Red and slightly swollen 4skin in toddler

[darbycrash]

My baby is 15 months old and while vocal, can't really speak in full sentences to say something along the lines of, "Dear mother, there appears to be something amiss with my foreskin. I'm certain it shouldn't be so inflamed. Is there something we can do to remedy this situation?" It's more like "Clock. Rock. Bird. Uhh."

When this first happened a few months ago, the doctor suggested changing him more often (I use cloth) and a nystatin cream along with a zinc oxide ointment.  The only problem is it goes away and then comes back. Anyone else have advice that doesn't require nystatin cream. I don't like the oxide ointment either because he's wriggly and it gets all over his feet, hands, the bed and today he tried to eat some :( The doc wasn't worried and just said, "It's skin, this happens sometimes when they're not circ'ed."

Thank you!

[Monkeygrrl]

I say leave it alone. Don't retract it. Don't let anyone else retract it.

It could be irritated from just rubbing against the diaper or if he's playing with his penis a lot. It could be normal movement/loosening of the foreskin. 

Unless he's in obvious pain - crying while peeing, verbalizing pain, etc - then I wouldn't worry about it.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

A good diaper cream should help a lot. Unless it is yeast in that case you are going to need to strip your diapers and use the nistatin cream to clear it up.

[Goodmom2008]

Your doctor is both right and wrong.  What your son is experiencing also happens to boys who are circ'd.  When I was a nanny, the circ'd little boys that I took care of would have similar issues.  I would take what he says about the circ. with a grain of salt.

If it is a yeast infection, you need to treat the cloth diapers.  Try throwing in some distilled white vinegar when you wash your diapers.  And no bubble baths.  When my son had an irritation and very red foreskin, as soon as I stopped using soap in the bath it got better.  I used A&D ointment to help ease the soreness. 

[stacyann21]

It's only natural that there will be some irritation to the tip of the foreskin when there's a wet diaper rubbing it. Just keep up on diaper changes, give his penis time to dry after wiping and then apply a thin layer of diaper cream to the tip before putting on a new one. It will get better when he's using the toilet.