The beginning...

Hi and welcome!  My name is Vikki, and I'm proud mommy to my little man, Dylan, born in October 2008.

I've always wanted children, and after being together 10 years my hubby Mike and I decided that the time was right.  I got pregnant quickly and had an incredibly easy pregnancy, an okay labour (as far as labours go!), and had my beautiful, healthy, 9 pound boy.

The first inkling of trouble was his eczema...  It started a couple weeks after his birth, but we thought it was just baby acne.  It was only when we went to our doctor's appointment for his two month immunizations that we found out it was actually eczema.  It was almost everywhere within weeks: his face, neck, hands, elbows, calves and feet.  When he was awake he was generally a happy guy, but when he was tired he would rub and scratch incessantly at his face and neck.  When we finally did get him to sleep (usually breastfeeding to sleep or walking and patting his bum) we would coat him with every cream you can imagine and put mittens on him to prevent him from scratching.  We would then put him in the crib fast asleep. We even used a heating pad before we put him down so that the sheets weren't cold! He would start stirring and rubbing his face anywhere from 5 min to an hour after putting him down. Sometimes we could get him to settle just by holding his hands away from his face, but more often he got frustrated and woke up crying.  We then had to resettle, re-cream, and carefully try to get him back down and snatch what sleep we could.

He literally woke every hour or less, all night long, for the first months of his life.

When he was four months old, a friend suggested I try a dairy elimination diet.  I did some research, and I confirmed that eczema in infants can be caused by food allergies/sensitivities, and dairy is often a culprit.  I eliminated everything, even hidden and trace dairy, for one month (two weeks to eliminate all of the proteins from my system and breastmilk, and two weeks to eliminate them from Dylan).  I read every ingredient label and even avoided foods that "may contain traces".  I saw no improvement - not in his skin, not in his sleep.  So when I reintroduced, I went for broke.  I had a grilled cheese sandwich, a big glass of milk, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  I figured that any improvement might have been so gradual that I didn't notice, but that if dairy in my breastmilk truly bothered him, I should notice a flare up if I reintroduced in such a dramatic way.

Nothing.  My dairy elimination was a failure.  Though I was certainly happy to go back to an unrestricted diet, I would have done anything to make him feel better.

At five months old (and 19 pounds!) we decided to start solids.  We started with rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, and Dylan did quite well for the first week.  Then, for convenience sake, I decided to buy the "just add water" rice cereal.  Within minutes Dylan had hives all over his face and hands.  I was in an absolute panic and we rushed him to the emergency department.  I still remember that car ride as if it was yesterday - Mike was speeding, I was sitting in the back seat with Dylan, and there was a black pickup truck in front of us that was driving more slowly than you can possibly imagine.  When we got to the hospital, we were rushed in right away.  By this point the hives were nearly gone, but his eczema was flared up more than it had ever been, and in places that he never had it before.  The paediatrician confirmed a dairy allergy, suggested eliminating it from my diet again, and told us to ensure that Dylan did not ingest any milk products at all until at least one year old.  He told us that infants often outgrow food sensitivities by their first birthday, but that we should discuss any food trials with our family doctor at that time.

That was allergy number one.  We had no idea what else was coming our way.