Dean Goes to the Doctor

Two Month Check-up

On July 1st, Dean had his 2-month check up with the pediatrician. I was excited to see how much he had grown, but scared to have him get his shots! I knew it was important, but I was dreading hearing his sad cry! It was so much worse than I expected! I've heard of two kinds of babies: those who don't cry at all and those who cry for a couple of minutes, but then are fine. Both types usually sleep a lot the rest of the day and might even spike a low grade fever--all normal and expected as their bodies build up those good antibodies. Apparently my baby doesn't handle pain as well as all those other babies.

The appointment started off great: Dean was so quiet and calm, stripped down to just a diaper, being weighed and measured and poked at. He weighed 11 pounds 4.5 ounces (25th percentile), was 23 1/4 inches tall (62nd percentile) and had a head circumference of 40.3 cm (84th percentile). The doctor said he was tall, skinny and needed that big head to hold his big brain, and he was completely healthy! He asked if he was smiling, cooing and gripping things (like our fingers), asked if he was eating and sleeping well and made sure I was giving him vitamin D supplement drops. He listened to Dean's heart and lungs, checked his grip, hip rotation, boy parts and soft spot then went over all his measurements and gave us instructions. He said between two and four months we should work on getting him to fall asleep on his own (which he already does at night and sometimes for naps). Then he asked if we had questions and told us a little about the vaccines.

Waiting to get shots

The pediatrician said in his career he had only seen one child come back with a reaction to a vaccine. That child broke out in hives, but did not require hospitalization and did not have any long term effects. He said the injection site might be a little red, warm and/or sore and a low fever was possible. Anything over 100.3 warranted a phone cal (in fact they want to know right away about any temperature over 100.3 for any reason in babies under four months). All of this eased my fears...even though I planned to get him vaccinated all along, all of the anti-vaccine propaganda filling social media lately had me a little nervous. The doctor even gave us a sample bottle of baby Tylenol and told us how much to give just in case Dean got a little fever.

Then the doctor left and the nurse came in with the shots. I made Ryan take my sweet baby over to the exam counter and hold him still while the nurse gave him the vaccines. The first one was a liquid in a dropper that she squirted into his mouth. He started crying then, which was unusual because he had always swallowed the gas medicine I give him at home with no objections. From there it just got worse. I sat in the chair, Ryan blocking my view, and held back tears of my own as the nurse jabbed my baby with three needles and he screamed. Ryan tried to console him after she was done, but he was too upset.

Baby's First Band-Aids

He put Dean in my arms, but holding him was not enough to comfort him. Maybe he sensed mommy's anxiety over his sad, scared cries. When the nurse left I decided to try and breastfeed him. He seemed like he might calm down, as he gulped milk and frantically grasped at my hand, but then he unlatched and screamed some more! Then he sucked for another minute and screamed for another minute, back and forth until we decided to just get him out of there! I got my crying baby dressed and in the carseat as quickly as possible. The gentle swaying of the carseat as Ryan carried it seemed to calm him down. I was so grateful to not have to carry a screaming baby down the hall and through the lobby of the pediatrician's office! Once we were in the car and on the road, Dean fell right to sleep.

In the elevator: look at those sad, teary eyes!

As soon as we got home, I fed Dean again then just sat and cuddled him while he slept. I felt so sad that my baby wasn't feeling well. Twice that afternoon when he woke up he would just scream and cry until I nursed him to sleep. I rubbed his legs while he slept, hoping to help with the soreness, and took his temperature several times. At 5:00 pm I finally decided to give my unhappy boy a dose of Tylenol for pain even though he never did get a fever. He must have been upset because his poor little legs were hurting; the Tylenol helped and I finally had my happy boy back! I gave him another dose before bed, just to make sure he could sleep, and by the next day he was his normal happy, alert self. Now that I know how he reacts to needles, I am really dreading the four month shots.

Sleeping on mommy

Really I just can't imagine my baby being four months old! I cannot believe we are already almost through his 3rd month--they really do grow up so fast. I don't want to miss anything. I often pick him up and hold him, when he is perfectly happy in his bouncer or swing, just because I want to. After his early morning feedings I put him in bed with me to sleep for another hour or two (bad habit...I know, but I love my baby cuddles!) I miss him when he naps and find myself checking on him all too often while trying to hurry and get some things done around the house. I know I am spoiling him in every way possible, but I cannot help myself.

Another Visit to the Doctor

W have been pretty lucky to have such a healthy baby. His biggest problem thus far has been the occasional baby acne breakout in his first 6 weeks of life, but we got a handle on that. I try not to bathe him more than needed because I don't want to dry out his sensitive skin. I use lotion only after baths so his skin doesn't become dependent on it. I keep his neck rolls dry and his face clean and that seemed to worked for us.

A few weeks ago Dean started developing a mild case of cradle cap so I started giving him baths every 3 days instead of 5, scrubbing his head with a soft bristled brush they gave me at the hospital; in a week it cleared right up. Unfortunately more frequent baths made what we thought was a mild skin irritation behind one knee much worse. He developed these really red areas on the backs of both knees, some dry patches on his legs and chest and even started getting a bumpy red rash on his tummy. I put Aquaphor on the red spots and dry spots and even tried using baby oil once instead of lotion after baths, but nothing seemed to clear it up completely. If I missed the Aquaphor for a day the areas would be right back to bright red again.

Poor Dean's rash

Then the insides of his elbows got bright red and those areas as well as the backs of his knees would weep fluid that would leave crusty spots on his skin. He had a dry red patch on his chest and more dry red streaks in the creases by his arm pits. I did some research and thought it was probably eczema. I bought Aveeno Eczema Therapy lotion and gave him a lukewarm bath with no soap, patted him dry and lotioned him up. My poor baby's skin looked mildly to severely irritated everywhere but his face, neck, back and diaper area. He had some bright red spots, lighter red dry patches and pink rough areas. There was a little improvement overnight, but not enough for my liking so I made an appointment with his pediatrician first thing that morning.

Waiting for the doctor...he's not too sure about this

I was a little worried how Dean would react to the the doctor's office, since the last time he was there just three weeks earlier he got poked, but he was perfectly behaved and even fell asleep in my arms waiting for the doctor (who was running behind) to come in. The doctor confirmed that our baby Dean has Eczema. He prescribed a steroid ointment (hydrocortisone 2.5%) to use on the really bad spots and also wrote me a prescription for some nystatin cream that I could fill to treat it if it didn't clear up with the hydrocortisone (which could mean it's a yeast infection) or if he got irritation in typically moist areas like his neck rolls or diaper area. He said eczema is often genetic so it's possible he could have flare-ups here and there as he gets older, but many babies outgrow it.

After just one application of the hydrocortisone we saw a noticeable difference and in three days the really red areas were completely better. I continued using the Aveeno Eczema lotion every morning to keep his skin soft and rash free and things were looking up. Our boy was healed and looking handsome in time for Pioneer Day (July 24)!

Our adorable boy on Pioneer Day (he slept through fireworks...again)

Unfortunately, it did not last. But I think I know now what caused his bad eczema breakout: the baby oil. I bought it hoping it would help hold the moisture in his skin after baths. The first time I used it was the night before his eczema got super red and starting weeping the first time, but it had already been getting progressively worse so I did not think anything of it. I used baby oil for a second time after his bath this last Sunday night. Within 24 hours he had horrible red spots again on the backs of his knees, insides of his elbows, creases by his armpits and one spot on his chest. In addition he had some dry, bumpy, pink areas on his chest and on his back. He had never had any breakouts on his back so that was my biggest clue: I had rubbed baby oil on his back the night before.

Sunday night before his bath and baby oil rub down...

24 hours later

Again I had to start treating poor Dean's eczema with his prescription hydrocortisone ointment. I gave him a quick wipe down with a damp wash cloth Monday night and treated the bad areas for three days with hydrocortisone ointment. Again he seems to be healed. He will continue to get daily Aveeno Eczema Therapy lotion rubdowns, which he has started to enjoy quite a bit, and I will probably only bathe him with soap once a week for a little while. No more baby oil for this baby though...good thing I only bought the travel sized bottle!

"Grandma thinks I'm Perfect" (I think she's right!)