and walked toward home. When you had calmed down, Mommy put you down to walk again. Walking the rest of way home was less eventful.

In the evening-Let the whining and scratching begin! Ahh! Mommy had a headache. Mommy ignoring your whiny cry/screams was not doing the trick. Mommy playing with you was getting a little boring to you (I think) because you were just not satisfied (even with all your snacks). You calmed down a little bit when Daddy came home and entertained you. By dinnertime, you were quieter and less fussy. By bedtime, it was okay, you went right to to sleep. 

Such is life...

Minimal Scratchy Days

Lina<3, it has been three good days because you have not been scratching every chance you get. I had thought that your daily scratching was becoming a habit but your doctor had told me otherwise and tried using hydrocortisone cream (1%) on the skin. I always been concern about using hydrocortisone cream on your skin, as it is a steroid.  With much consideration I decided to follow the doctor's suggestions, and apply the hydrocortisone cream on the skin where you scratched most, three times a day for three days. It worked wonders from the first day. There was definitely less scratching. You tend to scratch most when you are getting a change of clothes, and bath time. With the relief of the cream, there was less scratching when changing clothes and during bath time. It must be a big relief for you, Lina<3. I had use hydrocortisone cream before on your skin but I never thought it worked well, but maybe it is because the amount of cream I used was microscopic. There still is a little scratching, but it is controlled. Once Mommy asked you to stop, you sometimes stop, or when Mommy removes your hands from where you are scratching, stop. 

Yeah! to this big change. With less scratching, your skin is less scaly, not so dry, or red. Your hands are occupied with your toys, or your books. It was such a big change that you even enjoyed bath time in your bath tub, which was discontinue from use for months because of the scratching. During the bath time, you enjoyed playing with your bath toys, and enjoyed being in the water :)  There are better days to come, my little baby.

Better Afternoon and Evening

After such a crazy late morning to early afternoon of frantically scratching, it was a piece of cake the rest of the day. Taking a walk helped distract you a lot. It led to less scratching. Preparing for you nap was easy and there was minimum scratching (but a different scratch that you do whenever you are lying down for a diaper changed). The raised bumps, redness, and itchiness on your diaper area, thighs, and neck had disappeared. During the diaper change, you were able to be distracted from scratching with your toys. You were playful, and there was no crying. It was such a relief that you were smiling and in a good mood.
Yay! Lina<3, Daddy and I are glad that you feeling much better. I still do not know what the cause is, it may be the eggs so for the time being, there will no more trying new foods and no more eggs. 

Frantically Scratching, Allergic to Eggs?

Today had been a nightmare, from 11:30am to 1pm. It has been non stop scratching. If Mommy was not holding your hands, (even though you had Scratch Me Not Mittens on) you scratched.
After your nap, you were scratching you a storm. At first, Mommy thought that it was because you had pooped but after cleaning you up, you were still scratching. It was so crazy, watching you scratching, and seeing that you how uncomfortable you were in your own skin. You probably knew how extremely difficult it was to moisturize you and put your diaper back on. Ahh, I am sorry Mommy can not do more to help you. Seeing you scratch in a frenzy (even after the diaper change), Mommy decided to wash you up with Cetaphil Restordam Body Wash. Yet it did not make you feel better nor did it make you stop scratching. You were still going crazy with the scratching, Mommy went crazy with the "stop scratching", "ahh", "stop!!" and tried to distract you as much as possible when trying to moisturize you after the bath. Mommy had you aired out your body after the bath, in hopes of trying to make you feel better and less itchy. Nope, you had scratched so much that your skin on your thighs and diaper area were beet red, inflamed, irritated, bumpy, and hot! Mommy put ice on those areas hoping to make it feel better, and it did for a little while before you started scratching again. On your skin, hydrocortisone cream (1%), unpetroleum jelly (an organic petroleum jelly like) and Cetaphil Restordam Body lotion were applied.
Mommy was wondering what was the cause of all this sudden scratching. Ah-ha you had tried some tiny bits of eggs earlier (hormone free eggs), could that be the reason for all the scratching?  Not sure of the reason but you were still scratching. After the bath, and diaper changed, Mommy hoped that putting you in the play area, it would distract you from all the scratching, but it did not. Mommy kept your mittens on but you still scratched. The way you scratched is scary, you not only scratch but you pinched, grabbed a chunk of skin and pull which sounded painful especially as you pulled your skin. Your feet even helped you scratch, scratched your legs, while your hands scratched your upper body, such coordination, lol
You even had a visitor (a cousin) stopped by and still it was not distracting enough. Scratched a lot. Took off your pants, hoping the cool air might help relieved your skin (with a visitor in the house too, lol). When that did not work well, Mommy applied baby cornstarch on your legs. It did distracted a little bit, you also warmed up to your cousin, and interacted and played with her. Daddy could not distract you from scratching, and could not make you stop scratching. Drinking water helped a little as well, you drank from Daddy's glass. All your toys were not enough to distract you from scratching either. After a visit from your cousin, Lina<3 and I went for a walk and that helped a lot. You did not scratch at all during the entire walk. When we got home, your scratching was a  minimum. I wish I could say that the scratching had stopped.
I think you are allergic to eggs, which lead to the frantic scratching, scratching lead to the raised bumps, redness on your skin, which made you even itchier.  This is the worst scratching/itchiness/allergic reaction ever. If you are allergic to eggs, it will be your third allergic reaction to foods (first, organic pear, second, organic yogurt).
Anyhow, Mommy changed your clothes three times during this ordeal, changed your crib sheet, disinfectant your crib, disinfectant your toys that stay on the crib.

Scratchy, Scratchy

These few days, the symptoms of Lina's<3 eczema has gotten worse. You have been scratching when you wake up, when you take a break from playing with your toys, when you are sitting on your potty chair, when your diaper is being change, when you take a shower, when you eat, when you are in Daddy's or Mommy's arms, and before you go to sleep. Scratched your head, scratched your neck, scratched your legs, thighs, ankles, your belly, basically everything! Scratch, scratch. GRRR, "no scratching", "stop scratching", "don't scratch", "please stop scratching", "stop!", those are the words I say to you whenever you are scratching, while taking your hands to distract you from scratching. Lina<3 need to use the Scratch Me Not mitten during the day more often instead of the regular bedtime usage.

Along with the scratching, your skin has become dry, red, and look irritated. Mommy moisturized you all day long. Of course, you get a wiped down with a damped cloth each time before applying moisturizer, that is about three to four times a day. When you are playful (and not scratching too much) during the process of moisturizing your body on Mommy's bed, you roll over and crawl really fast for the headboard so you can do a little dance, and pull yourself up, smile and giggle.

I hope the humidity passes soon, and the cool air comes back, because the humidity is what makes Lina's eczema symptoms worst, and make you scratch more. Lina<3 should not have to deal with this, you should be playing, smiling, laughing, saying "dada", learning new words to say (like "mama"), and having fun.

Terrible A.M.

Lina <3, you had a terrible night last night, early morning and this morning. You had been scratching non stop since the middle of the night. You spent the night in our bed and that did not make you sleep better. Up every hour, scratched, scratched, and did not fall back to sleep easily at all, starting after 12a.m. I even nursed you back to back, hoping you would sleep better but it did not help much. Daddy was up as well trying to soothe you by rubbing your head, massaging your belly and body. It was obvious that you are tired, yet you still wanted to play with Daddy and Mommy. Tried to make you understand that there is playtime and there is sleeping time by having Mommy not be playful with you when it is time to sleep. It is kind of cute when you wake up in the middle of the night and want to play, you would toss and turn and roll over, and bump into Mommy on one side and bump into Daddy on the other side. Daddy and I pretend to be asleep and not indulgence your playfulness when it is time to sleep.

The scratching and itchiness was intense int he middle of the night and this morning. Daddy and I felt so helpless and powerless when it comes to the itchiness that you get. Luckily, we have the Scratch Me Not Mittens which works wonders to stop you from drawing blood from all the scratching. You still scratch even with the mittens on. I constantly tell you "no scratching" as I removed your hand(s) from where you are scratching. Oh what to do, what to do, what to do? HELP!

After cleaning you up  and moisturizing you this morning, you were still scratching and itchy. So we washed you up again, moisturized you again, and changed your clothes, an hour later, which seemed to help a little. We played on Mommy's bed and you were happy, smiling, laughing, and mostly importantly, not scratching! After an hour of playing, you finally wanted to be nursed, and asleep you went and still sleeping for an hour now :) Sleep my baby, and let's have a good afternoon.

A better day...

Today is a better day, the symptoms of her eczema are under control. YAY!! I hope no new mothers have to go through having a baby with eczema. It is so much work, and time consuming, well then again, babies are a lot of work and take up a lot of time. Work that a mother would do without any hesitation; and with all the love, and care in the world.
 
The scratching is under control as well. She still scratches but only before nap time because it is her way of telling me that she is ready to go to sleep. The toys kept her busy. Wearing a long bodysuit, and long pants keeps her from scratching herself. Moisturize, moisturize, and moisturize after each nap, after each diaper change, after each feeding, and after playtime. I am reverting back to moisturizing her 4-5 times a day, hoping that it will help relieve her symptoms.

Besides the moisturizing, Lina <3 did a lot today. She played on the floor, crawled, pulled herself up to standing position, squealed/shriek in excitement, knocked down the building blocks that Mommy built, grabbed her toys and tossed it around, and walked with the walker with assistance from Mommy. She ate well. Ate all her food, mashed up sweet potato, mashed up broccoli, mashed up baby carrots, baby cereal, breast milk and purified water (not all at once, of course). She napped, but always cried, stood up in her crib, and played in her crib before falling asleep. Took a walk up the block to watch the cars go by, and to look at the vegetable gardens in the neighbors' front yards.

Overall, her schedule was diaper change, eat, play, sleep, diaper change, eat, play and sleep. It is a wonderful world she have, all her needs are taken care of.

Itchy and Scratchy

Does anyone remember/know the cartoon show, The Simpsons, which usually shows the children watching the cartoon, Itchy and Scratchy? I hope so, but there's no blood, and no killing one another in this household.

However, there is a lot of scratching from my little baby :(  The symptoms of her eczema has come back, and it looks bad. My baby is scratching like there is no tomorrow the last few days. I am so glad that I gave her a mani/pedi (manicure and pedicure), so when she scratches she is not drawing any blood or making any marks. It is a little funny (and such a smart thing to do) that when she can not scratch with her hands, she uses her toes to scratch the other leg. It kills me that I can not help her, and ease her discomfort. I think she was scratching because she was itchy (she usually scratches more near bedtime, and naps; not from being itchy). With a nice bath this morning, has helped a bit, as well as distracting her with toys, and teethers. There are so much products, and remedies for eczema out there on the market, but I have yet to find something that works exceptionally well. Moisturize, moisturize, and moisture always helps. The itchiness is the tricky part because sometimes, it is hard to distinguish rather she is itchy or not.

 I hope that she will get past the scratching, and itchiness. Thank goodness for the Scratch Me Not Mittens. The mittens are amazing especially right before she fall asleep. Other than the scratching, and being itchy, my little baby had a okay day. She ate, slept, played, read, and listened to music.

Eczema Glore and Ms. Scratch A Lot

When you were three months old, you had red, blotchy, and dry looking skin between the folds of your neck, behind your ears, and in the folds of your arms and your legs. It was diagnosed by the doctor as eczema. The cause of your eczema was unknown. The doctor thought that it would be best to stop eating eggs, soy, wheat, and nuts; to try and determine the cause. After stopping one thing at a time, the symptoms of your eczema did not get better. As the heat increases this summer and humidity hit, the symptoms of your eczema got worse. Mommy moisturized your face and body every day, at least five to six times a day, basically every time you woke up from sleeping/naps. Mommy tried many lotions. The moisturizers that worked well were Aveeno Baby, Eczema Therapy, Cetaphil Restoraderm, and Albaun-petroleum jelly. It took a while to figure out which ones were the best ones for my little princess; as well as a lot of time and patience (but nothing is too good for my princess). Even taking baths had to be changed; we went from taking baths every other day to every two to three days to see if it would help the symptoms. Your clothes could not be too tight on her, as I had read that tight clothing could make the symptoms worse.

This is also the beginning of your scratching. At first, you would scratch as a indication of being tired (so I thought), and would only happen at nighttime before bedtime. However, it is hard to tell you if you were really itchy or not. Daddy and I used hydro-cortisone cream 1% on the areas where you were scratching with your hands but it does not seem to help. Of course, the hydro-cortisone cream was recommended by your doctor. Also,used aloe gels (but tested it first on her arm to see if she is allergic) but it does not seem to help that much either. The scratching only got worse over time. Daddy and I felt so helpless when you would scratch because you look so uncomfortable and itchy; and there was nothing we could do for you. You would scratch and scratch during diaper changes, bath times, when you lays down, you plays, and right before your naps or bedtime but you can be distracted with toys which does not last long. At first, you would scratch your necks, behind your ears, and your head. Now, it is wherever your hands lands. The scratching, unfortunately, appeared to be habitual and I don't know what else to do. The big relief is using mittens. She outgrew her first mittens fast, and then another pair, and used socks; then she learned to pull them off her hands (which is the cutest things but not when she would scratch after they are off her hands). After much research, Daddy and I found scratchmenotmittens and it works wonders. We still use it now. The grooming of her finger nails and toe nails had to be cut and trimmed every other day; otherwise, she would end up with scratch marks all over her face. The scratch marks would end up all over her forehead, and cheeks. It looked like it would scar, but not matter how bad the scars were, they eventually went away.

Present time, my little princess still scratches, whenever it gets close to bedtime, naps, during meal time, during playtime, during diaper changes and bath times. Lina wears the mittens whenever she goes to sleep. The symptom of your eczema has gotten better. Mommy is only moisturizing you a few times a day and your skin is not that dry. Bath time is every other day. Clothes are loose and not too tight. Nails, finger and toe, are cut and trimmed every other day, sometimes every day. Mittens are still being used. No scars are accounted.