Toddler with possible vitamin deficiency or allergy

[Instinctivemummy]

Hi there

My two year old son has had cracked corners of his mouth with skin lightening for nearly 5 weeks. The Doctor said after 1 week that it was eczema which I contested because I did some research and it indicated a possible vitamin deficiency. I took him back on the 2nd week because the condition had gone from dry corners of mouth to a spreading of skin lightening (he is dark-skinned). The second Doctor said it was a fungal infection and that I probably wasn't cleaning his bottles properly, I felt terrible and took the anti-fungal cream she prescribed, however the condition hasn't improved after three more weeks using this cream.

Also I still sterilise his bottles so on reflection wondering how I let the 2nd Doctor fob me off with this reason, no matter what I know his bottles are always clean!

I am quite certain it is a Vitamin Deficiency or possibly an allergy but reluctant to have any painful blood tests done on him unless I really have to. Has anyone seen this sort if thing before or have any advice at all please?

Most gratefully, instinctive mummy x

[thisisyesterday]

what is his diet like? is there any reason why he would be vitamin deficient (ie, is he a particularly fussy eater?)

i get cracks round my mouth if i don't drink enough... does he drink plenty?

if it was an allergy i am sure you would have much more symptoms than this by now

[thisisyesterday]

does he suck his thumb?

[thisisyesterday]

interesting if you haven't alkready read it!

[Instinctivemummy]

Hi Thisisyesterday

Thank you very very much that really useful info (Dr Martin Scurr). My son does have a well-balanced diet but yes he is a fussy eater though perhaps we could eat more iron. (He rarely touches green coloured veg/fish). It was interesting that Dr Scurr mentioned most Doctors take a bacteriology culture to clarify the exact infecting organism - I'll be asking the (possibly 3rd) Doctor to do one of these and move forward based on these results.

Thank you

[thisisyesterday]

yeah i was going to say i would go back and maybe see a different GP and perhaps push for a dermatology referral if they can't suggest anything else
you've given the cream a go and it hasn't helped, although like the article says it's that nice moist environment which i guess makes it hard to clear even with the cream perhaps

hope you get it sorted!

[nightcat]

Hi Instinctive
Zn deficiency is frequently linked with skin lesions of all sorts (and lowered immunity allowing fungal/bacterial infections to get hold).

If you want to test for deficiencies w/o needles, you could try hair test, I did that for my ds and it was very useful (and picked up Zn def plus some others). Not on NHS, but children's should be about £20 now, either Biolab (London) or Foresight labs (Sussex). It's all done by post.

[Instinctivemummy]

Thank you I'll be sure to try that!

[Instinctivemummy]

Thank you nightcat that's really interesting, I think I'll be giving that a go too!

[nightcat]

:) I don't like needles on my ds either :)

Another thing I sometimes do for my ds is a urine test, but this is more for general/metabolic stuff then deficiencies.

My medical prof friend says that for deficiencies hair results are more reliable then blood as blood can be affected by foods eaten recently whilst hair is more a reflection of cell tissue content.