More Red Cheeks & Testing Results
After months of being healthy, my son’s bright red cheeks returned in November. Although many people might say “oh, he’s hot” or “oh, he’s been running around” when his cheeks would turn red, there are some tell tale signs that his red cheeks are more than being overheated. Besides being bright red, they have a rough sandpaper texture that looks chapped and his nose is slightly running as if he has a cold. Sometimes he gets a cough too. Plus, his behavior gets a unpredictable and his even keeled personality disappears. I seem to have a pattern going, where I spend a month trying to figure out what he is reacting to. Then, despite all my insight, determination and belief that I can figure it out myself, I finally realize I can’t. At this point, I head to Dr. Pescatore to get the ALCAT test done.
At Thanksgiving, by the way, when we went around the table to give thanks for those things we are grateful for, I included Dr. Pescatore and the ALCAT test in the things I was thankful for. It’s not a cheap test, but it works for us and we are very fortunate to have access to alternative tests and doctors.
A few days ago I got the results back from the ALCAT test and my son is severely intolerant of CANE SUGAR! Which is not a huge surprise, considering how much I bake and cook sweets and my son’s leaky gut– which allows proteins to enter the bloodstream that normally should stay in the gut. A is also moderately intolerant of potatoes and corn also, so we will be on our own version of the specific carbohydrate diet–with only rice and quinoa grains and sweet potatoes instead of potatoes.
The only thing harder than being gluten free/casein free/sugar free/corn free/potato free is being gluten free/casein free/soy free/sugar free/corn free/potato free ON THE ROAD–so we stayed home this year for the holidays. My son’s official diagnosis, by the way, is “allergy syndrome” which, as time goes by, couldn’t be more accurate.
Other posts on red cheeks and food intolerance:
Red Cheeks in Children Infants and Toddlers
Allergic Red Cheeks
Allergies and Food Intolerances
Here is a picture of my son’s complection when he isn’t having a reaction:
Cannon and Kassie - Oh man Kirstin, I know you will make the best of it. You are SO dedicated, I really admire you! I hope that you guys can come by tomorrow : )
Emmy - I just made this comment on an older post and was not sure if you are checking older posts. Sorry for the repeat comment but I am a new mother to a son and am already so paranoid about all of this stuff. Here was my comment:
Hello just came across your blog because I googled babies and red cheeks. I have a 4 month old who I breast fed up until recently. He has been on similac sensitive which he does not appear to have a reaction to. However after trying both rice cereal and oatmeal cereal his cheeks turn red and he gets fussy. I am going to stop trying the cereal but how do I know if this is something to be concerned with or not? He has been teething since 3 months but there is an obvious correlation between the cereal and the red cheeks. He also still does not sleep through the night. He slept twice through the night around Thanksgiving and then continued to be up once and now he is getting up several times again! I guess I am wondering what your child was like at 4 months? Am I being paranoid or could he have a gluten/allergy problem too?
Our Family Is His - Oh my!!!! THIS IS MY SON! I keep telling people it’s something he’s eating and I keep hearing “oh, he’s just hot”. Hello, it was 6 degrees last week. How is the child hot? Finally my Mom watched it happen with bananas the day after Christmas. He ate them, wham, here came the cheeks. Though, this time the red also started blotching his face. We never knew he had a banana issue until the 26th. But he seems to do it a lot. And it has that rougher appearance as well. I am going to read, with more care, your post again and gleen any new information I don’t have. But I just wanted to say, my son’s pictures would look just like yours if we compared cheeks.
Lisa - Just wondering if eliminating cane sugar has helped your son's cheeks? I have three sons, each with his own particular combination of food allergies & sensitivities, and I'm trying to get more information about the ALCAT. None of our doctors have even heard of it, and I am reluctant to try to have it done online (how do you know if these people are reliable?). It seems like the ALCAT can be the answer to the allergic family's prayers, but the high cost has made me reluctant to jump in with both feet. Would you say it worked for you and your son? And on another note, do you have any other allergic family members, and how do you handle cooking for people with different sensitivities? Thanks for your help!
Cassie - My 1.5 yr old son has the same, red and very chapped and scaly cheeks. He has dry skin on his arms, legs, elbows, but nothing like the scales and redness on his cheeks and sometimes chin. I have celiac disease and he has the two genes that are associated with it but they are not active at this time. The blood test came out negative at this point. They want to see a malnourished, failure to thrive child before they call him celiac, although they finally did the test after I forced them. Then, I saw an allergist who performed the basic food allergy tests and he wasn't allergic to milk, wheat, peanuts, all the regular that they test for. I hate to continue going to Dr.s, next maybe a dermatologist? But I also hate to put him gluten free if it's not that! I just want to know for certain. Any ideas, suggestions, or hints about dealing with the diagnosis and doctors would be of much help. I am really at my whits end!!
Thanks,
Cassie
cassie_lynn@msn.com