Please help by sharing natural/safe alternatives to estrogen cream for 9 mo. DD labia/vagina...

[gracemamma]

Went for 9 mo. well baby visit today and DD does have some adhesions. I had noticed this before going and brought it to ped.s attention. (this is the reason for the infant vaginal exams that were such a hot topic here this past week.)

So ped gave me a prescription for estrogen cream to put on the adhesion 1x/day for 2 weeks. She said it would likely irritate but that after 2 wks the labia should separate & that this problem occurs due to lack of estrogen in babies, adding that her daughter had this problem off & on til she was 6. She said to use vaseline on her afterwards to prevent recurrance.

I asked about alternatives-None, she said. Dangers of problem-bad urinary infections leading to kidney infection-yikes! and painful separation in the hospital if complications occur - YIKES! She said there are no side effects to the cream, but, come on, giving estrogen to babies seems very wrong & we know that breast and some reproductive cancers can be brought on by higher levels of lifetime estrogen exposure.

So what do I do? I really hope some of you briliant BTDT mamas have some words of wisdom for me.

1- What alternatives are there to estrogen cream that are safe & effective for this?
2- Would going diaperless more regularly help? It seems this might get more air in there, less constant moisture etc.
3- Would cloth diapers help? I've been considering this for some time but am a bit overwhelmed by choices.
4- More frequent diaper changes? We use Earths Best but I agree that sposies can make one a bit lazy because the baby doesn't feel the wetness but it probably is adding to the moist environment that may have contributed to this.

Thanks so much in advance for your help.

Our ped is very experienced & knowledgable but totally different philosophy-wise: Shocked I'm "still" breastfeeding, recommends getting baby out of our bed, thinks all vaxs are safe & effective & told me today to stop breastfeeding at night & to start CIO (I told her we are both perfectly happy with our current arrangement). So despite her experience, its no wonder I question her remedies too!

[chaoticzenmom]

I had a very natural ped who noticed adhesions in my daughter when she was a baby. She just asked me to spread the lips apart during diaper changes to encourage the adhesion to loosen. She showed me where the adhesion was. When I changed her diaper, I went towards her bottom and just spread that apart a little to wipe in there. I'd try that before doing cream. Have YOU seen the adhesions? There's a common belief here (MDC) that you shouldn't treat it at all. It seems like that if the problem is lack of estrogen, then it's a normal thing to happen as babies aren't supposed to have much estrogen.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/953412-overview
HEre it says that complications are rare and that it usually fixes itself by puberty.

[amydiane]

I had these as a small child. The ped gave my mom the steroid cream, but she did some research and felt uncomfortable with it. I will ask her if she did anything at all, but I know she didn't use the cream and they went away.

[gracemamma]

Thanks for your help and information! Ive just been wondering if wearing onesies always is adding to this. Her papa really wants to make sure her belly is always warm so she is in onesies under her clothes 24 hrs/day for months except bath time which is weekly.
Also, I do change her diapers regularly and she has had diaper rash maybe 2-3 times since borth so its not like she's wet alot or anything. I really appreciate the insight here.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Most adhesion will release on their own over time. I wouldnt treat at all personally unless it was causing difficulty urinating or getting so bad that it was threatening to block everything. Once the girl starts producing estrogen that is when they should resolve.

[amydiane]

Okay, I asked my mom about what she did. She said I was about 3 years old, and I'm pretty sure I was out of diapers. Twice they opened it manually but it closed back up. Then they prescribed the cream, and she said the side effects were on the insert when she picked it up. She doesn't remember exactly what they were, and of course they may be using a different cream now. We ended up switching to a different ped, who said if it didn't resolve by puberty, then they'd look at doing some kind of intervention, but she didn't think it would come to that. And it didn't.

[Pookietooth]

I would say try cloth if you want but it might not help. Have you thought about eliminaion communication? That might help too. If you want simple cloth, just use prefolds and velcro wrap style covers, and change them frequently (as in every hour or two depending on your baby, or check them). That's an easy choice and they dry pretty fast.

[gracemamma]

Thank you so much for your thoughts, support and ideas!
Thank you amydiane for checking with your Mom! I will not be using estrogen cream on my DD. I don't know why traditional ped.s feel they have to freak us out wth totally worst case scenarios and then treat with a cure worse than the problem its treating. It makes it hard to find one's way sometimes-thankfully there's MDC!