What we're fighting

3 months into life (mild eczema)

He started getting a perfectly round spot on his cheek. Some days it was pink, some days it was red, and then were days where it wasn't there at all. His pediatrician took a look at it and thats when Gavin was diagnosed with mild eczema. Nothing to severe or at least nothing we couldn't handle. We just started applying ointments the doctor gave us and switched to more sensitive lotions and soaps at home.

Gavin was then starting to sleep 5-6 hours a night without a bottle so we figured he was outgrowing the newborn stage. Even though we were still very exhausted having to wake up every five hours daddy and I were pretty excited to start catching some ZzZzZ's again.

Weeks went by and the 6 hour increments of sleep went back down to 3 hours. We thought it was all apart of growing. I thought, maybe he's hit a growth spurt. Weeks turned into months and not only did his sleep schedule stay at 3 hours of rest then a bottle, his eczema got a lot worse.

7 months old (severe eczema)
The eczema spread from his cheek all the way down the to bottom of his feet. The eczema now covered 80% of his body. He was then diagnosed with severe eczema. This itchy dry skin rash has over taken my baby's body and there was nothing I could do about it. He would wake up in the middle of the night scratching in his asleep (every 2-3 hours & still till this day). At this point, we had an appointment with a dermatologist and was visiting with his pediatrician once a week.

The pediatrician made it very clear, there was nothing we could do to stop it. We can "control it" but there's no cure for it.

Most of you might be thinking you know what eczema is. I thought I did too but what Gavin was/is going through is no where near what we "thought" eczema was.


7 months old (food allergies)


At only 7 months old, Gavin had been through 6 different types of formulas (Similac Breast Feeding Supplement, Similac Sensitive, Similac Alimentum, Enfamil Nutramigen, Gerber Good Start, Gerber Soy). He was/is currently on Gerber Soy because that's the only formula his body will "tolerate". Everything seemed to break him out. We started him on baby food at about 4 months old. Some baby foods flared his skin and there were some that didn't.

It was then the pediatrician suggested an allergy test. Gavin's test results came in and he's allergic to cow's milk, peanuts, wheat, soy, egg, dog & cat dander. 

Not only are we having to deal with severe eczema we now have food allergies to watch for. The allergy test was only for the main food allergies people test high in, in America.

We still fed him well. He's had chicken, rice pasta, sweet potatoes, squash, and a lot more.


Social Life & Every Day Life

At this point, we had no social life. I stayed home 7 days a week and maybe to the grocery store and back. Things were so bad that I couldn't go any where with him in his car seat without him scratching so bad he would make himself bleed. He scratched so bad he would open his skin till it started weeping of sweat (it was/is as painful as it sounds).

I still have a vivid memory of the day Gavin and I we're sitting in the living room and I sat on the floor crying and pleading to God "Why! Why would you let him go through this. Why not me, Why him?" I couldn't hold it in any longer. Here Gavin was so itchy and I was having to hold his hands down so he wouldn't scratch till he bled anymore. My Dad happen to stop by just in the moment of it all, he screamed "Omg Unique!! There's blood on his shirt. We need to go to the hospital! Why won't he stop scratching?!" The painful part of it all is we couldn't. There was no point in going to the hospital. There was nothing they could do (I'm crying as I'm writing this). My baby was suffering right in front of my eyes and I couldn't do anything about it. My Dad helped me that day. I was an emotional wreck that day. I laid in a ball all day and cried while my Dad entertained Gavin so he wouldn't scratch himself.

Just when we thought we had everything under control... we went on our very first family trip...