Diaper Rashes and Guilt

Riley had a rash that wouldn't go away. It started around the time her first two teeth made their appearance. We thought it was just from all the swallowed drool that comes with teeth. I remember wishing Riley could run around diaperless like the little African baby form the Babies movie so we'd never have to deal with diaper rashes. Time wore on an the rash got worse and she was uncharacteristically fussy especially in the car.

Finally, I decided it was time to call the dr (or more accurately instead of deciding to call the dr and then thinking "it looks like it's getting better" or completely forgetting until after 5 I actually did it). They had us come in and I kept thinking why didn't I ask him to look at it at her last check up? Woulda, coulda, shoulda... I worry about being an over reacting new mom, but at this point I knew something was wrong.

Turns out it was a yeast infection! Poor baby. All the screaming in the car was because it was getting sweaty was irritating it, the weird diaper grab and bounce was because it itched and the middle of the night freak outs were because it was hurting. I felt so awful. How could I have not figured this out sooner?

It's also further proof of what an amazing baby Riley is because aside from the uncharacteristic meltdowns she was still her calm, sweet little self. Also, she just doesn't make a fuss for no reason. Every time I think "what fuss over nothing" I come to find out she's hurt or has exploded poop out of her diaper up her back and all over her clothes or you know has had a yeast infection for over a month.

So, on top of my guilt over the infection the dr says use the prescription cream 3x a day and our regular diaper cream the rest of the time. We ran out of her Dr. Smith's cream so Mike was using powder on her. I come to find out that the pure cornstarch powder was feeding the infection! I felt horrible now I knew what was wrong and I was making it worse. I'm a horrible person, but when I tearfully confessed this to Mike he laughed.

It's true babies get yeast infections in the summer because it's hot. I'd never seen one on a baby before and now I know what to look for now. We didn't use copious amounts of powder for an extended period of time and again now I know. I think Mike had the right idea a sense of humor is important.

It just hurts to know your baby's hurting and it's frustrating not to be able to communicate better with your little one. I guess if major surgery isn't a good excuse to get distracted I don't know what is.