Sorry to bombard ya'll with so many questions but I finally have a few minutes to myself :c) For the last several weeks my son who is almost 33 months old has had peeling toes. It is on the sides of the tips of his toes. It looks like the skin you see right before a blister develops however, it never turns into a blister but the skin will peel and it bothers him. Over the last few days it seems to be painful for him. We buy all of his shoes new and they fit him well.
Last week I took him to the pedi for it and he said it was caused by the moisture in between his toes. My son doesn't wear shoes 95% of the time and I'd say he wears tennis shoes maybe 8 hours a week (just for the kidz zone at the YMCA) the rest of the time he is in shoes he is in sandals. His feet do sweat a lot and his socks are always moist when I take his shoes off. The pedi said to put regular baby powder in his socks to help absorb the moisture. I've been putting a good bit of powder in his socks before putting them on him and make sure to wiggle the sock around to make sure it gets everywhere. It isn't helping. When I take his socks off, his feet are still moist. Any ideas? Thanks.
Those of you who have dealt with this in the past, does it go away with age?
My husband, my son, and I have all dealt with this in the past. Here are some things that help:
1. baby powder or foot powder in shoes
2. drying shoes over a vent at night
3. changing socks at lunchtime to a clean, dry pair
4. going barefoot while home and indoors
5. wearing sandals all summer long (but still drying them at night)
This can lead to athletes foot, so it's good that you are being proactive!
Hm, I've heard about this with boys heading into puberty but not a toddler. The solution there is to wear silk socks. You usually find them at camping stores so you might have to cut down a pair to fit your little guy. The socks are a blended weave, the higher the silk content the better.
Having this much foot moisture be careful about where he goes barefoot as he is more susceptible to picking up things like athlete's foot. Good luck!
I've been through this with both of my kids. ....athlete's foot. It will actually cause little splits underneath their toes too. This happens even with flip flops. It started around 2 and my 6 year old still has problems in the summer. I just treat it with foot spray as needed. It will often come back, however. Be sure to lay his shoes in the sun for 4-5 hours a couple of times a week. I sure hope they grow out of it. I heard little kids tend to be sweaty and grow out of that to some extent. I sure hope so! I've never had foot problems or sweating but my hubby does. My poor kids apparently inherited that!
My 17 year old has this problem as well, and we put antipersperant on her feet. Along with the gold bond powder in her socks. And it really does work.
we fought this for years, so I will be curious to hear what answers you get. My pedi said the same thing. Try to find good wicking socks and keep his feet out of shoes and dry as much as you can.
Brenda,
My son had this and the pediatrician prescribed an antiperspirant (can't spell this late!) I couldn't bear the thought of putting that on broken skin. I put Shaklee's baby lotion on his feet and it cleared it right up. He never had a problem again.
Let me know if your are interested. I became a distributor for that and many other reasons.
Victoria
Argh, my kid gets swamp foot too. I put SO MUCH powder in his socks that the toes are heavy and he leaves little ghost prints everywhere. I've been using the non-medicated Gold Bond because that's what I had on hand but was actually thinking that maybe corn starch or even baking soda would be better. I'm not sure. Anyway, if I put TONS of powder in his socks constantly AND change them often AND have him go barefoot (at home) or wear sandals as often as possible it gets better. Fortunately it doesn't seem to bother him unless it gets really bad, which it did at the beginning before I noticed it (and the day he played in a puddle when I wasn't looking). My husband says he had swamp foot as a youngster too.
I bought my 3 year old new sandals two weeks ago and I noticed a week ago that her toes were peeling JUST like you describe. When I saw that, I didn't let her wear the new sandals anymore, thinking that its probably a reaction to something used to make the sandal. She has not been wearing them, and the problem is gone.
It does sound like it could be athletes foot, or even eczema. My eczema if I break out on my feet kind of looks like that.
I would not recommend any of the over the counter eczema or athletes foot remedies because they tend to be too strong for toddlers. I would recommend tea tree oil. It's a little expensive but it's a natural remedy for athletes foot and other fungal or skin irritations. Another all natural treatment is Witch Hazel which you can also find at the pharmacy. Witch Hazel is great for all kinds of skin irritations, bug bites, poison ivy, eczema and also makes a great natural skin toner.
After bath make sure the toes are really dry. You can even use a hairdryer on a cool setting to make sure they are super dry.
If that doesn't work I would talk to your pediatrician again, a prescription cream may be needed to help clear it up.
This may be way off base, but has he been to a pool a lot in the last few weeks? The reason I'm asking is because, depending upon the pool's surfacing, he may have what I call "pool toes". They're caused by the surfacing on the bottom of the pool being rough and basically sanding down the wet, softened skin on the toes causing them to peel.
Just wondering. Good luck.
