Blistery foreskin; DS says it's "hot", and he cries.

[Rikki Jean]

nak

ds2 is 20 mos, and he has been complaining off and on about his penis being "hot". the tip of the foreskin is red a lot, but air seems to help. he's had a few blisters here and there, but air helps those too. however, right now he has some blisters, and they're the worst i've seen on him. they are cracked and a little bloody.

he's in cloth all day, apart from a little bit of naked time. we were out of town for a month, and he was in sposies the entire trip (tushies gel-free). we had no issues during that time, so i'm guessing that this might have something to do with the dipes. do they maybe have bacteria, and need a major stripping? is it just chaffing? should i put him back in the tushies? could it be yeast?

if it helps with input, it's 100ish degrees here everyday right now, and we spend a lot of time in the pool. he's never had abx in his system.

i'd like to try to put some bm on it, but i rarely see milk as it is, and my supply is taking a dip right now (i'm 11w pg). hopefully i can manage to express some!

[Seie]

What happens with the blisters? Do they get crust? I first wondered if there is any way it could be herpes. You know herpes simplex -the form you get orally - can be contagious downwards - so if any of you have oral herpes - or if he has them - he can infect himself accidentally with his hands (if he has previously touched a cold sore either on himself or someone else).
I dont think its the most likely scenario, but when you said "blisters" it was the first thing that came to mind. Could it be some other sort of infection?
I would have it checked out by a foreskin-friendly doc..

[Bea]

I believe little blisters can be a symptom of a yeast infection. I remember my son had something similar last summer when he was 14 months-ish.

Clotrimazole (lotrimin) cleared it up in days. I'd bet the farm (if I had one) that's what it is.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Blisters=yeast 98% of the time. I would get some otc monistat 7 day cream and apply it as directed. If it is yeast it will start to clear up fast. If it isnt yeast you wont see improvement and will need to take him in for a culture of the tip of the foreskin, no retraction, to see what if anything is growing.

Also you will need to stripe you diapers. You can find help for how to do that in the diapering part of the forum. Since yeast is so stubborn you may need to go back to sposies until you get them stripped.

[eepster]

My first guess would be yeast, my second would be heat rash (aka prickly heat,) or it could just be run of the mill diaper rash. I would treat for these before looking into bacterial or viral infections.

For the yeast, you can use the same stuff women use, and for diaper rash and heat rash use the same stuff you use on his rear. Naked time is good for all three, so get as much as possible, especially in an indoor air conditioned place.

[Rikki Jean]

Thanks for the input everyone! I have him back in Tushies right now, and I'm planning to strip my cloth on Monday (it's about time to strip them anyway). He also has some bumps on his bottom, but I don't know if they're related or not. He had the same bottom bumps before, but when he was in Tushies instead, it wasn'ta n issue.

I'm going to give it a couple of days to see if it clears up while he's out of cloth; I don't want to treat him for yeast if it's not the issue. I know that it won't go away if it's not yeast, but since it has cleared up before with the removal of cloth, I'm guessing that it might go that way again.

If it comes down to having to see the ped, we have one that is very foreskin-friendly.

I hope it's okay that I posted this here, instead of in H&H; last night, this really seemed like a foreskin issue to me more than anything.

Originally Posted by Seie

What happens with the blisters? Do they get crust? I first wondered if there is any way it could be herpes. You know herpes simplex -the form you get orally - can be contagious downwards - so if any of you have oral herpes - or if he has them - he can infect himself accidentally with his hands (if he has previously touched a cold sore either on himself or someone else).
I dont think its the most likely scenario, but when you said "blisters" it was the first thing that came to mind. Could it be some other sort of infection?
I would have it checked out by a foreskin-friendly doc..

Well, since they're in a moist place, they get kind of yucky, but not like a cold sore. DH has oral herpes, but he is very careful about touching the kids when he has a cold sore.

[mrs_mandolini]

We dealt with bristers repeatedly and they were bacterial- got them on the perineum also, they would break, make a crater, the craters became crusty, then would sometimes heal, sometimes break open and bleed all the time. SO annoying. We got a few rounds of antibiotic cream from the dr, they would also clear up if he was on oral antibiotics for anything else. The last time, they seemed resistant to regular antibiotic cream & we got a stronger, expensive cream. AND NOW we are potty learning, and within 3 weeks are to the point where as long as he is wearing no pants he stays dry all night! So that has been our ultimate solution to these annoying sores.

[tutucrazy]

Based on your description I say YEAST! Please check out this thread where I have specifics about yeast. Put him in sposies until he is fully treated and strip the heck out of his diapers with vinegar and hang them in direct sunlight to dry. Direct sunlight will kill the yeast, not much else will work. While the common yeast creams do work for some, in my experience the oral diflucan is the best. If you go to the doc be SURE that they do not retract him. A culture can be done by swabbing the tip. Here is a helpful link:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...893&highlight=

Also, get him on a probiotic supplement. Intestinex is the brand I have used. He needs the extra cultures from a supplement to combat the yeast.