PostPartum Hives...

Jess - posted on 02/02/2012

After tons of testing for allergies etc and found nothing... I too took the claritin & pepcidAC (which is a different type of antihistimine than the claritin). It seemed to work some & made the hives more bareable.

Vicki - posted on 04/19/2009

I'll see if the nurses I work with have any advice/suggestions/experience with postpartum hives.

Cindi - posted on 04/19/2009

Thanks, ladies. Great suggestions, but my postpartum hives are not due to lotion or stress. I wake up and get them. Sometimes before I eat, sometimes after, sometimes after a shower, sometimes not. I have been under much more stress in my life,like when I lost a parent, and have never had one single bump!

Sarah - posted on 04/19/2009

the only thing I can think of is stress. I know it sounds odd, but that is why I get hives. I have had 2 pretty bad cases. The first time I got hives that I know of is while I was maternity leave after having my daughter. I went from working 40 hours a week to being home with a newborn and a preschooler ( who was later diagnosed as autism spectrum)...on top of everything else, I had complications with my c-section and ended up having a visiting nurse come and pack my wound for a week. I would literally wake up in the middle of the night scratching! Since I was breastfeeding a newborn my doctor told me to put topical benedryl on it. It helped a little, but I had to just wait it out for the rest.



My next case was when my youngest was under a year old. I thought that things were pretty much OK...I was lying on the floor trying to nurse my baby to sleep and my belly started itching. It was all over my belly and started spreading to my arms and legs. I could pretty much watch them pop out. I called my doctors office and they told me to take benedryl and I would be fine as long as I did not have them on my face. The next morning I woke up and they were on my face! After my calls to my doctors office went unanswered ( problem with the emergency call system) I went to urgent care. By the time I got there I think I was 90% covered...some areas you could tell had 2-3 layers of hives. The doctor took one look at me and gasped and said "ohmygod". On the way home from the urgent care the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands!



Anyway...what finally worked for me was taking one Claritin and then a Pepcid. It took a few days, but it worked. Apparently the pepcid has a little bit of antihistamine in it too, so it boosts the claritin. I am guessing that at 12 months old your son is not getting as much of his nutrition from breastmilk, so medication getting in the breastmilk is not as much of an issue as it was when he was a newborn.

Sonda - posted on 04/19/2009

Hi Cindi! I don't know if this helps at all, but I had hives WHILE I was pregnant. I was told that they would go away after I gave birth but it didn't work until I cut my nails and stopped scratching them. I also had them briefly, for my second pregnancy. I finally realized that I was clogging my poors by putting baby oil on after my shower (it was a habit I got into when I was a teenager because I loved the way it made my skin feel and smell). I stopped using the baby oil and instead used Aveno lotion. It went away shortly after that and I haven't had it since. Is it possible you are also clogging your poors with something? Maybe with all of the hormones our bodies react differently to products we have always used. Good Luck! I know how you feel!

Vicki - posted on 04/19/2009

I'll see if the nurses I work with have any advice/suggestions/experience with postpartum hives.

Cindi - posted on 04/19/2009

Thanks, ladies. Great suggestions, but my postpartum hives are not due to lotion or stress. I wake up and get them. Sometimes before I eat, sometimes after, sometimes after a shower, sometimes not. I have been under much more stress in my life,like when I lost a parent, and have never had one single bump!