Infantile Eczema/ Baby Lactose intolerance/ Dairy allergy/ Reflux/ Baby sleep apnea

Hi, sorry about the delay in getting a follow up post written about this for anyone who’s in the same boat. Excuse the quality of the photos, they were taken on my phone. My camera is rarely to hand these days...

We’ve had a few more trials and errors, but haven’t really found a solution just yet. Our little Mr. T is still very sick. He’s four and a half months old now, and since 8 days he is on Neocate. A milk formula especially formulated for babies allergic to dairy protein. 

We are still waiting on our appointment with the hospital for an allergy test and have been waiting for the last few weeks, so we have decided to take the matter into our hands while we wait. Our Mr. T hasn’t got time to just wait for the doctors to get their act together. We had to act as he was getting worse and worse.

I went to the doctor and asked for a prescription for the Neocate and so now he’s on that. Beware for anyone trying it, it smells vile, and it tastes vile for them too. We had to slowly introduce it to Mr. T as he wouldn’t even take two scoops of it mixed with his usual Lactose free milk. After nearly a week of introducing it, he is finally now on it 100% but his skin hasn’t improved. The only change is that he’s not vomiting up all his milk anymore, he now vomits about as much as a normal refluxy baby. It says you have to wait up to 3 weeks for results, so yet again its another waiting game hoping that it will work. 

Fingers crossed :)

Some baby rice says ‘No added dairy’ so I have been cautious about using it even with the Neocate. Neocate itself does a baby rice which we will try once the holidays are over.Another worry that has recently arisen is Mr. T suffering from sleep apnea. It’s probably because he’s suffering from a cold at the moment which is worse in his sleep and he’s blocked up at night, but it doesn’t make it less scary. I have to admit I’m a slightly paranoid parent in that way, I’ve never let it go past 5 or 6 seconds before I touch his belly and he finally starts breathing again. I can feel my heart skipping with worry in those 5/6 seconds alone. Hopefully once the cold is gone he’ll be ok. 

We have an angelcare monitor with a sensor mat, but Mr. T doesn’t have his cot set up yet as he vomits in his sleep so he has half of our double bed to himself instead. I’d be too worried that I wouldn’t wake up to him vomiting if he was in his cot.

Also, having to lift our little pudgekin out of a cot every 2 hours at night with diastasis recti does anyone’s back in!

Mr. T still has weeping sores, and very dry scaly skin. Bathing seems to make him better, but we don’t want to do that more than twice a week as the natural oils in his skin would all be washed out too. 

A mega thank you to everyone that emailed me after the last post. I ordered the creams recommended online and tried them and have replacements coming. All the Salcura range that were advised to me really do help. Only temporarily, but that is a help after all. The Salcura gentle spray is brilliant, and followed by the Salcura Zeoderm cream it give Mr. T some relief for about an hour from his itchy skin. His eczema problem is coming from the inside out though so I dont think topical cream can fix the problem but its definitely great to see him having some relief from the constant itchyness and scratching.

In my last post I had said how we were using Aqueous cream, we have now stopped that as we’ve learnt that it makes skin thinner and has some ingredients that we weren’t happy to put on our babies skin. 

The Cranio Sacral therapy we have tried hasnt been helping so far, we’ll see, we’re trying anything and everything that we can avail of and afford. 

We have now also taken the route of homeopathy, and are currently in the process of consulting with a homeopath to find the correct remedy for him that may help him. 

Has anyone else had any of these experiences? Have a look at the pics, maybe theres someone out there with similar issues. Maybe something worked for you, or some of our ideas can help your situation. We are currently waiting for an allergy test and hoping to see special paediatrician, but while thats in the works, any sharing of ideas would be greatly appreciated. Just comment below.

For the Dads.....

After being seriously sleep deprived  (haven't had more than a 4 hour slot of sleep since September) I eventually started malfunctioning two weeks ago. Making silly and dangerous mistakes, being too tired to stand up straight, and not being able to put together a sentence. On top of that I was battling a throat infection since the new year and had been getting headaches like my head was on fire.  Tuesday morning I got a bit upset and thankfully my lovely Tom came to the rescue. He got me two nights in a hotel in Killarney so I could sleep and relax.

I slept and relaxed and had some well overdue 'me time' and slept some more. The first night I still woke up every two hours as usual and the second night every four hours but at least I could go back to sleep straight away and sleep during the day too.Near the hotel I stumbled upon a tattoo studio and got a new tattoo in honour of having such an amazing fiancé. A rash, sleep deprived decision but sleeping on the idea to see if I really wanted it didn't work because I couldn't sleep. Just kept thinking I want it, I want it :) so I got it and then went back to hotel and slept. After all men like Tom are hard to find. He's one in a million and worth a tattoo for just being who he is over the last 5 years.

The reason I'm writing this is for all you dads out there. In any good relationship both mums and dads need a break every once in a while but I'm only talking about the mums this time round. I'm sure any mum would appreciate two nights away somewhere. Whatever age your kids are, the journey of parenthood is amazingly rewarding but we all need to switch off. Financial struggles and stresses are rife but a two night stay away doesn't have to be too expensive. There's loads of deal sites like Dealrush, Living Social, Groupon, Grab One and Pigsback that offer great deals. I brought our own water as that's really expensive in hotels and I took full advantage of the inclusive breakfast so no lunch was needed. Just a sandwich for dinner and tada! So dads, please do your girlie a favour and treat her to something nice. A happy, awake, motivated wifey will only be happy to return the favour. Two nights away to relax and sleep and use hotel leisure centre if they have one are divine :)

My room

Infantile Eczema & Baby lactose intolerance

When our little Mr.T was first born we thought he was just a sensitive little chap with very sensitive skin that would surely adjust after some time, but as time went on we realised it was a little more complicated.

By the time he was two and a half months old I was totally exhausted from breastfeeding every two hours at night and every one and a half hours during the day. I needed to wean him to get a bit of rest. Mr.T is a very hungry boy who isn't easy to wind and also suffers bad reflux. At that stage his skin all over was cracked and scaly like a crocodile and a bad dose of cradle cap covered his head, from his eyebrows to the back of his head.
It was time to stop hoping it would adjust itself and go to the doctor.
The doctor diagnosed Mr.T with lactose intolerance, bad eczema and bad reflux. He had also been lactose intolerant when I was solely breastfeeding him, as he reacted to any dairy, chocolate, etc that I ate. . The public health nurse also saw him and was horrified by the puddles of vomit that came up in our meeting.

I'm feeding him 7oz every hour and a half, half of it is vomited up again within the hour.

All through this our little man is brave and strong, smiling and coping with it better than an adult would dream of coping with his conditions. I'm hoping someday he'll find out what non irritated skin feels like.

I would like to share our experiences and trials and errors of combating this problem as I have noticed a lot of women mentioning their children suffering from some or all of these conditions. Each case is individual and bear in mind any info here is only my motherly opinion. I have no medical qualification and if you are worried please bring your little one to a doctor. If we hasn't found out about the lactose intolerance Mr.T would still be having horrible stomach cramps and diarrhoea. We are now waiting for an appointment in the hospital to get him allergy tested as the public health nurse thinks there is something else still amiss.

So here are some of the things we have tried in the hope of helping our brave little man:

Hungry baby milk:
Before we knew he was lactose intolerant. So obviously no improvement on vomiting, eczema, stomach cramps and diarrhoea.
Although I have heard with 'normal' refluxy babies it can help.

Infacol:
This helped our daughter when she was a colicky baby, but with Mr.T it was of no use.

Fennel tea:
Mr.T wouldn't take it, spat it right out.

SMA lactose free milk:
Special formula for medical reasons, which you can only buy in chemists. Torin is now on this formula and his eczema has lessened from scaly crocodile to just scaly. Also no more diarrhoea and stomach cramps.

Cranio Sacral therapy:
A light touch therapy said to be very helpful in ailments in babies. We've been to two sessions and haven't noticed any difference but apparently 4 or 5 sessions are needed to see a change. Ill keep ye posted.

To help Eczema:

E45 cream - helped for about an hour..... Wouldn't recommend it.

Organic Babies soothing baby salve - brilliant for cradle cap. Massaged it into his head every day and totally did the job. Only let down is its very expensive.

Almond/coconut/olive/sunflower oil:
Used organic first cold press oils but they didn't keep his skin hydrated for more than a few hours

Aqueous cream:
So far the best one we've found for the price though I'm not that keen on the whole parrafin oil idea, but what can I do? It keeps him hydrated for just over half a day, but on bad days I have to top it up at every nappy change. It also doubles up as soap so I use it when he's having a bath and its mild and gentle unlike some popular baby branded bath soaps.

Steroid cream:
I only use the cream prescribed by the doctor as a last resort when he scratches himself through his mittens and gets sores. It helps a little, but isn't a long term solution.

Other options still on our list if Cranio Sacral therapy doesn't work:
(Ill keep you posted)

Osteopath:
Apparently with difficult births like with Mr.T's the baby's diaphragm isn't properly stretched while coming through birth canal, resulting in a refluxy baby. Seeing an osteopath may help.

Colic Calm:
Homeopathic remedy mixture that may help some.

Homeopathy:
Another option we will try if above don't work.

Adding baby rice to formula:
Once he reaches the four month mark ill give it a shot. One spoon of baby rice in their formula is meant to settle it in their stomachs longer. Ill have to make sure there's no hidden dairy in it.

Mr. T's eczema one recent morning before I put cream on him.