We are learning about baby eczema and wheat allergies

(Cohen at 5 months) 

Cohen has had these super red cheeks since forever. We are trying to figure them out (read on for more than you ever wanted to know about baby allergies and baby eczema)...

(Cohen at 7 months)

So the red cheeks have been there since Cohen was born, but they got really bad and angry looking when he was maybe 5 months old. We went to the doctor, who told us it was baby eczema, nothing to worry about. She gave us aveeno and steroids. Things we have tried: eczema care baby aveeno, steroid cream, spectrogel deep moisture cream, anointment baby balm, vaseline, coconut oil, olive oil, east coast glow miracle balm, mineral oil, vitamin E cream, and I'm sure a few things I'm not thinking of. None of these creams/oils made any difference at all. Sometimes the redness decreased a little, and sometimes it flared up, and we never knew why. But we always felt like it was more than just "nothing."

So then Cohen had an allergic reaction to sesame, then an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts. We have been on a wait list since Cohen's first birthday to get allergy testing, but the ER doctor the second time wanted us to get allergy testing sooner. He also said that we needed to see a specialist about the red cheeks. 

So a month ago we went to an allergy doctor, who immediately was like, the red cheeks are due to an allergy for sure. We (Cohen) went through the first round of testing, and it turns out he is severely allergic to wheat, among many other things. The two super red dots in the pic above are peanuts and wheat.

(waiting for the allergy testing to be done)

Wheat is the last thing we thought Cohen was allergic to. He loves toast and noodles and crackers. He gets a ton of wheat. We cleared our kitchen of wheat that weekend, and we are already seeing an improvement in the red cheeks. I definitely wish that someone would have suggested that the eczema could be due to wheat earlier.

Right now we are avoiding all forms of wheat including spelt flour, and also corn, oats, and rice, since they can all be contaminated with wheat. I know there are lots of gluten-free things out there, and we are slowly trying things out. Since it's maybe not the actual gluten that Cohen is allergic to, we are just being super cautious. Ideally we would like to see total resolution of his cheeks, so we can start adding foods in one at a time every 3-4 days. We have more allergy testing next week, so we will see what else he is allergic to. The allergy doctor suggested that he is probably allergic to something environmental as well.

I am so happy to be on the right path toward healing our little guy's red cheeks. I will update after the next round of allergy testing