I need some advice

[valkyrina]

My two babes are intact, and this morning as I was changing Owen's diaper I noticed that his foreskin was all red and swollen. It's almost like there's a blister on one side of it, or a bubble, and it looks like there's some broken skin. I didn't mess with it too much, but made an appointment at the ped this afternoon. But then I just changed him again, and it's really tempting to just retract him (I never would), so you can 'see what's going on'. Our ped is really great, but we haven't had her for that long (we just moved in June), and I want to make sure that she doesn't retract him.

Now I'm thinking I should just cancel the appointment, put some lansinoh and breastmilk on it, and wait a day or so. It just looks so painful. What should I do? It looks like more than just diaper rash.

[Quirky]

Hmmm, I'm wondering if it's yeast or diaper rash. I would skip the lansinoh, although breastmilk never hurts. Give him as much nakey time as possible, and if you use cloth diapers make sure to change really frequently and strip them if necessary in case it's detergent buildup or urine buildup, both of which can be very irritating.

If you do take him in, don't allow any retraction. There's nothing to see that's going to tell you anything anyway -- whatever is going on is likely limited to the outside of the foreskin, and if there is a bacterial or yeast infection going on, the only way to know for sure is to culture it (which doesn't require retraction either).

If it is separation irritation, again retraction is only going to make it worse.

Whatever ails him, warm baths with baking soda may help, too!

[MyBoysBlue]

My DS had the same thing this summer. It took a few days but we cleared it up. For my DS unfortunately it took using disposables. The blister burst and I couldn't get it to heal because it kept sticking to the cloth diapers and the scab kept peeling off. We gave him lots of naked time and just water baths. I stripped his diapers really really well. We were having some ammonia problems so I actually used a very small amount of bleach in his diaper load. Rinsed several times on hot and then sun dried. It healed up and hasn't come back.

[vintagetroll]

my son had something similar, not quite a blister. He has a really long overhangy foreskin too. I told myself if he was circumsized I would just think it was diaper rash and treated it that way, lots of water baths which he loved. Cleared right up.

I have to constantly remind myself that he is normal, the foreskin is normal and not default to there might be a problem with it mentality. hard when you have been told your whole life that its such a horrible thing that it needs to be immediatly cut off your baby.

[valkyrina]

Thanks so much! I actually cancelled the appointment and I'll just keep an eye on it for the next couple of days. If it doesn't get better, I'll take him in. it's already looking better than it did this morning, and I put some breastmilk on it and gave him lots of diaper-free time (he was thrilled. brother decided he needed diaper-free time too and took his diaper off.) So I think it was maybe just some extreme diaper rash or something.

I will try stripping the diapers like crazy. We have been having a strong ammonia smell too, so maybe that's part of the problem.

Thanks again, mamas! Whenever I'm freaking out about something that's not a big deal, I know I can come here and get some perspective.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

A link you might find helpful http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=764732 some tips on how to possibly treat this kind of thing and deciding if it is time to go in.

[latinalonestar]

I would cancel and see if it resolves. It could be a smegma pearl which would make a lump. My experience is that peds often do more harm than good. It is quite possible the ped will "see" more wrong due to inexperience with the normal development of the foreskin.

[latinalonestar]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=764732

here is a thread you might want to read.

[valkyrina]

Thank you for the links! I just read them. Very informative.

it's much better today, I think it was just skin irritation. He doesn't seem bothered by it. I felt much better treating at home and watching, rather than bringing him to the ped and risking retraction.