Nappy Rash SOS

Oh Help! Lucy has the most awful red and blotchy bum I've ever seen She's 6 months and up until now has never had any problems in her totsbots (with paper liner). She has just cut her first two teeth so perhaps that has somthing to do with this but I really am at a loss how to treat it. I have tried Earth Friendly Baby Red Clover cream, Sudocrem, Matanium and Bepanthen but she has now had it for a week and nothing seems to work. Being very laid back she isn't bothered at all so I assume it's not THAT sore
Any suggestions. None of my sons ever really had nappy rash so I haven't dealt with this before. I have heard that it can become infected so would obviously like to sort this out. Am also really upset that everyone keeps telling me it's the cloth nappies Do I really have to put her back in sposies until it's cleared up?
Claire
x

Hiya!

if you are concerned that it may be infected take her to baby clinic! the health visitors can prescribe whatever cream they think would be the best option!

try to ignore the 'it's cloth nappies' comments I know lots of sposies users that have terrible nappy rashes and I know cloth users that do too!! some babies get it some don't it's a simple as that really!!

jan x

I would definately try switching to fleece liners which keep the skin dry and help it heal while it is sore.

Second thing I would do is strip the nappies - do a wash with plenty of detergent and then rinse until you see no more bubbles

Thirdly what temperature do you wash at? While sore it's good to wash at 60.

Zinc based creams (such as EFB red clover, sudocreme etc) while they are effective barrier creams aren't very good at letting the skin breathe so don't always help.

It is probably worth your while getting a health professional to take a look to make sure it isn't an infection or thrush as they tend not to clear up without medicated creams

Disposables don't always help clear up rashes - my daughter is allergic to them so it definately doesn't!! :p

There is no evidence (lots of studies etc) that cloth or disposables are any better when it comes to rashes - neither cause nor help them, some people do find that disposables help rashes but others find it the other way around.

Lots of nappy off time is good as is looking at what you clean her with - while she is sore/teething you may need to change this.

While they're teething the wee becomes more caustic to the skin I find and smells really ammonia-y and I have to do more rinses on my nappies with more vinegar (helps neutralise the ammonia)...

Sorry for the essay but I hope some of that helps you. If you would like to try some different creams check the top tips sticky thread above

Having just got to the bottom of Ben's bottom with what turned out to be fungal nappy rash from 4 days old - so over 3 months of sore bum.

Try using bio powder at 60 (nothing else in with wash like lavender or vinegar)

don't bother with sudocrem or any cheap nappy cream

Get to the drs and see if they think its fungal - if it is don't walk out with prescription for daktarin as it sits on skin as a cream, you will need daktacort which is used at every nappy change and sinks into skin and then for us we have just found a huge layer of bepanthen works (so have switched to paper liners, but we also use fleece lined nappies some of the time so put paper on top to catch the cream).

We literally get through masses of creams 2 x 100g bepanthen a week and 2 x 30g daktacort a week, before that the dr had said to use vaseline on top of the daktacort so got through 4 to 5 tubs of that.

I also believe Ben gets all spotty in disps which are different from the other spots so don't go down that route - if you dr is really worried they will take a swab to check what it is and see what creams are also needed. (to me I don't bother with HV's as they know less than my gps)

Good luck at it clearing

Also what are you using to wipe / clean bum at changes.

Generally you need something soap / cleaning based to clean and then something to rinse skin, then pat dry to its all lovely and clean before putting on any cream. Sounds stupid but it really does need to be clean and dry as otherwise its a vicous circle.

Sorry don't mean to sound all bossy, but I can't let anyone else change Ben's bum as I can't take the risk (apart from dh) that they will do it right and it would take days to recitfy.

Oh yes I forgot about not putting ANY essential oils in the wash...

There was a time when no-one else could clean Isabelle without her getting rashes - annoying when she was at nursery!!

I would get it checked by a doctor just in case it is fungal like thrush. I struggled on with what I thought was nappy rash for a while and it was a friend sugested it could be thrush we saw the doc and he confirmed it was.

Thanks so much for the replies.
At the moment I'm just using water at nappy changes, drying and then putting cream on.
Have just washed all the nappies on the heavy duty 60 cycle with 2 extra rinses with bio - DH wanted to wash at 90 but was a little worried about the velcro
Thanks for the advice about creams - I've made a note and am going to see a dr tomorrow. My GP is v v v pro cloth nappies so I know that I won't get a lecture about that
At least Lucy doesn't seem worried about her spotty botty
Claire
x

I just remembered another thing...

While she's spotty try to avoid using synthetic materials (altho' I don't count fleece here) such as microfibre... I find it can make them a bit sweaty and make any rashes worse... I know Shevi has had to get rid of it altogether...

I swear by the earthfriendlybabycompany's wipes, we found just water (or solutions) and reusable wipes made rashes worse for some reason - but these wipes really do the trick... Strange but true!!

A cold camomile tea solution is very good for wipes - and be extra careful to make sure you're not contaminating the water when you clean her as that can have an effect on the rash too - I suspect I may have been doing that without realising so may try again with re-usables soon...