Infection and seeking resolution

Baby Dal was due for his first year immunizations and already had an appointment with his new Pediatrician. He had been covered with eczema for a couple of days that was particularly bad on his legs. It was mostly rough and red, so I had been putting Vaseline (i.e. petroleum jelly) on it.
When I took him in for his immunizations I pointed out the eczema and told the doctor how I was dealing with it. She didn't have any speculations as to what might be causing it and told me to just keep doing what I was doing. Dal got his shots and I left wishing that Dr. K could have told me more than just "Keep doing what you're doing."

The next day, Dal wouldn't walk. He had been toddling around unsteadily for only about two weeks, so I didn't think much about it at first. I figured he was a little cranky and fatigued from the immunizations and just didn't want to put in the effort of walking. A couple of days later he still wouldn't walk much. He would pull up, take a couple of steps and then plop down again. He wasn't fussy and didn't cry. He didn't seem to be having any trouble, just deciding not to walk. Then we went to a backyard party at the home of some friends. Usually Baby Dal was pretty social and would smile sweetly at everyone giving him attention. I fully expected him to perk up and show off his new walking skills when he got among several adults who were eager to fuss over him. While I carried him he was his usual content little self, but when I put him down to walk, he just stood for a few seconds and then plopped down on his bottom. I tried to encourage him to walk to his Dad, but he whined and pulled his legs up when I tried to lift him into a standing position. He seemed a little uncomfortable in some way.

The next morning, I took him in to the Pediatric Clinic and told the receptionist that since his shots a few days earlier he had refused to walk. After a bit of a wait, she got us in to an exam room. A different Pediatrician, Dr. C, walked in. He took one look at Dal's scaly red legs and said, "Well, that's infected."
I felt a slight flush of shame as I looked at his little legs and realized that I hadn't noticed that they were even worse and had gotten infected. He had broken out with the worst case of eczema in his life on his birthday the week before and it hadn't cleared up since.
Then I felt a bit angry that I had been in just a few days before and had been told to just keep doing what I was doing. Anyway, Dr. C prescribed antibiotics and suggested I use Eucerin cream instead of petroleum jelly. I asked if this eczema could be related to food allergies, but he didn't have a really good answer for me. He said possibly, but he would outgrow it most likely.

After getting the prescription filled and buying the cream, I went home and decided to look up an Allergist. I felt that I had to get some better answers and that if the Pediatricians weren't very up on allergies then I needed a specialist. I found several Allergists in the phonebook and called them. I briefly described Dal's food reactions and his severe eczema and asked if he could be tested or something. Each one told me that he was way too young to be tested for allergies and that they didn't usually see children under age five. I was discouraged, but still a bit angry at all the complacence and lack of solutions for a baby who couldn't eat much and had infected legs. I think I also felt an extra bit of outrage because of Dal's obvious bravery. He must have been in pain, as evidenced by his lack of walking, but he wasn't constantly fussing and crying. He was dealing with the pain and discomfort as best he could.

Finally, as I was searching the yellow pages for other possibilities, like some sort of Pediatric specialist, and I spotted a Pediatric Allergist listed in a town about 45 minutes away. I called and explained the situation again. The receptionist listened carefully and asked me to hold a minute. When she came back on the line, she said that Dr. Lee wanted to see Dal. A feeling of relief and gratitude filled my chest as I set the appointment.

Baby with eczema

Dal often had eczema as a baby. I don't remember the first time he broke out with it, but we have pictures from about 5 months old where his red, bumpy face is obvious in the photos. He usually got it on his face, the bends of his elbows, and on his legs. I used lotion and diapering creams on it and it usually cleared up a few days after a break out and then he would break out again in a few days or a couple of weeks. I had no idea at the time that eczema is related to allergies.
I was breastfeeding, so his eczema break outs probably correlated with what I ate. Unfortunately, I didn't begin to figure this out until he was a year old. Since I had become a "stay-at-home" mom and because we were having trouble with introducing foods, I continued to dutifully breastfeed. I wish I had known that I should have been avoiding the top food allergens myself.
Dairy, egg, and peanut allergies are the most common in children. Tree nut allergy is also fairly prevalent. Some other top food allergens are shellfish, soy,and gluten. But sometimes it seems that people can be allergic to almost anything these days; like red food dye, blue toothpaste, water, broccoli - just kidding on the last two- mostly.
If I had to do it all over again, I suppose I would try to avoid the most common food allergens as much as possible during the first 6 months. And, as a breastfeeding mom, I would try not to overindulge in any of the less common allergenic foods like shellfish and gluten.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that if there is a family history of food allergies certain foods should be introduced later:
Cow's milk and dairy products should be delayed until age 1.
Eggs should not be introduced before 2 years of age.
Hold off on peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish until age 3.

Even though I would take all these precautions including waiting until 6 months to introduce solids, as far as I can discover, there have been no conclusive studies or evidence that eliminating common allergens during pregnancy or while breastfeeding reduces the chance of a child developing food allergies. But serious food allergies are scary enough that I wouldn't take chances.
One thing I do know is that eating foods my baby was allergic to and then nursing him caused him to break out with eczema. I finally figured this out the weekend of his first birthday. His skin was nice and clear and had been for days. He had just started taking his first steps about a week or so earlier. We went to spend the weekend at my grandmother's house and celebrate his birthday there with other family members.
The evening we arrived, my grandmother brought out some boiled peanuts - a southern favorite. I happen to like boiled peanuts despite not being a big fan of peanut butter, roasted peanuts or other forms of peanut foods. I ate a few, just a few, that evening. I nursed Dal and put him to bed in his pack-n-play in the guest room. He slept through the night, but rather fitfully. At first light I heard him waking up and I got out of the bed and picked him up. He felt sort of hot and sticky. I took a good look at him in the dim morning light and saw that he was covered with irritating, red eczema scales and bumps! I was horrified. It had popped up overnight and it was the worst case EVER! I immediately suspected the peanuts.
When we got back home I decided that I had to get to the bottom of this and find out what to do.