Clear skin... "I don't think"

When we first brought Mush home from the hospital we thought he was going to have my lovely soft, pale, smooth skin. He didn't have all the baby rashes and spots from being left a bit sticky or snotty, the way some kids do, so I thought the McClellan side fought through.

Low and behold, nope, the Vidler eczema gene recently cropped up.

We first noticed the back on his left knee getting a bit red and blotchy around the same time the weather started getting nicer. We thought, he runs hot anyway so the back of his knee where the heavy baby fat creases are must be sweating overtime. We made sure to wash him a bit more carefully and dress him in some cooler clothes for bedtime.

It started getting worse towards the weekend when the surgeries were closed when we thought 'maybe we should have a doctor look at him to see if he's developing eczema'. By the time the working week came around, we didn't bother ringing the doctors because it looked like it was clearing up. Maybe it was just a combination of poor washing and the heat.

These are pictures of his Left Arm on 8 different days.

But then it got worse, and it was starting to effect the back of both of his knees and his left elbow crease. Sometimes it would be more dry and he would itch it like crazy. Then the left side leg/arm got red, we thought it was going  red from him scratching it all the time. We tried to moisturize it when it got dry & flaky. Then when it got red and inflamed we tried putting tea tree oil to help with the inflammation. Hoping the combination of drying out the infection, then moisturizing it would make it go away but it didn't.

His left & right legs, on 4 different days.

When we got round to the idea the second time to ring the doctor it was the weekend again, and a bank holiday one at that so Friday and Monday the surgery was closed as well. I felt so bad. His little arm and legs (and parts of his face) continued to get worse and no matter how many times I had to remind myself 'I need to ring the surgery when I get a minute' the next minute I was distracted with something else. That's the curse of the life of a parent I'm beginning to realize -- baby brain is NOT JUST for when you have a newborn. This may be a reoccurring theme for the next 18+ years.

[Short Side Story: It's mums and dads alike that get baby brain. Rob isn't the greatest at remembering things at the best of times, but he has some major baby brain along with me. One time, as he was headed out the door, I asked him to roll the recycling bin down to the end of the drive for the bin man to collect that morning. He acknowledged it and said he would, finished putting on his shoes, picked up his keys and was out the door 30 seconds to a minute later. Yep--you guessed it. He drove off and forgot to wheel the bin down. Baby Brain....it happens to everyone. I mean, the other day I left my keys in the door for a good 24/48 hours (on the outside...where anyone could walk up and break in or take them for later) before Rob pointed it out to me. No wonder we're rubbish at our Saturday night Skype Pub Quizzes. We can't retain the simplest of life skill information, let alone retain facts.]

Anyway, I finally remembered to ring the doctor for an appointment on Tuesday, had to do it over the phone due to social distancing but i got a call later that day after requesting an appointment. The doctor asked me some questions over the phone, then she sent me a link to a place where I could upload pictures of the effected areas, and after assessing the pictures I sent she called me back to discuss a course of action.

Mush mush did in fact have eczema, and it had been infected at that. She rattled off a list of all sorts of things that she was going to prescribe for him to help with it as well as instructions on how and when to use them as doctors do. It sounded like I was going to picking up half the pharmacy over the phone, but it ended up being just four things:

• Flucloxicillin (Contains Penicillin)- 4x a day, to treat the infection
• Hydrocortisone Cream- x2 a day to help the infection
• Liquid Bath Emollient - for his bath water to keep skin hydrated
• Cream Emollient -  To use as a body wash instead of normal soaps

The first two we were told to give it to him for a whole week, and the bath/body wash emollient we're supposed to use long term for his eczema to prevent flare ups. Today's the last day and I have to say that Flucloxicillin is one of 'The Good Drugs'. Besides the fact that it's a nasty pink liquid that he HATES having to swallow, it's been a miracle worker.

Below are pictures of his worst spots (from left to right: his left elbow, behind his right knee, behind his left knee) the day before we started his medicine, and then after. We got meds Tuesday night and only gave him 1 dose before putting him to bed. The second row of pictures is from Wednesday morning, roughly 12 hours after we gave him the first dose, and then the third row are the same areas after giving him 'a day's worth' or 4 doses.

We've had to space it out in between his feeds which is annoying (the bottle instructions say it has to be taken on an empty stomach so you can't eat anything for 2 hours before, and for 1 hour after --but that was NOT happening with my son who likes to eat every 2 hours). We had to do an 'every hour' feeding (except for nap times)...whether that was drugs or food....to make sure he got in all his dosages and didn't kick up an absolutely hangry crank.

It was interesting, when I picked up the meds from the pharmacy the employee there had to check that this was indeed for my 7 month old son because they normally don't give anything with penicillin to under 3 year olds unless it's very severe. Yep...it's bad, it's infected, the doctor prescribed it to him...so hand over the drugs lady! It just made me realize that what my poor little mush was suffering from was seriously bad.