Staph infect on vulva not being helped with bactroban?...

[cmoma]

So my little girl age 12m has these awful open sore blisters that our ped said were staph infections..he prescribed bactroban and for over a week now we are using it 4x's a day..it is still not clearing up..it flared when she poops and seems to begin to heal in between her poops..

I was wondering if any of you ladies had any other suggestions as to how else I might be able to clear it up? Short of attempting to EC/potty learn..which I am seriously considering at this point, it hurts her so bad.

Any other ideas tips, suggestions that might clear it up better..

Ps she is in cloth diapers that I change often and I try to change her poo as soon as I notice...

Thanks for the help in advance!

~Christina

[jess152]

Give her as much time out of a diaper as possible. If you've just changed her, chances are good she won't go again for a while, so let her be naked and dry out for a bit. I think letting it air out will heal it quicker than by putting creams on it. Our DS has had open sores too. It's awful to see that on such a tender body part!!

[fruitfulmomma]

In this case I would probably switch to sposies for a little while and do some serious disinfecting with her cloth diapers otherwise you risk reinfecting her.

Did she have any other skin issues before this one came up? Does her poop normally irritate her skin?

[Llyra]

I am the world's biggest advocate of disposable diapers, but with a child who has a staph infection on the diaper area-- I'd stop using them immediately, and resort to strong disinfectants in order to get them entirely clean. Then I would put them away and use disposables until the infection was completely cleared up. I would probably resort to chlorine bleach, in that instance, even though I would NEVER use bleach on any kind of routine basis. I would bleach all the diapers, all the covers, and all the wipes. FWIW, I have bleached my covers and pocket diapers in the past, twice actually, and they held up to the bleach just fine. The manufacturers don't recommend bleach on a routine basis, but in this instance I think I'd definitely go there.

I sure hope your LO's trouble clears up soon, and that she's feeling all better very quickly. That sounds painful, poor baby.

As far as how to help it heal, I would think you need medically expert advice to help with that. Does the doctor think a barrier cream (ie zinc oxide) would help, or will it make things worse?

[LyndsayMW]

I don't know if this would do anything at all... but I might try some oral probiotics. Maybe some healthy gut flora would help to clear the infection.

This sounds horrible! Good luck to you clearing it up.

[MountainMamaGC]

I would try manuca honey or colloidal silver topically if the bactroban didnt work. That and the tips listed above. Breastmilk can also help topically. My 6 week old DD had an open sore on her anus that would not heal, even with prescription stuff and I squirted breastmilk on it 3 times a day and it totally healed within 3 days. She had that sore for WEEKS.

If you do bleach the diapers make sure to rinse, rinse, rinse or her diapers will sting her butt something awful if she pees in them.

[lookatreestar]

a traditional chinese medicine doc/herbalist cured my ds staph infection. maybe check it out?

[annettemarie]

Oh, your poor baby! I am going to move this to Health and Healing, since this is more focused on that aspect. Hopefully some of our mamas who really know their stuff health-wise will chime in over there.

[FireWithin]

I have seen amazing results from a liquid wash for healing skin wounds.
I cut a huge piece off of my thumb with my mandoline and it healed within weeks, rather than the predicted year. This wash was part of it. A mama here, Panserbjorne, frequently recommends it and my guess is that this would be a good application. It also did a great job last month for my son's with a bad case of poison ivy on his bottom. The friction from his clothes kept on rubbing the rash raw. She has also recommended it for helping with oozing eczema.

It comes from two tinctures: calendula and hypericum/St John's wort. I bought the small bottles from a health food store.

You want a 10 to 1 ratio of water to tinctures. I guesstimate in a small bowl making a new rinse each time. Dip it in a washcloth and rinse, or maybe gently pour?? For my son's bottom, I encouraged him to air dry it for a while, but a gentle pat dry was what we would do.

[cmoma]

THANK YOU so much much for all the responses...I stopped with the cream as it just doesn't seem to be helping it heal. She is diaper free *almost* the whole day this morning she pooped on the kitchen floor and I have been putting corn starch on it ( read that somewhere) it seems to be helping it to atleast not bleed and reopen.

I think I'll go ahead and ditch the cloth for a bit to disinfect and thoroughly clean them.

fruitfulmomma: her poops had never bothered her before and she has not had any other skin issues.

I'm going to start her on some probiotics and try that wash Mammo2Sammo. See if that helps..

It is really awful and when they flare up they bleed which is just terrible and there are others that also pop up but thankfully they don't open up like the big ones she has, they just stay little and then fade away...but they do return.

Thanks again for the tips..Hopefully soon I can get them to clear up

Any ideas on what cause staph infections? the Dr said she could just be prone to them since her dad gets open sores on his bald heal a lot in the summer... But I still don't know what caused it in the first place???
UGh..I feel so bad

[cmoma]

Thanks, Annettemarie!!