I'm at a loss of what to do next :(

[thepees]

My DS has had two lots of Staph infections in the past few months. Been to several pediatricians and a dermatologist since he comes up with big blisters on his poor little willy . Makes me feelt terrible for him. He gets really sore as well and acts funny when I carry him. The only thing that seems to stop it is using sposies in conjunction with his antibiotics. I use the nature babycare ones but I HATE using sposies! When we saw the pediatrician this time he swore it was nothing to do with what type of nappy we use but I'm not sure. This morning when DS woke up his willy was starting to get puffy and sore looking again ( it's only been two weeks since the last occurence and he finished his course of antibiotics a few days ago). He gets very toxic wee over night ( we use BBB with a wool cover over night). They said there is really nothing they can do since a child who gets repeated infections in that area would usually end up getting circumcised and he already is. I keep him clean with lots of baths and always make sure I change him often. Any suggestions?

[MadMel]

could he be allergic to the nappy inner? Or the washing powder? Ash got a red p e n i s every time I used washing powder on his nappies or a synthetic inner. Now since changing to no washing powder he can use SOME synthetic inners and we haven't had any rashes or red p e n i s.

[thepees]

i do use a microfleece liner on the night nappy and the thought did cross my mind. he doesn't get red when i use pocket nappies though and they have microfleece to. hadn't thought about the washing powder thing though. it freaks me out to think of not using any, but i really should get over that!

[kermi]

A stripwash on the nappies might be helpful too... and possibly change washing power?

[claireberry]

I'm by no means an expert, but could the staph infection be living in the nappies? Could you get the dettol or canesten laundry rinse to make sure? I guess the Dr would've told you if this was a possibility.

Like others have said, definitely change your laundry powder, my sensitive skinned fella is fine with amolin liquid.

good luck, it must be awful for you and your little guy

[Possum]

We had recurrent staph infections more than 12 months ago. It went on and on for months and I was tearing my hair out in frustration. Three lots of antibiotics combined with sposies didn't help. (Well they did a little, but as soon as we were out of sposies or off the antibiotics it was back worse than before). I had washed the nappies in antibacterial/fungal? solution but when the infection came back in sposies I knew it wasn't lurking in the nappies.

So I turned to the dark side . We started washing his genital area with coloidal silver, put him on probiotics, changed his diet, and used medicinal grade (30+?) Manuka honey as a topical ointment. I have never seen staph run so fast. I used these things for a few weeks, and the staph hasn't been back in almost a year.

What I learnt in my struggles is that staph is something which is related to gut health. Antibiotics reduce gut health further, so probiotics are an absolute must to repair the damage of the abx. The other factor related to gut health is white flour in particular (which is simply a non-sweet sugar as far as it's nutritional value is concerned). We cut out all processed sugar and all foods with flour in them.

Then topically, there are a few options. We really liked Manuka honey (a bit messy, but very healing, and can be taken internally too) and the coloidal silver was fine to use. If I had been able to find it I would have used Grapeseed Extract (Traveller's Friend) diluted instead. Tea tree oil diluted is also reputed to be good.

Sorry for the length of my post, but I know from my own experience how little abx actually help, and how frustrated I was that my doc never mentioned the gut health factors impacting on staph. Three applications of my natural treatments saw the redness and swelling reduced to barely visible, and it wasn't long before the staph sores were gone too.

[thepees]

oh my goodness Tanja!! THANK YOU!!! that was a wealth of information and I can't wait to start trying some of those things. I hate using antibiotics as I like to do things naturally. We had previously had a problem with thrush and I had him on probiotics for that which seemed to work. Didn't do the changes in diet though. I'm thrilled to have some ideas of what to do and can't wait to start. I didn't realise that Staph was a gut health problem too. I'm glad I'm not the only person that has had this problem!

[Kizzzah]

ella has had 2 staph infections, and she is constantly getting huge red blister sores all over her narnie and bum.. and even on her thigh after she wore a tots bots cover. i am using lavender in her wipes water, using as many natural fibre nappies as possible, sunning every time and washing no detergent.. using fitted more then aios. we think she ust has very sensitive skin .. so have too be careful wat cloth we use.

[*Tracee*]

My eldest had recurrent staph infection on her labia. At times they were so bad she'd have a black crater once they'd opened

We were referred to a dermatologist who had never seen anything like it before - it was staph like but they could not culture any staph from it, he referred us on to the RCH. There we were given a myriad of creams and lotions, he wanted us all to wash in medical grade wash twice a day (the stuff surgeons wash their hands in before surgery) which I would not do.
We did apply the special cream (can't remember the name of it atm), one for her sores and one for inside her nose, we had plenty of probiotics and over time they finally cleared.

She was only in a night nappy at that stage and they were always worse for her after she'd been cloth. I had to admit defeat and put her comfort and health first and use a sposie most nights. Didn't matter what inner was on the nappy, didn't matter what we washed in and I tried all the dettol/canneston/tea tree washes I could -made no difference.

If sposies help clear it up, then it isn't the end of the world if you need to use them. Once the sores clear slowly bring the mcn back and see how he goes. It could be certain inners cause more irritation and make him more susceptable to getting the staph sores, it's somethign you'll have to work out when he gets better.

[Pobie]

OUCH!!!!!

Kai use to get ulcer like wounds in his nappy area when he was teething. It was really horrible. They were a few mm deep and about 1 cm wide.

I tried everything to clear it up and again . . . admitted defeat and used sposies. He needed to be bone dry for them to heal up and I just couldnt keep him that dry in cloth, even with liners. Once they healed I kept him in sposies for a few more days to make sure it had healed (if I didn't they would come back after one nappy change)

Anyway, so, as others have said, I dont think the cloth is causing it, but it might help using sposies to aid in the healing process.

I know that some kids are sensitive to sposies so it wouldnt help all kids, but I know it did with Kai.