I was reading with interest the condition described in our "hairy" Friday link and I have a question.....?

Has anyone heard of small children getting boils? My almost 3 year old daughter keeps getting these LARGE round red welt looking things on her butt, they get hard all around after a few days when she takes a warm bath they develop heads, and pop when you touch them, green pus runs out and she screams and says they hurt. (Sorry for the graphic description) They look like monstrous pimples. and they spread, the weird thing is when one pops they all look better for awhile.

Her pediatrician has prescribed antibiotics 4x and they keep coming back. He first thought it was impetigo but it isnt, no one else gets it from touching her. IT is very weird and I am getting desperate. None of the medical websites have given me any good info. It has nothing to do with hair follicles as she is a baby and does not have any sweat glands.

If any of you medical types can give me some help or a direction to look in I would be grateful!!!! Thanks as always for your support.

I doubt if I can be much help but many, MANY years ago, a girlfriend of mine used to get lots of boils. Not sure where they were located though. Her pediatrician said it was from too much iron in her blood and told her mother to stop feeding her so much porridge. She was thrilled to hear this cos she hated porridge. LOL I'm not sure how sound that medical advice was though. She never got boils anymore after cutting back on porridge though.

Rachel, I think it's do do with the pull ups or diapers because dd still has it! All I do is air dry them for a while and then they seem to go away. Sometimes they are stubborn little things and I put some zinc oxide on them and it goes away, atr least for a while. I have found that the longer I have her in regular underwear, the better they get so I'm assuming it's some sort of blocked pore or even acid from urine.

Scooby,
I recomend taking her to a pediatric Dermatologist, or talking to one or several yourself. I don't think that antibiotics are the best thing. Sometimes they can test the stuff in them only to find out it is not bacterial, so antibiotics are not good anyway. In the interim try some Tea tree oil soaps and TTO pure, right on the boils. See if that helps. There is also a product called BOIL EASE that will help with the swelling. I get it at CVS but a smaller pharmacy can get it for you. TTO can be bought at wal mart I have been told.

Let me know if there is any thing else. I have a tone of remedies up my sleeve.
-L

rachel...

i was so thrown by your post that i had to go make my evening protein shake so i could think what could cause a little girl to get boils in only one part of her body. and they come back even after repeated antibiotics.

so, here's my question for you....

is it possible that she's sitting on the ground playing and maybe she's being bitten by ants or other bugs????

sometimes bug bites get infected, especially if she has an allergic reaction to it [sometimes i'll have whole summers in which every mosquito bite gets infected, after being a large, red, hard area].

apparently, she's repeatedly exposed to something that she's reacting to. because they keep coming back after antibiotic therapy, it doesn' sound like some systemic disease.

just a thought...

oh, and by the way, i checked out this possibility in the merck manual. www.merck.com.

boils are also known as furuncles, and under insect bites, it says that furuncles can arise from pustules, and a acouple of other lesions, that can be caused by insect bites...

good luck..

My sister gets them all the time on the rear, the waistband, the underarm, the bra, and crease of the legs. The doctor calls it folliculitis, says it is caused by staph that she carries in her body, and clothing rubbing on it constantly irritates it and causes it to become inflamed. These things get the size of grapefruits and have to be lanced at the doctor's office. GROSSSSSSSS!

Every once in a while I get them in that same area your daughter gets them, and it's usually after I sweat a lot, like after working out a couple of days in a row.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!!

Your poor baby!

Well, here's another opinion. Maybe it isn't boils. Do you remember a few weeks ago that my DS Michael was sent home from school for a possible absessed spider bite? Well, it wasn't. And from the description you gave of your dd's condition I can picture it perfectly. That's what Michaels stomach looked like.

The doctor diagnosed it with a name too long and tongue twisty for me to repeat but the part of it I remember was penicillin resistant. Michael was put on sulfer tabs and an ointment similar to neosporin. Oh, and with the docs examination he pointed out where two more were already beginning.

Just good for thought and if you'd like to ask your doctor about it let me know and I'll get the full and correct name for it.

J

Hi Scooby,

The first thing I would do is check out Pooky's diaper theory, she could be alergic to something in the diaper ? alergies can pop up at any time and urine can really cause havoc.

I would put Vasaline on her bottom to create a protective barrier againt the diaper and the pee. Grace (my daughter) months ago started to develop a diaper rash and NOTHING I did worked to get rid of it until my Dear Ol Mother said use Vasaline (the good old fashion method) and you know it worked better than any medicated stuff. Other than packing on the Vasaline, I also put her in a bigger size diaper so it wouldn't be tight and rub against her privates and dupa Now she's got the smoothest clearest skin you could imagine. Sometimes the old fashion stuff works better than the "new" stuff.

Good luck with the little sweetie.

Love, Leens

I tend to agree with all those who think it might be allergy related. However, being allergic to petroleum products myself I would tend to stay clear of the vaseline. I'd try A&D ointment and if that doesn't work try heating up some olive oil, and melting bees wax into it. Add a bit of vitamin E oil and then let cool in a jar... Voila you have UnPetroleum Jelly.

If she is in pull ups get her cotton training panties instead, and just get used to doing an extra load of laundry every day. As much as I hate doing laundry I don't mind doing it for Mya... it's amazing what a mom will happily do for her babies...

Lara

My prissy little girl is potty trained however she wears pullups at night......I have a call into our ped again.....I need a referral of course to see a dermatologist.....thx for the responses, it sounds like what Janice's son had!!!

Being a medical type person I have to agree with all the above. try try try sooner you will come about the problem . I would have to guess some thing to do with diapers, be it pee or the diaper itself. Or it would be under her arms and in her creases.

My dear baby girl has stopped wearing pullups at night, you know the pretty pink ones, I have switched her to Goodnights, they are plain white underwear looking things. and she seems to be improving..I wonder if it could be the dye in the pullups??

She wears panties during the day as she is potty trained, she just can't make it through the night. Her pediatrician was useless, he wanted to put her back on antibiotics, it may be time for a new doctor!!!!

an allergy to dye is entirely possible, and, since she probably wets at night, there are some compounds that are soluble in an acid environment [like urine] and not in a neutral one [like water].

that's a big generalization, but i'm not about to get into the polarity of water vs ionization in acid environments!!!

all this to say that, after ruling out bug bites, which you already did, then the most likely thing is an allergic reaction that gets infected.

sounds like you've hit on a winner here.... let's hope this solves it.

and have a great trip...

oh, and as for the doc, yeah. it may be time to switch, or at least to find a pediatric allergist.

Scooby,

I think you are right ... a new doc is in order ...


I hope you find a good pediatritian ... *s* and someone to test her allergy to dye. I would check to see if she is allergic to it in her foods also.

A good friend of mine has a son that whenever he eats red or blue dye he gets hyperactive.
I thought she was making it up until I actually witnessed it.

I hope that your problem is solved and that she is doing better now

I was thinking of perhaps an allergic reaction to a detergent might be a problem. My SIL,cured a terrible rash on one of her children by putting some baking soda in the rinse water of her laundry. It cured the rash immediately.It's worth a try!.