Rash, Fungus, Allergy or Dermatitis?

During Bailey's first months of life, she occasionally got dry patches of skin on her body. They usually cropped up on her sides, collar bone and the backs of her shoulders. I self-diagnosed her with eczema. I never thought much of it since after a few days of Aquaphor Intensive Healing lotion the spots always cleared up. Then, when we moved to humid Paraguay the spots stopped cropping up and I all but forgot about her skin "issues".

That is, I did until April.

The first week of April her dry spot on her collar bone returned - about the size of her pinky - and I treated it as I had before. At most diaper changes, I rubbed on some lotion and waited for it to go away. But, alas, it didn't. The dry, irritated patch began to grow and crept along the entire length of her collarbone, even dipping down onto her chest. It began to look more like a rash and less like eczema. Daddy was worried but I assured him that it would clear up, just like it had always done in the past.

By May first, the "rash" had spread onto her back. It was painfully obvious that it was more than some dry skin:

We scheduled an appointment with our primary physician who diagnosed her with a fungus (nothing specific) and gave us a prescription for an anti-fungal cream to put on her back at night following her baths. I did my research on the cream and the oh-so-trustworthy internet reported that it's a cream used for funguses like athlete's foot, ringworm and jock itch - fungal skin infections known collectively as tinea.

After five days of treatment, the "fungus" had multiplied, spreading to her belly, and taking on a deeper red hue:

After a quick call to the doctor to report that the medication was NOT working, we were referred to a dermatologist. Our friend Mara helped with the translating and from what I could tell, the dermatologist was leaning towards an allergic reaction as being the cause for the irritation. We were instructed to discontinue using all lotions, creams, soaps and detergents. She recommended a laundry soap only available in bar form (which meant hand washing all Bailey's clothes), put chamomile tea in her bath, and gave us the names of two lotions to put on Bailey's skin. One was a mild moisturizer (similar to an Oil of Olay) to be applied morning and night and the other was a cream used by nursing mothers to relieve dryness from, well, nursing, to be applied at night on the affected areas. It seemed an odd combination - and I was skeptical about the fact that there was NO medication in the creams - but we gave it a shot.

The "allergic reaction" stopped spreading, which was promising, but a week later, it wasn't any better and every time Bailey played outside, the "allergic reaction" would get more and more red.

Back to the dermatologist.

She was concerned, too, about the fact that things were not improving and gave us the name of another cream (oh goodie!). This one actually contained medication (used for atopic dermatitis) and the dermatologist said to only apply it every other night because of it's strength. We were to continue with the other creams in the morning and on alternating nights. After five night and only three applications of the newest cream, her skin is clear:

Thank you, LORD, for answering our prayers and giving healing to our baby girl! She had been terribly fussy (for her) and we are overjoyed to have our happy baby back.