Soap - Yes, Soap.

Soap.  It's something simple.  It's something we all use every day.  Before Duncan was born I did the extreme couponer thing with baby lotions and soaps.  I just had a natural knack for couponing.  Maybe it was because my mom taught me how.  Maybe it's because I used to think it was fun to do the stamp cards for my mom growing up.  I'll explain: back home there is a grocery store that used to give out "bonus" stamps long before MVP card rewards.  For the total dollar amount that you spent you got stamps in some denomination.  Once you filled up this little bingo style board (just lots of squares) with stamps you could redeem them for basics like bread and milk etc.  Since my Dad and Sister were heavy milk drinkers this was a great thing.  (Now I'm the heavy milk drinker -who would have thought?)  Doing the stamp cards was a fun chore, much better than dishes, so I was happy to do it any day!

I was so excited one day when I went to Babies R Us and managed to get sixish bottles of Huggies brand baby wash and lotions for somewhere around 3.00.  It was a baby basic with a long shelf life and I now had alternates in scents.  I bought a shea butter, a lavender, a cucumber melon - etc.  YUM!  My baby was going to smell great and be clean for a long time to come!  Tight post baby budget : Take That : I was going to be prepared with basics.

Little did I know that those basics were going to become a major source of pain, literally, for our little guy.  I never knew what all those chemical names and compounds meant on the ingredients' listings.  All I knew was that if it didn't have peach, papaya, mango, almond and avocado I was good. 

I could go in to an extremely lengthy post about all of the interesting experiences we've had with skin care/conditioning/skin med experiences we've had with Duncan, but that's for another day.  The point of this post is SOAP. 

So, when we were released from CNMC (Children's National Medical Center) with the starting working diagnosis of corn allergy we were given a lengthy, but not all encompassing, list of names that corn could hide under.  Duncan's allergist, the head of allergy and immunology, had never had a corn allergic child before, much less one as allergic as Duncan.  He didn't know what to do to help us, but offered up what research he could pull together. 

On the drive home we were elated, exhausted, scared, worried, nervous.  We were happy to be sleeping in our own bed (I had been sleeping in a chair and Dave on the floor most nights.)  Duncan cumulatively had been in the hospital for a week.  Five days at Children's.  Dave had to fly in from Colorado and met us at Children's Monday night, our third night into hospitalization in total that time around.  Duncan had been very sick for the month prior and was in the hospital just one month before.  He was four months old and our roller coaster ride had hit a scary peak the Sunday night before.  We almost lost him.  He was essentially gone as my mother and father-in-law could vouche for. 

So, being sent home with this long, but scant, list - no medication we could give him to ease his extreme pain from his completely raw bottom (he was bandaged by a burn specialist on his bottom - yes, it was that bad) no medication in case of anything...except an epi-pen...we were nervous to say the least.  We stopped at Babies R' Us to get the best suited formula which was still scary as we later found out that he was allergic to dairy and tried to find some basics like soap.  Though he wouldn't be able to be bathed for several weeks due to his skin-less bottom I had a motherly need to find some soap for him. 

It was daunting.

There was NOTHING.  The closest thing that I could find to somewhat reasonable  and not completely corn-laden was Eucerin's Aquaphor Baby Shampoo and Body wash.  Don't get me wrong, it still has tons of typically corn derived ingredients, but it was the lesser of all evils. 

Once Duncan could be bathed again it seemed to do 'okay.'  He did not have any major reactions to it, but the more I read about the horrible processing in these chemicals the more I felt horrible about using this soap -reaction or no reaction.  And, I was constantly worried that the soap would cause a reaction or was bothering him internally.  So, what did I do?  Washed him super duper quickly! 

Then, I found a wonderful soap by Dr. Bronner's that is truly natural, not 'all natural' which confuses the average consumer because it is a big misnomer most of the time.   However, it was not tear-free and my hands started becoming very dry to the point of fingers splitting from it when used as many times a day as I needed to use it.  It's a geat soap I just think I was reacting to the strong coconut base.  My mom is anaphylactic to coconut and so far the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree with allergies. 

But, a couple of months ago I found two wonderful companies that produce soaps that Duncan can use.  The first is Dakota Free and the second is Savionierre Soaps.  Are the products expensive?  Yes.  What's not in our allergy friendly all-natural green little world?

 ~~ That is why we make other sacrifices to accomodate the best we can for the safe necessary products that our child requires to live. ~~

 But, I found a tear-free shampoo that Duncan and I can share that is free of all of his allergens!  WOOHOO!!!!!  I am so excited! 

 SOAP! 

 It's such a basic.  It's so basic most of us never even stop to think about which kind we are using or what the ingredients are.  And I'm sure most people never even question the ingredients/chemicals that are in the soaps that they are lathering onto their skin, that is soaking into their skin and going directly into their blood streams.  What are those words anyway?   Why the soap smells the way that it smells?  Why it lathers so much?  Why there are 50 labeled ingredients on the back in teeny tiny writing that are hard to pronounce?   

However, with a corn-allergic child all of these issues become prominent.  Well, with a Gluten, Corn and Dairy free child these issues become extremely prominent because there are other soaps that could be used that are corn-free but contain wheat or milk.  Although, these soaps are still far and few between and hard to come by.

So, a human basic: safe soap.  It's in a box somewhere on it's way here to us. 

****So excited****

Next time you use your soap, toothpaste, hair care product, shampoo etc. give a thought to what you're putting into your body and give thanks that you have options and potentially fairly cheap HEALTHY options.  The cost of the soap might be a few more dollars right now, but save your health later.  If you can spare those few dollars by not buying that coffee drink tomorrow or by not renting that movie for redbox that inevitably will sit around for 3 days before it gets watched...why not?   

As for us, I'll say it again:

***SOOOOO Excited!******Personal Mommy Victory : Safe Soap for My Child******

(Now let's just hope it's really as safe & friendly as it seems *fingers crossed*)