Normal or not? Acne+rash, fussiness, screaming, sleeplessness, etc

I've looked on kellymom.com which has been useful, but everything is
either normal or a sign of a problem.

My 6wk old next Monday daughter got baby acne last week. Normal. But
now it looks more like a big rash across her face. very red. It's also
spread to her neck, ears, head, and upper chest. That part is still
very acne like (pimples with white heads), but her cheeks look more
rash like. Gets worse when she feeds, which could be the heat (it's
super hot here, though we are inside w/a/c, she still gets all sweaty
when she feeds). This made me think perhaps it's the breastmilk itself
with direct contact causing a reaction on the skin - her face gets
covered with BM when she pulls off, she's a messy eater.

Sleeplessness - she was a good sleeper at first but is now sleeping
very little. She managed 3 hrs today because she was so wiped out from
little sleep the last few days. She'll sleep in stretches of 10 min -
an hour max. She sleeps a little longer at night but not much.

Fussiness/screaming/crying - she doesn't cry a lot, more often she's
just fussy. This is usually at night (normal right?), but now a bit
more during the day. I gather that's due to being so tired. However
sometimes when she nurses, she does pull off and let out a scream. It
doesn't last, it's one quick scream, then she'll go back to nursing.
This made me think of a food allergy (dairy maybe?). I basically eat
what I crave, but have massive dairy cravings (cheese, yoghurt mainly).
As of today I've cut dairy out but I guess it'll be awhile before i see
any changes. How common really is a dairy allergy?

Gas - she has it, but doesn't every baby? It's hard for me to know
what's normal. She farts. But she doesn't seem hugely bothered by it.
Her stools are normal - mostly yellow and seedy, occassionally mucousy
and occassionally green (usu. at night). Her pedi said all that was
normal.

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

cjra wrote:

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

I remember things getting really weird at 6 weeks - I think there's a
growth spurt there, which could account for the fussiness and
sleeplessness. I don't have any direct experience with allergies, but
my cousin had a severe milk allergy (it was so bad that he had to go on
soy formula), and his symptoms were severe diaper problems (bloody
diarrhea or really bad diaper rash, or both), major gas, and other
intestinal stuff. Although, I suppose everyone's different. I'll let
someone else speak to whether or not it could cause a skin rash.

I guess one way you could check would be to put a bit of milk somewhere
weird, like the bottom of the baby's foot, and see if a blister
develops there. Might sound a little, well, mean, but at least you'd
know for sure if it's the milk, or if it's just baby acne. Oh, the
spraying thing should slow down a bit soon, too, as your body stops
overproducing milk.

Have you changed anything lately, laundry detergent, soaps and lotions
that you use on the baby, soaps and lotions that you use on yourself?
I still can't wear perfume, because it just freaks my 1 year old out.
Maybe you've changed something and that's what she's reacting to? I
know the first few times I wore perfume, before I figured out the link,
I felt like there was an announcer saying, "We have replaced Amy's baby
with this other, rotten screamy baby... Let's see if she notices!" I
would inventory every product you're using on yourself and on the baby,
and see if anything has changed recently. Laundry soap can be a big
one. We use All Free, which has given us good luck. I wash everything
in it - after all, she's on us all day. Just washing her stuff in
special detergent wouldn't do much good, IMHO.

It couldn't hurt to try eliminating dairy from your diet, but make sure
you're getting enough calcium otherwise. Those chewy chocolate
supplements are great!! Can't remember what they're called... I think
I'd hold off and see if things don't improve in a week or two, because
like I said, things got a little weird at 6 weeks around here.

Everything was much easier at 8 weeks. By 12 weeks, life was almost
normal again.

Hang in there,
Amy

On 2006-08-12 08:15:25 +0800, "cjra" said:

I've looked on kellymom.com which has been useful, but everything is
either normal or a sign of a problem.

My 6wk old next Monday daughter got baby acne last week. Normal. But
now it looks more like a big rash across her face. very red. It's also
spread to her neck, ears, head, and upper chest. That part is still
very acne like (pimples with white heads), but her cheeks look more
rash like. Gets worse when she feeds, which could be the heat (it's
super hot here, though we are inside w/a/c, she still gets all sweaty
when she feeds). This made me think perhaps it's the breastmilk itself
with direct contact causing a reaction on the skin - her face gets
covered with BM when she pulls off, she's a messy eater.

Sleeplessness - she was a good sleeper at first but is now sleeping
very little. She managed 3 hrs today because she was so wiped out from
little sleep the last few days. She'll sleep in stretches of 10 min -
an hour max. She sleeps a little longer at night but not much.

Fussiness/screaming/crying - she doesn't cry a lot, more often she's
just fussy. This is usually at night (normal right?), but now a bit
more during the day. I gather that's due to being so tired. However
sometimes when she nurses, she does pull off and let out a scream. It
doesn't last, it's one quick scream, then she'll go back to nursing.
This made me think of a food allergy (dairy maybe?). I basically eat
what I crave, but have massive dairy cravings (cheese, yoghurt mainly).
As of today I've cut dairy out but I guess it'll be awhile before i see
any changes. How common really is a dairy allergy?

Gas - she has it, but doesn't every baby? It's hard for me to know
what's normal. She farts. But she doesn't seem hugely bothered by it.
Her stools are normal - mostly yellow and seedy, occassionally mucousy
and occassionally green (usu. at night). Her pedi said all that was
normal.

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

It all brings back memories. My son had REALLY bad neonatal acne from
4 - 8 weeks or so. Then came the cradle cap, which litterally stunk
and was thick and crusty. That lasted until about 5 months. The
screaming at the breast (for me, at least) was due to too much coming
out at once. The sleeplessness (I think) is due to them being so much
more aware of everything, and easily overstimulated by all this new
awareness, leading to overtiredness and, yup, fussing, crying,
screaming. It's awful. Sometimes all I could do was put him in the
bjorn and bounce on the birth ball to calm him to sleep. Then we
discovered the shower's power (that rhymes!) one night when even the
bouncing did nothing. He fell asleep in the shower immediately. We
stayed in there with him until he got floppy and although he did wake
when we took him out to dry/dress/feed him, he went back to sleep
easily then.

I don't think I'd jump to the allergy conclusion just yet. Gas is
caused a lot by crying, so if they both started at the same time, then
you probably have nothing to worry about there.

Hang in there. The best advice I got when we were at that stage was,
'This, too, shall pass".



Jo

--
Woman, Wife, Mother, Midwife

My 6wk old next Monday daughter got baby acne last week. Normal. But
now it looks more like a big rash across her face. very red. It's also
spread to her neck, ears, head, and upper chest. That part is still
very acne like (pimples with white heads), but her cheeks look more
rash like. Gets worse when she feeds, which could be the heat (it's
super hot here, though we are inside w/a/c, she still gets all sweaty
when she feeds).

Ds was born in the middle of a hot summer last year and he got heat
rash as well as what the midwife called a hormone rash. Apparently
caused by the residue of my hormones coming out after birth - or
something. He did also get an eczema infection which needed treating,
but that was really itchy so we knew it was something different.

Sleeplessness - she was a good sleeper at first but is now sleeping
very little. She managed 3 hrs today because she was so wiped out from
little sleep the last few days. She'll sleep in stretches of 10 min -
an hour max. She sleeps a little longer at night but not much.

As ds's sleep has improved greatly since last year it's been easier to
notice that the heat really affetcts his ability to get to sleep and
stay there. In cooler weather he drops off after about 10 minutes of
wibbling, in the heat it has taken up to an hour, despite every effort
to make his room cool.

Fussiness/screaming/crying - she doesn't cry a lot, more often she's
just fussy. This is usually at night (normal right?), but now a bit
more during the day. I gather that's due to being so tired. However
sometimes when she nurses, she does pull off and let out a scream. It
doesn't last, it's one quick scream, then she'll go back to nursing.
This made me think of a food allergy (dairy maybe?). I basically eat
what I crave, but have massive dairy cravings (cheese, yoghurt mainly).
As of today I've cut dairy out but I guess it'll be awhile before i see
any changes. How common really is a dairy allergy?

I thought what you did. For me going dairy free didn't work. It turned
out one breast had a flow that was too fast so I used to lean back more
and tip him slightly over me to feed. It settled down after a few
months. Annoyingly the other one is too slow so bf'ing has never been
an easy affair. He also gets stroppy when he's tired. Routine is
important to him.

Gas - she has it, but doesn't every baby? It's hard for me to know
what's normal. She farts. But she doesn't seem hugely bothered by it.
Her stools are normal - mostly yellow and seedy, occassionally mucousy
and occassionally green (usu. at night). Her pedi said all that was
normal.

Ds had horrible gas and you could see the relief when he did fart, so
perhaps it's the built up gas that is bothering her? Neither infacol
nor gripe water helped (though some swear by it), and at the time I
wasn't confident enough to know how to massage his tummy (which is
supposed to help). Like many things it settled down after 3 months.

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

It could be, but it could be just all the other things you have
mentioned. I certainly felt it was worth going dairy free to find out
because I had read so many success stories. I would have felt bad if I
hadn't tried, although as it turned out he is fine. He is allergic to
eggs but my eating them doesn't seem to affect him, as going egg free
has made no difference to him.

HTH a little.

As Jo said, if it's not anything like intollerances, then it will pass.

Jeni

cjra wrote:
I've looked on kellymom.com which has been useful, but everything is
either normal or a sign of a problem.

(symptoms snipped)

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

This does not sound normal to me, but there is a certain degree of...
familiarity. Let me just tell you abut my experience. For the record, I
too have a first cousin with a life-threatening milk allergy. My girl
had terrible baby acne which cleared up when we started washing her
face with Cetaphil. Not anywhere but her face, but the Cetaphil DID
help with that. I think that was normal baby stuff; spreading to the
neck and chest, not normal.

My girl *did* have a dairy allergy, and it took us years to figure it
out. She always had very rosy cheeks; and she kept scratching them (and
drawing blood every several weeks.) We never put two and two together,
though, and thought of it as a rash. She developed horrid gas at around
six weeks old, and at around six months old she started to spit up (and
had never been a spitter before that, not *at all*.)

As she got bigger, she would have bouts of mystery hives -- they never
seemed to itch or bother her, but they looked terrible, and they were
all over her body. One day, when she was almost two, she was diagnosed
with a peanut allergy; she tested negative to milk, believe it or
not... but I had a suspicion that just wouldn't go away, and pulled her
off dairy as an experiment (and me, too, since she was still nursing at
that point). This was really hard for all of us, because she was at
this point a kid who would want a glass of milk and some yogurt topped
off with string cheese for breakfast in the morning.

The results were *astounding.* We thought our girl just had very rosy
cheeks; as it turns out, they were constantly inflamed due to exposure
to cow dairy. When we put her on soy milk, her cheeks turned a more
normal color, the mystery hives went away, she started sleeping better
at night, and a number of behavioral problems vanished. In her case,
she could still tolerate small amounts of dairy -- call it a piece of
string cheese a day -- but we put her on soy milk and soy yogurt. We
could tell when she went over her tolerance limit because her cheeks
would turn blazing red again...

As for that negative test, the allergy has since told me that it not
all allergies are mediated through the IgE reaction, and that given the
obvious and reproducible effect of feeding her too much dairy at once,
that must be what we were seeing. If there's one thing I've found over
the past couple of years, it's that allergies are still only very
poorly unserstood by medicine.

Hope for the future, for you: The past couple of weeks we've been
experimenting with letting her eat more dairy again, and the allergy
appears to be gone gone gone. No red cheeks, no mystery hives,
nothing. (Now if only I could say the same for the peanuts...
sigh...)

My advice based on my experience: It is possible and even likely that
you've run into a food allergy or sensitivity. From what you're
describing, it sounds like it's a lot worse than we had it; which is a
curse and a blessing, because you have no choice but to deal with it,
but at least you won't have the guilt of leaving it untreated for two
years. :/

It's easy enough to experiment; plan out one dairy-free week and see if
you notice any improvement. Be careful about dairy in things like baked
goods, though, as it just may be your baby is sensitive to that degree;
it might be best for the week to stick to simple meats, vegetables,
fruits, rice, and olive oil instead of butter.

If you want to be very scientific about it in case it's a problem with
something besides dairy (wheat springs to mind) there are lots of
elimination diets available out there on the internet that could help
you find out if it's any of a number of foods, and since it sounds like
you could be dealing with a more serious problem (or at least a more
serious reaction) I'd strongly encourage you to try one. It'll no fun,
but you would get a lot of peace of mind out of it. Or better, if you
explain your concern to the pediatrician and describe family history of
severe food allergies, he/she may be able to give you an elimination
diet specific to you and your situation.

Keep us posted... I have a special place in my heart for this kind of
problem, especially since I'm wondering if I'll be going through all of
this again myself in a couple of months! Super good luck to you!

In article om,
"cjra" wrote:

My 6wk old next Monday daughter got baby acne last week. Normal. But
now it looks more like a big rash across her face. very red. It's also
spread to her neck, ears, head, and upper chest. That part is still
very acne like (pimples with white heads), but her cheeks look more
rash like. Gets worse when she feeds, which could be the heat (it's
super hot here, though we are inside w/a/c, she still gets all sweaty
when she feeds). This made me think perhaps it's the breastmilk itself
with direct contact causing a reaction on the skin - her face gets
covered with BM when she pulls off, she's a messy eater.

It's normal for milia (baby acne) to spread that far, and for BFing babies to
be red-faced/sweaty after a feed on a hot day. For young babies, BFing is
actually aerobic exercise. And yes, she might also have heat rash, which will
disappear when the weather cools down. It is like little red pimples, as a
rule.

Sleeplessness - she was a good sleeper at first but is now sleeping
very little. She managed 3 hrs today because she was so wiped out from
little sleep the last few days. She'll sleep in stretches of 10 min -
an hour max. She sleeps a little longer at night but not much.

Try swaddling her for sleep in something like muslin, with an open weave. She
might be twitching and waking herself up. Does she wake up with a yell? At
worst, she might have reflux, but as 6 weeks is also growth spurt time it's
hard to say. In addition, she might just be thirsty. Is she having lots of
little drinks? Is it very dry or humid? How hot has it been?

Fussiness/screaming/crying - she doesn't cry a lot, more often she's
just fussy. This is usually at night (normal right?), but now a bit
more during the day. I gather that's due to being so tired. However

If she's fusssy later in the day, I'm afraid that's "colic", which is
doctor-speak for "being fussy in the evening for no apparent reason". OTOH
you might want to check her gums in case a tooth is on its way!

sometimes when she nurses, she does pull off and let out a scream. It
doesn't last, it's one quick scream, then she'll go back to nursing.

This has two possible causes. Either she is cross because the milk isn't
coming out right this minute, or because too much of it is coming out!

This made me think of a food allergy (dairy maybe?). I basically eat
what I crave, but have massive dairy cravings (cheese, yoghurt mainly).
As of today I've cut dairy out but I guess it'll be awhile before i see
any changes. How common really is a dairy allergy?

Gas - she has it, but doesn't every baby? It's hard for me to know
what's normal. She farts. But she doesn't seem hugely bothered by it.
Her stools are normal - mostly yellow and seedy, occassionally mucousy
and occassionally green (usu. at night). Her pedi said all that was
normal.

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

No idea; it sounds like a typical baby-in-summer thing to me. Remember to
dress her very lightly: a nappy alone is fine, or with a singlet. Leave
actual outer clothes for when you go out or have visitors!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Chookie wrote:
In article om,
"cjra" wrote:

My 6wk old next Monday daughter got baby acne last week. Normal. But
now it looks more like a big rash across her face. very red. It's also
spread to her neck, ears, head, and upper chest. That part is still
very acne like (pimples with white heads), but her cheeks look more
rash like. Gets worse when she feeds, which could be the heat (it's
super hot here, though we are inside w/a/c, she still gets all sweaty
when she feeds). This made me think perhaps it's the breastmilk itself
with direct contact causing a reaction on the skin - her face gets
covered with BM when she pulls off, she's a messy eater.

It's normal for milia (baby acne) to spread that far, and for BFing babies to
be red-faced/sweaty after a feed on a hot day. For young babies, BFing is
actually aerobic exercise. And yes, she might also have heat rash, which will
disappear when the weather cools down. It is like little red pimples, as a
rule.

I've noticed the red cheeks go away when she's not leaning against me,
so I think it's just heat/contact with my skin.

Sleeplessness - she was a good sleeper at first but is now sleeping
very little. She managed 3 hrs today because she was so wiped out from
little sleep the last few days. She'll sleep in stretches of 10 min -
an hour max. She sleeps a little longer at night but not much.

Try swaddling her for sleep in something like muslin, with an open weave. She
might be twitching and waking herself up. Does she wake up with a yell? At
worst, she might have reflux, but as 6 weeks is also growth spurt time it's
hard to say. In addition, she might just be thirsty. Is she having lots of
little drinks? Is it very dry or humid? How hot has it been?



100F outside. 79-80F w/a/c and ceiling fans.

humidity about 50% max. She does have lots of little drinks. I worried
a lot on Saturday a she wouldn't eat more than 5 mins, and we were
going out all day (and would be outside). It was hotter than hell.She
slept a lot, and ate very little - and WAS dehydrated as she had very
few wet diapers. But by evening when we were home she ate more and her
diapers were looking better.

Sunday morning was the same though with not wanting to eat, but by
afternoon she was back on track. Slept a lot too. However at night, tho
she's sleeping, she's twitching a lot, making a ton of noise, clicking
her mouth. She doesn't wake with a yell, tho she does occassionally
have an isolated scream in her sleep. She rarely spits up, but did
yesterday once.

I tried swaddling her and she just screams and kicks til she's out of
it. Being somewhat claustrophobic myself, it's hard on me! I feel like
I'm torturing her. She was sw addled almost constantly while at the
hospital (once she was stable enough to move, so from about day 8-17).
She seemed to tolerate it then but just goes nuts now. But I will try
some more.

Fussiness/screaming/crying - she doesn't cry a lot, more often she's
just fussy. This is usually at night (normal right?), but now a bit
more during the day. I gather that's due to being so tired. However

If she's fusssy later in the day, I'm afraid that's "colic", which is
doctor-speak for "being fussy in the evening for no apparent reason". OTOH
you might want to check her gums in case a tooth is on its way!

a tooth already??? I didn't think it was colic b/c it wasn't that bad.
i associate colic with screaming crying, rather than just fuss. Now,
though (sat and sun) the fussiness has moved to morning and she's
napping in the evening.

I think her sleeping is back on track, except she doesn't sleep much
during the night and she sleeps best when she's laying against one of
us


sometimes when she nurses, she does pull off and let out a scream. It
doesn't last, it's one quick scream, then she'll go back to nursing.

This has two possible causes. Either she is cross because the milk isn't
coming out right this minute, or because too much of it is coming out!

I'm thinking now it's because of too much milk coming out. but she
managed ok last night.


This made me think of a food allergy (dairy maybe?). I basically eat
what I crave, but have massive dairy cravings (cheese, yoghurt mainly).
As of today I've cut dairy out but I guess it'll be awhile before i see
any changes. How common really is a dairy allergy?

Gas - she has it, but doesn't every baby? It's hard for me to know
what's normal. She farts. But she doesn't seem hugely bothered by it.
Her stools are normal - mostly yellow and seedy, occassionally mucousy
and occassionally green (usu. at night). Her pedi said all that was
normal.

Thoughts? Advice? Is any of this related - ie
rash+fussiness+sleeplessness = dairy allergy?

No idea; it sounds like a typical baby-in-summer thing to me. Remember to
dress her very lightly: a nappy alone is fine, or with a singlet. Leave
actual outer clothes for when you go out or have visitors!

she's normally just in a diaper +onesie.

Thanks for the info and advice.

Amy Austin wrote:


Have you changed anything lately, laundry detergent, soaps and lotions
that you use on the baby, soaps and lotions that you use on yourself?
I still can't wear perfume, because it just freaks my 1 year old out.
Maybe you've changed something and that's what she's reacting to?

Haven't changed anything. My diet varies, but nothing drastic. Same
soaps, etc. And I'd assume a detergent problem would affect where she
wears clothes, and this is just the face/head and neck area.

If I wore perfume DH would be the one screaming ;-)

It couldn't hurt to try eliminating dairy from your diet, but make sure
you're getting enough calcium otherwise. Those chewy chocolate
supplements are great!! Can't remember what they're called... I think
I'd hold off and see if things don't improve in a week or two, because
like I said, things got a little weird at 6 weeks around here.

Everything was much easier at 8 weeks. By 12 weeks, life was almost
normal again.


There's hope!

Notchalk wrote:

It all brings back memories. My son had REALLY bad neonatal acne from
4 - 8 weeks or so. Then came the cradle cap, which litterally stunk
and was thick and crusty. That lasted until about 5 months. The
screaming at the breast (for me, at least) was due to too much coming
out at once. The sleeplessness (I think) is due to them being so much
more aware of everything, and easily overstimulated by all this new
awareness, leading to overtiredness and, yup, fussing, crying,
screaming. It's awful. Sometimes all I could do was put him in the
bjorn and bounce on the birth ball to calm him to sleep. Then we
discovered the shower's power (that rhymes!) one night when even the
bouncing did nothing. He fell asleep in the shower immediately. We
stayed in there with him until he got floppy and although he did wake
when we took him out to dry/dress/feed him, he went back to sleep
easily then.


I like the shower idea! She's not too fond of water yet in a bath, but
maybe I'll try the shower tonight.

I noticed the cradle cap starting...a friend suggested olive oil on her
head.

I don't think I'd jump to the allergy conclusion just yet. Gas is
caused a lot by crying, so if they both started at the same time, then
you probably have nothing to worry about there.

Well, I'm not sure whent he gas started, I mean, she's always had some.
I'm not sure what's a lot. She does that arch the back, strain the neck
thing a lot.

Hang in there. The best advice I got when we were at that stage was,
'This, too, shall pass".


That's what I'm hoping!

Andrea Phillips wrote:

If you want to be very scientific about it in case it's a problem with
something besides dairy (wheat springs to mind) there are lots of
elimination diets available out there on the internet that could help
you find out if it's any of a number of foods, and since it sounds like
you could be dealing with a more serious problem (or at least a more
serious reaction) I'd strongly encourage you to try one. It'll no fun,
but you would get a lot of peace of mind out of it. Or better, if you
explain your concern to the pediatrician and describe family history of
severe food allergies, he/she may be able to give you an elimination
diet specific to you and your situation.


See, we have NO food allergies in either family. The most anyone has is
lactose intolerance. Zero food issues (and that's including my 24
nieces and nephews). DH's brother has fur allergies, but no food
issues.




Keep us posted... I have a special place in my heart for this kind of
problem, especially since I'm wondering if I'll be going through all of
this again myself in a couple of months! Super good luck to you!

Thanks. I'm sorry to hear about all your hassles, but glad you've got
it sorted out.