# I'm Desperate- inflammed penis, bumpy rash, water-blisters, strong ammonia - HELP!!



## Faeanne (Jan 9, 2003)

Sorry this is long! I know I don't normally post here (don't have time), but I'm at my wits end & I don't know what to do. Ds has the most terrible rash I've ever seen and I've been fighting it for about 2 months now! It started off as a little sore on the tip of his penis (right by his pee hole), it looked sometimes almost like a canker sore. It'd get a little worse & then get better. Sometimes it was like the skin on the tip of his penis was "wearing" off. I was trying everything on it and finally found that vaseline worked great. Then I had it about completely healed (about 3 wks?) and the base of it (he's circed -so right under his smooth head) got inflammed- it was red & swollen and his tip started going bad again. It bled a couple times- so off to the drs we go. I was told it was infected- so antibiotics for that & neosporin for the tip. The inflammation went away & his tip started healing again. Until this past weekend- it got inflammed again! Then Monday morning I noticed his tip was starting to get sore again & there was like a water-blister on the side of the tip of his penis. To the drs we went- got some medicated ointment that has only made things worse. (Not using it anymore.) He broke out it a rash on his thighs- the inflammation looks worse & now he has several water blisters. His diapers (premium cpf's) reek of ammonia, I figure that has something to do with it, I don't know if it's b/c of what he eats/drinks (or lack thereof) or if it's from the infection. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just don't know what to do- I'm about ready to go buy a pack of sposies to see if it makes a difference.


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## Ok (Feb 6, 2004)

Things helpful to know in this discussion:

What brand of detergent?
Have you tried stripping the diapers?
and or boiling them?
Have you tried softening up the PFs w/ DownyAdvanced?
Do you use a fleece liner? (you can make you own w/ microfleece from fabric store)
How old is your son?
Is he bf, formula and/or having juice (acidic stuff)? and/or table foods?
Do you give him baths (w/ or w/o soap?)?
How much airing out time does he get? Does that help?
Do the medicines work?

Those are some of the initial questions I can think of. Sorry your ds is struggling with this. Potentially if theres something thats gotten in the diapers, then they'd need some kind of stripping and/or sterilizing.


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## Cutie Patootie (Feb 29, 2004)

Oh mama, I am so sorry.







Poor little man!







Have you tried switching detergents or no detergents, stripping...no citrus or dairy, etc.?


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## pb_and_j (Feb 13, 2003)

Oh no!!! Poor thing.







We had something similar happen here and it was the detergent I was using. Make sure you're using something free and clear (Tide Free, All Free and Clear, etc) and watch the next time you do a rinse to make sure there are no suds in the water. If there are suds, rinse and rinse till they're all gone (this may take 5+ times). When we lived in MI, I had lots of stink problems (lots of ammonia smells) too. I always did a cold rinse, cold soak w/ baking soda to help.

You could also try no detergent (just use baking soda and TTO). They still get clean, but you don't have to worry about det buildup.

Hope he is better soon


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## elfinbaby (Mar 17, 2002)

Oh, I hate seeing my babies w/rashes.







Things that have helped us:
strip the diaper just to be sure that's not the problem, let him go diaperless - can be messy but I did it to help w/a rash.

You can also just pin on a cpf really loose and change when wet which will be frequently.

We even let dd3 sleep nakey for awhile. I put a big waterproof changing pad (they actually sell the fabric at some fabric stores - like the changing pads at discount stores), then I put on old receiving blankets and cpfs for absorbancy, then I put a fleece baby blanket on top. I slept in a tank top so I didn't get peed on









We were having an ammonia problem with dd2 for awhile and it wasn't due to the dipes. She had a couple of little isolated sores but nothing horrific. After about a month of the ammonia smell consistently in morning dipes a friend of mine said it might be a bladder infection. So we went to the dr. and he took a urine specimen (didn't get result b/c something messed up) and gave her antibiotics for a bladder infection. I'm not sure if that was the problem but the spots and ammonia smell cleared up. I don't know how she got it. I just don't think she was drinking enough water and drank less once it started to hurt peeing I guess. We also recently started giving her some pedialyte b/c of hard stools and she seems to be more willing to drink lots.

It sounds like a possible bladder infection to me. We had the sores and ammonia smell, too, and I think that was our problem.

HTH.


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## Kermit (May 30, 2002)

That is so sad. I'm so sorry this is happening to your poor baby!
I didn't read the replies, but these are the things that come to my mind:
If the diapers are really clean, ammonia in the urine could be a sign of a bladder infection.
Since you are dealing with rashes and infection, I would boil the diapers on the stove at full boil for 10 min. This will disinfect and help strip them of residues. If you can't do this, consider adding 1/4 C. of chlorine bleach to the last 5 min of the wash cycle.
Then put them in the washer for up to several rinses with nothing.
Switch to a detergent without enzymes. Tide Free and Clear has enzymes. Try something like All Free and Clear instead, and consider if you may need to either cut back on the amount or use more (use less in soft water, like 1/4 C. and use more in hard water, like 1/2 C.). Always do an extra rinse or more if necessary to make sure all detergent residue is removed from the diapers.
Consider cleaning your washer with a gallon of distilled white vinegar and hot water or Cascade Complete. Residues in the washer can redeposit on diapers.
Good luck!


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## dinade (Nov 12, 2003)

The only thing that helped was when the dr treated him for a yeast infection and staph infection at the same time. Anything else the rash/inflamation/blisters just came back. I can't believe your dr didn't do the same. I'd call back and ask the dr to call you and say don't you think it could be staph or yeast? Can you call me in something that would treat those. Otherwise in a week or 2 it will come back. I'm sorry mama I know how frustrating it is. We dealt with it for almost 2mos and I almost quit cloth because of it. I did everything the above ladies listed and none of it helped. It's not your diapers.







s


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## nicholas_mom (Apr 23, 2004)

When we had this.....oatmeal baths and airing out the bum worked great!









Also, extra rinses to make sure all the detergent is gone from dipes.

Good Luck!


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## Faeanne (Jan 9, 2003)

Ok- here's the answers to the questions so maby this can be figured out

What brand of detergent? Dynamo- been using it for a year w/o problem

Have you tried stripping the diapers? Trying that now- washed in hot water & rinsing them as we speak

and or boiling them? no haven't tried that

Have you tried softening up the PFs w/ DownyAdvanced? no- never thought of that- what would that do exactly? my cpf's aren't new- they were used when I bought them

Do you use a fleece liner? (you can make you own w/ microfleece from fabric store) nope- i tried them when he was little and thought they were more of a pain than anything, but i'll start using them again if that helps

How old is your son? just turned 1 yrs old

Is he bf, formula and/or having juice (acidic stuff)? and/or table foods? only nurses once, maby twice, a night on the left side (no more right side due to mastitis) & just started drinking juice (only apple & mixed fruit, 4 oz or less a day) and eats everything we do

Do you give him baths (w/ or w/o soap?)? he's lately been showering with me & i use burts bees shampoo bar

How much airing out time does he get? Does that help? normally at least 2 hours a day & i haven't notice much difference this time

Do the medicines work? the original antibiotic & neosporin worked- but it came back, the prescription ointment he gave this last monday i stopped putting on b/c it looked worse

Here's what I'm doing: I'm stripping his diapers (washing in hot & then rinsing, rinsing, rinsing!!!), not giving him any juice for a few days, only water in his sippy, changing him frequently, and putting "Tiny Tush" on his diaper area (it just came in the mail yesterday, so I'm hoping this will help.) My wash routine since he started solids has been a cold rinse/soak (depending on how many ucky poos there are), followed by a hot wash w/ 1/4 c or less detergent & 4-5 drops purification, and usually 2 rinses after that. I think after the diapers are done I'll try washing my washer too. He hasn't woke up yet this morning (big surprise- he's usually an early riser), so I don't know how it looks/smells this morning. I put him a coverless snappied premium cpf last night and changed him in the middle of the night. (We normally use a premium cpf w/ a infant cpf as a doubler and a sugarbums pul cover at night w/o a mid-night change.)


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## wendinbill (Jun 11, 2004)

Good luck, the poor little guy!! I would definitely go back to using fleece liners...keeps him a bit drier. Sounds like you are doing everything you can. Hope he is well soon-take care!!


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## summerblu (Feb 4, 2004)

No advice that you haven't already received. I just wanted to give you a









I hope your little guy feels better soon.


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## mothergooseofthree (Jan 20, 2003)

when my older ds wore dipes to bed, he had all of the exact same problems. I started adding about 20 drops of Tea Tree oil to the hot wash and this completely cleared things up.

My friend's little boy recently started having the same issues with his bedwetter pants. I told her to try this and it cleared right up.


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## FillingMyQuiver (Jul 20, 2004)

AWWW....





















and







:







:







: to your littrle man. I have no advice, but I wanted you to know you have shoulders to lean on and ears that will listen to your worries. GL


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## musicmaj (Jun 14, 2004)

My son had something like this twice. I took him to the doctor the first time and they told me it was impetigo.(a bacterial infection) The part about it looking like the skin was wearing off is the part I remember the most. It completely freaked me out. Also, it started out like water blisters. The first time, he got it, he was put on perscription antibiotic ointment and oral antibiotics. It cleared it up in about 4-5 days. I also washed all of his diapers in hot with 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract, and vinegar in the rinse. The second time he got it, I noticed right away. I immediately made an ointment for him out of coconut oil and grapefruit seed extract. It completely cleared up in three days. I stripwashed his diapers again and disinfected them with the grapefruit seed extract and vinegar, hot washes and hot dry. We haven't had another infection like that for about 4 months. I have no idea how he got it or why, but he does have eczema and scratches at his butt if he gets the chance. The doctor says that makes his skin more suseptible to infections.

I hope your son is better soon.


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## mehndi mama (May 20, 2003)

Davey got a couple water-blisters on his foreskin (he's intact), right at the tip - it was very red & swollen & inflamed looking when the blister was just-formed/burst. He also had the layer of skin peeling from his foreskin all the way down to his scrotum - it looked like the kind of peeling you'd get from a sunburn!
I put a drop of lavender oil on a cotton swab, and swabbed his sores really well, then I just made sure I changed him immediately after every single pee. They dried up within a day or so, and now he just has the one little scab left from the blister that opened last.
I even slept him in coverless snappi'd prefolds, so I could feel when he'd wet and could change him ASAP. I just kept a stack of diapers on my pillow for easy access.


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## ma_Donna (Jan 11, 2003)

Dont forget to look into the yeast rash, too. Noah's got one right now and the skin is all peel-y. We happened to have his 9mo checkup just as it was starting up so it didn't get bad.

We have a script for topical nystatin
I'm putting GSE in the wipes solution
regular wash with a vinegar rinse then a low water volume very hot wash (hot water heater turned up to 140) with nothing added.

We're also both taking acidophilus and the other night I opened up one of my capsules and made a little paste of it.

I'm so sorry you're going through this.
You've gotten a lot of great responses, hope you find something that works soon!

Good luck!!


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