Not Popeye
Well, Baby E had another "non-allergic" reaction at nap time. We ate lunch, then I put her down for a nap.
She slept very briefly and fitfully. When she woke up she was congested again and had baggy dark circles under her eyes and a bright spotty rash on her face, worst around her right eye. She even had tiny blister-like welts on her eyelid, as well as near both eyes and on her cheeks. She kept rubbing her eyes and chewing on her hand, saying "eye" and "mouf" to indicate they were bothering her.
These photos were taken some time later, after she was already beginning to look better. It's so hard to get rashes to show up well in photos, especially since my photo software is acting up and I have to do any photo adjusting in Paint (ha). You can see the dark circles and baggy eyelids best in the next photo.
The bright red welts show up clearly on my monitor, but if I look at the pictures on my DH's computer I can barely see them if at all. It must have something to do with the brightness of the monitor.
They were clusters of bright red raised welts like pimples or small blisters, ranging from about 0.5 to 2 mm in circumference. She had them under her eye, in the corners of both eyes and on one eyelid. Sometimes she gets them on her tummy or down her legs too. It's different than the red sort of scaly windburn-looking rash she usually gets on her cheeks, which I think is likely a form of eczema.
I don't know if this spotty rash would be considered tiny hives, eczema, or something else altogether. I'll be very interested to see what the dermatologist thinks of my growing collection of rash photos.
We changed all her bedding and everything in her bed just in case, but I think it's more likely something we have been eating.
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There are a few possible culprits, but at the moment the most likely seems to be the Wild Oats frozen organic spinach. We tried it for the first time in a soup I made this weekend. It wasn't on the safe list, and quite possibly it was treated or washed with some kind of corn derivative. When I saw on the bag that it was imported from China I seriously thought about not using it, but I went ahead and took the risk. It was organic, after all, and supposedly had no added ingredients or preservatives. Maybe I need to learn to listen to my instincts better.
I made the soup on Sunday, but I was the only one who ate it. DH noticed Sunday night that Baby E was getting red cheeks whenever she nursed, but we didn't pay too much attention to that since it was her only real symptom. Baby E and I both ate some of the soup Monday night. Her cheeks flared up more significantly after that, but at the time we'd blamed it on histamines in my milk from being around a friend's dogs. (She does seem to get symptoms after nursing when I'm having an allergic reaction to something, which significantly complicates issues.) This morning, of course, she woke up with a bad wheezing-type reaction and a mild rash. I had the soup again today at lunch (Baby E adamantly refused it), and she flared up after that again.
So this round of reactions seems to correlate best with the soup. Tonight we had known-to-be-safe chicken, broccoli and spelt noodles for dinner, which everyone enjoyed.
Anyway, she seems to be okay now and went to sleep easily.
Meanwhile, I'm still greasy after my botched attempt at OCM this morning. I'm wondering what would be the best way to remove this oil from my hair. I look like I went swimming in an oil slick.
Labels: allergies and adverse reactions
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:08 PM[Permanent link]
6 Comments:
Poor Baby E. She looks so unhappy. I hope that you found the culprit this time.
What's OCM?
Anniemax from Avoiding Corn~
Sorry I can't help with Baby E's rash. It can be so hard figuring out what is causing the problem sometimes, as I'm well aware. Do you use honey with her yet? I know they recommend avoiding it for under the age of 1 and some people avoid it longer, but if you do, a little honey lightly smeared on her cheeks might feel good. I use that occasionally as a facial wash or even leave it on for a bit, like a mask, when my skin needs something different then my standard OCM mix. I know that won't help with the cause, but it might make her skin feel better and less itchy...besides, at least if it gets in her mouth, you know its eatable ;)
Did you accidentally get OCM oils on your hair? Okay...I just read your other blog post, and yeah, it doesn't work well for 'washing hair'. A small amount on your palms and then rubbed on the ends the night before you wash your hair can help with dry ends and if my hair seems extra staticy or fly away, I'll run my fingers through my hair after I put my OCM mix on my face.
Which combination of oils were you using for your skin?- you really need castor oil to cleans & to help make the OCM mixture easier to rinse off your skin. As for getting oil in your hair, I made a stupid mistake earlier this week, grabbing the wrong container (I have to get better at labeling-lol) and I had the 'never dry, grease ball' look going too. What I ended up doing was using baking soda on damp hair and then adding some Dr Bronner's Castile soap in. I thought for certain my hair was going to be dry & brittle, since I used a 1/3 cup of baking soda & soap, but after I rinsed it out it felt fine, so I went ahead and did my normal diluted ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) leave in rinse and my hair was so soft and manageable, and not the least bit tangly.
I normally just use about 1 Tablespoon baking soda, mixed with some honey & water, applied to dry hair to clean my scalp and then put some diluted honey on the rest of my hair to help condition it, leaving it on for 15 minutes or more. I follow that up with rinsing well with tepid water, lightly towel dry and apply diluted ACV leave in rinse. Since you have darker colored hair, you would probably want to substitute molasses for the honey, as honey can have a lightening effect on hair. If I think my hair feels too dry at the ends, I will sometimes put a light oil, like sweet almond or apricot kernel oil on the ends before I start. The flax seed gel I've been making also helps the condition the hair, as well as being a mild styling gel.
BTW- I came across an interesting idea you might want to consider, if you can find a local soap maker to do it for you. On one of the soap making boards, a grandmother had made breast milk soap for her grandchild. What a special gift!
I'm not sure if you can use dishwashing liquids at all, but something that would cut grease there would likely get it out of your hair. However, I know you have to be super careful about what you can use, so this may be easier said than done. --Kathy J.
watchcommanderlt,
I can't say for sure what it was you were hearing, but I can tell you that we frequently pick up other people's phone calls on our baby monitor. Apparently some cordless phones use the same frequency as baby monitors so there's often interference. I wonder if that's what you were hearing?
I would be spooked out too though!
1) my first thought was eczema...
2) If I'm on the couch and I pick up the cordless phone, I hear odd clicking and buzzing on the monitor. It stops as soon as I hang up...
Liz, I see your question about OCM (oil cleansing method) got answered.
Watchcommanderlt, my first thought would be to wonder if you were picking up interference from a television or radio signal, or perhaps a CB.
hd, thanks for the great ideas. I was using a mixture of sunflower, olive and castor oil, with small amounts of tea tree oil and a few drops of lavendar and orange esential oils. Maybe I wasn't using enough castor oil.
Kathy, that's a good idea if I had safe dishwashing soap. I'm still working on that one. :)
Hi, mom2six
Shellie, since the bumps were still lingering after several days, I am thinking eczema too.
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