Another question…Diaper rash!

[Anonymous]

Amy,

A couple of thoughts you might add to your process.

Instead of trying “normal” BM products, like have already been mentioned. Try Antifungal Cream, I use a generic form of Lotrimin (sp?) the tube says “Clotrimazole cream usp, 1%”.

Now how I came to this discovery. Andrew has been battling reflux and diaper rash for the last 22 months. We switch ped’s due to insurance and she was the one that picked up that his diaper rash was not “just diaper rash” as I had just asumed. If you go in ask your ped to really look at it and have him/her give a suggestion if it would work or not. If you go it alone…I cleared Andrew up by the end of the day. I was floored, because we have battled “his sensitive skin” since birth. Now I just use a light smear when I see something pop up and boom it is gone usually by the next time I change his diaper. With all that said, this might help your son, but you still may need to get to the bottom of the problem… ie: food allergies, imbalances, etc.

Also, as Laura has said you can only put so much stock in testing for food allergies. Unfotunately. Andrew came up negative on all testing. However, we find ourselves in yet another trial, this time dairy and eggs.

So, keep you chin up the answers will come,

Take care,

Susan

[Anonymous]

I haven’t posted here yet but wanted to add my experience with our son Owen.

He is now almost 14 months old and started to have diaper rashes and rashes all over his body once we introduced solids. They got so bad that he was bleeding within minutes after a BM, no cream was helping it either. He had very dry skin and rashes all over his body, even cream didn’t help that. The rash on his head was itching him so bad that he scratched it until it was bleeding. So we decided to take him off all solids and introduce one at a time again after he was off the food for a week. His skin started to get better again, the rash dissappeared and we haven’t had any diaper rash since, well only when we did a trial with sweet potatoes but that was gone again once they were removed from his diet.

Right now he is drinking Alimentum (since we know he has issues with both soy and dairy), breastmilk and he can eat pears. We are trialing carrots right now and he seems fine with them so far, he used to get a horrible bleeding diaper rash with those when we first tried them at 7 months old.

They took blood at checked for food allergies and it all came back negative but his ped told me that at that young age the tests aren’t really reliable and can come back negative but he could still have allergies. Intolerances don’t even show up when they do the tests.

We have an appointment at a German children’s hospital next month and they might suggest to scope him to figure things out.

My2boys2006-6-25 16:54:48

[Anonymous]

MY TWO BOYS_________

Thank you for sharing you story.

We found one of Henrys intolerances through a lab in Texas that tests the stool by shipping it to them. I found them at http://www.enterolab.com

I’m not sure if they do overseas testing. I’m sure it says somewhere on there. or you can email and ask them.

I never thought of this earlier in our situation, but alimentum has gluten. We had Henry on Alimentum. Through these enterolab tests, we found out that gluten was the culptrit. He’s been gluten free for about 2 months and each day he gets better and better. It takes a long time to get out of their system. Especially the older they are and the longer they’ve had it. Now, if your docs are thinking of doing biopsies with the scope for Celiac disease, according to the enterolab, you can have gluten intolerance without testing positive for Celiac. Henry had these biopsies and his GI doc was positive he didn’t have an issue with gluten. He said there was NO WAY possible. The enterolab tests of Henrys say differently. Plus, I can see the results of him being off the gluten. I wish we had done the enterolab tests first instead of putting him through the scope. We did the allergy blood tests as well. Another thing I could’ve done without. Negative test results.

I’m sure the rashes and BM issues have something to do with the intolerances somehow. We almost have too much in his diet to figure it out at this point. It’s soooo much better than it was though, that I’m pretty happy at this point. If this diaper thing happens one more time though, that’s when I’ll start on my campaign again. have you ever heard of kinesiology? I think that’ll be our next step.

We are expecting another baby in Aug. and I am thinking I’ll need to go on the gluten free diet and exclusively breastfeed to have a happy baby. BF with Henry didn’t go so well, but again, I never thought about the gluten. Maybe this time it’ll be better. Henry was such a misserable baby. It really makes me nervous about this next one.

Great talking to you about all this. It’s hard to find parents with such similar views.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the link Amy.

I will look into it once we have moved in about 3 weeks, I don’t think the test kit would make it in the mail before that.

I didn’t know that Alimentum had gluten, Owen seems fine on it but we’ll see how tests go I guess.

I can imagine that you are afraid of having another little one with the same issues, but at least now you know what to look for and I’m sure that makes things a little easier.

My older son Jonathan never had any problems and it hit us hard when Owen was born and diagnosed with reflux at 6.5 weeks old. And now we deal with all the food issues.

How is your family reacting torwards Henry’s issues? I’m just curious as my family isn’t really great support at all. They always say he looks fine and things like that but they only see him for like a weekend at the longest. I’m with him 24/7 and know when something isn’t right.

How is Henry doing weight wise? Owen isn’t doing too well, he started out very high in the charts and once we introduced solids has fallen very low, he is right now hanging on to the 5th percentile and weighed 19lbs 9oz at 13 months old.

My2boys2006-6-25 17:33:12

[Anonymous]

I should add that all the foods that Owen is able to eat are pureed or mashed up finely. We tried giving him diced food and that comes out undigested.

[Anonymous]

Interesting about the undigested comment. That’s what happens when it burns his bottom.

Henry’s weight has always been an issue. I noticed Owen is only 2mths younger than Henry. Henry weighs 23lbs. He’s in the 25%. Don’t know how that translates for you overseas. Would it be the same? Anyway, when he was born, he was 90th! He was in the 10% by 9mths! I’ve struggled to keep him in the 25%. I think we’re on a good road now though.

My family—they’re insane to say the least. My in-laws that live farther away are more support. They wonder why we put him through all this. He looks fine as well. For Henry, it’s a nighttime issue. As a silent refluxer, he was on an apnea monitor until a year old. He had severe apnea. They didn’t understand this at all. He had an upper GI. Was impacted after that from the barium. An aweful trip to the ER for that. Had a PH probe that he pulled out after about 4 hours. Stomach emptying study. And an endoscopy- the scope down the stomach. Had scratch tests and blood work for allergies. It was a lot, but we never got any answers. And he didn’t sleep! That was my main thing. He would scream in his sleep about every 1/2 hour! Not wake up for the most part, just scream. It was horrible. He did that until we removed the gluten from his diet. How about that? And I did it myself. No doctors involved. All those months of missery for all of us. It makes me sick really. Why didn’t any of his many doctors catch it? I went to this website— http://www.disa.com.au/ —– and looked at the food intolerance section. It discribed Henry better than I ever could. That was when it all clicked for me. I just knew that was what was happening. It took me 15 months to find it, but I found it.

I always wonder if there’s something to do with a malabsorbtion with all of this. Like maybe the intestines just can’t absorb or break down the food due to these intolerances? We still puree Henry’s food, but are slowly adding more texture. We just don’t puree it as much. He seems to like it. He also seems to be digesting things better without the gluten.

You are still breastfeeding? That’s the best way to get them to gain weight I’ve heard. Of course, you’d have to avoid all the foods that bother him.

I’ve also noticed how happy Henry has gotten in the last couple weeks even. He just keeps improving. It’s a huge difference to me although, I’m not sure to anyone else.

We moms just know- don’t we?

[Anonymous]

The weight is the same over here since we go to the American doctors here, they have an Army Hospital close to where we live right now.

Here are is weight and height charts if you are interested:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/John-and-Owens-Mom/Ow en-chart-height.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/John-and-Owens-Mom/Ow en-chart.jpg

You know this is what I was thinking as well, that he doesn’t tolerate food so well because there is one food that causes all his problems. Ever since I removed everything from his diet he has been doing so much better and he is still doing good on the carrots, which before he got a horrible diaper rash from them.

My inlaws are more supportive than my family over here too, I’m german so all my family lives somewhat closer by. It took my mom a year to finally realize that he can’t tolerate dairy/soy and she is still questioning the whole other food issues.

I’m still breastfeeding in the am and pm, I cut out all dairy and soy but haven’t done so with gluten yet. Since this just came up last week at his ped visit.

I noticed too that he was happier and sleeping more restfull at nighttime when we took out everything. It’s amazing at the improvement he has made, his skin is soft again for a change and he doesn’t have those red dry cheeks anymore either. Owen used to wake up a lot at nighttime as well, whimpering in his sleep and was just plain restless.

Right now he doesn’t sleep well but that is because he is sick and running a fever. He sounds like a seal when he coughs, so I might have to take him back to the ped to see what’s going on.

[Anonymous]

If you want to hear a strange coincidence… Henry just got over croup. Had a fever, but acting normal and then BAM it hit really hard and fast. His windpipe started swelling shut. It was caused by some virus, but was for sure croup with the seal like cough. Scary stuff. Doctor for Owen sounds like a good plan.

Oh, these kids. If it’s not one thing it’s another.

Isn’t it strange how much these two kids have in commen????

[Anonymous]

Wow, Poor Henry. I hope he is feeling better again by now.

I just emailed Owen’s ped to let her know about the food trials and also that he is sick. We’ll see what she has to say about it and if we should come in and get him checked.

That is really funny at how much those 2 have in common. I just hope he doesn’t have croup, that’s the last thing we need right now.

[Anonymous]

I know this is a little late but here is our update for now. Owen did end up having croup and was miserable for days. He lost some weight and hasn’t gained it back yet and is now off the charts. He weighs 19lbs 9oz now. Last week Thursday we had an appointment at the german children’s hospital and they did more bloodwork, a sweat test, an ultrasound of his stomach and I had to drop off some stool samples. They are testing for malabsorption and celiac disease since he has only gained 1lb since December and also only grew about 1 inch since that time. The German doctor even wrote FTT on the paperwork for the ultrasound tech . I have to call back on Thursday and we’ll talk about the results and go from there. I’ll keep you all posted on how things are going.

Oh and we had put him on a regular diet for all the tests and let me tell you, we have been dealing with a reflux flare up, diaper rashes, lots of whining, clinginess and his eczema on his toe is so bad that it started bleeding. I emailed his ped and she said it’s ok to put him back on his limited diet now since they already drew blood and took stool samples. Of course when we did the stool samples he was constipated, so no icky gross mucousy poops to show them. Now today he had one of those yucky ones again, go figure.

My2boys2006-7-10 17:16:9

[Anonymous]

HI!!!

Ican’t remember if I mentioned this before, but my son was tested for celiac by stomach biopsies during an endoscopy. The tests came back negative, yet gluten is his issue. We’ll be going to the GI doc in another month, so we’ll see what he has to say about it. Just an FYI for you to keep in mind.

Wow! that’s a lot of testing. Hopefully they’ll get to the bottom of things. You sound like the point we were at in December. Although, Henry’s weight wasn’t as bad. That would be soooo heartbreaking!!!! I’d be having a nervous breakdown if I was you.

Bummer about the mucous thing. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Luckily, the enterolab in Texas didn’t need him to be eating things for it to show up. As long as it wasn’t too long without, it still showed up.

You can email me if you want… thesignshop@nicoproductions.com

Give me an update when you get the results- or if you just need to vent.

[Author]

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