Week 33 (73): Unknown rash

Antonio developed a fever that began on November 28, Friday night and cleared by Saturday evening. We did not think much of it, as he had weathered fever twice before.

However, on Sunday morning, a rash began to show starting from his neck. It quickly spread to his entire face and arms, with angry, tiny red spots on his chest, back and legs.

We had no idea how this happened, and thought it might be an allergic reaction to something - an insect bite, sucking his fingers after touching an unclean surface - or even chicken pox.

This is a picture of the rash on the morning of December 01, Monday:



While the rash cleared a little by Tuesday, it still looked fierce, so we decided that an expert should take a look at it. As I was worried, I decided to bring him to the nearest hospital to us, Kasih Ibu Hospital in Kedonganan. We were there for less than 10 minutes, as the consultation charge for an Italian national (i.e. Antonio) is Rp1,000,000 (approx. S$131.60, with exchange rate of S$1 to Rp7,600). Note: that amount does not include medication yet!

Thus we had to wait until evening, and headed to Puri Bunda Hospital. On arrival, we were informed that his usual paediatrician had returned to Java for the upcoming Idul Fitri holiday. So we saw another paediatrician instead.

However, all this paediatrician could tell me was that it is probably an allergy, but whatever caused the allergy could be anything! He told me to stop eating fish, eggs or pork as these foods can create an allergic reaction in babies through my breastmilk. He kept insisting on this, even after I told him that Antonio had never had such a rash before and had developed no problems from breastfeeding. He then gave me Apolar Desonide topical cream for application, and Fenistil drops for reducing itching.

I did not give any of the Fenistil drops to Antonio, as I noticed that he did not scratch himself at all. As for the cream, I applied a very thin layer only at the areas that seemed really badly infected.

I would later learn from Dr Shermela that Desonide is a steroid cream, which overall is not good for use on infants.

Any how, as of today, the rash has cleared up considerably, with only some extremely tiny black spots on his thighs and arms. There will be a visit to Dr Shermela in the near future, as we are returning to Singapore for a short spell.