AJ broke out in a horrible rash over his face and neck. At first I thought that it was a heat rash but then began to wonder if it might be something more serious.

I noticed that AJ had tiny red bumps on his face and neck while we were outside playing. He was hot and sweaty and it looked like the rash that he had gotten in Florida from the heat, sunscreen, and salt water. My neighbor had been outside with us and asked if the rash might be measles. I was sure that it was just a heat rash and I took him inside to cool off and wash up.

Then, as we began to wash his body I noticed that he had small bumps on his arms and legs. They looked different because they were not red but more like tiny pimples. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the bumps but his neck seemed itchy.

I ran to my computer and quickly began to search for the symptoms of measles. He was acting normal, did not have a fever and was eating so his symptoms did not match those described on the website. I was a little relieved but still not sure what to do for AJ and his slightly itchy bumps.

I decided to call his doctor rather than risk misdiagnosing his problem. The nurse was very little help and said that he needed to be seen. The only problem was that they were booked and I would have to take him to urgent care.

I reluctantly took him to urgent care for a diagnosis. The doctor checked him out and determined that eczema was the culprit and prescribed a strong hydrocortisone to put all over his body.

I was relieved that it was not measles and yet was confused as to how a drastic case of eczema could come on over night. Again, I resorted to the internet for answers and found that a change in laundry detergent could cause the outbreak of a rash.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A bell went off in my head and I remembered that I had just washed 2 loads of laundry in our old detergent because I had run out of our eco friendly, chemical and dye free laundry detergent.

AJ slept in his nice clean sheets and pajamas 1 night before he was covered in a red itchy rash. I quickly threw out the detergent, ran to the store and bought my old faithful eco friendly, chemical and dye free laundry detergent, gathered up all of the laundry that I had just washed and re-washed everything.

I will never again wash anything in our house in a chemical laden detergent. I do not want to spend another day in urgent care only to find out that because of being lazy and using my old detergent rather than going to the store I had caused the problem.

I have since changed out all of my cleaning supplies with organic, green, eco friendly products. Based on the severe reaction that AJ had it can’t hurt, besides, I am willing to do anything to avoid that situation again.

Off to make another Mommy Milestone.