How to heal them...

This section of the blog is to talk about the many colds and issues our little petri dishes encounter as they grow.  Everyone is asking me if things are ok with my little one Alex (now 6 weeks old).  Honestly, besides the lack of sleep we are fantastic and now I know why.  The trail has been blazed by Hayden (now 16 months) so everything is coming as second nature.  My continuous challenges are with the "Trail blazer" himself.  From colds to separation anxiety, we continue to learn.

This is what Marcus and I learned about diaper rashes and diareah this week... (yup, im talking about poop so proceed with caution).

Here it goes....
Hayden had REALLY strange poops for about three weeks but they got progressively worse as time went on.  Not runny but a little too soft serve to be normal (I warned you).

Anyway, we finally figured out that his poops were terrible because he was either teething or caught a virus, or both! Monster awful molars are coming in and are a bitch to work through.  Now.... dealing with the pain of teething is under control as you may know (from my post talking about the homeopathic treatment).

We learned that there is increased acid in a babies mouth during teething which can burn and cause a diaper rash when coming out the other end.  Up until this last week Hayden never had a diaper rash to this was all very new.

Well... we did what any good parent would do and we made sure we wiped down the area nice and clean with our baby wipes, mistake number 1. Apparantly baby wipes are a no no as are soap on the rashy area because the chemicals can irritate the rash or leave a film of bacteria. (side thought... WHY WOULD BABY WIPES BE PUT OUT ON THE MARKET THAT CAN IRRITATE A BABIES BUM???? #)@(#)$*#&@)

We also lathered the area in Penaten cream and tried to keep the area as dry as possible by airing it out as often as we can.  You are pretty much playing with fire to let a toddler run around bare bumed though.

Anyway, long story short the poops were not getting better and the rash was not healing, if anything it was getting worse.  So after some research I learned that Hayden did not have diaper rash but a yeast infection caused by bacteria (caused by his many bad poops mixed with BABY WIPES). Apparantly it's a common mistake because diaper rash and yeast infections look very similar.  The major clue was no matter our efforts with the bum creams, nothing seems to heal it.

SO, here is the key.  We were instructed to pick up a yeast and anti fungal cream and the highest concentration of zinc to use together on the area.  The yeast cream twice a day (morn and night) and the zinc to be used as a protective barrier after every bum change.  We are also cleaning the area with just a cloth and water and it seems to be letting up.

We also kept his diet bland with lots of bread and yogurt and that seems to be helping his tummy.

So my long drawn out point here is....

Now when Alex gets a diaper rash, soft serve poops or a yeast infection I'll know exactly what do.

and we continue to learn...