Parental Dilemma

As parents we are constantly striving to do what is best for our children. We faced this with Grant when we were dealing with C Diff and the appropriate course of action. Whether it is deciding how to discipline and what approach is right or making a medical decision such as whether to put a child back on an antibiotic after it has proven it isn't working.
 
We are treading the same waters with Amelia although it is with a relatively minor issue at this point. At her 2 month check up, our pediatrician indicated that Amelia is beginning to develop very minor labial adhesions. Well of course questions went to what is it and why does it happen.
 
Labial adhesions are occur when the inner lips of the vagina or the labia minora have become stuck together. The area that's joined may be just a small section (Amelia's case), or it may be extensive. This happens to about 2 percent of girls up to age 6 in the United States. Some little girls just seem predisposed to it. Experts think adhesion happen when the labia become irritated and raw — possibly from soaps, lotions, allergies, lack of estrogen circulating through the body, or wet or dirty diapers — then fuse together as they heal. Adhesion tend to develop at about 3 months, just after the estrogen a baby received at birth from Mom has tapered off.
 
Our pediatrician suggested we use a "cream" applied with a q-tip twice a day. I guess in some ways I was caught off guard and didn't ask as many questions as I should have. I assumed "it's just a cream and people apply creams to baby bottoms everyday." Naturally what I did do when I got home was some research. This research informed me that the "cream" prescribed was actually an estrogen cream (premarin isolated from pregnant mare urine!!!) that helps to separate the labia (if the lack of estrogen theory holds up to what causes the adhesions). What I also found out was the side effect of said cream can be breast enlargement, vaginal bleeding, and early menstruation (yes... Even in an infant!)
 
It took me about 2 seconds flat to call the doctor and ask some more questions. I had read alot about a more waitful watch approach using products such as A&D or vaseline (or in our case our choice for the time being is alba un-petroleum jelly) and she was comfortable with that since Amelia's is very small, not causing discomfort during urination (or so it seems) nor is it causing infection which are possibilities/side effect if the lesions close up enough and begin to close off the vagina and block the urethra.
 
It is just another example in our lives as parents where we have needed to advocate for our children and do research and it is my hope that other parents/friends do the same. Yes... Doctors often have our children's best interest at heart and may feel a treatment is harmless but there may be other and better options or what they are recommending may not even be necessary in the 1st place.