Babies Eczema and Grandmas Dog?

[raysnkaysmom]

My 16month old has eczema, sometimes worse than others.. We have been noticeing it gets worse when he's home from grandmas, but thought maybe it was coincidence.
Well, he hasnt' been there for over a week and his skin has looked great! He went over yesterday for about 45 minutes, and how his legs and crease of his elbows are bad again. Do you think it's possible he's allergic to her dog? It's only gotten worse as he's gotten older...

Also, if thats the case, how in the world do I tell grandma that?? She loves that dog!!! Of course, she loves her grandson more, but what should I say, or expect her to do?

ETA - They moved 4 doors down to be closer to the grandkids, and when DBF works, she IS the daycare...

 

[diznygirl]

DS is allergic to cats - my aunt has 6 of them. Benedryl was just making him loopy, so Doc suggested Claritin. Works great. We take it before we go there and he has no symptoms.

Talk to your doc about what would work for your little one.

Maybe your mom could babysit at your place so you don't have to give him so much medicine?

 

[raysnkaysmom]

I dont know if he's old enough for claritin... I'll look into it though...

My concern is...telling grandma!!! She's going to be heartbroken if that is the case. Again, it's just a guess on our part, but it all seems to make sense....

 

[Angelhalo]

I've had excema my entire life from birth to 30. It has never made any difference whether there were pets around or not. The main things that upset my excema are dry weather, water, and stress.

 

[Wishing on a star]

FIRST, I would not assume it is her pet.

I think it would be WAY more likely that it is something else, like cleansers, carpet fresheners, chemicals, etc... that she is using.

Is she a reasonable caring grandmother, or the grandma from you know where.... Perhaps you could talk to her about having her carpets and furniture steam cleaned (steam only, no other cleaners....) Changing to a baby detergent... the same one like DREFT or ALL free&clear that I am assuming that you are using... etc.... etc...

I have the MIL from you know where... DS is allergic to many things.... including cats... she has FOUR cats, all 'indoor', and she lets them even sleep IN the beds... And, no, she doesn't even change the sheets if DS were to stay over! She actually thinks I am the evil DIL because I do not have DS stay over with her.

Good luck with the situation.
If Grandma is willing, try to explore and eliminate all other possible causes of this reaction.... It may not be her beloved pet!

PS: When we finally had DS tested for all allergies and put him on shots... they said forget the other treatments after the fact... he needed to be on ZYRTEC every night.... It WORKS!!!!! His allergies and related excema are no longer a problem... So, rest assured that as your child gets old enough for this kind of regimen, things will get easier.

 

[NotUrsula]

I second the PP -- it's probably not the dog itself, but a cleanser or some such.

Does she use a lot of chemicals to clean because of the dog's presence in the house? A family member of mine uses carpet deodorizer because of a dog, and I can't go barefoot in that house; the stuff makes my skin itch like mad.

 

[AustinTink]

DS10 has had moderate to severe eczema his whole life. The doctors have assured us that it's not our dog. He has his flare-ups from exposure to chemicals found in cleaning products, perfumed products and dust.

He too will flare-up after going to grandma's house. She has a house full of antiques and knick knacks that gather dust.

 

[Christine]

My son has terrible eczema. He is minimally allergic to dogs but that has been recent. He is not allergic to cats at all but, occasionally, when he goes over to his piano teacher's house and plays with her cat, he will break out in the creases of his elbows and arms pretty badly.

With eczema it is just so hard to say. Some types of fabrics will bother my son. The skin is very fragile and sensitive in an eczema person so it could be her carpet, her couch fabric, something she has on. Or it could be the dog. My son will often break out in a rash just going somewhere new. He is much worse on vacations and if he gets hot. He breaks out terribly at the beach. So much so that he just won't go.

Trying to nail this down will be hard. I wouldn't make grandma feel that she needs to do something about the dog. The dog could cause the breakout but as long as the dog isn't causing respiratory symptoms then I would just let it go. There will probably be a million things that will set it off once your son leaves the house more frequently.

 

[nskjerven]

My son has it too, and I'm in the it's not a pet reaction camp.

Laundry soap has made a difference for us. So if Gmom holds baby in her clothes washed with that soap that could be the problem.

Easier fix than getting rid of a dog

 

[raysnkaysmom]

FIRST, I would not assume it is her pet.

I think it would be WAY more likely that it is something else, like cleansers, carpet fresheners, chemicals, etc... that she is using.

Is she a reasonable caring grandmother, or the grandma from you know where.... Perhaps you could talk to her about having her carpets and furniture steam cleaned (steam only, no other cleaners....) Changing to a baby detergent... the same one like DREFT or ALL free&clear that I am assuming that you are using... etc.... etc...

I have the MIL from you know where... DS is allergic to many things.... including cats... she has FOUR cats, all 'indoor', and she lets them even sleep IN the beds... And, no, she doesn't even change the sheets if DS were to stay over! She actually thinks I am the evil DIL because I do not have DS stay over with her.

Good luck with the situation.
If Grandma is willing, try to explore and eliminate all other possible causes of this reaction.... It may not be her beloved pet!

PS: When we finally had DS tested for all allergies and put him on shots... they said forget the other treatments after the fact... he needed to be on ZYRTEC every night.... It WORKS!!!!! His allergies and related excema are no longer a problem... So, rest assured that as your child gets old enough for this kind of regimen, things will get easier.

No..she's a great grandma!! She uses baby detergent, and they have had their carpets cleaned within the past 5-6 months... The only thing I can think of they use totally different is that stupid spritzer spray fragrance stuff. LOL.. It's in the air.
We'll try to narrow it down.....

My son has terrible eczema. He is minimally allergic to dogs but that has been recent. He is not allergic to cats at all but, occasionally, when he goes over to his piano teacher's house and plays with her cat, he will break out in the creases of his elbows and arms pretty badly.

With eczema it is just so hard to say. Some types of fabrics will bother my son. The skin is very fragile and sensitive in an eczema person so it could be her carpet, her couch fabric, something she has on. Or it could be the dog. My son will often break out in a rash just going somewhere new. He is much worse on vacations and if he gets hot. He breaks out terribly at the beach. So much so that he just won't go.

Trying to nail this down will be hard. I wouldn't make grandma feel that she needs to do something about the dog. The dog could cause the breakout but as long as the dog isn't causing respiratory symptoms then I would just let it go. There will probably be a million things that will set it off once your son leaves the house more frequently.

He definitely gets worse in those spots when he is hot outside...
We'll just continue to watch it I guess....

 

[nskjerven]

No..she's a great grandma!! She uses baby detergent, and they have had their carpets cleaned within the past 5-6 months... The only thing I can think of they use totally different is that stupid spritzer spray fragrance stuff. LOL.. It's in the air.
We'll try to narrow it down.....



He definitely gets worse in those spots when he is hot outside...
We'll just continue to watch it I guess....

It could be the baby detergent. I use a DYE Free kind now, we had problems with the baby stuff, and the carpets being cleaned could even make the issue worse depending on what they cleaned them with.

Tough spot, trial and error was how we figured it out(and we are still using that method) and mine is now 9+ years old.

 

[lil mermaid]

I dont know if he's old enough for claritin... I'll look into it though...

My concern is...telling grandma!!! She's going to be heartbroken if that is the case. Again, it's just a guess on our part, but it all seems to make sense....

I wouldn't worry about telling grandma anything, really. You don't even know that he is allergic to the dog.

I'd get my son to a pediatric allergist to find out what he is allergic to. You don't want any nasty surprises down the line. If you can find out what he is allergic to, if anything than you will know what to avoid. Also, if he needs to be on medication you can find that out too.

 

[Wishing on a star]

spritzer spray fragrance stuff.

Bingo!!! we may have a winner here!!!!
Especially if you are talking about something like febreze or oust that you spray.... Believe me, that stuff does not just disperse and disappear into the air. If you could see with a blacklight, or just the long rays of afternoon sunshine, that stuff is then an ultrafine mist that does settle, onto the carpets, furniture, etc.... Think of an eight ounce bottle, that means 8 ounces of liquid mist settling on everything (over time, of course).

I know for myself, I would probably not be able to visit because I simply would have an attack and could not breathe if she was spraying while I was there, or right before.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Bingo!!! we may have a winner here!!!!
Especially if you are talking about something like febreze or oust that you spray.... Believe me, that stuff does not just disperse and disappear into the air. If you could see with a blacklight, or just the long rays of afternoon sunshine, that stuff is then an ultrafine mist that does settle, onto the carpets, furniture, etc.... Think of an eight ounce bottle, that means 8 ounces of liquid mist settling on everything (over time, of course).

I know for myself, I would probably not be able to visit because I simply would have an attack and could not breathe if she was spraying while I was there, or right before.

I don't like the smell.. lol

I guess as a PP said...I need to get him to an allergist to know for sure. We've figured out chlorine definitely triggers it... and excessive heat. That's all we've concluded...

 

[AustinTink]

It could be the carpet cleaning solution as someone mentioned or the carpet itself. We ripped all our carpet out when my son was two on the advice of the doctor. Even the most meticulous housekeeper can't fight all the dust mites and airborne fibers associated with carpeting. Getting rid of it really helped with my son's asthma and eczema.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

It could be the carpet cleaning solution as someone mentioned or the carpet itself. We ripped all our carpet out when my son was two on the advice of the doctor. Even the most meticulous housekeeper can't fight all the dust mites and airborne fibers associated with carpeting. Getting rid of it really helped with my son's asthma and eczema.

its like a no win situation!! We'd like to rip up our own carpet everywhere and put in hardwoods, but it's so expensive! Then, we want to get a carpet and upholstery cleaning in hopes to help alleviate some dustmites or whatever else there may be, but now I"m worried about the cleaning solution... LOL

Always somethin huh??

 

[tiggger1]

have you thought about a food allergy? My son's eczema si goes from nothing to major flares after he has anything with soy in it...

 

[raysnkaysmom]

have you thought about a food allergy? My son's eczema si goes from nothing to major flares after he has anything with soy in it...

we thought about things it may be... we've ruled out milk.. other than that.. I don't know!! I don't know we use soy
We're a bit overprotective, afraid he'll choke, so he doesn't get much aside from baby food and very minced up adult food... lol

He got teeth late and chokes easy.. you'd think on kid 3 I wouldnt worry so much.. lol

 

[laughinplace199]

My DD10's eczema always flared up at my mom's house, and they have a dog. Also, we noticed that if the dog licked her, she'd get a rash on her skin from the dog's saliva. We brought her to her allergist and had her tested (she has food allergies and asthma, so we go to the allergist at least once a yr) and she is allergic to dogs. My parents live across the street from us. Every time we come over, my mom either vacuums the den like crazy or she put sheets on the sofa for DD to sit on. That really helps.

 

[Wishing on a star]

We bought a good carpet cleaner... A Nautivac... We bought a used/refurbed unit off their website after having rented one. It was a great deal. It is a good carpet cleaner, with the 'wand'. that really sucks. (NOT the lame rugdoctor kind) God, it is great to be able to have clean carpets without paying a fortune!!! We can clean traffic areas or spills whenever needed.

You do not have to use a solution to clean carpets... You can steamclean without using any detergent solutions. What I do is spray spots or heavily soiled areas, and the steamcleaner will then suck all of that detergent up without having the whole carpet left full of solution residue. Maybe you could all some local carpet cleaning agencies and see if they do this.