No More Pink Cheeks

When Maggie was handed to us six months ago, one of the first thing we noticed was she tended to be rashy. Her skinny little body was covered with dry, red patches that I knew where eczema. Once the nervous hives cleared off of her face, she developed a terrible, itchy, bumpy rash on both of her cheeks. While good nutrition and a special lotion cleared up the spots on her little body as soon as we got home, her face has remained a challenge.

Last month, at her 18 month check, I asked the pediatrician about the causes of eczema. I had figured out on my own that tomato sauce inflamed it, but her cheeks sported the red patches with or without tomato sauce. It came as news to me that eczema can be a triggered by a lot of things, including allergies, stress and too much sun. The fact spaghetti sauce was causing Maggie's eczema probably meant her dry skin was caused by allergens. Allergy testing is out for kids under 3, and according to our doctor, experimentation is the most effective way to isolate allergens in little kids. So for the last month, I researched eczema triggers and turned into a detective in an attempt to find the source of Ms. Maggie's troubles.

I found a couple of web sites with lists of potential allergens and started eliminating potential trigger foods. I started with dairy products, knowing that many Asians are lactose in tolerant and having read that a lot of kids from China's eczema is related to diary. After 2 days of no diary, the only discovery I made is that Soy Milk tastes pretty good in coffee and smoothies. The lack of dairy had no impact on her eczema.

Next, knowing Asians from Southern China probably eat very little wheat, I eliminated Maggie's favorite food groups: Crackers, Pastas and Cookies. The results were amazing and immediate. By the end of the second day, her eczema was gone. Go Figure. At first I was really bummed. I love wheat products and it seemed such an impossible food to eliminate from her diet. However, I made several discoveries and find it is pretty easy to live wheat-free. Oat-based, rice-based and corn-based foods are all ok, and I am amazed at the quality of wheat-free products on the market. Between Whole Foods and Trader Joes, I have found lots of options. Rice crackers are now a mainstay in Maggie's diet and she loves them. I also figured out she is wheat intolerant, meaning if she eats a breaded fish stick, she is fine. (I figured this out when I forgot breading included wheat.) A serving of pasta or bread, she might make her a little red, but it will be gone in the morning. More than one serving of wheat a day, those little pink cheeks are back with gusto.

Her face was much better without the wheat, but when she woke up from naps, I noticed the old patches were a little worse. For a while I assumed she just woke up flush, but just for ducks, I switched laundry detergents. The change in detergents was the final ingrediant needed for an eczema free daughter.

We have only been one week without a flare up, but it sure seems like we have it figured out. Of course, now that I have written this, I am sure I will be greeted with pink cheeks in the morning.