Sudden spots all over nappy area

[AngelDog]

My 22 m.o. has suddenly developed spots all over his nappy area. It's not normal nappy rash, nor hives - it's distinct and separate red spots, some of which are starting to form a head.

Yesterday morning DH put on one of his (cloth) nappies inside out so that the fleece was against his skin rather than the hemp bit. When I changed the nappy DS had a few spots which I assumed was down to the irritation. But it seems to be getting progressively worse. It's spread all over the area covered by his nappy and to the top of his legs.

There are a few faint spots on his neck and feet this evening, but that might just be coincidence.

He also has a funny patch on his tongue which appeared today. The back part of his tongue appears to be darker than the front part. Both look 'normal', but there is a distinct colour difference, a bit like looking at the outline of an island on a map.

He has eczema but usually only on his face (where it's quite bad). He's teething but he's been cutting molars for the last 3 months so that's nothing new.

I wondered about thrush as he's recently had a course of antibiotics for his face but he doesn't have very white patches on his tongue or mouth, and I don't have any nipple pain (he breastfeeds).

Does that ring any bells? I'm trying to work out whether it's worth a GP visit or a just a quick check with the HV.

Staph infection? DD had that twice. First you get red spots, then they start forming a head, and then some can turn into boils. I made a mistake of thinking that it was some kind of nappy rash so didn't do anything for a week or so, then went to a doc who prescribed an AB ointment, but the infection was too far gone, so she had to have oral ABs, nasal AB cream, topical ABs and antibacterial soap to use in a shower- all that for 10 days.

Baths are not allowed as that helps to spread the bacteria (although I found out that in the UK doctors don't seem to mention it).

You need to take her to a doctor pronto.

Does he have any yellowish crust in his nose?

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.fr/imgres?q=staphylococcal+folliculitis+children&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Yl7&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=960&bih=485&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=SsKCOntTef7LVM:&imgrefurl=www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Folliculitis_a250.html&docid=isai1Orbj_ZMPM&imgurl=www.steadyhealth.com/4542/Image/FollLesions.jpg&w=512&h=336&ei=p86lTqDMOs-N4gTIpJHhDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=63&vpy=205&dur=1087&hovh=182&hovw=277&tx=127&ty=99&sig=113857228931032552525&page=3&tbnh=80&tbnw=122&start=17&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:17" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">does it look like this

Stahylococcal folliculitis.

how big are the spots? is the head blistery or more like a white head?

could it be chicken pox?

I am sure ds once had something like this and they said it was folliculitis. having Google utter i am not totally sure but whatever it was the doctor wasn't worried and gave him cream for it. he wore cloth as well.

Have they started to look like blisters? Dd's chicken pox started in her nappy area, and i thought it was nappy irritation until they popped up every where else. Advise seeing gp, as it could be anything.

Not sure why utter is in my post. silly autocorrect

Hmm, I had wondered about chickenpox - ironically we decided not to visit friends yesterday as their daughter had been in contact with a girl who'd developed it.

It could be staph folliculitis but I'd need to have another look at his skin in comparison to the photos (he's asleep at the moment). He had a staph infection in the eczema on his face which was what the abx were for - he finished the course a week ago.

The spots are more pimply than blisterish, I think. The ones which are coming to a head look like they've got a bit of fluid in them.

His nose is a tiny bit crusty, but no more than the usual dried-on snot, I think. He's started a runny nose today.

Thankfully they don't seem to be causing him to itch (yet). He's had lots of nappy free time but it doesn't seem to have made any difference so far.

Thanks for the tip about baths, winny - we do give him one every night due to eczema so I'll leave off that for the time being.

Off to the GP tomorrow it is, then. Thanks everyone.

Btw the pic I linked to is a pretty mild (or the beginning of) case-DD's spots turned very quickly bright red.

It can be a bugger to get rid off- DD had it, then DP had a boil on his hand (he had a blister there from rowing and we think he got the infection off DD when changinf her), so he was on ABs for 12 days, then DD got it again, but we caught it early and used the cream, now DP has a boil inside of his nose and is on strong ABs and I have just found some yellow crust in DD's nose so she's obviously carrying it-so I'm calling a doctor tomorrow. I've heard that nasal AB creams are very good and it's not a bad idea to treat the whole family so to get rid of staph going back and forth between family members.

Hand washing, different towels etc are a must.

My DD started chicken pox like that. If it is I highly recommend Poxclin from Boots and bathing in head and shoulders shampoo.

Oh, and DD got it after we were using different kind on nappy on holidays-that coupled with hot weather did it.

Staph commonly lives on skin and if you get some king of microscopic irritation plus skin occlusion it will penetrate into that or into irritated/traumatised hair follicles and voila- quite common apparently among kids but staph can also cause septiceamia, toxic shock syndrome etc, so I would definitely check it out.

That sounds like a right nuisance, winny.

DS had staph. aureus in his nose, which was treated with AB cream a month or two ago. DH and I got swabbed too - DH had it but I didn't, but it took ages to get the treatment organised so he's only just having the ABs now so there's been plenty of time for him to reinfect DS in the mean time.

The eczema nurse actually swabbed DS's nose last week so the GP should be able to look up the results of that if necessary. If the GP's no good, we're off to the dermatologist on Thursday to review his eczema treatment.

He did have an all-over body rash and a few bumps with it for about a month which was seen by 2 GPs and the dermatologist, all of whom said to just keep an eye on it. It cleared up immediately when he had the ABs for his face. That was quite different to the current spots though.

We seem to spend half our lives giving him medicine and putting on cream. Thankfully he takes it all very well.

Awww, poor chap.

It was not fun when DD's spots turned into boils DP looks like Rudolpf the Reindeer right now I mean , of course

Rudolph, that is

Could it be hand, foot and mouth? My dd has something similar and there is an outbreak at her nursery. I started a thread and another poster has responded that it's not necessarily on the hands and mouth that the spots form.

I was just going to suggest the same thing as Issy: DS had that as a baby and it started on his feet and bum.

Is the skin on his feet sort of shiny?

Well we managed to see the GP this morning. She thought it looked impetigo-like and has prescribed him 2 courses of ABs, one for staph. and one for strep.

The nose swab last week didn't show any significant growth of staph.

We'll see what the dermatologist says on Thursday, and whether the ABs seem to be helping by then.

Thanks for all the replies.

Hope he feels better soon AngelDog. DD has had her HFM confirmed too.

Thanks, Issy - hope your DD doesn't have it for long.