DD, who has spastic diplegia, has athlete's foot - What do I do?

[Jokat]

Dd is almost four and I've just discovered that she has a lot of lose skin between her toes, so I think she's got athlete's foot. Because of her diplegia, her toes are always tense and almost curled up whenever she walks or does anything that requires a bit of effort. I suspect this is why she'd get quite sweaty in between them.
She tolerates me touching her feet in general, but she will not let me move her toes apart (to get rid of sock fluff etc) without kicking off as she is so hypersensitive between them. When I try to wipe the gaps between them, she literally tries to kick me off and howls at me, that's why I haven't done it in ages
Does anyone have an idea how I can clean the gaps in an effective yet very gentle way and also get rid of the athlete's foot so it is as stress free for her as possible?

I suffer athletes foot terribly surgical spirts is the best i have found for treating you could really flood a cotton wool bud and squeese it againts the underside of toes and let it well up between the toes i do this as i can't stand things touching my feet hth

Thank you both, that's great advice! Will give it a go tonight

Corn starch powder helps keep things dry once you have it all cleared up as well. The last thing she needs is a bacterial skin infection secondary to the athlete's foot. I'd say maybe a bit of input from an OT about helping her decrease the sensitivity in her feet to make cleaning easier might help a bit too...

Thanks BeeMom. Yes I'll speak to her OT about it. We had some good activities in place over the last couple of summers to desensitize her feet, and it helped a great deal. Maybe we'll just have to reinstate them for a while and see if we can get into those last little nooks and crannies as well...

One other thing... when I dry Bee's feet (she has spasticity in her extremities as well) I do my best to get her dried off, then, if it is not too cool in the house, I will allow her to play barefoot for a while. It doesn't fix the sock fluff and lint problem, but I hope that open to air time might help her skin. I have been known to use a handheld fan or a hair dryer on cool to dry her feet as well.

To be honest, now that we are going into the winter, she will be in socks/tights/shoes/boots even more... I will probably start washing/drying her feet every night before bed again.

Can you massage your DD's feet? Instead of trying to pry her toes apart, if you push up on the sole of her foot right below her toes, her toes will spread apart a bit and you might be able to get a cotton tip between them to clean the gap out, kwim? If nothing else, a foot massage wight help to desensitize her feet and is a bit of calming special time between just you and her.

Yay, thanks to dh's suggestion (he does have his moments ) I got the gunk out with soft bits of tissue while she was asleep! The nxt challenge will be to squelch stuff in between the toes. Forgot to get the cotton whool out of dd2's bedroom, so will attempt this tomorrow, probbaly also while she's asleep. If I can get away with it, it'll definitely be the easiest option.

DD wears smartknit socks under her AFOs to help with any excess moisture www.smartknitkids.com/Products/Seamless_AFO_KAFO.html
Might be worth trying to stop any re infections

Sorry
www.smartknitkids.com/Products/Seamless_AFO_KAFO.html

Thank you isw, am looking at them. Their local provider link is under construction so I sent off an email to find out where I can get them. How much have you paid for a pair of those?

We use the sensory smart socks for DS with spastic diplegia CP. well worth the money but they are expensive at £10 a pair. I find them especially useful in summer so his feet don't get so not and sweaty in splints and heavy shoes. We get them from here sensorysmart.co.uk/.

No help with the athletes foot though sorry.