3 yo w/ infection...I have questions

[Chele]

My 3 year old just had an infection under the foreskin....swelling, redness, discharge,discomfort etc....he has been on antibiotics and things are looking much better but I am worried about this happening again. We have been going through potty training and he has been wearing pull ups training pants which is a the only change really in his routine. Has anyone else gone through this? Any tips on preventing another infection? Now that he is in underwear should that improve the environment down there? I would appreciate any imput. I feel that developing a chronic problem would be rare, but I really want my intact boy to stay that way. HELP!!

[mama_at_home]

No experience with that yet, but my guess is it was probably the pull-ups. It is kind of on the expensive side, but organic cotton underwear would probably be best. Is he in disposable diapers at night and if so, does he wet them? That could have a problem, too.

[glongley]

HI Chele:

My "little man's" birthday is the same as yours - only he's 20 years old now!

Does your son retract at all yet? Does he play with his foreskin a lot? Little boys sometimes have grubby hands, so teaching him about handwashing, not touching his penis after wiping his bottom, keeping his nails trimmed, etc.

The rest is "body ecology" type stuff: identifying things that might lead to a chemical irritation or imbalance, eg. soap, chlorine, detergent, dehydration (busy boys sometimes don't drink enough), too much sugar in the diet. Also, since he's been on antibiotics, I'd make sure he has a course of some kind of probiotic (acidophilus product) to help balance out the flora and pH down there.

I'm sure others will have some good suggestions or insight for you!

Gillian

[CarolynnMarilynn]

My son had a similar infection around toilet learning time. It happened once, and never again. I think he just had increased access to his penis with grubby toddler hands and the rest is, well, predictable!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Did they do a swab of the foreskin to see what type of infection was present?? If they didnt then the antibiotics they put him on may not clear in up totally and it will come back making it look as tho he is having recurrent infections. If it does happen again make sure to insist on a culture. To see if it is bacterial or yeast. So that proper treatment is done to preven it again.