It started with a few little red specs on her chest and chin when she was a couple weeks old. I thought it was baby acne, so I let it go for a couple days. Then it grew a little more dense, spread a little further. My husband I and questioned each other about it and weren't quite sure what to make of it. I was a bit hesitant to take her to the doctor, what with how often we'd been there in the three first weeks of her existence (well checks, frenulum, acid reflux...) It was a rash, this much was becoming pretty clear to us now that it was spreading all over her poor little pot bell and around to her back. But what was causing it??
We took her to the doctor to have it checked out. This time it was the female doctor in the practice. She noted the rash on Bug's chest, belly and back and said she believed it to be a dairy allergy. My heart sank. My child? Allergic to dairy??? Impossible. No way. There was just no biological way a fruit of my loins had a physical aversion to dairy. I drank pools of milk as a kid and kept true to it right up until the recent reflux debacle. Ice cream, cheese, yogurt. No. Just, no. But, since the doctor thought that's what it was, I decided I'd make an appointment with an allergist.
That, was a production. The office they referred me to couldn't see Bug for a whole month. "A month?!" I barked. "Are you kidding me!?" (Oh baby, hormones were still in full swing back then). It was completely unacceptable. My daughter was afflicted with a horrid rash that I was certain would scar her for life and no one could squeeze us in sooner? I grudgingly took the appointment, hung up, cried hysterically, then looked up my own damn allergist. It wasn't acceptable... therefore, I refused to accept it. This office could see Bug within literally a couple of days. Sold.
They tested Bug for an allergy to dairy. The test itself was absolute cake. Clearly before going, as I'm sure you can relate, I googled the shit out of "infant allergy test" to see what my poor pumpkin would be facing. For Bug, it was three little scratches. That's it. And you know what? She slept through the whole damn thing. Didn't stir at all. She was less than two months old at the time. Within 15 minutes the results were clear. Negative. My daughter did NOT have a dairy allergy.
Phew! To be honest, as long as she wasn't allergic to dairy- I suddenly felt okay about the rash. I asked the allergist (who was great by the way) what he thought the problem was. "What detergent do you use?" He asked. "Tide." I moronically retorted. "You should probably switch to Dreft." He didn't add, "You nincompoop." That was real swell of him.
Switch to Dreft we did (costly as it was) and voila! Goodbye rash! We washed everything in Dreft. Baby's clothes, our clothes, sheets, etc. We used Dreft right up until recently and Bug is nearly 6 months old now. We're finishing up our last bottle as we've started using All Free & Clear because it's HALF the price and so far is working just as well.
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