My 3 year old daughter, Emma, has been on a battle for almost a year. She has been battling sores (almost blister like) on her bottom. Each time we go to the doctor we get a new cream to use. This problem is occurring more and more frequently to now she is terrified of going poop. We were trying to potty train until this had started. So she is still in pull ups. She freaks out when it is bath time, because we have to clean her bottom, and diaper changes are a nightmare. She screams so loud it you can hear her outside. And she fights like she is fighting for her life.
Has anyone had this problem?
ANY help that is out there will be gladly taken. I am about to admit her into the hospital and scream at someone to fix my girl.
We have used just about every kind of treatment that there could be. Her system has always been sensative. She used to get a fungal infection but, it would go away quickly ( we keep that medication on hand...permantently). She never had an actual diaper rash before. But she would have reactions to Desitin, Aveeno, and the Bordeuxs. We finally got her dialed in with the triple paste, but that doesn't even help right now.
What I am doing right now, (my husband went out and bought a bunch of stuff) doing the cleaning with warm paper towels, using a aloe vera gel, trying Vagisil, (because Dr. #1 said that it is fungal but different from before)
Oh...her Doctor is the third one, the first and then back to her after the other 2. Went to her first, tried one way of treatment. Went to another...tried another, went to the ER, and received some help, but the problem was never fixed. Now back to the original and will be saying quite a bit this week.
Have you actually been to a pediatric dermatologist? If you haven't, please get to one to get her help. These doctors know more than a regular doc. And I doubt that the ER would be have a doc who would be up to snuff on these kinds of medicines, to be honest.
Find this type of specialist. I'm so sorry she's going through this.
Dawn
I'd try a dermatologist and see if they could be of help. I feel bad for her. She's always going to associate this pain to her bowel movements. Poor kid.
Yep.
In the end... figured out my son was allergic to wipes. Wet paper towels, instead of wipes, fixed the problem.
It was a multiphase issue:
- Allergy to the wipes (and the more 'hypoallergenic' the WORSE he reacted to them) degraded the skin
- Fungal infection moved in on the degraded skin
- Double whammy of degraded skin + fungal infection
- Allergy kept getting worse and worse (until blistered and bleeding all on it's own without the fungal infection).
He's still allergic to wipes (at age 10). At this point, the allergy is strong enough that his skin will turn flourescent red seconds after being wiped down with a baby wipe (friend's parents trying to be nice, like washing hands at the park with a wipe, teachers handing them out walking into class, etc.). But when he was an infant, it took several days of repeated exposure for the allergic reaction to be noticeable. Which is why we missed it. We tried cloth diapers, no diapers... but it wasn't until mama was broke, and I used damp papertowels for a few weeks, then went back to wipes... that we figured it out.
Can you just get an aloe vera plant? Break of a piece of a leaf and spread what's in it on your daughter's butt.
Aloe is AMAZING at healing even burnt skin, athlete's foot, zits... Just try: It's safe and works so well.
It's hard to answer this because there's no back history on the problem. You say she's not potty trained. Does she wear diapers sometimes? Or pullups all the time? Have you let her go for a few hours a day without any diaper at all? Have you tried only letting her wear panties for long stretches? Have you tried using a different kind of wipe on her bottom? If she's sensitive to the types of wipes you're using, you can try cleaning her bum with a soft cloth and water for a while to see if that helps.
My kid has had a few diaper rashes and boy, they sure caused her a fair amount of pain, but they always went away after using Boudreaux's Butt Paste for a couple of days and making sure she had her diaper (or pullup) changed very frequently. Warm, moist places are where rashes like to grow. Remove the warm moist place and the rash will start to fade. My mom used to swear by sunshine. She'd rip our diapers off and let us run around in the backyard. She'd lay a blanket down, encourage us to lay on our bellies and let the sunlight destroy the rash.
Sometimes, putting a cream on a rash, then enclosing it in a diaper (or pull up) will just add to the problem because you're locking the moisture inside. If you need to use a cream, put it on, then put her in some big girl panties and let her run around in a special area of the house where you don't mind her having accidents. (When I did this with my girl, the living room was off limits because I didn't want to clean up pee off the carpet or the couches. I made a little pink potty available in the room she was playing in and most of the time, she'd use it, with varying degrees of success.)
Free her butt and that rash may clear right up. The following link is a list of causes and potential things to try in order to clear up a bumrash. Good luck!
I want to recommend a few more items in addition to the other posts.
Don't use soap.
Wash her bottom in warm salt water several times a day, preferrably sitting in a bath. Use any combination of salts: Epsom, Sea salts, Table Salt, go to Wal-Mart and get the Dr. Teal naturally scented Epsom Sea salts. Salts are both antibacterial and anti-viral. Since she is screaming, stop the actual 'washing' and just let her soak. Then pat her dry and let her run around naked until she dries naturally.
Additional soothing bath additives: colloidal oatmeal, Tea Tree Oil or Aloe Vera
Make sure she is eating yogurts or ingesting other good food choices with pro-biotics.
Have you tried just powder?
Have you tried simple A&D ointment? It's ever so soothing and healing.
What is the actual diagnosis? Little blisters does not sound like ordinary diaper rash.
Perhaps stop using any pull-up. Put her in regular 100% cotton training panties at night and have her sleep on an absorbent pad. It's more laundry but less irritating on her bottom.
OK...bottoms up!
I 2nd the aloe vera, vaseline, watching any acids she eat in her diet and changing the brand pullup for week or so.
Hi A.,
Oh, I feel for your baby. let her air dry her bottom as much as possible. I'd prep her bed so she could sleep bottomless for a few days. I know that will be more laundry for you ... but I think it may do wonders for her. also: I'd change everything: laundry detergent, baby wash, shampoo, etc. no laundry rinse nor dryer sheets. she could be reacting to that. no bleaching towels. if it's fungal infection... use tea tree oil along with your organic cleaning products. spray the tub with vinegar after each bath. and also clean it w/' the natural cleaner + tea tree oil. (good for killing mold/ fungus) (same for cleaning the shower -in case it's separate) I'd give her showers instead of long baths... if sitting on mild warm water helps, perhaps you can also add epson salt to the bath water.
check her diet. is she allergic to anything? sometimes food allergies can cause eczema which in turn leaves her skin more suseptible to the fungal infections. get info on getting rid of candida (yeast).... that means no sugar because sugar feeds it. if she has not been tested for allergies, I'd consider it. My godson is allergic to soy and that flares up as eczema (in every which part of his body). my neighbor's daugher... her eczema is triggered by ragweed allergy --which includes: dandelions, lettuce, artichokes, sunflower, safflower, chamomile, echinacea...just to mention a few. nowadays they put safflower and sunflower oil on just about everything. so check out her lotions too. you can use organic olive oil as a moisturizer... no additives, no fragances, no nothing but olive oil. it does wonders for the skin and hair. you can also get organic coconut oil and use it too.
question and google everything until you find out why or what is making her skin so suceptible to those infections. let me tell you that doctors (love them) may tell you that diet is not affecting her....smile, don't get mad, but keep looking for answers. this will make it a bit longer, I'll be brief. case and point: my son kept getting sinus infections just about every month. I told his doctor that I thought it was milk... he said oh no it's not milk it's just allergies (we live in TX). well, I went milk-free for a while...dindn't have to see the doc every 4 weeks...when we went back he was surprised that we had not been there in several months. I told him that I took milk out of his diet. then he said to keep him off milk for another year and see how it would go. for the next school year he signed the note about my son's milk-intolerance. We love our doctor but sometimes they don't take nutritrion into account as much.
Sorry this got so long. I just want to encourage you to keep looking and questioning everything until your baby's bottom is as it should be. =)
oh, may want to consider giving her more pears (so she doesn't have to push too much... don't want it too soft so it spreads everywhere but at the same time, pushing may hurt too) --sorry if TMI
oh another thought... may need to do a round of laundry with some tea tree oil added to the clothes to get rid of any traces of any fungi.
Remember that you are a part of the team trying to figure out what is going on with your daughter and your opinions are valid too (although sometimes they may be somewhat ignored). Good luck and God Bless! ~C.~
My second son had a similar problem. The doctor told us not to put a diaper on him until the sores cleared up. It took 30 to 45 days if I remember right, but its been too long ago for me to remember the time to heal him. It was difficult, but the sores gradually healed up and never came back.
Good luck to you and yours.
Oh my goodness this sounds awful for all of you! I agree to try and air it out as much as possible. Then I would try ditching the wipes and see if that helps, but in the meantime, call a dermatologist. I think sometimes they are more well versed in diagnosing these tricky skin problems. If you find one that has a smaller practice you should be able to get in very quickly. Good luck, this is just terrible!
I agree about the paper towels and water. She may have a problem with the wipes. And I don't know if you have any toilet paper touching her bottom, but if it is dyed, that could cause a problem. Plain white toilet paper or plain white paper towels cut down on the chemical reaction possibilities. Also, my oldest had stop and go rashes on his bottom and he turned out to be allergic to peanuts, milk, soy, and eggs. Once we knew this and we modified diet, the rashes stopped. In the meantime, the pediatrician (who never once suggested allergies, just kept insisting it was sensitive skin) had us use antacid wiped on with cotton balls and vaseline, and it would work to clear his bottom up - until the next time. Also, please make sure your laundry detergent is fragrance and dye free (I developed my sensitivity to dyes in tp as a teenager and in detergent as an adult, so it is something that may have developed as she grew.)
Call Santa Monica Homeopathic Store and tell them your problem they are excellent with their time. They will even ship if that doesn't work my next step would be Dr. Mao in Santa Monica he's amazing
You really need a second opinon.
When my daughter was small, she has huge pimple like sores on her butt cheeks. I know they had to hurt!! The doctors said it is viral and if they didn't go away it could be something wrong with her immune system. Thankfully after a year or so, they started becoming less and less and went away.
I have read things like put aloe vera on it or it could be some type of yeast infection so get lotrumin cream. I really feel bad for your daughter. I can not imagine what she has to go through on a daily basis.
The best thing for her is to see a dermatologist. Make sure he/she knows every cream you have used so far. If he thinks it's something that needs to be seen by a different specialist, he will let you know.
Good luck!
What kind of cream are they giving? Are you air drying at diaper time? If not, using a hair dryer on the cool setting can really help. Im not sure what type of issue your daughter has but a lot of sore/blister like issues have been cleared up by mixing : 1% hydrocortisone cream with vasoline---half and half and make a thin layer like paste on the bottom. Clean well, pat dry---put paste on and then use hair dryer to dry a little more. keep baby out of diaper/underwear for as long as possible. let her go free for the whole day if you can so she can really get some air and speed up the healing.
Also, boudroux butt paste works well----its a funny name but it works. Hope this helps! If not, I would insist on seeing a different ped and tell them everything you told us here. Someone needs to fix this, pronto!
Others have mentioned it too, but I'm going to re-suggest it could be an allergy issue. Food or environmental allergies can cause reactions like this. Have you taken her to an allergist? Might be a good next step. Good luck!
My almost 3 year old is having similar problems, although not that bad thankfully! The doc said to give her a bath in warm water with 4 tbs of baking soda 2 or 3x a day. Apparently the baking soda removes any icky build up from urine and chemicals. She runs around with a naked butt as much as possible, and only wears a pull up at night or nap. She is potty training also, but doing a great job in the day time.
I got a baby/toddler bath tub for her so she can just put her backside in and nothing else really. They said baths for NO MORE than 10 minutes. The doctor said that she is "atopic" which means super sensitive skin.
Because she is scared to go poop, you may need to use some Miralax so that she doesn't really have a choice. When you clean her up, use a handheld shower in the tub. This works well without soap, but if you do need some, Cetaphil is what her dermatologist, and mine, and my mom's, all said to use.
I would keep her as naked as possible. the doc even said that cotton panties, while the best, are not as good as bare. I second going to a dermatologist, but try these ideas as well. We have been doing it for 2 weeks, and it has made a huge difference for us. (oh and we the fluconazale 2x before this, so I know how you feel about going back and forth.)
I am uncertain if this will help but my cousin had an issue following childbirth on her own bottom. Raw and red after childbirth and hemorrhoids being treated with a topical steroid cream (which gave birth to a whole new rawness). It wasn't until she quit nursing that her bottom cleared. It was hormonal. Just maybe your little one has a hormone surge or is ingesting a hormone that will not allow her bottom to heal. I just wanted to weigh in just in case.
I hear how your daughter reacts to her movements and bath time and I just know how my cousin was feeling...its horrible.
My daughter has very sensitive skin and rashes easily. The only product we ever found that worked was/is this:
http://www.motherlove.com/product/2301_DR-Diaper-Rash-and...
We slather it on after every bath & it works to heal and also acts as a barrier to prevent future rashes.
