The Battle

It started with a small patch of dry red patch on each cheek. I think he was less than a month old then. Mum said it was milk rash. Wiped milk religiously after each feed. It was still there. Later thought it could be heat rash, esp after eating all this post natal food which are supposed to be 'warm' to increase milk supply and to seped up recovery overall. One morning Hamzah felt slightly warm than usual, but his temperature was ok. I panicked. Mum suggested to take him to see the Dr. So off we went. He then said Hamzah has infantile eczema! Danggggg! So who would have thought mild eczema on the cheeks would have gone bad in the next few months????? We took him to JPMC, and the dermatologist in RIPAS, even to a few Ustazs who offered 'air baca-bacai' for him to drink and bathe in. By then Hamzah had extensive eczema, covering his body, arms and patches on his legs. He was a very restless baby. He wouldnt sleep well because he would want to scratch all the time. His excellent weight gain in the 1st 3 months got stunted and gradually dropped off the centile. Stressful it was!!!!!!!!!! There were times I was down in tears but I cant be weak when Im suppose to be the one who's strong. There were at times I was frustrated that I got disappointed with Hamzah everytime he wouidnt sleep well during the night and I regret that because it aint his fault! Mama's sorry love. Sleep deprivation gets the worse of me I have to say.

Hearing stories from friends who have children with eczema made me feel a bit better because I know Im not the only miserable mother out there. They shared their experience and one recommended me to start Hamzah on probiotics which helped her son's eczema. So we did when Hamzah was 5 months old. His once upon a time chronically red face cleared up in a matter of a few days! We were amazed. His arms were still red and thick but we thought it was a good start. The downside was it made him pooh like mad. At one point Hamzah had 13 diaper changes in a day. And that is A LOT. Imagine how much we spent on diapers! Anyhow, Ive decided to give him the Yakult only about 1oz per day rather than 2oz. That should cut down his pooh frequency.

Only recently his eczema had another flare up and it was quite a bad one. Just before that silly me for being an ignorant mother, I excitedly gave him rusk to take for supper. 45 mins later he developed red itchy spots on his face. It was an allergic reaction to wheat! Crap! Had to take him to hospital just to make sure he was ok. ANd he was. BUT now im very cautious with what I give Hamzah. I pray he is not wheat intolerant and not to any other food otherwise it will be tough and unfair on him. Anyhow, with his flare up he was started on Prednisolone (for the 2nd time, the 1st when he was 4 months old) and Flucloxacillin, and regular Piriton. I had to say it didnt settle his eczema this time. Oh, we were also asked to stop all cow milks products too, just in case Hamzah was allergic to cows milk. So he was on Soy milk then. STILL, he was all red. We reverted back to Hypoallergenic milk and restarted his Yakult. Alhamdulillah his skin has cleared up now....for 4 days now...so i pray and hope this is it...I hope this is the light at the end of the tunnel....amin amin!