Eczema and Breastfeeding

It was a rough couple of months but here I am, surviving.

We found out that our second little one has eczema. It started with a few rashes on his face, we thought it was heat rash. I read online that heat rash will dissappear on its own so I wasn't concerned about it. After a month, it's still there along with new red patches on his neck. Again I thought it was because of the heat since it was March and we were experiencing El Nino at the time. But I did notice his skins were rough and quite dry, still doesn't concerned me, all I did was moisturized him with a basic baby lotion I bought.⁰1

On the day of his first month c0heckup, I brought up the issue of his rashes and neck condition to his doctor.

"This looks like eczema to me", said the doctor.

She goes on to check Umar's body to find any redness but he didn't have on his body then. Now it's all over. She just gave me an aqueous cream and told me to not use any bath soap or shampoos. That's it. No explanation whatsoever. I was clueless back then about this eczema so I didn't questioned much.

Using the aqueous cream made it worse and my baby looked so unhappy and uncomfortable. His eczema had spread everywhere on his body. He's always cranky and crying. I was tired. Extremely tired. I didn't know what to do. So I did my own research, join Facebook groups for eczema supporters, and asking friends/family who had dealt with eczema.

Now I truly understand, well most of it, of what eczema is and how to control it. You can't cure eczema. It's a lifetime condition but you can, however, control it and keep it under wraps. Since I decided to breastfeed my son, I have to keep myself on a strict diet by avoiding food that can trigger his eczema. So far I've cut out gluten, dairy, eggs, chicken, nuts, and refined white sugar from my diet. Since we have not yet done any allergen test on him, I cannot eat the mentioned food. It's tough especially mentally and emotionally but it is even tougher seeing your baby in pain. I chose to sacrifice my love for food.

On a good note, I have lost a lot of weight and that makes me a lot happier.

Now Umar is a lot better. We started giving him probiotic baby drops from Biogaia and today is his 12th day consuming it. Honestly, I do see a difference. He doesn't flare up much. I'm hoping and praying that it stays under control. Alhamdulillah, he sleeps much better than before, hence, I slept well too.

I will update more on my son's eczema journey. Maybe his journey can help others too.