No Pampering For You, Mama!

As a busy Mama of two active boys, smack dab in the middle of house construction, busy learning about this new chronic condition my son(s) have, I don’t often have the chance to pamper myself.

So it was a special treat last week sometime when I pulled out an emery board, filed a few of my jagged, scratchy nails, and slathered on some hand cream.  Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that such a simple thing would one day become a luxury!

The pampering moment over, I quickly went back to the work of my life: taking care of my family.

In my last post, I wrote about how I was unsure if Mr. Happy was experiencing transition symptoms to Elecare, or FPIES build symptoms to the Elecare.  I said I had posed the question to the experts in the field, the other FPIES Mama’s on the BabyCenter message board.

They answered.  Am I ever glad they did!

At first, they were talking about how perhaps Mr. Happy ingested something he has a trigger to, and I got the distinct impression they were talking of a baby that eats solid foods.  So I responded with a reminder that my son is still only 12 weeks old, and is not on solid foods yet.

At that point, the answers got more specific: he could have accidentally ingested a crumb from something I ate while holding him, it could be something from our soap, laundry detergent, etc.

Suddenly a lightbulb went off in my head: Mr. Happy is taking after his big brother and is already teething.  EVERYTHING goes in his mouth right now for that reason alone.  Plus, we’ll touch his hands, kiss his hands, and then what happens?  BAM!  Right in his mouth the little hands go!

Well, what could it have been?  What could  we have somehow tainted him with?  I thought and thought and just couldn’t come up with…Oh. My. Gosh.  I think I have it!

What do I think could possibly be causing a reaction in my dear, sweet Mr. Happy?  See for yourself:

At least we know they’re telling the truth about their ingredients!

Please, dear readers, note the bottom of the bottle: “Natural Colloidal Oatmeal”.

OAT. MEAL.

Please indulge me as I remind you that the top FPIES trigger foods are dairy, soy, rice, and OATS.

Head. Slap. Moment.

It’s not definitive.  He may actually be  having build symptoms.  Based on the brilliant advice and deductive skills of the FPIES Mama’s, I will continue to watch Mr. Happy for reactions.  If he gets better and returns to his ‘happy place’ where he was last week, then I can narrow it down to an accidental ingestion of something – probably my hand cream.  If he does NOT get better and continues to react this way, then we may have to consider that he’s a rare FPIES kiddo who reacts to incredibly small corn proteins in elemental formula.

At least I have a clue, now.  And in case you meet me in person, just pretend you don’t notice my chapped, cracked, rough hands.  Apparently I have no safe hand creams to use.  Yet.