Mom Allergic to Her Newborn Son

by Julia Halewicz (Subscribe to Julia Halewicz's posts) Aug 3rd 2009 2:00PM

Joanne Mackie broke out in welts from her child. Photo credit: cash4yourstory.co.uk

All Joanne Mackie wanted was to hold and comfort her infant son. But shortly after giving birth, the 28-year-old British woman developed a mysterious rash that was so painful, it completely stopped her from acting on her natural instincts.

"It was such a heartbreaking time," Mackie told the Daily Mail.

What started as tingling in her palms the morning after James, now 11 months old, was born spread into blistering welts within a day. For relief, Mackie took to wrapping her arms in wet cloths so she could hold her son, but the pain only worsened. Subsequently, her husband, Robert, 37, took care of James.

Doctors were initially stumped for a diagnosis. Eventually, a skin biopsy revealed she suffered from a rare skin condition - called pemphigoid gestitonis - that afflicts pregnant women and new moms. Simply put, Mackie was allergic to her son.

According to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), pemphigoid gestitionis is a skin condition in which blisters appear on the abdomen and, in the worst cases, over large regions of the body. Women can develop the condition during the second or third trimester and after giving birth. In the rarest of cases, children can be born with the rash. The Daily Mail reports that doctors told Mackie she could not pass the rash to her son.

Approximately 1 in 50,000 women suffer from pemphigoid gestitionis, according to a Michigan State University study. Why women get the rash is still unknown, but the blisters and welts appear when antibodies are formed during pregnancy that attack normal proteins in the body. Treatment includes taking oatmeal baths and avoiding getting overheated, which worsens the itching sensation, according to ACOG. Doctors might also administer medication to ease the pain, as they did for Mackie, who took steroids.

Today, Mackie, who originally sold her story to cash4yourstory.co.uk, is clear of the rash but dark spots remain on her body as a reminder of the difficult period.

"I have learned that a cuddle from your own child is the most precious thing in the world," she said.

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Comments (27)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Melissa 8-03-2009 @ 3:06PM

I was watching Discovery Health, some show on pregnancies, and this woman came in about a week before her son was born with a rash all over her body....it wasn't painful just itchy to the point where she couldn't sleep....they delivered her baby, and within 12 hours or something she was rash free! I had a rash on my wrists for my entire pregnancy. I worked for a dermatologist at the time, and he was stumped! Then I gave birth, and BAM! Less than 24 hours and it was gone! Very strange, the crap we women have to go through to bring little miracles into this world!

natosha 8-03-2009 @ 8:18PM

that is so crazy!.. I am 7mo preggers with my second child...over the past week I have developed an itchy red burning bumpy rash on the lower parts of my calves. I didnt have anything like this happen when I was preggers with my son. I didnt even think it could be because of the pregnancy, but I do know its not poison ivy or anything lilke that. I will definatly be asking my OB about it at my next appt.

Megan 8-04-2009 @ 12:07AM

I do believe NAET could have cleared her allergy up pretty quickly. I have had great success with this method of treating severe allergies.

ZM 8-04-2009 @ 12:28AM

It is PUPS rash, you are basically allergic to being pregnant. As the pregnancy progresses your HCG levels rise, once your body can no longer accept a certain level your body reacts, typically in extremely itchy, bumpy, red rash form. Ask your OBGYN about it. I had it the last 3 weeks of my 1st pregnancy (never had it in my 2nd), hours after I gave birth it disappeared.

Carrie 10-14-2009 @ 10:04AM

I had a rash at the end of my pregnancy (hives, welps, and redness with uncontrollable itching). It happens in about 1 in 250 pregnancies. My doctor said it is called PUPPS. It stands for pruritic urticarial pustules and plaques of pregnancy.

Tori 8-03-2009 @ 8:18PM

Haha my thoughts exactly Dave.

MeXiCaNcAn 8-03-2009 @ 8:23PM

I am soooo tired of AOL 1 being late on all of their news, and 2 using old stories and having them be headlines all over again

Bear 8-03-2009 @ 8:24PM

Will you people get off of here!!!!!!

Dave 8-03-2009 @ 8:28PM

Maybe there is something about motherhood that scares some women or perhaps the baby is not wanted, and they develop an allergy to the kid due to the stress of actually having one, or realizning that they are? The brain has been know to do some strange things. And much of it, subconsciously.

kchara 8-03-2009 @ 8:39PM

It's not subconscious fears, trust me. I have PG, and it was my 4th pregnancy when I developed it. I was not worried at all about mothering newborns again, and was really actually very excited. It's an autoimmune disease, and it stinks.

Probably most people posting here have PUPPS, which isn't nearly as severe. PG is an uncontrolable itch. I can't even begin to describe it. You get diagnosed after a skin biopsy, but if you're being treated for PUPPS, and the rash is spreading or you're not finding any relief, most definately find a dermatologist and get tested! I have scars all over my arms and legs and belly b/c of it. I developed mine in my second trimester, but, praise the Lord, they are disappearing since I gave birth. Neither of my twins had the blisters.

And, BTW, to the geniuses at the ACOG... oatmeal baths and normal things like that don't help. They actually made mine worse. I'm usually someone who goes natural to relieve and treat if I can, but in this case DRUGS HELP. I hate hate hate taking them while I"m pregnant, but it was absolutely necessary, in this case.

Elaine 8-03-2009 @ 10:22PM

It's nothing like that. I had the same rash with my last son. He is my third child. I never experienced a rash at all with the fist two. It's actually a hormone inmbalance and normally occurs with male births. Only thing is my rash got worse after the birth. They looked like waterblisters on my body. It took a year and a half for all the pigmentation to go away.

Heather Keene 8-04-2009 @ 1:36AM

When I got pregnant with my son everything was fine, all my doctor appointments were normal and so were all the tests they do, so around my 36th week of pregnancy I developed an ichy rash on my belly that spread to my ENTIRE body! It was not painful just more uncomfortable. I was pregnant in the summer which made it worse. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Aug. 31st and a couple hours after i had him the rash complately disappeared, which to me was a relief, but I will say my son had some spots of the rash on him but the second day of his life they went away.

Kelly 8-03-2009 @ 9:00PM

Hey i do not think she should have another baby bc if she truly knows that she is allergic to her son then the next one she will go thru the same thing and did you ever think maybe she wanted publicity so dont believe everything u c on the internet

cathy rohrscheib 8-03-2009 @ 9:13PM

this is an old story aol get somthing new.

Heather 8-03-2009 @ 9:22PM

Allergic to her baby? I'm not buying it. Sounds like just another excuse not to breastfeed.

hemii25 8-03-2009 @ 9:32PM

LMAO, I was thinking the same thing. XD

laineyb 8-03-2009 @ 9:36PM

Stupid story....yellow journalism headline...she was not allergic to the child at all, she was reacting to the hormones in her own body.

Daniela 8-03-2009 @ 9:41PM

On my first pregnacy with my daughter, I developed some kind of bump in my eye lid, it itched to the point my eye looked red and bothered me all through my pregnacy. It felt like I had something in my eye like, when dirt gets in the eye and irritates, but I never did find out the cause. I went to the eye doctor and they told me they could remove the like pimple from my eye afther I give birth. Right afther I had my duaghter 2 or 3 days later it started to go away. I just know when I went home with my duaghter I did'nt have it anymore. I went back to see the doctor and he told me it could have been an allergic reaction, but to what?
My second pregnacy I did not get it and I hoped not to get it, but I was pregnant with a boy so that was weird.

Did anyone ever had that problem?

Bob 8-03-2009 @ 10:33PM

I wish there was a way we could block and delete you off topic Morons.

Rhonda 8-04-2009 @ 3:27PM

I can honestly say that I believe this women because I had the same thing with my 2nd child and its no joke,So you people who haven't been through what we have you need to keep your big mouths shout if you don't know what the heek your talking about.It makes me so mad when people talk about something they know nothing about.So next time before opening your big mouths do me a favor and research the storey before opening your big mouths and making big fools of yourselfs..

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