Toddler wakes up with Facial Swelling

[TiredFather]

Hello, I am new here and the reason I joined is to try and find a reason for my baby’s ongoing/undiagnosed facial swelling (usually around eyes, but somtimes cheeks and lips). My baby is 17 months old and for the past 6 months she has had facial swelling after waking up from asleep. This does not occur every day, but hit or miss (sometimes a week straight, sometimes once a week). We have been to every pediatrician and allergy specialist in our area without any diagnosis for her condition. All blood test come back "good" from what we are told. No genetic history of diseases on either side of families. We have tried different washing detergents on her bedding (straight baking soda too). They ruled out food allergies also. We live in a basement apartment, no pets, no smokers (in our apt.), and a shared building wide washer and dryer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my last shot before we pack up and head to the Mayo Clinic.

Attached is a photo 3 hours after Benadryl was given.

[worriedmom26112]

Hello :)
This may be a long shot but i was just wondering if you ever did find out what your baby was suffering from ?
Im new to this too but really need help with this !
I know its been a few years since this post so im not sure you will get this (fingers crossed you do )
My little girl has this same thing!
She had her first facial swelling at 11 months old, woke up one morning and her eye was swollen shut! Even since then she has it on and off and she is now 18 months old.
We have been to see lots of docs and lots of tests have been done but non of them have got a clue!
she now wakes up with swollen eyes, lips, cheeks and once she woke up with a swollen forehead :(
I have changed all the normal things like washing powder, cleaning products, even changed all of her bedding.
We as told to treat it as a allergic reaction and to give her piriton , which we do but once the swelling starts it takes a good few days to go back down with or without piriton.
We are from the uk so we dont have anything like the Mayo clinic.
She's been tested for dust mites too but it all came back fine, they also said it wasnt a food allergy.
I just dont know where to turn now and it breaks my heart to see her like this!
Sometims she can go 3/4 weeks with nothing then she'll just wake up with it!
Another time she was on piriton for 2 months with no break as she was having a reaction as soon as she missed one dose.
I'm so worried it unreal !
Please help :(

[jimgreg]

you live in a finished  basement i would think...what  about insect bites can be bit to wear  the baked eye cant see them..depending were you live at..spiders will cause swelling,,buty ussly when that happens the kidneys are involed,,but they took  blood test..cuz if a spider biters a small child it can come and go in one single bite..depending on the child age and weight..mostly spiders  that make you swell like this would  be the wolf spider..and this you would know..i tell  ya by the looks of her this is a alleric  reaction to something..i had 150 allergies As baby..i had patch tests done were i had to have shots 1 time a week..but in that pix looks like allergies of somekind.....srry....

[kmil1999]

First off welcome and I am so sorry you are having a tough time.finding any help.  Your poor baby looks miserable (cute too!).

It is so frustrating when you know your baby is hurting and you can't fix it.

Have they tested for dust allergies?  Since you are in a basement apartment, what about mold?  Since you are sharing a washing machine, could it be possible someone else is using something that doesn't agree with her?

You are probably going to have to be very OCD in order to figure this out.  First you will need to get copies of all the tests the docs have run and actually eyeball them your self.  The US news and world report had an article not long ago on how many people are not notified of their abnormal results.  At least you will have peace of mind in knowing what they have tested for so far.  

Did your family move or do anything new when the symptoms started?

I would start documenting everything she eats everyday and when she has the edema in the morning.  Also, you might want to document if she has play dates, goes to child care, or other places.  Then try and chart everything and see if there are any coincidences.  

You may have thought of all of this, but I wanted to maybe tweek your brain.  Maybe you'd have a light bulb moment.

Try to hang in there.  Keep fighting for your baby.  Keep going to docs and get them to figure it out.  I know it's frustrating but sometime you have to be the squeeky wheel.

Hope something helps,
Karen