Penis infection in my (intact) 2.5 yr old. Dr. suggests circumcision! Any advice?

[Gravylegs]

My 2 1/2 year old is on antibiotics for a penis infection. This is his third one. He had 2 last summer. All three times, I have taken him into emergency because he was absolutely beside himself with pain. So weird, because his penis would look normal in the morning and by afternoon it was swollen, red, and hurting him bigtime.

Last summers infections were right after using an inflatable kiddie pool outside in the heat. I figured that the pool caused it because it is hard to clean those inflatable pools that well.

This time, I have no idea why it happened.

The doctor in emerg. told me that his forskin was too tight and the skin cells that naturally slough off were therefore unable to. He recommended that I don't do anything, but it will naturally stretch the more erections he gets. So, if he is playing with his penis, that is a good thing. I totally don't have a problem with that advice.

He also suggested that he may need a circumcision. UG! Now, I am not dissallusioned enough to think that a circumcision will fix all things penis, but his advice freaked me out! Is this just a knee jerk reaction from the doctor?

I will be making an appointment with my family doctor in the next month or so.

In the meantime, please tell me: Why do you think that he is getting these penis infections? Any advice to stop it? Anybody experiencing the same thing?

Is there some sort of cleaning routine I am missing? (I don't do anything but swish water around his penis and pat the end of it with towel. I am completely non invasive.)

Would separation trauma be that painful for him? He was hysterical with the first 2 infections. Not so bad this time though.

Do you think the fact that he is not potty trained and still in damp diapers all day is playing a factor?

Please help! I don't want to circumcise him.

I am so sick of hearing from my family, especially my brothers that I should have had him circed as an infant in their "I told you so" voices. Agh!

Thank you in advance!

[chaoticzenmom]

I think that the diapers could be a very big factor. The foreskin...not so much

Do you use diapers that have those absorbant beads in them, like huggies? Those are awful for boys and can cause infections. They can also cause allergies.

[kiara7]

Can you tell us what infections you're talking about? UTI? How was it determined that he has a "penis infection"?

[Gravylegs]

No, not a UTI. His penis itself was infected. It was very swollen and red, hurt him to walk, be carried and he wouldn't let me touch it.

I didn't have the presence of mind to ask for a swab to determine, for absolute certainty, that it was a bacterial infection. Duh! I know! IT was only in hindsight I realized I should have requested that. The doctor thought thought bacterial and perscribed an antibiotic as a result.

He was wearing Kirkland brand diapers (same as Huggies).

[Yulia_R]

1. Did they do the culture? If not it could be just the normal separation pain (penis can get pretty swollen, painful, etc) but it resolves on its own within 48 hours. Also, if there was no culture done it is very hard to know whether the infection caused by yeast (in this case antibiotics would just make it worse) or bacteria.

2. Any chance someone retracted your ds (doctors, nurses, babysitter, pre-school worker, etc)? If so this is most likely CAUSED the problems. Retraction (even a little bit) is a big no-no (the only person who is allowed to mess with the foreskin is your son and NO ONE else.

3. After your son was taking antibiotics did you give him good brand probiotics for at least a month afterwards to bring good bacteria back to the gut (this is very important in maintaining a healthy gut and yeast balance).

[Gravylegs]

Thanks Yulia! Answers to your questions:

1. No, no culture. I never thought of it when I was in there. It was only later when someone else asked me that I thought I should have gotten one. I kinda doubt it is yeast since there is no diaper rash with it, no raised redness, etc.

2. No chance of retraction. No child care provider. Only me changing diapers.

3. Yes, I have been diligent with probiotics during and after the antibiotics.

I have been more lazy lately with bathing him but he is still getting a bath 2-3 times a week. Could this be a factor?

Thanks for all the input. I knew this was the right place to ask my penis questions.

[Yulia_R]

Originally Posted by Gravylegs

I have been more lazy lately with bathing him but he is still getting a bath 2-3 times a week. Could this be a factor?

My answer would be no. As long as you rinse off that morning pee from his diaper area he doesn't need an often bath.

I don't bath my kids very ofter; ever since they were little we only do one bath in 7-10 days (I know, lazy us ). That said, I did wash the diaper area with a super quick shower or above the sink every morning (every time after a wet night diaper) before my kids potty trained.

Now when my son has no wet diapers he goes unwashed down there for days; has NO smell down there what so ever, he always looks nice and clean down there (as opposed to my daughter whose privet parts I have to wash with mild soap every couple of days, otherwise it smells like dirty vagina and gets red and irritated).

One more thing to look into is EC (elimination communication) which is basically early potty learning (MDC has a sub-forum on this). This way your son won't have to "cook" his privet parts in those non-breathable full of horribly toxic chemicals diapers. I EC'd both of my kiddos from birth and my son was done with diapers during day time at 10.5 months of age and my daughter was completely out of diapers (day and night) at 18 month.
In the meantime, I’d suggest to take a look at cloth diapers option (I cloth diapered both of my kids). My son was reacting (bad rash) to any diapers with fleece lining and fleece covers and also ALL in Ones (due to them being non-breathable because of PUL outer), so I just did 100% organic cotton (or hemp, bamboo) fitted diapers (which ARE very breathable) with wool covers or wool pants as a cover. MDC has a cloth diapering sub-forum as well.

HTH,
yulia

[Gravylegs]

That helps tremendously Yulia! Thanks!

I am actually CDing my 6 month old daughter, but never got into the swing of things with my son. I figured he'd be out of diapers soon enough so why change what was already working.

I think I'll try him in my daughters PINK one size fits all and see if that will work better. LOL! He's too young to care if it is pink so he can be very hip in his pink.

I think I should put potty training into high gear. I work from home with both kids and seem to be short of time I can really dedicate to this and so it keeps getting pushed back. Not sitting in a wet diaper has to help his penis issues.

I feel a lot better now that I am formulating a game plan on how to prevent this in the future.

I will still take my little guy to see our family dr. I hope, by then, to have enough information to combat any circumcision talk with her.

[Yulia_R]

Originally Posted by Gravylegs

I will still take my little guy to see our family dr. I hope, by then, to have enough information to combat any circumcision talk with her.

Great, I'm glad you feel better.

Just wanted to remind you to make 100% sure that the doctor does not pull your son's foreskin back (not even a little bit). Every doctor has their own ideas about retraction, so if you say "don't retract" they may retract it anyway (because they call it gentle stretching (or whatever else) and not retraction). So, BEFORE the diaper comes off, I'd clearly say "to please do NOT touch my son's penis. If you need to move it, I'd do that myself". Most US doctors just seem to be unable to keep their hands off intact boys penises, after cutting foreskins off for so long they have no idea what to do with that and always want to look what's inside there : so be warned.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Sometimes normal seperation issues appear to be infections when all that is going on is the natural seperation process.

This thread goes into detail about seperation and what can happen and what to look for to see if it is an infection http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=764732

[proudmomof4]

"Please help! I don't want to circumcise him.

I am so sick of hearing from my family, especially my brothers that I should have had him circed as an infant in their "I told you so" voices. Agh!"
(Gravylegs)

Would your family also have recommended cutting off the nails to prevent a possible nailbed infection? (Sorry for the sarcasm.)
I am German, we do NOT routineously circumcize boys (my oldest boy is 11) and I am not aware that leaving boys intact causes a host of problems in my home country.

Thank you for keeping your son intact!

[Mama2Kayla]

This has happened to my ds twice. Both times his penis was swollen and reddish/purple, but no pus. I always just assumed it was seperation trauma since there was no pus or drainage.

Baking soda baths worked each time and his penis was back to normal after a day or two.