Red spotty rash in well 8 month-old

My 8 month old son having red spot rashes in face and arms and few
> in
> legs alone.
> No fever and the baby is active all the day.
> What could be this rashes as this is bothering m a lot?

As he is well, I would not be too concerned. There are a multitude of
possible causes but by far the most common are insect bites. As I don't know from where you are writing, it is hard to guess which is the most likely.
I would spray the mattress with a non-toxic (ie safe for humans) insect spray. If mosquitoes are likely then spraying the corners of the room where they meet the ceiling may help.
If the problem continues you should see your local doctor.
Please tell me what happens.

reddish, non-tender lesion on foot

                               I am not sure what this redness is due to but as it does not hurt and there is no pain, I am not too concerned. If it starts to hurt or she seems unwell generally, you best have your local doctor look at it.
By far the majority of foot problems at this age are due to ill- fitting footwear. I wonder if her foot is sliding back and forth within the shoe giving the reddish appearance but that is only a guess.
David

>
> I have twin daughters and recently in the last week I've noticed one
> of the girls (23 months old) has been presenting with a reddish,
> irregular shaped, bruiselike, non-raised lesion on the bottom of the
> inside of her heel/back of arch....is it possible she is stepping on
> toys wrong lately?I've also notice she likes to stomp her feet on
> the floor, but never seems like it is painful. I can rub the area
> without any discomfort to her, but I've noticed she's been studying
> this area of her feet as well. The other twin has nothing on the
> bottom of her feet. Their feet measure the same size and are both
> wearing the same design of sketcher size 6 1/2 shoes when we go out
> for 2-3 hours a day. Otherwise the girls run around with just socks
> or no socks inside the house.
>
> I am alittle unnerved by the red bruise, but was wondering if this
> is
> normal?
>
> concerned mom,
>

28-month-old falling a lot and walking into objects

Dear sir.
I read your answer to a grandmother who had a grand son or grand daughter at the age of 34 months that was falling a lot. I have been trying to find something about this issue online and that's how I ended up on your web page.
I am a guardian of a toddler who is 29 months and he has the same problem. He falls and stumbles over the smallest things and a lot of times he will walk into things like a table or the doorway etc. We have baby gates in the house to protect him from falling in any stairs and the house is really kid safe. He walks normal, seems to have a normal hearing and he is talking well for his age.
 
He has a sister that is 4 years old and she is very athletic and she never had any problems falling or walking into things like he does. The two kids spend one week with their mom and one week with their dad and are also in preschool five days a week when they are with dad. The toddlers preschool teacher asked me if we had noticed that he is always bonking into things and falls a lot. He also comes home from his mom with bruises so we know this happens here, at his mom's and in preschool.
 
He is also showing early "warning signs" of learning disability. He is left handed, his fine motor skills are not quite there , and he can't put a 4 piece puzzle together even if the picture of the shape is on the puzzle board. We know that he cant be diagnosed until he hits second grade, but we have been made aware of early warning signs. His dad has learning disability so we don't think it is unlikely that one or both of his kids could end up with some sort of a learning disability as well. The toddlers dad and I are doing things to try to prevent this from ever happening and we are doing it in form of fun play. The toddler loves to try to thread beads on a string, he has a box with different shaped blocks that has to go in one certain hole, we have easy wooden puzzles and building blocks to boost his imagination. And he plays the games only as long as he has fun doing it. I don't know if this can be a part of him always falling or walking into things as far as his motor skills goes.
 
we would be very happy if you have any ideas of what we could or should do if anything to help the "little guy" from hurting himself so much.
 
 
If you could please send me a mail back we would be very thankful.  
   
                  On reading of your grandson's problems, the first thing I thought of was "Has his vision been checked?" This was because he is walking into things but as you noted he may have a muscle problem predominantly affecting his legs.
An optometrist or an ophthalmologist can check his vision while his muscles can be assessed by a physiotherapist who can also show you exercises to help any problem detected. If necessary your local doctor can refer your grandson to the above specialists - ones with expertise in assessing children would be best.
Please let me know how things turn out.
David

baby with Sore on chin and chest problems

                    I would have been very alarmed if I had seen the baby when he/she had the chest problem. I would have feared that the probable Staph. infection on the chin had spread to the lungs and Staph. pneumonia is a life-threatening condition. However, the fact that the baby has recovered is against such a diagnosis.
Probably the sore on the chin is unrelated to the chest problem. Probably the chest symptoms were due to a viral infection known as bronchiolitis. This sounds as though it was a mild episode and that the body defences have overcome the virus - most commonly one known as respiratory syncitial virus which nearly all of us catch for the first time between 0 and 2 years-of-age.
No action need be taken about the chest now that he/she is recovering and I presume the local doctor has given something for the sores on the chin.

infant mouth ulcers

  I am so sorry your daughter has this painful mouth ulceration. If your doctor thinks it is cold sores. Then she has caught it from someone else - possibly an adult or older child with a cold sore on their lips. All of us caches this infection in the first few years of our lives. The first attack usually shows as mouth ulceration - mainly inside the mouth but often on the outside too where it looks like a cold sore on an older person. Once we have had this infection 60% of us have no further problem but the other 40% are unfortunate and have cold sores on the lips whenever stressed either physically or emotionally. The commonest stress that does this is the common cold hence the name cold sores.
It is very important to keep pushing the fluids although they are painful. A small proportion of children who have this initial infection become dehydrated and need hospitalisation.
The fact that the ulcers are near her uvula suggests that they may be due to a less common viral mouth infection, called Coxsackie. The result is much the same with reduced food and fluid intake because of a sore mouth. After this form of mouth ulceration heals we don't suffer the repeated sores as do 40% of the cold sore sufferers.
You are in for a few miserable days whichever virus is responsible. Keep up the fluids.

>
> Hello,
> I just brought my 8 month old daughter to her pedia for her 2nd half
> of her flu shot while the doctor wasdoing some exams we found out
> that the inside of her mouth has cold sores,right next to her
> uvula.I was so afraid and did not realize that causes her so much
> pain when she's eating or drinking her milk from her bottle. I was
> so
> anxious that's why i wanted to ask you if this kind of viral
> infection cangive herproblem in the future or will it happen
> again?What causes this break out?
> And why would appear it by her uvula which is very unusual?Her
> doctor
> gave her a prescription to ease down the pain which is good for 7
> days.I just cant help seeing her like this.
> Please i need your response,my email is mrlflorencio@gmail.com
> again,Thank you very much for reading my letter.

cows milk intolerance

Dear Peter.
                    It sounds as though your granddaughter is having a very rough time.
The fact that she responded to the Dairy-free diet but did not have lactose-intolerance, suggests that she has cow's milk protein intolerance.
Despite your strictness with the diet, the recurrence might be due to inadvertent exposure to cow's milk. It is amazing the solids that have milk protein in them. You need to check whether any product states that it has cow's milk solids or casein in it and avoid these. The only margarine that is safe is Nuttelex.
If all this has been done, and the problem, continues, she may have developed an allergy to some other food. Just about anything can provoke an allergy, but the most likely at her ages would be eggs.
Please let me know what happens and we can pursue some other approaches.
David

>
> I hope you can help us,our 1 year old granddaughter had diahorrea
> and
> vomiting which resulted in a stay in hospital the stool was like
> clear mucus with what appeared to be seeds in it.She had a barrage
> of
> tests these showed nothing conclusive.A dietician was consulted and
> she was put on a dairy free diet.The Vomiting and diahorrea had
> stopped and her appetite seemed to have recovered however she has
> gained no weight.
>  The original problem started at the begining of september but 4
> days ago the diahorrea started again and seems to be getting worse
> our daughter has been very careful to ensure she has had no dairy
> products in either her or the baby's diet and as you can imagine is
> at her wits end.Can you give us any advice?
>  Yours sincerely Peter Morgan.
> P.S.The tests eliminated Lactose intolerance and Celiac disease.

constipated 2-year-old

> Hello,
> I have a 2 year old daughter who suffers very badly from
> constipation
> and has done since she was eight months old.I am at my wits end we
> have been to gp and tried several medication with no luck. She is
> currently on lactulose and senna. It seems to work then just doesn't
> work for while. I was advised to increase dose from 2 5ml of
> lactulose twice day to up to ten a day. This just seems such a lot
> to
> give her but did it sometimes works and other times doesnt. She has
> also had suppository aswell which didn't work well. When she tries to
> go she is in so much pain screaming which can last hours and has
> even
> hurt her back trying to do it. She can go several days trying with
> no
> luck. I dont know what to do have tried obvious diet changes etc
> with
> no luck. What would you suggest? Could she have any other medical
> problems that cause this? Could being on these medications cause
> problems later in life?
>
> please get back to me my email is danagray19@hotmail.com i would
> really appreciate it.
>
> Many thanks
>
>


                   I am sorry your daughter is having so much pain on using her bowels. From your description, she has a fissure-in-ano.
This is a small crack in the anus where the bowel meets the skin. When she uses her bowels the crack is torn open and causes pain. This tends to stop her using her bowels making her more constipated.
She needs a local anaesthetic ointment applied to her anus as a thin smear at night after her bath and again in the morning on waking. You can buy the ointment over the counter at the pharmacy. You can also apply the ointment during the time she is using her bowels if it is hurting.
Lactulose and senna are fine. I recommend giving the senna at night. If she fails to use her bowels in the next 24 hours then double the dose. If this does not produce a result in the next 24 hours give her half glycerin suppository and continue with the higher dose of senna. Failure to use her bowels means redoubling the dose of senna and if this does not work another half suppository. After a week of success of using her bowels the dose of senna can be halved. So 1 day of failure means doubling the dose, a week of success means halving. She may get up to quite a high dose of senna but it will do no harm. Throughout all this you continue with the twice daily local anaesthetic ointment.
These instructions are quite complex, so don't have any hesitation in asking me a question. I will be happy to hear from you.
David