Finally, an answer!

As some of you know, we have been dealing with trying to figure out what is making Grady's skin so horrible for the last couple months. It's such a sad and helpless feeling to see his skin break out in red rashes and not know what is causing it or how to make him better. It was obvious that it was making him miserably uncomfortable. Our doctor first referred us to a dermatologist that diagnosed him with severe eczema. That helped a little but didn't give us any answers on how to make him better. Our next step was seeing an allergist. Originally our referral appointment was over a month away until I decided to call Dr. Elkayam (who is ranked in the top 10 allergists in the country!) last Friday just to see if there was any possiblity of getting in with him. That was our lucky day! The receptionist had just gotten off the phone with a cancellation and if we could get there in 45 minutes the appointment was ours. It broke my heart when I stripped Grady down and even the doctor was surprised by how horrible he looked :(. Long story short, after a 3 hour appointment we discovered that Grady is severely allergic to eggs and slightly allergic to milk and nuts. Initially I felt even worse that he had been constantly getting all of those things through my breast milk and it was because of me that he was in so much discomfort. I just had to remind myself that I had no way of knowing...until now. In this last week Grady has been on an oral medication as well as a few prescription ointments to try to get his skin under control. Obviously I have had to drastically change my diet as well. I never realized how many things had egg in it until now that I have to read the labels on everything! It is amazing how much of a difference there was in just the first couple days. His skin looks perfect, like a little 5 1/2 month baby's should and he has been SO much happier. I am going to do the absolute best I can to cut those foods out of my diet but the doctor highly recommends switching Grady over to formula so my accidental slip ups won't effect him. So, our next step is to try to get Grady to start taking bottles :). In the meantime I welcome any tips, advice and recipes for egg & dairy free foods (especially desserts!).

This was a picture of Grady a few days before his appointment :( And this is a picture of him a few days ago, a happy healthy sweet baby boy!