help please - tip of ds's penis is red

Ds is 15 1/2 months old and today while changing his nappy i noticed that the tip of his penis is quite red. He is not circimcised. It doesnt seem to be sore and he hasnt been playing with it (well - more than usual anyway;) ). I asked dh about it and he said he noticed it last night after his bath but tonight it looks worse. I'm a bit worried that it might be serious. Has anyone else has this happen to their little boy?
It kins of looks like his foreskin is trying to turn inside out iykwim?

Should i take him to the Dr or see what happens??

TIA

Kristy, yep i would.
I've spent a good part of the last few weeks observing DS's penis lol. It could be a myriad of things - yeast infection, bacterial infection, trauma from a particularly vicious tug, UTI....heck my DS managed to contract herpes :o (not saying that's what it is but).

Can't hurt to get someone to have a squiz.

IS he passing urine ok?
I would get it checkecd out. DS had a red tip a little while back, the next mornign I noticed it was a bit swollen. Luckily i got into the doc's that day. She took a look - he let her! I couldnt' go near it without fits of giggles - and saw taht he had some small abrasions on the end (don't ask, I have no idea!!!) I just kept it clean and it was good as new a couple of days later.

My DS used to get a red tip on his foreskin quite a lot, a dab of Bepanthen usually cleared it up fairly quickly. He has sensitive skin and I think it was just a bit of urine burn from rubbing inside his nappy.

I always used nappy cream on his penis and bottom anyway, but I would just put an extra dab right on the tip without rubbing it in.

Get it checked out because you don't want to be thinking that it will pass and instead have it get worse. In the meantime, bathe it in some warm salty water and it should help until you can get to a Dr.

Yep, get it checked out. We have been dealing with this on and off for a couple of months. On closer inspection we noticed it was a little scratch that turned a bit nasty and it would bleed occassionally at nappy changes. DS has been on oral anti-biotics and a cream that I apply twice per day and it improved quickly.
The Dr will probably want to check that he can wee ok still, as scarring can cause problems if it gets worse.
In the meantime, clean with water and if you can use cloth and water to wipe clean after nappy changes in case any of the ingredients in the disposable wipes may be causing it to stay inflamed.

DS gets this. For him it is mild and usually if he has been in a wet nappy for too long (e.g. overnight nappy). We apply sudocrem and it clears up within a day. If it doesn't seem to resolve then get it checked out.

My DS has been a bit red - but I think it may have just been from it rubbing against his nappy. It cleared up on it's own.

If you are concerned though, definitely get it checked out.

THanks everyone for all your replies. I think i will go to the Dr tomorrow just to be sure as if i dont go then and it doesnt clear up after that i wont be able to get there till staurday.

Marcellus - his nappies are wet so i'm sure he is passing his urine ok.

Kim - oh no, my sister got herpes when she was little too - still unsure how :dunno: hope it clears for your ds soon too

Curly - i thought abut putting cream on it but i didnt want to irritate it further and since it wasnt bothering him i didnt want to upset him incase it stung - glad to know it doesnt though

Trillian - salty bath sounds good, thanks, i'll put him in one in the morning

Megan - hope your ds's clears up soon too. It could be a scratch. I use cloth so no stingy wipes here :)

Krysalyss and Sterla - its not really bad, but it is noticable iykwim? i hope its only something minor and wil clear up on it own.

Thanks again ladies for your help, its much appreciated. I hope in the morning its cleared but if not, its a trip to the Dr for us.

Same thing happened to my DS (very red tip but no noticable discomfort) and it turned out to be thrush. I initally thought it was some kind of nappy rash and just tried nappy rash cream for a day or so but it didn't get any better, so we took a trip to the doctors! Apparently a nappy is a ideal place for thrush - wet and warm.. (ewww). The doctor gave him a few creams - I think one was a thrush treatment and the other was a cortisone cream for any pain and it healed very quickly and hasn't returned.

update

Took ds to the Dr and it seems that he has an infection :(
Have no idea how he has done it but he seems to have pulled back part of his foreskin. Have cream and antibiotics and a follow up appointment in aweek to see how is going.

Thank you all again for your advice (and so quickly too)

Hun, don't worry about it too much, when they are little and playing with it it can be easy for them to get a bit of dirt or something in there to make it sore. I hope the poor little guy feels OK soon :hug:

Hope it is better soon.

It sounds the same as what we have been dealing with. What cream are you using? We're using Hydrozole. That, along with the antibiotics (that awful pink medicine) made a difference very quickly.
Try and give him as much nappy free time as you can as well as that will speed up the healing process.
Hope it's all better soon :hug:

We've just finished a round of canestan on Tristan (thrush) what you described sounded exactly like his, except when I noticed it it was very swollen too (wasn't like it at 3pm nappy change but was at 5:45 nappy change) I took him to the hospital I was so freaked out! Thank fully it's all better now.

Anyway hope it gets better soon :hug:

Megan - the cream is actually an eye cream lol, its called chlorsig eye ointment (prescription only one) and the pink medicine sounds the same as what you have. I must say that today it looked alot better after just one dose of the cream and ab's.