Rashes and their cousins

LO has been plagued by rashes.. its horrible to see perfect pink skin marred by ugly red blotches. and unfortunately my efforts to help seem to have worsened the rash sometimes before making it better. 

so here's a crash course for the future me. 

Face 

slight red spots and rough areas seen after a day out in cold wind. likely caused by the wind and dry skin. 

fix - don't apply anything, just warm compress to open the oily gland pores. applying thick greasy stuff as protective barrier just makes things worse and then you will end up using the HC 1%. if it gets really bad and thick scaly or thick rough hide like or burnt skin like then use the HC asap for 3 days 2x a day and no more. then continue using the hot compress whenever possible. the face will fix itself

Neck

scaly red purplish burnt skin like rash. skin will be peeling away. dont let her scratch it. looks like extreme extreme dry skin.  

fix - no oily glands avail on the neck, so hot compress will only dry out the skin. apply aveeno eczema cream if its an eczema patch that looks like dry skin patch. if it gets worse, then its not eczema and maybe yeast rash due to drool. apply nystatin or coconut oil or lots of sunlight. though i dont know how you make sure the bottom of the chin area gets sunlight. just keep the drool away, saves you a lot of pain. 

Hands/Legs 

likely eczema and dry patches of skin. looks like round patches of dry skin, reddish. more reddish under hot water so seen clearly when bathing. 

fix - apply aveeno and thin coat of vaseline on top of it.

Diaper rash

normal diaper rash should go away overnight or in 3 days max. if it persists, then its a yeast infection. don't let it spread. stop using cloth everything immediately. 

for normal diaper rash, use diaper rash cream or triple paste. 

for yeast - apply a combined coat of nystatin and triple paste for every new diaper change. make sure the area is fully dry before applying the cream. leaving it free is not super helpful if not getting fresh air and direct sunlight. 

can apply a diluted soln of tea tree oil + grapeseed oil (to kill spores). 

triple paste apparently has corn starch which feeds yeast, but then it seems to be helping right now. AR: to ask Dr about it. barrier comes from zinc oxide , so stronger concentration of zinc oxide should help. try calmoseptine. 

been fighting this damn yeast rash for 2 months now.

New york New york

So we decided to take a trip with you. To new york! It's not so bad. .. about four hours by bus.  Guess what your dad did?  He booked three tickets for  the four of us!! Egads! 

Luckily someone didn't show up and we got in. Right in the end of the bus. But you made up for it. You were a complete champ. I was scared you would be crying and fussy throughout the way.... but you didn't miss a beat. You slept when the bus started , woke up for a bit in between. Nursed and slept rest of the way and were so happy to look at everyone. The subway did scare you a bit,  but then you got used to them all fast!  And you shocked me by smiling happily at all the African American nice ladies!  It's true , travelling wIth babies is fun :)

Everyone suddenly talks to you,  And all grannies give advice from everything ranging from early solids foods to clothes to learning to playing , etc and etc ad infinitum..

I took you out in the moby wrap,  the first time too and you loved it!  You slept when tired and only cried when hungry.  Unfortunately I still haven't mastered the art of nursing while carrying you though.  Maybe that's today :)

Thank you baby for making today a fun day.  Will post more tomorrow.

Second and third day

Today was the day when you nursed in the moby wrap. woohoo! right in rockefeller center too. This was when i totally felt like a super mom ! today as well you enjoyed the subway, central park, the ducks, the breeze , all of it. unfortunately by evening you were very tired becoz mommy made a rookie mistake and kept you up too long. then we had to deal with your meltdown. oh boy i'm not making THAT mistake again ! and again , what a difference the wrap made ! i could carry you everywhere and soothe you super easily. and maybe you got extra attatched to me after all that wearing , but hey! i'm not complaining ! :P

our way back was a bit harder. that was an afternoon-evening bus and you weren't that sleepy. more interested in talking to the nice girls sitting next to us and you kept trying to get their attention for the better part of the trip! oh and boy were you so happy that they responded to you finally after all your babbling and cooing. Did i tell you , how you enjoyed times square ? oh man, you went all wide eyed and crazy and excited about seeing all the colors and screens and ppl. though the first time the sheer number of ppl did freak you out a bit. 

hmm, the only mistake i made was not packing an extra pair of clothes for you. and you had to unfortunately sit for a while in your poopy shirt after a nasty blowout. 

In all you were awesome and dad & mom only had one fight about you. this was totally a successfull experiment and totally geared us for the next big trip ! :)