Coconut oil to the rescue!

While I go the more natural route, I still adhere to some modern traditions for my kids. If my kids have a fever for three days I take them to see a doctor. Sure it could break on the evening of day three but for my kids I suck it up and take them. Little bear had a fever a few months ago that may have been caused by an ear infection but could have just been a little red due to the fever. I prefer seeing the old school doctor who errs on the side of nature vs shoveling kids full of antibiotics. That trip the only one we could see was a semi-retired nurse (one of those near doctor type nurses) that checked Little Bears ears and said, "They look a little red." and with no other symptoms present prescribed some meds. Now I'd just had Little Duck seen a week before for a mysterious fever and the doctor said the slightly red ears were probably due to the fever instead of the other way around. How I wish he had been available. I was like well maybe it'll be okay. Follow up appointment showed clear ears.

At this point I had started watching two kids of a friend. They had colds and all three of my kids picked it up; at least we assume it was a cold. My youngest two developed ear and eye infections. Bears second round of medicine and I regretted that previous round. Luckily we had a well baby visit the next week before we went on vacation. Our regular pediatrician said neither kids' ears looked like they should after being on medicine for six days. So she prescribed something slightly stronger and it worked.
Anyways we went on vacation and used disposables on the bear because we would have no access to a washer/dryer for four days. During this vacation we noticed bear developed a bit of a rash. At first the rash responded to calendula cream (a little) but not like we hoped it would. Then we tried the strongest version of Boudreaux's Buttpaste and it kind of seemed to help but not at night. So I was pretty sure Little Bear had a yeast infection due to the scratching, the buttpaste not working and the look of the rash. Urgh!

Previously when Little Bear was smaller the pediatrician thought a rash might look yeasty. (Any rash bear develops looks like this while using disposables.) She recommended that if diaper cream didn't work that it was probably a yeast infection and to try monistat 7. We went to Target before we left the city to pick some up just in case and only found Monistat 3 but I hate using something for adults on a toddler and especially when it's not the exact one the pediatrician said was okay. So we went home empty handed and at that time the rash cleared up the next day when I put bear back in cloth and used California Baby diaper cream which is safe for the types of cloth diapers I use. 

This time we're 99% sure it's a yeast infection. However without it being seen by a doctor for verification I was extremely hesitant to buy and rub Monistat 7 on it. Unless you've had it verified that it's a yeast infection then I'd hesitate to rubber stamp that diagnosis. But I was armed with knowledge given by the pediatrician about this and I decided to try something natural that would cover a broad range of possible issues without creating superbugs. I remembered that coconut oil was supposedly a treatment. Dozens of articles later I've found that for external use a refined coconut oil is fine. That's good since the only coconut oil available around where we live is refined. >.< I bought cold pressed, unrefined coconut oil online but I didn't want to wait a week for Little Bears treatment options. My husband picked up the refined coconut oil and while I was skeptical, I knew it wouldn't hurt anything. After One diaper change we saw a difference. Wow I was astonished. The redness was down to pink and the bumps were down a bit. The scratching was reduced as well. Day two it was looking way better; little bears legs were still splotchy but only where the diaper couldn't keep the coconut oil from rubbing off. Day three the main area is not bumpy at all and just a bit pink in spots. Today is day 4 and I'm just amazed at how quickly this stuff is working. Even bears legs are looking less bumpy and red due to tighter pants and/or shorts that seem to be holding the coconut oil in place. Honestly if this is the refined stuff I wonder how awesome unrefined will be. I'll use the coconut oil until every suspect area is gone.

I've held off on putting Little Bear back in cloth diapers because I didn't want the infection to linger on the inserts. At this point Ill give it a shot since coconut oil is cloth diaper safe and a few extra hot washes will make sure the cloth diapers are clean.

I'll make my own natural deodorant when I receive the unrefined coconut oil and other supplies I bought online. I've been using baking soda but I want something I can roll on and not make a huge mess with. Plus baking soda after shaving = poor unfortunate souls.

Now Ursula is singing in my head and I'm wishing we owned The Little Mermaid movie on DVD. That's my favorite movie.