Chapped

Olivia loves chapstick. The nicer the smell, the better. She loves to smear it all over her lips, her cheeks, her chin, her hands, anywhere she can reach.

She's been fighting diarrhea this week. Not bad, just enough to make things messy and stinky and, as of last night, to irritate her butt quite a bit.

Last night, she begged me to let her use the chapstick on her butt.

She kept saying it was itchy and that it hurt.

And I'm sure it was and did. It was red and raw and looked very painful. Poor baby.

But I told her if she used the chapstick on her butt, I'd have to throw it away after because I wasn't going to take the chance on someone else (or Olivia) using that same chapstick on their lips later. Ewww!!!

She finally gave up the fight and I smeared her poor bottom with Desitin and vaseline. She fell asleep with her hand in her Pull-up, patting her own sore butt.

This bout of diarrhea takes me back to the days when we were first visiting Indianapolis to see if we could get her diagnosed.

At that time, Olivia was two years and two months old. She weighed 23 pounds and the developmental pediatrician who saw her was worried about her weight.

She put Olivia back on whole milk in an effort to fatten her up. We still use whole milk in our house and O's all the way up to 32 pounds these days.

At the time, I asked the doctor if the extra fat would affect O's bowel movements. They were already difficult for Olivia. She sometimes went several days without pooping and when she finally would manage to do so, it was hard and dry.

The doctor recommented Miralax. She said it was not habit-forming and it was gentle enough to use on someone Olivia's age.

I bought some and then read up on it. Every single parent who'd given it to their child said that the child became dependent on it.

I decided to keep it as a last resort. And I stocked up on apple juice and pruine juice.

And we haven't had to use the Miralax yet.

This week, though, I'm attempting to increase O's fat intake in an effort to bring back those harder, tougher poos. Poor kid's butt needs a break.