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Swollen and Red Penis In 25 Month Old

post #1 of 17
6/29/08 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
Today when I changed my 25 month old son's diaper I noticed his penis was red and swollen. I read through the info about separation, and I'm almost positive it's that, but I can't relax about this. I put him in a warm bath for an hour, and the redness has certainly decreased. He is peeing normally; I see no ballooning - that's something that happens when he pees, right? But the penis itself just looks all swollen. The tip is also very red, although in all honesty his tip is always slightly red - this is just more red than usual.

I give him naked time every day because he's a redhead with very pale skin and without naked time every day gets irritated skin in the diaper area easily. Whenever he is naked he plays with himself, and I see no change in that today, even with the swelling. He's not verbal so hasn't told me anything, but I noticed that when I went to put him on my hip he wouldn't go; instead he held his legs together and kind of put his knees up against me. (Although he is also diaper-less at the moment so I'm not sure if that might not be why)

The swelling I am seeing starts at the bottom, but not the base. The base where the penis attaches to his body is normal sized, but the swelling starts right after that. It is swollen the entire penis, and then normal sized at the tip. The tip is red and *very* slightly inflamed.

I put in a call to our naturopathic dr, but I haven't heard back yet. I'd hate to take him to the ER where they might try to retract him - not that I'd let them. But does any of this sound right for separation, or possibly because he plays with himself so much whenever he gets the chance? (We've always kind of joked that it was his "favorite toy," lol)

Thanks!!
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post #2 of 17
6/29/08 at 9:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
Today when I changed my 25 month old son's diaper I noticed his penis was red and swollen. I read through the info about separation, and I'm almost positive it's that, but I can't relax about this. I put him in a warm bath for an hour, and the redness has certainly decreased. He is peeing normally; I see no ballooning - that's something that happens when he pees, right? But the penis itself just looks all swollen. The tip is also very red, although in all honesty his tip is always slightly red - this is just more red than usual.

I give him naked time every day because he's a redhead with very pale skin and without naked time every day gets irritated skin in the diaper area easily. Whenever he is naked he plays with himself, and I see no change in that today, even with the swelling. He's not verbal so hasn't told me anything, but I noticed that when I went to put him on my hip he wouldn't go; instead he held his legs together and kind of put his knees up against me. (Although he is also diaper-less at the moment so I'm not sure if that might not be why)

The swelling I am seeing starts at the bottom, but not the base. The base where the penis attaches to his body is normal sized, but the swelling starts right after that. It is swollen the entire penis, and then normal sized at the tip. The tip is red and *very* slightly inflamed.

I put in a call to our naturopathic dr, but I haven't heard back yet. I'd hate to take him to the ER where they might try to retract him - not that I'd let them. But does any of this sound right for separation, or possibly because he plays with himself so much whenever he gets the chance? (We've always kind of joked that it was his "favorite toy," lol)

Thanks!!
I think this is just separation. I am thinking the swelling you are talking about is around the back of the glans perhaps? A few things you should keep an eye for: if it gets noticeably worse, he develops a fever, has difficulty urinating then certainly take him in. But otherwise it should abate within 48hrs warm baths with some baking soda have been known to help. If you do take him in for any of the aforementioned reasons, or because you are otherwise concerned, ask to get a culture to confirm the type of infection (or if any is even present). This is important because you wouldn't want ABX if it is yeast for example. Hope this helps. Let us know if you need more detail, we'll do our best.
post #3 of 17
6/30/08 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
Thank you! This morning the swelling is still present but noticably less; so I'm hopeful it will be gone by tomorrow. If it isn't I'll bring him to our ND for a culture.
post #4 of 17
6/30/08 at 11:53am
nak

Same thing happened to my ds. It was swollen for a day or two, gave him a bath and his penis was back to normal within 24hrs.
post #5 of 17
6/30/08 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
Thank you! This morning the swelling is still present but noticably less; so I'm hopeful it will be gone by tomorrow. If it isn't I'll bring him to our ND for a culture.
That's good to hear these thing usually work out this way. Keep in mind that as he goes through this process it may or may not reoccur. But if it does, you'll be knowledgeable about what to expect.
post #6 of 17
6/30/08 at 8:51pm
Thread Starter 
Well it's all swollen again. I know in my head that this is most likely perfectly normal, but I'm going out of my mind with this. This afternoon he was crying and obviously it bothered him; I gave him some Motrin for the discomfort and he seemed fine after that. I gave him a warm bath and it only improved slightly, but I guess that's still better than nothing.

SIGH
post #7 of 17
6/30/08 at 9:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
Well it's all swollen again. I know in my head that this is most likely perfectly normal, but I'm going out of my mind with this. This afternoon he was crying and obviously it bothered him; I gave him some Motrin for the discomfort and he seemed fine after that. I gave him a warm bath and it only improved slightly, but I guess that's still better than nothing.

SIGH
I am sorry to hear that. Well use your best judgment if you think it's getting worse you might want to take him in. Like I think I mentioned in the previous post if you do need to take him in they should do a culture to see what it really is. They shouldn't just visually say infection and write a script. Let us know how it goes.
post #8 of 17
6/30/08 at 10:03pm
Thread Starter 
I just nursed him to sleep and while doing so noticed an odd smell. I looked down and he had some discharge of a whitish-green color. (More white than green) It smells badly, but of course now I'm sitting here trying to decide if it smells infected or just like smegma that may have been trapped for awhile. The redness and swelling also seemed to lessen at about the same time I noticed the smell/discharge. He's still red and swollen, just not as bad as earlier. I keep telling myself that an infection wouldn't improve and then get worse again?

I've been in constant communication with my ND, but of course because he looked better this morning we left on our scheduled trip and I'm sitting in a hotel room kicking myself for leaving. Luckily we're only 3 hrs from the ND, and I actually sent her a cellphone pic this evening of how he was looking. She said she definitely wants to see him as soon as we are home (Wednesday morning appt since we arrive home late tomorrow), but doesn't think we need to rush home, which I of course was about to do. If I get up in the morning and he still looks as bad as he looked earlier though, I'll be going home. He was crying earlier and it was obviously the reason. (Which was why I gave Motrin, something I usually hesitate to give)

Thank you all for your advice and listening as I walk through this step by step; this is new territory for me since my older son never had an issue and I'm so worried about my little guy.

The good news is he's happily sleeping at the moment.
post #9 of 17
7/1/08 at 12:15am
Have you tried putting OTC bacatracin on it? that is what I used when ds had a bacterial infection with horrible swelling and he started to improve within hours. If that dosnt work then you can try OTC monistate and see if that makes a difference.

I am sorry he isnt getting well. It really sucks BTDT with ds and it really sucks
When I took him in I wouldnt even let the ped. touch him at all since I had problems with him in the past with him trying to retract and I didnt want to risk it especially with a possible infection present. I moved ds's penis around so he could see the outside and that was that.

I highly recommend you do that same if you have any doubt at all in your mind the ND might try to manipulate the foreskin in any way.
post #10 of 17
7/1/08 at 1:06am
Oh, I wish I could search for an old thread of mine.

What your son is going through sounds EXACTLY what mine did about a year and a half ago, and I'm completely sure that it was simply separation starting and a buildup of trapped smegma.

His penis was alarmingly swollen, and it really bothered him. I let him soak in a warm bath, and while we were cuddling afterwards, I noticed a strange smell. There was a dime-size smear of whitish /pinkish, thick pasty stuff in his underwear. After the discharge, the smell vanished, and the swelling was gone soon. Then I noticed that his foreskin had started to balloon out when he urinated -- which it hadn't before. The urine (which is sterile) now washes all the smegma out from under his foreskin, and we've never had the buildup and accompanying swelling happen again since the first couple of weeks.

Can you tell if your son's foreskin balloons when he urinates? If so, is that a new thing? To me, that would be a pretty sure sign that separation is all that's going on here. Ballooning is normal and can last a really long time, by the way. ETA: Sorry, I just re-read your OP, and see that you checked for that.

Keep us posted, OK? I like to keep track of just how many times this comes up on the board and clears up all on its own. So far, for those moms who have not seen a doc, and have come back to post an update, I'm pretty sure it's at 100% that have simply gotten better without medical intervention over the past year.
post #11 of 17
7/1/08 at 1:09am
My ds gets really red when he urinates and balloons a little bit. He is only 5 months but it started when he was 3 months after a doctor yanked on his foreskin. Maybe you LO loosened things up while exploring himself?
post #12 of 17
7/1/08 at 1:10am
Oh, and you know not to let the medical staff retract at all, right? Tell them before you even get your child undressed that they're not to manipulate in any way. If it IS an infection (which I seriously don't think it is), the forced premature retraction can cause micro-tears in the foreskin creating perfect little places for infection to start or to spread into. They can culture simply by swabbing the opening in the foreskin.
post #13 of 17
7/1/08 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 
Thank you everyone!!! He made it through the night without incident; I started him out without a diaper and he discharged a few more times. When he woke up to nurse I put his diaper on and he slept fine after that. (Mom stayed up all night worrying though, lol!)

This morning he is happy and playing. He peed fine, since his diaper was wet. We still have redness, but the swelling is slightly less. One thing that is concerning me now is the tip - it seems to be getting angrier and angrier looking. I'm going to run to the store (we're checking out in a few minutes) and grab some Bacitracin, since I only have Neosporin with me.

I told my ND on the phone already that I don't want any foresking manipulation, but I'll also make sure when we see her. She also told me to pick up some homeopathic Apis 30c and give once an hour; she said she's seen it help with this kind of swelling before.

I'll post an update!!! Thank you for helping put my mind at ease!!!
post #14 of 17
7/1/08 at 9:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
I just nursed him to sleep and while doing so noticed an odd smell. I looked down and he had some discharge of a whitish-green color. (More white than green) It smells badly, but of course now I'm sitting here trying to decide if it smells infected or just like smegma that may have been trapped for awhile. The redness and swelling also seemed to lessen at about the same time I noticed the smell/discharge. He's still red and swollen, just not as bad as earlier. I keep telling myself that an infection wouldn't improve and then get worse again?
This is the problem, it can be hard to tell. Puss related to an infection is of course nauseating to smell and it wouldn't get better then worse so far as I know.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
Thank you everyone!!! He made it through the night without incident; I started him out without a diaper and he discharged a few more times. When he woke up to nurse I put his diaper on and he slept fine after that. (Mom stayed up all night worrying though, lol!)

This morning he is happy and playing. He peed fine, since his diaper was wet. We still have redness, but the swelling is slightly less. One thing that is concerning me now is the tip - it seems to be getting angrier and angrier looking. I'm going to run to the store (we're checking out in a few minutes) and grab some Bacitracin, since I only have Neosporin with me.

I told my ND on the phone already that I don't want any foresking manipulation, but I'll also make sure when we see her. She also told me to pick up some homeopathic Apis 30c and give once an hour; she said she's seen it help with this kind of swelling before.

I'll post an update!!! Thank you for helping put my mind at ease!!!
I like the idea of the Bacitracin, I am glad to hear he seems better today. Let us know how it goes. Your always welcome.
post #15 of 17
7/3/08 at 9:21am
Thread Starter 
Just wanted to give you an update: he's better!! We went to his appt at the ND - she cultured the urine from his diaper. There were some white blood cells found but no bacteria. She theorized it was either the seperation trauma or maybe he had an irritant, but it worked itself out in any case.

THANK YOU everyone for helping me as I tried not to panic. LOL!!!
post #16 of 17
7/3/08 at 8:43pm
Hooray, I'm glad he's better!!
post #17 of 17
7/3/08 at 8:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
Just wanted to give you an update: he's better!! We went to his appt at the ND - she cultured the urine from his diaper. There were some white blood cells found but no bacteria. She theorized it was either the seperation trauma or maybe he had an irritant, but it worked itself out in any case.
90% of the time this is the case.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby_Makes_5 View Post
THANK YOU everyone for helping me as I tried not to panic. LOL!!!
Don't worry about that, it surprises many the first time. I am just glad you both got through it ok.
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