Metanium and nappy rash

Hello,

Last time I popped in it was because Iris had nappy rash and thrush, which I was treating with drapolene and clotrimazole cream. That regieme didn't seem to solve the problem, so the HV prescribed metanium. The rash cleared up a few days after starting to use that cream - yay! So, eventually, we stopped using it. She must have only had a week free of creams and the rash seems to have come back. This time there doesn't seem to be any thrush and her skin doesn't seem spotty, just red. In the meanwhile, Iris has also been diagnosed with ezcema - her face feels like sandpaper and looks very red and sore (it seems to be just her face, neck and scalp that's affected, not her body at all). All of which leads me to think that my little girl has very sensitive skin. So, I have a few questions:

Does anyone use metanium at every nappy change? If so, how does it affect your nappies/liners?
Can you suggest a better cream that I can use as a barrier cream?

And, just in case it's relevant, to wash her nappies, I do a 30c wash without detergent, followed by a 60c wash with one capful of Ecover (or the Tesco. And the majority of her nappies are cotton Tots Bots, although there are some fleece and microfibre inner pockets in our stash, too. I use cloth wipes and just water for cleaning at nappy changes.

Thank you for any help!

Nichola

Hi Nicola - as for washing, the only thing I do any different from you is do an extra rinse at the end of each wash to make sure all the washing detergent is removed from the nappy. I do this with all of our washing anyway as my 2 older boys have eczema which flares up badly if I dont. The only powder I can use for them is Tesco non-bio - the rest are too harsh for them.

Metanium - I use this when Evie has a rash and it clears it up good and quickly, just use a tiny amount so you can still see her skin through it, and when her bum is clear I dont use anything. Again, we use plain water when changing and find this works best. When she is a bit red I tend to give her loads of nappy free time, and that really helps too. Just wondering if you use liners in your nappies and which ones - if you are using fleece then could the liners have got clogged with the nappy cream and so arent letting wee through as quickly so its making her bum damp? And wraps - fleece and wool are both more breathable than PUL so keep the bum cooler.

Hope someone else can give you more advice to help sort it out.

Sadie xx

Sounds like you have found the cream which works for you.

Ben has a sensitive bum and we have to use bio powder to wash his nappies otherwise he reacts to the nonbio. When we were literally slapping on tons of barrier cream I gave up with fleece liners at together apart from the ones with pockets and switched to boots as they are reusable over and over in the washing machine unless they have poo on which gets flushed.

I have found you just have to stick with what works at the time - Shevi also had a top tip which I have followed that if a nappy is just wet (and I can still see some barrier cream) I just change the nappy & liner without wiping and irratating the skin more.

We use metanium when we have problems, and that clears it up for us. Not sure I would use it all the time, as it has some quite strong chemicals in it. We use calandula (?sp) cream at other times between metanium if it looks like she is a bit irritated. I think some others use Shea butter as a natural alternative.
We did get a lot of rashes when we changed washing machines, and got detergent build up. Now we do a short wash with no detergent after a normal wash (with bio, as non-bio brings her out in a rash), and that has helped solve problems.

Thank you for your advice, all.

Rae - I don't want to use metanium all the time - too many chemicals. Apart from anything else, it seems very drying for her skin. The redness looked much better this morning, however, so I switched to some Earth Mama Bottom Better Balm (it's called something like that - it's pretty much just olive oil). That seems to have sorted out the dryness, so I think her skin's back on track today. So I think I've got the combo that works for us sorted. I'll definitely consider a further rinse after the first two cycles. Will have to check the options on my machine!

Annette - thank you for that tip! I will definitely leave on any residual cream, rather than trying to clean her up too much. It makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. I feel a bit dense now for not working that out before.

I was using fleece liners, but they seem to have clogged following the last bout of rash. I've tried borax, but that did nothing. So a search here has revealed the washing-up liquid trick; I shall try that later. As Iris is breastfed, I've found that paper liners just cause everything to try and escape from the sides (there has been one explosion, but I think that in part was due to DH being lazy and not fastening the nappy as tight as it should have been - grrrr). So paper doesn't work for us. I really like the fleece liners. I'm just concerned about how quickly they seem to have clogged and what's needed to unclog them and make them useful again. Also slightly concerned that if the cream I use is doing that to liners, what's it doing to the nappies while the liners are out of action?!

Sadie - I'm using fleece at night time, with a Tots Bots nappy. I'm a bit nervous about using wool - it seems to be a lot of effort to care for. Am I worried about nothing?! Is there a particular wool wrap I should look at (a nice, entry-level one?!).

Thanks again.

Nichola