ezcema - a bad word in our house

Avi has been having some skin issues for the last few months. It has been quite frustrating for both her and us. She itches a lot and is annoyed, and we don't know what is causing her to be rashy, itchy and red! We tried the traditional route: going to the pediatrition, but all he said was to put hydrocortisone cream on it. All that did was heal the symptoms for a day or two, but not heal the cause. We went to a dermatologist. He said that she has ezcema without even looking at her for more than a half second (seriously). He wanted her to take benadryl and hydrocortisone cream - this for an 8 month old! Then we went to see my accupuncturist. He sat down and actually looked at her. He thought it might be a food allergy. So he gave mommy a restricted diet of 4 things: turkey, rice, cooked apples and pears. That's it. That's all. No spices, no drinks, no chocolate, no wine. How did mommy survive? She barely did. She went into a mild depression. What no cream in my morning cup of tea? What no tea at all? What is worth living for if food is reduced to 4 items?

Well, Avi made it worth it! Her skin got way worse around day 2-5 (maybe her system was detoxing?) and then she got progressively better. Around day 15 (today) there is hardly any trace of the redness or the rashes. She feels soft like a warm satin pillow instead of hot and scaly like a desert lizard! Anyways, needless to say this was killer for photography parents who just wanted to photograph their daughter everyday, but weren't inspired because her body was covered in rashes. So, we're trying to make up for all those lost pictures now. Here's one when she was in the midst of the rashes. You can see her red little cheeks... poor baby. (Really, this picture does no justice to the intensity of her rashes.)

Now it is poor mom. Maren is introducing one or two foods back into her diet every 4 days or so to see if Avi reacts. Avi is off solid foods because those were really getting her rashy. We'll see how this goes - it's not fun to "diet" when your breastfeeding!