The Non-Food Allergies, Part 2 - A Boy and His Robotic Dog

The last (hopefully) non-food allergy that we have discovered is unfortunately dogs. Our allergist tested him after he ended up with swollen eyes from cuddling with a dear friend that has a dog.  My hubby has developed a dog allergy over the last 10 years, so there was not much chance of us getting a dogie the first place, but this certainly cemented it. 

It was just a few weeks after this diagnosis that we got a first hand look at how he would react to being around dogs (not just someone who owns them.) We were attending a party where there were dogs running loose.  Before going, W received his double dose of medication as prescribed for this exact situation and he actually did well at the party.

It was when we got home that we started to hear him whistle every time he took a breath.  Just like his daddy, W has an asthmatic response to his four-legged friends.  So now we carry our asthma inhaler around with our Epi Pen and take extra precautions when visiting friends and family with pets.

This Christmas we did receive a wonderful gift for our kids from the Big Guy in Red. A robotic dog named Zoomer joined the family.  He sits, shakes, rolls over, plays dead, and to the shear enjoyment of my oldest son, will lift his leg to pee!  W loves watching Zoomer roll around the house and just like a real dog, likes to pick him up by his tale.

The best part about our new robotic friend? Mommy doesn't have to feed it, walk it, bath it, or even pet it! Perfect.

The Non-food Allergies, Part 1 - Telltale Skin

In hindsight I look back and see that all of my questions and W's issues started at about 3 weeks old when the trifecta of infant skin issues arose: cradle cap, baby acne, and atopic dermatitis (actually all eczema).  Special shampoos, creams, lotions, they all either did very little or made it worse. There were times that his skin got so bad that a yellowish liquid would ooze from his face or plaster his hair to the side of his head.  Every mother wants to show off their new baby, but there were days when I didn't want anyone to see him. 

Visits to the pediatrician and even a specialized pediatric dermatologist did little to help, and as I found myself smearing more and more steroid cream on my child to no avail I became increasingly frustrated.  I spent money left and right on lotions, soaps, and creams and tried every natural remedy I could find.  (One time I slathered him in olive oil for about 30 minutes and ended up with no more than a baby that smelled like a roasting chicken!) Our nightly routine of bath and skin treatment took about 45 minutes at the height of his problems. When we discovered the egg allergy I will admit that we saw some relief to his skin problems, but not all.

When W was 5 months old we took a trip to Mexico for my brothers wedding.

W with his Great-Aunt in Mexico

While we were there, his skin was perfect.  The kind you want to rub your cheek against and snuggle with. Was it the humidity or the steady stream of tortilla chips in my diet? We joked that our Garcia baby just did better in his native tropics.  Either way, we all enjoyed the break from long and monotonous routine, not to mention knowing that my little man wasn't constantly itching.

A week later we arrived home and back to reality, literally.  It took 30 minutes in our house for the red patches to inflame and the itching to begin. We made an appointment with our allergist and went in with a few food related ideas and one furry, four-legged one.

W's poor rash 30 minutes after arriving home from Mexico.

Unfortunately it turned out that our sweet boy was allergic to our long-time pet kitty, Francesca.  We were lucky to have close family that offered her a home so that my older two children could still see their pet.  So off went the kitty and we got to work on ridding our home of 10 years of Persian cat fur (really fun!)

With the departure of kitty, W's skin did start to get much better, and my older two kiddos were made happy again by the adoption of our new pet fish.  I did still notice, however, that W's skin was always problematic at the end of a day at daycare.  They had switched detergents for us already so I was at a loss.

In talking to a friend about allergies one afternoon, she mentioned that some food allergies can cross react to latex.  Our caregivers use latex gloves daily to change diapers so I looked into this further.  And two of the highest cross reactive foods to latex? Bananas and avocados, both of which W is allergic.  So latex got added to the list and we now provide non-latex gloves to our daycare for them to use with W. 

His skin is now just as a babies should be, smooth and soft and beautiful.  He still gets flare ups of eczema here and there as he come into contact with an allergen, but I am actually thankful that I can now use it is as sign of reaction.

A side note to anyone with children who have latex allergies:  Sophie the Giraffe, the popular teething toy, is made from latex.  Research any soft plastic toy to ensure its safety.