Yesterday evening when bathing DS I noticed a rash on his back and a few spots on his chest and upper arms. His excema on his chin was looking a lot worse. His bottom was looking a little red too.

Now again just now I've changed his nappy and his poo was a slightly green colour and very sticky. His poor bottom is red raw,

The patches on his back aren't looking angry today, but are still there.

The only thing I've eaten that is different is Whittakers Dark Chocolate. Since hearing that it is dairy free I've been gorging on it. I've eaten almost the entire block since getting it on Monday afternoon.

Could there be something in it that is causing a reaction in him or am I missing something else that it could possibly be??

Whoops, I did this to Mac too.

Lucky his Dad got to change the nappy though and not me!!!

Well, I haven't had any more chocolate since I posted this and have really been watching my sugar intake, but the rash is not getting any better.

I will take him back to the doctors tomorrow I think and it would probably be a good idea to keep a food diary too.

Yeah, it seems to be dairy, but I wonder if it is also something else.

He had reflux and after trying different medications things weren't getting much better, then someone suggested cutting out dairy. Five days later and he was improving drastically, after the two weeks he was a different baby. No more screaming and fighting at the breast, a major reduction in spewing and generally just a lot more settled. My Mum who doesn't get to see him much couldn't believe the difference in him when she came up for the weekend.

Since cutting out dairy we have been able to wean him off losec. But, the dairy free hasn't helped his excema any and as I say, he now has a rash on his body and the excema on his face.

Oh yeah, and the dairy free chocolate is Whittakers Dark (not sure if I mentioned that earlier)

Tara, your boy sounds exactly like Mac.

His Eczema is hideous at the moment, as is his nappy rash but I'm wondering if it's teething rather than food.

I'm trying taking Rice out of his diet to see what happens. It's all a big trial and error game I've found.

"Try this...nope thats not it...try that...nope that ain't it either. Give this a go...Oh it's fixed...oh but now...."

Yep, story of my life and I'm guessing yours as well.

Hmmm maybe I need to look at wheat.

I took him to the doctor today just to get anything major ruled out, prognosis is... it could be anything. It could be excema, it could be an intolerance, it could be something else entirely. His mouth was checked and it doesn't look like it is teething at all.

He has spots all over his back and chest and now has round excemery looking marks on his shoulders, head, back, chest, arms, and thighs. The doctor just told me to keep putting aqueous cream on it and see how it goes.

I've taken photos so will show it all to the paed when we see them next week.

Kel - I don't have much soy. I haven't had soy milk in over a week, but could be getting it from other foods etc I guess.

You are dairy and wheat and soy free aren't you?? What on earth do you eat?

Just thought I'd put some pics up of Coopers rash and see what you think, plunket said Excema but I don't know.

Hmm yeah it is. That is where the worst of it seems to be now you mention it.

I wash his clothing in Persil Sensitive (have done since day dot), his nappies in Eco store and our clothes in whatever is on special.

I don't use any handcream (which my lovely dry hands will tell you)

There are two different rashes it looks like. One is little dots all over and then there are larger circles that are dry and a little scaly looking

He has just woken up so will see if I can get another pic.

can't seem to get any decent close ups, but after playing around with privacy settings on facebook I've uploaded some more there which will be a better size so hopefully you can see it better

Thanks Kel, I do get what you mean. I will try washing all our clothes in eco store for a while and perhaps do an extra rinse cycle and see if that makes a difference.

My thoughts were an allergy thing with the pimply looking rash too. And also look into eliminating wheat.

Stacey - thanks for the suggestion. BF is really important to me, I'll keep on trucking and see if I can sort it all with my diet etc first if I can.