Eczema

Poor sweet Carly is cursed with most likely genetic eczema. I don't know who had eczema before me but I have had eczema my whole life. Grant got eczema starting at 4 months. It has slowly faded for him but it comes back if I don't lotion him after a very bubbly bath and he only takes those when he is really really dirty, like poop all over dirty. Anyway, back to Carly. Since she was born she has had severe eczema. I didn't know it was eczema and I waited until her 4 week appointment to do anything about it. Then I learned what it was and started lotioning her every morning and evening with aveeno baby eczema cream. It made it better but we had flare ups almost every other day. Her chin and cheeks would get so raw and reddish yellow from oozing skin. It looked painful and she seemed very uncomfortable. She would have mild flare ups on the rest of her body but the most irritated spots were on her cheeks and chin. We use dye free perfume free detergent. We use 100 % cotton clothing. My mom started to think it was a dietary problem. She thought maybe it was a dairy allergy seeing as my dairy problems got so bad during my pregnancy. I discussed it with her healthcare provider telling her the creams and steroids kept the problem at bay but never really eliminated the problem, other than her face; which always seemed bad. I asked about a dietary issue. We decided to start with the dairy thing.  But then I decided I wanted to wait until after the holidays to eliminate all dairy including whey. Then I realized that Carly was given and has been using bibs and burp cloths, since birth, made by my very thoughtful cat loving cousin. We loved the cloths, bibs, nursing cover, and blanket and we love and want cats someday. We have used them since birth. But I thought that I should experiment since I was postponing the dairy experiment. Well after about 2 weeks of not using the bibs and burp cloths Carly has had no eczema on her face. So we can safely assume that although cats cannot cause eczema it can very well cause a flare up in a person who already has eczema so I think Carly is mildly allergic to cats. I'm really sad that we won't be able to use the bibs any more. They are way cute and we have the perfect number of bibs for our daily life. We won't rule out altogether a dairy problem. In fact I will probably still experiment for mine and Carly's sake whether or not dairy causes flare ups in both our eczemas. So it is bitter sweet, we have discovered something that will make Carly's life easier but will sadden us to not use the great gifts my cousin gave her.