I Was Wrong

Well, C had her 2 year check up appointment yesterday. She's growing right on track and the doctor was very impressed with her skills. And when I told him she's still breastfeeding he said "well, all I can say to that is AMEN!" I love that man. It sure is nice to hear such encouraging words regarding breastfeeding at this age. Most people are shocked that we're still doing it, and not shocked in a good way. Oh well.


He did recommend that we do a repeat renal ultrasound. When she was 10 months she got a nasty UTI, and an ultrasound showed some swelling around her right kidney. We thought it was due to the infection, but the doctor ordered a repeat ultrasound 6 months later. That one showed the swelling was still there. No worse, but no better either, which was puzzling. She did have one more UTI during that time period, though. Knock on wood, she hasn't had one since then. But the doctor wants to do another ultrasound just to check on the kidney. I think he just wants to keep an eye on it, make sure it doens't get worse. I feel like its fine, though.


When I showed him the rash on her bottom, he asked what I was treating it with. I told him everything I've tried. He said "well, that's all good and right for yeast. But this is not yeast. Its eczema." Eczema!! When the rash first popped up, I looked up eczema because it looked like that to me. BUT every website I read said eczema almost always spares the diaper area. So I dismissed that idea. Should have gone with my initial thought!


We've been treating her for yeast for 2 weeks now, trying to DRY it out. Turns out that is the WORST thing to do for eczema. This stuff needs LOTS of moisturization. Its essentially super dry skin that's irritated. I feel so bad that we've treated this all wrong. But the doctor assured me that I had done the right thing and she will be fine. He prescribed a strong hydrocortizone cream. I put it on her twice yesterday and it did start to look a little better. I started slathering her with lotion, too.


Last night she was really itchy, so I gave her children's Benadryl before bed. Thankfully, she slept all night, though she was itchy again when she woke up this morning. I slathered on the prescription cream and some Eucerin lotion and that seemed to help. But my mother-in-law said at lunch that poor C has been itching really bad, and not just on the rash on her butt. She's itching all over. Poor baby. So today I had DH pick her up some children's Zyrtec. We'll try that and hopefully it will give her some relief without making her so sleepy.


I can relate to her itchiness. I have extremely dry skin, too, though I've never had eczema. I had bad allergies as a child (and asthma, which means C probably will too, eventually), and now I'm good except for my skin. I itch all the time. But I never get a rash, so its wierd. Today I am itching like crazy! I don't know if its the weather, or sympathy itching for C (haha - mother's intuition?), or what, but I had to take Benadryl earlier (not that its helped - ugh).


Hopefully we can get this under control and get my baby some relief. If she's not better by tomorrow I'm gonna call the doctor again and see if there's something more he can give her. I hate seeing her like this!!


I'm so bummed that we'll be dealing with this monster now. I know lots of kids outgrow eczema, but some don't. Either way, we'll have to deal with it for years. I just hope we find the right product(s) to help C. And I hope I can figure out what triggered this flare up and avoid it in the future. I'll be spending all my free time now on eczema research. Fun, fun.


On the bright side, at least now we know what we're dealing with, and we have an appropriate attach plan. And all my diapers are super squeaky clean! haha. If any yeast spores were thinking about settling in there, they have definitely been eliminated. Nothing bad could have survived that assault, haha!