Hi everyone :) I am not 100% positive, but I think my daughter is having a reaction to her MMR shot. She received it the day after she turned one and a short cold and fever followed a few days later. She has always had rosy cheeks and sometimes a small spot on her left cheek gets irritated (from thumb sucking), but about 10 days after the shot her cheeks became more irritated and red then usual. Then a rash started on her cheeks and spread all over her face, it then spread to her belly, arms, legs, back, and hands. It is definitely the worse on her face and slightly worse on her belly then the rest of her body. She has no fever and is sleeping and eating fine. She does not seemed bothered by the rash but does rub her face a little. I called her pediatricians office when it first began and the doctor (not her regular doctor) said it sounded like eczema and recommended hydrocortazone cream. When the rash started spreading and did not look any better I took her in and the doctor in that day (also not her regular doctor) said it looked like a combination of eczema and an allergic reaction to fabric softener. But we have not changed any softeners/soaps/detergents. She prescribed an antibiotic cream and also gave us some Eucerin lotion to rub on twice a day. I called again when I started comparing some pictures of children who had reactions to their MMR to Emma's rash, they look VERY similar. But the doctor said even if this is a reaction I will have to wait it out and to bring her in if nothing has improved in 2 weeks. Has anyone experienced anything like this? The rash has not improved at all. Emma does not seemed bothered but I am bothered that I do not know what it is and I don't know exactly what will help. She also switched from breastfeeding to milk right before her first birthday, she didn't seem to have any reaction at the time, but I am just trying to consider all angles. Thank You in advance for any help.
We took Emma back to the doctor yesterday. She still does not believe this has anything to do with her vaccines and said it could be something she is eating since so many new foods are introduced at this age. I gave her a list of everything she eats (she is a great eater) and the doctor recommended a blood test to help get a better idea of what is going on. Taking blood from an 11 month old is horrible :( We had to hold her down and it took two tries. But hopefully they will know more with the results. I am still using a little hydrocortizone and Eucerin where here cheeks are very dry. I will let everyone know when I find out more, just in case anyone else experiences this. :) Thank You all again!!
4 years later update: Emma's allergy test came back negative. We continued to research vaccinations and switched pediatricians, partly because of a move and party because of our discomfort with how they handled this situation and our subsequent questions. After hearing about Emma's symptoms and seeing photos of the rash, several other pediatricians said it was a late reaction to the MMR, which they see fairly often. We learned that vaccine reactions, and thus the side-effect statistics given on the vaccine information sheets are highly under reported. We also began weighing possible side effects of vaccines (including those that aren't listed on the sheets but many parents and some doctors are writing about), up against the side effects of the actual diseases. We have found the Vaccine Information Center to be a very useful resource on this topic and have also considered the perspectives of many, two who we have appreciated very much are Doctor Mercola and Mike Adams of Natural News. Some questions we have sought answers to and been quite shocked by are what are the ingredients in each of the vaccines? I believe if this information was more readily available, far less parents would vaccinate. And, what comprehensive studies have been done to show the long term effects of the (many) vaccines children receive today? We also found that much of the information on vaccine safety and even vaccines and autism is coming from doctors who are working with and for drug companies. This presents quite a dilemma in trusting such opinions.
Hi, my son also has eczema and used the same things you have. His has been inflammed recently. He also went from breast to bottle and he had a reaction to the formula. A rash on his tummy, arms, legs. It took about 1 month to realize the formula wasn't for him. He is now on nutramigan the hypo-allergenic formula and is doing much better. Hope everything works out for you.
My friend went through this also with her daughter just 2 weeks ago. She also developed a high fever. Went to the doctor twice and they told her that it was Rosiello (sp?) which is baby measels! So it is a reaction to the MMR shot. They told her to give her daughter both tylenol and motrin because the fever wasn't going down with just tylenol. Check with your doctor first. It took about a week for everything to break. Good luck
Have you tried emailing your doctor or reaching her directly in some way? I would be very upset by all the advice and perscriptions given out by her office- none to the mark. Maybe she can be an advocate for you and your family.
My first son had a bad reaction to his DPT shot,(crying all night long, high fever) and none of my other children have been immunized. After researching I decided that experimenting on babies is not okay with me, and although MDs would have you think otherwise, immunizations are still experimental (for example in the last 5 years there's been a change in the ingrdients list on most early childhood immunizations, taking out the mercury. This is a good thing, but it took many many years and lots of hard work on the part of medical and non-medical people.)Several sources suggest all the great advances in public health in the US have had NOTHING to do with immunizations and everything to do with better access to clean water. Good luck to you, C..
Hi C.! I am a pediatric nurse of 20 yrs, and we see this commonly in our office... this really sounds like a post-immunization rash from the MMR. It usually occurs about 2 weeks after the vaccine and will go away on its own. She is not contagious or anything, and this rash is harmless. It doesn't mean she is allergic to the vaccine, either. It also happens a lot after the chicken pox vaccine. A milk allergy doesn't sound likely, either, that usually causes diarrhea and gassiness.
Good luck, and definitely call your doc back if it isn't gone in 2 weeks! M.
I feel like 10 days is a long time to have before a reaction appears. My son tends to get "mysterious rashes" as we call them, once in a while that are very similar. We think it is something that he is eating and we just have not pinned it down as to what is causing it. My doctor says if it is not bothering him, not to do anything about it and it will go away on its own. She also says that in the winter, kids break out with things like this and we never figure out what it is, but that the dry heat in the house can exacerbate any reaction that the kids may have toward something.
If it showed up shortly after they vaccination and it looks like the other vac. reactions, it was probably a reaction to the vaccine. Most doctors are reluctant to link a "mild" reaction to a vaccine, they get paid by the drug companies to administer the vaccines. I have researched vaccines, and have decided that the risks that the vac. themselves carry are not worth it. (there was recently a court case in which the government admitted a childs autism was linked to her round of vaccinations)
If your child has had any type of reaction to a vaccine, in my opinion, you should not repeat that vaccination.
My Ped told me a rash could develop up to two weeks after the shot. My son also did get the rash all over his body and was not bothered by it. I called the dr once i saw the rash and they told me to ignore it it will go away and was just a reaction from the shot. It did not bother him it was just there and will clear up in a few days, don't worry.
My son had almost identical symptoms after his 1 yr MMR vaccines & I also thought it was a vaccine reaction, but the doctors also told me it wasn't - they suggested it was just a flare up of his eczema. It did finally go away a couple weeks later (I was also using the hydrocortizone cream, so I'm sure that helped as well). Hopefully(if it's the same thing my son had) it should go away within the next couple of weeks, whatever caused it, so I guess it doesn't really matter what caused it. I was a little bothered that they seemed to dismiss the possibility that it even could be caused by the vaccine, though, since vaccine reactions (even mild ones) are supposed to be reported. On my vaccine info. sheet, there was a # to call where you could report a vaccine reaction yourself (I didn't call though, since the doctor said it definitely wasn't a vaccine reaction - even though I'm still not personally sure of that).
