Answers

I have not updated on Henry's skin issues in a long time. After numerous skin infections and copays later, we finally got a referral to the pediatric allergist. It was becoming quite apparent that this was an allergic reaction and not just "dry skin." I was so excited that we could possibly have answers and end this nightmare of watching our child rip his face off.

It took forever for us to get an appointment. We patiently waited, using super strong steroid cream in the mean time to help clear Henry's icky skin. It was a blissful two weeks on steroids. Henry was happier, he slept longer and was eating better. Prior to this he wasn't gaining weight and actually lost a little which completely freaked me out. Matt and I were missing work and sleep trying to help our baby.

When all these issues started is when I went back to work and Henry started at our daycare. I love our daycare, but she had a dog and I was pretty certain it was the dog. It got confusing because he seemed to be reacting to other things too. In hindsight, I wished I had followed my gut and took him out of the daycare. We ended up doing it the last month of school.

We saw the allergist in mid-June. He is the top of his field. He told us that the most current research says that allergens come in through the skin, not the stomach, so my eliminating food from my diet was the wrong advice. He told us that this is new information and hard for a lot of pediatricians to understand. He explained to us that breastfeeding actually helps the body develop resistance to allergies by slowly giving it to the baby through the mother's milk. It is actually helpful for him for me to eat a variety of foods. This was great news to me, because life was getting challenging not eating soy, dairy, or wheat/gluten.  We tested for a variety of things through a skin prick test. Among other things we tested for mold, dust, dairy, soy, peanuts, wheat, almonds, dogs, cats and others I don't remember.

Within 5 minutes there were some big reactions happening. We didn't know which was which, but knew we had answers. The doctor came back told us Henry is allergic to dogs (he was shocked that a baby this young was allergic to dogs), dairy, peanuts, and almonds. We were so surprised that peanuts was an allergy. It was the biggest reaction. I am so thankful that we discovered it in an allergy test and not at home. The doctor gave us a skin care regimin to do daily. We have kept up on it and it has helped tremendously.

Henry has a high likelihood of developing more allergies and asthma. I am praying that instead he grows out of these allergies. For now though, I am thankful for anwers, thankful that we can control the reactions and have a happy and healthy baby.

I cannot even begin to explain what this has meant for our family. We cannot eat peanuts or peanut butter, Henry instantly gets a rash if we touch him. He can't be around certain dogs, or have dairy products. Yet we have answers. We can control those things in his life. It is a sigh of relief. Now we can focus on having fun and enjoying summer!