And the verdict is:

Eggs, milk, and peanuts.

Those are the culprits and have been causing the horrible red itchiness on my baby for the past five months.

Both Kekoa and I are on an egg-free, diary-free, peanut-free diet, and my goodness, he's like a completely different baby.

1.  The eczema is nearly gone.  There's still a little in his elbow and knee creases, and this morning this was an itty-bitty patch on his neck.  But for the first time in months, his torso is baby soft.

2.  He's eating better.  The doctor said his mouth and nose were swollen from the allergens.  He's never been a good eater and spit a lot of food out, but we're seeing improvement in that area!  He's accepting new foods readily.  He still refuses some foods we had previously given him - I'm thinking maybe he associates their tastes with discomfort?  So he's still not a *great* eater, but I feel for the first time he's getting a significant amount of nutrition from solid food.

3.  He's sleeping better.  The combo of the itchiness and the poor eating led to frequent night wake-ups where he was either hungry or needed a lotion application.  And now for three nights in a row he's slept 8 hours!  He hasn't slept that well since before he was mobile and burning more calories.

4.  He's, er, functioning better.  His little digestive system seems to have figured things out!

My initial reaction was relief.  I first noticed reflux-like symptoms at two weeks, when he had crying fits where he arched his back often.  I went on a total elimination diet, slowly introducing things back in.  But as he got older, he spit up more and screamed less, so I never knew if the problem was solved.

I second-guessed myself a lot regarding that.  No one else was ever there for the screaming episodes, so sometimes I wondered whether I had imagined it.  Maybe all babies cried like that?  Maybe I was clueless as to his baby language?  Maybe I wasn't fulfilling his needs so he kept crying?

And now I know!  He actually did have reflux based on food sensitivities.  While I'm not happy about that, it is relieving to know that my mommy intuition is happily intact, and that I wasn't just ignoring some other need that he had.  :)

Anyway, I'm actually getting quite excited about this whole diet change.  It's a good motivation to scrutinize our diet and eat healthier.  I have to get creative about making up the missing nutrients and proteins from other food sources, but most baked goods are automatically out.  That's not a bad thing.  

According to that all-trusty source the internet, a significant number of kids grow out of milk and egg allergies by the time they're four.  About 86% of kids grow out of them by sixteen.  So we're hoping that eventually he won't have to be the kid at birthday parties who isn't allowed to eat the cake.

On the other hand, only 20% ever outgrow peanut allergies.  It's nice to meet you, almond butter.