Atopic Dermatitis

According to the dermatologist, that is Kaitlyn's diagnosis and accounts for all of her health issues lo these many months. This morning Kaitlyn and I met with Dr. Stewart who looked at her, listened to my stories and concerns, and said Kaitlyn has EXTREMELY sensitive skin, horrible allergies (probably tied in with food), and the reason for the repeat staph infections in the diaper area is that because Kaitlyn itches so bad, and scratches, the staph gets in there. She really wasn't surprised/concerned by the repeat skin infections and in fact prescribed a topical antibiotic to keep on hand in case it happens again and seems necessary. She said she didn't think we needed to do the orals so much, just topical.

I told her I was most concerned by the weight loss, but she really wasn't too worried about that either. I kept reiterating that Kaitlyn lost a good 12 ounces which is a big deal for a baby, but she said that that can be tied in with allergies/eczema as well. During the visit Kaitlyn was babbling and bouncing around and the doctor said she looks healthy as can be and therefore really doesn't suspect a zinc deficiency. The doctor asked me if Kaitlyn was pretty active, and I said yeah, she's always been squirmy and wiggly and loves crawling around. The doctor said her own son was big at first, then lost a bunch of weight and remained pretty small for his age, so it happens. Plus yeah, apparently allergies can affect weight gain or something.

I asked about Kaitlyn's foot, and Dr. Stewart said that honestly it sounds like Kaitlyn just has really, really sensitive skin. She prescribed an ointment for the eczema. She said it can be difficult to pin-point what foods I'm eating that might be aggravating it, so pay attention but not obsess over it. She also thought Kaitlyn should outgrow it.

I guess I feel cautiously optimistic about the diagnosis. I tried my darndest to convince Dr. Stewart that my baby was on death's doorstep, but she just kept saying that these things are the result of bad eczema/allergies, and that staph infections on the skin are to be expected if a baby's diaper area is scratched up badly enough (which Kaitlyn's had been. It was awful.) Tomorrow we'll see the immunologist, who I'm sure will order more invasive tests and I'm going to request he test for zinc deficiency. But if everything comes back normal, then it looks like my kid just has a nasty case of regular old eczema.