The Z word

So River bless her has been struggling quite badly recently with some skin problems . It all started a few months ago when she drank her milk it would drip down and sit in the folds in her neck making it red and saw. I tried my best with bibs and muslins but it still somehow made her neck really very sore so naturally we tried bathing it in plain water and using vaseline. But honestly it just got worse and worse so I made a doctors appoiment in hopes they could maybe give some cream to help which they did and it did actually help to begin with.

But here we are months later and her skin is the worst I’ve ever seen it, absolutely red raw, bleeding and wounded so much so I have to wrap her hands up so stop her scratching and making it bleed, it’s just heartbreaking to see and it’s really painful for her. After a couple more trips to the doctor we finally got a diagnosis of eczema. You could have wiped the floor with me. I was shocked, saddened and absolutely panicking like fuck because for those who don’t know my brother had one of the most severe cases of eczema, he was covered from head to toe, he really did suffer bless him. So naturally my anxiety is in overdrive worrying so much that she’s going to be that bad. Im still trying to keep myself grounded with the whole situation but as any parent would know you worry about everything when it comes to your kiddies.

So she got prescribed some steriod cream and some moisturiser which really started to work, the redness went down and she stopped itching. But someone somewhere decided this wasn’t the end of our story and it came back with a vengeance, we’re currently dealing with what looks like an open wound, gosh it looks so sore. All week I’ve been trying to speak to a bloody doctor then last night enough was enough I rang and explained the situation and they said call back exactly 8am in the morning. So 8am comes and I’m first in line… that like never happens!! So I give her details and reason blah blah … Receptionist: is it urgent for today? Im a pretty laid back person but I nearly lost my shit at her. Yes it’s bloody important I’ve got a 6 month old in a right old state and she NEEDS seeing. Anyway they managed to fit us it “magically….”

So basically she’s been checked head to toe by the doctor and it’s even started coming up on her arms now, we discussed all her symptoms and agreed that she is going to be tried on goats milk formula , because (I didn’t know this) but a cows milk allergy can make eczema flare up. So we left the appoitment with a prescription for some goats milk, an antibiotic cream for her neck and some oral antibiotics for an ear infection the doctor picked up whilst checking her over. Ofcorse as we know not everything always goes to plan and the baby formula isn’t in stock at the chemist till Tuesday (it’s now Friday) somehow we made it through the weekend with just the cream and antibiotics for her ear and I’m actually really bloody amazed at how quickly her neck has cleared up! Considering I didn’t pick the cream up till Saturday and it’s now Monday the redness around her neck has pretty much disappeared and she is a really happy baby which she hasn’t been for such a long time, I don’t think we quite knew how much her skin was hurting/itching her.

Fast forward a week or so and here we are. I must apologise for misleading you when I said she had been prescribed goats milk. It’s not actually goats milk it’s a cows milk protein allergy milk. What ever the fuck that is but it’s working so what does it matter. So we cracked on with the new milk. Making the first bottle up and I’m thinking what the fuck is this milky shite! It was grey in colour and thin as water, it stunk and I already knew she wasn’t going to drink it, thinking I had made a mistake I tossed the milk and made another bottle only for it to turn out exactly the same as the shitty stuff I had just made. Am I making this wrong? Wtf is going on here. Anyway I had to give it a go and as soon as the bottle touched her lips she turned her head in disgust and looked at me like I’d tried to feed her dog shit.

Right. Back to square one. Some people said persevere she will have it when she’s hungry but I just couldn’t so I did the only professional thing I knew and took to good old Facebook! Where I spoke to a handful of really kind parents, giving me advice and Information, which I have to say a massive thanks to those people because without them I would never have known that you can buy a milk thickener to thicken it up so it doesn’t look like dog piss. GREAT! so I went to the shops, actually every shop I could get to and none of the fuckers had it on the shelves! Scratching my head wondering what the hell to do I decided to try Burford chemist and they said they could order me a box. Fantastic! But it was a 2 day wait. It’s like taking 2 steps forward and one step back. Another couple of days on the cows milk then till I can get my box of milk thickener. Days past and I finally got my hands on that box of what I now call gold dust! Because one scoop of that added into a bottle and she downs it like she’s on a night out in Ibiza!

Things were finally settling down, Rivers skin was a lot better, her diarrhoea tthat I actually forgot to mention earlier had completely stopped. So this milk was clearly working! Things were all good in the world again untill I went to pick up her next prescription to be told it hadn’t been delivered….. urgh ok all they could do was give me the prescription and I could take it to any chemist. Carterton had none in stock, 2 places in Witney were closed and I ended up finding some in boots! What a bloody nightmare. After telling the doctor about my ordeal trying to get hold of this milk she prescribed 6 tins! So we aren’t running out anytime soon!

Anyways currently she’s on this milk, doctor wants me to introduce dairy in 2 weeks time to see if her symptoms return, then if they unfortunately do she will be refurred to a baby dietitian. Sadly I accidently gave River a spoonful of yogurt the other day and it made her quite porley so I think it’s safe to say she has got a dairy allergy. Thankfully her doctor said they usually do grow out of it so we will just have to see what happens.

Z

Xxx