Trial and Error

[dancerjodi]

The thing that I think that has been the hardest for me as a parent, is dealing with trial and error when it comes to issues of Mina's health or comfort.

I know that the body isn't always so much of a predictable science.  I know from my own experience, that it takes paying attention, trying things out, observation and time sometimes to get an answer.  I still don't have answers to some of the strange ailments I've had in life.  You heal and move on.

But doing this with my child while she is crying in pain (or sleep deprived, or starving) - it is something I hate more than anything I've ever hated before.  Her current issue is a common one, rashy bum.  Why it happened, we can only guess (or try and remove the possible irritants and wait and see).  How to heal it, we can only try different methods and ointments and wait and see.  In the meantime, our muffin is a sad baby.  It kills me.  I work with doctors, and I know that a diaper rash is a common ailment that most often just needs time and at-home remedies.  I don't want to be that guy, calling the doctor every hour, asking them to fix my kid for something that is so common (and relatively, simple). At the same time I just want to scream at the world to fix it for her, and make it better already!

I cannot fathom how parents deal with these feelings in their children that have much more serious battles to face.  My heart goes out to them.  I know that we gotta keep our cool for the kid's sake.  As Brian and I tried to change and console a rashy, oozing, screaming child last night I could hear the tears in his voice.  It is so hard to try and be tough when you are just dying inside, seeing them in so much discomfort.  And this was just for a stupid diaper rash.

In this holiday season I am thankful for our health and comfort, for our friends and family, for a good job and the means to help provide for all of this.  I am excited to be a part of this club - the doing the best you can, figuring it out as you go along, so much in love it hurts parenting club.  It is so overwhelming sometimes.

Much love to you and yours this season, and wishing you peace from whatever ails you.

Comments

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

fwiw - we found that C always got diaper rashes if we used non-Pampers diapers, but with Pampers she almost always seemed free and clear. She'd get a rash pretty much instantly with other brands. Weird.

[dancer.livejournal.com]

Mina had a pretty horrible rash early on (small area but bad - bleeding). We went through a whole host of diapers back then and she seemed to do best with the Target Up and Ups. Once we got a handle on that one, she's been pretty rash free. If she eats something that makes her break out (acidic stuff, mostly, if she has a lot) it will start to flare up, and after a night or day of cornstarch + ointment, she'll be OK.

This one is just crazy. All over the front of her, nothing on the back. Totally related to her frequent messy diapers. Came on all of a sudden, and we haven't been able to get a handle on it (since Saturday now).

Our problem is that 2 things happened that were new: we started slowly introducing a tiny bit of milk into her formula bottles Thursday (but no reaction until Saturday). Our Walmart knock-off of Similac Organic ran out and we bought some Similac to replace it (learning from the label, that apparently it as been 'improved' and reformulated recently).

So our bets are on the milk or the formula, or both. We stopped the milk 2 days ago but she's still having frequent messes and the rash. Brian ran out to Walmart this morning before work (there are none near us, and with Xmas crazy we've stayed away) and bought some more of that. After she heals in a couple of weeks, we'll slowly try the milk again. She's done will with this milk-based formula, does well with yogurt, cheese and I had plenty of dairy when she was breastfeeding. But Brian's lactose intolerant and has bad reactions (like she's having) to full-fat dairy. So who knows.

She's a bit stuffy too, fighting a cold. And teething. So it could also be unrelated to food.

Who the hell knows? :) I just can't wait until she is comfortable again!

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

Sounds like maybe yeast diaper rash? In which case she'd probably need an antifungal to get rid of it.

[dancer.livejournal.com]

We do have a prescription antifungal from a previous issue (the girl has a lot of skin issues). Worth a try! Thanks for the reminder.

[darthwk.livejournal.com]

We're with you in the same boat. Since Henry has torticollis, it's been several weeks already at the physical therapist, along with neck stretching exercises at home.

He screams. He hates it. And it's because it's uncomfortable for him, yet we're deliberately putting him in that position. What kills me is when he's in the PT's lap and he glances in my direction with tear-filled eyes and lips quivering, as if begging me to make it stop, why aren't I making it stop, why is DAD NOT MAKING THE PAIN STOP??!!?

And my heart shatters as my lungs tighten up.

On the plus side, his neck is getting stronger and he's holding his head straight more frequently. Still HHAAAAATES tummy-time, but we're down to 2x a week and will be moving to 1x a week beginning next week. But yeah, there were times when I thought that this would be our lives forever, as he's crying in pain and discomfort and I can't (won't) do anything to stop it.

[dancer.livejournal.com]

Poor monkey :/

We have a nebulizer for Mina, because with one of her colds she was wheezy and not taking in enough oxygen. Yeah, that is fun, making her take that thing.

Or using the Nosefreida to get the snot out of her head when she couldn't breathe well from that direction.

Perhaps this is karma to us, for being ungrateful for the difficult things our parents had to do for us? :)