FFF: the thumb bandage

Since we last spoke, lots has gone on in our little household... Maybe that's why I've been so quiet the past few weeks. ;) For now, I'll update on the most recent excitement in Enoch's life -poison ivy.

Over the weekend, the boys played in the back yard and did a little cleaning up of the scrub brush on our yard's perimeter. On Monday, a rash showed up on Enoch's and my hands (I had cleaned off his hands after they were finished playing), which had all the markings of poison ivy. Hugh didn't get any, but he's pretty sure he's not allergic (lucky!!). I applied generous fingernail polish to our rashes, and mine calmed down immediately. We soon learned, however, that Enoch's rash was on his sucking thumb (he sucks it when he falls asleep). His rash remained about the same on his thumb for a few days, but yesterday we noticed the tip of his thumb beginning to harden and the general color intensifying. :/

So this morning I took him to the pediatrician who diagnosed it as contact dermatitis. The poison ivy rash is apparently what started it, but sucking on it for the past week has apparently aggravated it. She gave us a script for some hydrocortisone and recommended that we try covering it so that he can't suck on it (to keep it clean & dry). Unfortunately, she also guessed that it may not go away fully until Enoch stops sucking his thumb completely (or switches thumbs, which is my hope of what may happen if she's right).

Anyway, today after lunch, we attempted to wrap Enoch's thumb. I used some of the stretchy wrap that only sticks to itself (not to skin or hairs) and integrated his wrist into the wrap so that it wouldn't pop off his thumb (hypothetically). Let's just say that Enoch did great during the wrapping process, but that all changed once he learned that the bandage was going to stick around (no pun intended). After a bit of consolation I laid him down for a nap, and although he eventually fell asleep, it was certainly a struggle. The first time that he woke up during a light sleep phase of his nap (he usually has 1-2 of these per long nap), he couldn't comfort himself back to sleep and got really frustrated. Poor guy!

We reapplied a new bandage after his thumb dried out (apparently he still tried sucking on it during the nap), and now he's getting more used to it while he plays. Hopefully he won't have such a struggle tonight with sleeping. If he does, we'll just call it newborn-prep for us and habit-breaking for him. ;)