Lily's baby bathtub is sitting in the middle of my kitchen and the water in it is a murky yellow. No, she didn't have and "incident" in the tub. The water is filled with chamomille tea and oatmeal. There's a teapot and a couple of little cups as well. Yes, the kids really did drink her bath water. Lily's skin took a serious turn for the worse today and the tea/oatmeal bath was an effort to soothe her itchy, oozing back.
For those not in the know, Lily has been suffering from eczema for about a month and a half. It's been all over her entire body except for her head, hands, and feet. We've eliminated wheat, dairy, sugar, red meat, citrus, and tomatos from her diet. Since her consultation with our ND, she's been taking Sulfur (a homeopathic remedy), Astragalus (a herb), acidophilus, fish oil, and flax oil. I've also switched laundry detergent three times (each of them more and more mild).
Earlier this afternoon as I picked Lily up, I realized that what I thought were stains on her undershirt were actually wet spots from the open sores on her back. Ugh. It hurts me to see her in this kind of shape and I feel like crying. I'm the Mom so I'm supposed to fix things, aren't I?
Now I'm questioning all sorts of foods she eating and that I'm eating and possibly exposing her to in my milk. We've cut so many things out already that I just don't know what to do next. I really, really hate this. Right now she's got a layer of Polysporin on her lower back and gauze and tape over top. She looks like a burn victim or something.
PRENATAL CARE or PRENATAL SCARE?
10 months ago
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9 comments:
It's your job to make things better and it's my job to make the people who made them wrong in the first place pay. I just don't know what to do here. I don't even know who to glare at menacingly. I think the rash part is mostly gone, it's just the aftereffects of scratching now. (at least I hope so)
I don't know about drinking the bath water, but then again, I'm not 6. Or 1.333333333.
You probably don't want advice, but I'm giving it anyway. When Syd and I had an obvious winter-skin itchy hivey thing going on, we tried some homeopathic remedies. Turns out we were even more allergic to the remedy than whatever caused the issue in the first place.
Try something different. Kids' bodies change so quickly and react to things wildly, especially if their systems are under stress.
That helpless feeling - been there far too often. Don't feel like you've failed if you reach out for help. That's what friends and family are for.
Quite sincerely, thank you for the advice, vix.
On another note, though, who do I punch in the face?
I think there is where MY advice comes in.
Now...you can't punch the eczema itself...have you guys taken Lily to see a pediatrician, or any kind of doctor? May I suggest punching THEM. they're the closest thing to the disease that I can see, so they require violent retribution.
Ok, so here's the update:
We went to the pediatrician and we're now using a cortisone cream and a cortison/antibiotic cream for the oozing areas. While this is something I really wanted to avoid because of the way that cortisone represses the immune response rather than resolving the problem, I'm willing to use these tools on a short-term basis to get her skin back to a more workable state. We've applied them three times so far and I've already seen a huge improvement.
I'm also looking into trying out cloth diapers since the worst spots sit just under the waistband of the disposible diapers.
Oh, and no Liam didn't punch the doctor. I made sure he was at work at the time. :P
Well, hopefully it helps get things moving in the right direction, anyway.
Oh, and is Liam late getting home? If so, he is currently punching the doctor.
I was going through some notes I made when the girls were wee babes (their Doc is real big on giving notes, me taking notes, and explaining things in horrific detail) and he did a blurb on amino acids and protein and essential fatty acids and skin growth. This was during a visit on an unrelated issue, but he noticed that Aura's skin was a bit "not right."
Didn't you say she's going through a growth spurt? Maybe try stuffing her full of fish oils and ground flax and all that good stuff.
As for who Liam can punch, I have a real asshole for a neighbour who keeps parking in my stall...
We're doing the flax and fish oil thing too. I started her on flax about 4 weeks ago and now she likes the fish oil more so we're mostly doing that.
Poor Lily! I hope she will get better soon without reoccurance.
To you, you are doing everything that you possibly can do. That fact you feel bad simply shows that you are a good mom.
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