This afternoon, as I undressed Zachary so I could change his diaper, I noticed a red rash all over his arms, legs, back and torso. Zachary has been known to get rashes, but this was a rash that I had never seen before. This one looked angry and painful. It was made up of dark red, raised dots. As soon as his torso was undressed, Zachary reached up and started rubbing his hands around on his tummy...as if he was trying to scratch it. I immediately called his pediatrician to see if I could talk to the doctor, or a nurse, about what I could do to treat this rash.
The pediatrician's assistant mentioned that it would be best to see the rash so that they would be able to try and identify what was causing it. I headed right in so that they could take a look. Dr. Broadbent was not available so we met with one of his associates, Dr. Sandvig. As she walked in the exam room and glanced at Zachary, her eyes bulged out of her head and she exclaimed "Whoa!"
After a lengthy discussion, and an examination, Dr. Sandvig thinks that my little Zachary may be allergic to milk. She says that his rash is typical of a food allergy. I just recently started to drink a glass of milk in the morning and in the evening, as a way of increasing my calcium intake. Needless to say, I will not be doing that anymore!
Dr. Sandvig has placed me on a strict milk-free diet. I was given a list of ingredients to avoid and must now read each and every label on everything that I plan to eat. I was told to follow the milk-free diet for the next two weeks; if Zachary improves then I will need to continue this diet for the entire time I nurse. However, if he does not improve, the doctor would like to see him again so we can reassess the situation.
I hope we can get this figured out once and for all so that my little man doesn't have to endure anymore of these nasty rashes!
