Pregnancy and Eczema

It had been 1 year since my last flare up…I was beginning to think that I no longer suffered from eczema. Although, I knew I wasn’t in the clear 100% because my son Ryan has it. The pregnancy of my daughter is filled with memories of flare-ups, throw ups, and cleanups. My son was 8 months old when I got pregnant with my daughter. Everything about the pregnancy was so different so I had a feeling it was a girl. Although, I didn’t really have time to notice how I felt as I was so busy with a young baby. Hence the “cleanups” phrase. I expected to be having morning sickness, I knew I’d be busy with Ryan. What I didn’t expect was my eczema to come back like a bat out of hell.

Flare-ups on the rise

The flare-ups I remember most were on and around my mouth. My lips looked like an Angelina Jolie impersonator gone bad. I was hesitant to take any type of steroid like I had in the past because I was pregnant. For a while, everyone in my family would say, “you’re beautiful!” “you’re just glowing!” It didn’t take long for those comments to turn into “Wow! She really is sucking all the beauty out of you.” I knew it had to be a girl. And I knew she was going to be gorgeous. When I found out I was pregnant with Madi all my dreams came true. A boy and a girl! How lucky could I be! Ryan’s first 3 months were a horrific battle with eczema that I didn’t want Madi to have to go through the same.

Call the doctor

I turned to my Doctor for help and asked if he thought I should eliminate dairy during pregnancy as a precaution being I had to do that with Ryan. I wanted to know if it was better to be preventative vs. reactive. He suggested that by not exposing her to dairy may not be good for her and to continue with my balanced diet. (Thank goodness I didn’t have to give up the ice cream again!)

My doctor told me that stress can trigger eczema flare-ups. His suggestion for me was to eliminate stress and reduce my exposure to known triggers. I had been eczema free for almost a year so I was confused as to what triggers I had to start eliminating again. I was so frustrated that it came back during this pregnancy. In addition to the frustration, I also had the fear that my daughter would suffer from eczema as well. At this point, we learned enough about Ryan’s condition to know how to handle it. My raging hormones were either stressed about my appearance or worried about my daughter’s future with eczema.

Madi was born a beautiful and happy baby girl. I breastfed her for 8 months and never had to eliminate any dairy. She is 8 years old now and has no sign of eczema in sight. She is well aware of me and Ryan’s struggles and is thankful she got her Father’s skin!