help beatng horrific diaper rash

[lmh2402]

DD has been sore for literally over three months

horribly, horribly red. not open sores, just extremely raw looking skin

no raised bumps that i see

so i'm thinking, not yeast...right?

i've been using triple paste, aquaphor and maalox for two months. at times it gets a bit better, but never totally clears. and right now it's really bad again.

we NEVER let her sit in a dirty diaper. i let her air out a few times a day

i'm at a loss

please give me some tips

thx

[BunnyBee]

Have you tried switching diapers?

Calmoseptine is what my ped recommends. I've used it on myself and it's amazing. I got samples from her and ordered tubes on amazon.

Does she take probiotics? Does it clear with dietary changes?

[MamaMolly]

I wonder if it something fungal? Has your ped seen it? ETA: Oh I hadn't thought of switching dipes, but Lula could never tolerate Pampers brand.

[ArizonaGirl]

I agree not yeast.

I know that this may not be popular, but for both DS when he was in dipes and for DD now a little pure cornstarch prior to Aquaphor or Desitin really helps.

It is great, because it dries the moisture out on her skin and then when you put the moisture barrier on (Aquaphor, Desitin, Triple Paste, etc.) you are locking the new moisture from the urine out and not keeping her moist bum moist, if that makes any sense.

HTH

[westwoodmom04]

We use to use a little hydrocortisone when a rash got really bad. Usually clears it up within a day or two.

[abh5e8]

hmm...i agree with trying a new brand of diapers. how much to you let her skin air out? that always clears up the red bums around here. sometimes food sensitivities can cause the redness as well. nuts, i know will do that.

[petesgirl]

I've used coconut oil and it works pretty fast. I wonder, too, if it could be allergy related. DS always had horrible rashes when I was nursing him and I ate dairy, but he had other symptoms too. My mom still remembers that if any of us kids ate red licorice we would get a bad rash. Maybe try to think of something along those lines that could be causing it?

[lmh2402]

ugh.

i've tried cornstarch. i tried using a bit of hydrocoritsone. she takes daily probiotics. haven't seen changes based on diet. pedi saw it awhile ago - said it was probably just acidic burning b/c of teething.

but this is literally now three months of burned skin. it's horrible.

maybe i should try a different diaper? we've been using the swaddlers sensitive, but i need to size up to 5 so we'd be moving out of the sensitives anyway.

suggestions for diapers?

[ArizonaGirl]

We can't tolerate pampers here, we do huggies little movers or kirkland generics, which are the same as the huggies little movers.

I work at a local children's hospital and we swear by a compounded product for acidic diaper rash that is cholestyramine powder suspended in Aquaphor original ointment. You do have to have a script for it and it will have to be compounded by a specialty pharmacy, but it sounds like you have really tried everything else.

So sorry that you are dealing with this, bum rashes suck. :hug:

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yeah, I'd definitely give up on those diapers. Try 7th Generation or Earth's Best (assuming they still make them?? I'm a few years out!).

[o_mom]

What worked well for us was to do a clear water rinse after each dirty diaper followed by an air dry with a hair dryer on cool. Then a thick - really thick, like Einstien's puts cream cheese on a bagel thick - coat of Balmex. If we were away from home, I would rinse the wipes under running water, squeezing them out before using to get all the cleaning solution out of them, then fanning with the new diaper as much as possible to dry their bottom. Baking soda baths every night as well.

[AnnieW625]

Butt Paste (the original one) was the only thing besides switching diapers (from Pampers Cruisers--the pre dry max ones from 2007) to Seventh Generation that helped my DD1's diaper rash. I liked Seventh Generation better than Earth's Best diapers. Both of my girls also never had an issues with Huggies Little Movers (same as Huggies Supreme from pre 2010, they changed the name sometime between 2009 and me having DD2) or Costco's diapers. I would actually suggest one of those brands over the Seventh Generation ones if you are already moving into size 5 diapers because Seventh Generation diapers are cut a little small and the size 6 diapers are super expensive IIRC even on subscribe and save from Amazon.

[California]

Hmmm... Three months is a long time, that must be so hard on both of you. Below are my random thoughts in case anything helps!
1) Are you wiping her off every time she pees? A L&D nurse told me with my first that that wipes off the natural protective coating babies make on their own skin and irritates their tender parts. It seems counter-intuitive since rashes can be caused by pee mixing with poo, but I decided to follow her recommendation and all three of my kids had few very few diaper rashes.
2) Is she eating new foods?
3) Definitely try different diapers. We cloth diapered so I can't give recommendations, except for 7th generation (think thats the one) on trips and never had an issue. But even with cloth we did try different brands as one did irritate my DD2's skin.
4) How often are you bathing her? What are you washing her with? My DS's skin would get irritated if he had a bath every night. It was all over though, not just on his bum. Is any other part of her irritated? Do her lips/face get irritated when she eats any particular foods?
ETA: PP made me think of this- you could always try cut up wash clothes and water for a week for wipes, too, to see if the chemicals in the wipes are irritating her.

[mikala]

Another vote for switching diapers. Your description sounds similar to the Drymax reactions. I don't know if your style of Pampers uses it but personally avoid the brand because Drymax caused a reaction in DS1 years ago.

I'd also try to use plain water or water with the tiniest amount of soap for changes instead of wipes when home.

Eta: could there be any correlation with the start of the rash and a new size of diapers? I think I remember when someone saying that the smaller size of one of the Pampers styles did not contain Drymax but the larger sizes did.

[ArizonaGirl]

Another random though have you changed wipes recently, or has the formulation of your wipe changed recently.

We use the Kirkland brand wipes and I know that they have changed them recently and I will be watching carefully when we get a new box for a reaction because both of my kids have wicked sensitive skin as do I.

:hug:

[dream135]

We discovered that even the sensitive wipes cause redness in my DS. We use Viva kitchen roll and plain water and pat the area dry with a soft towel. Wait for it to completely dry and then use triple paste. No wiping for a non-poop diaper change.
If he has a blow out we wash with water over the toilet after using the paper towel wipes.

[cagey]

DD suffered pretty much until she was potty trained, but here's what we did to manage it:
-switch to 7th gen
-wipes that were rinsed out with plain water (I'd just rinse, squeeze and reload them into the wipes box)
-tub (primo tub!) every night with oatmeal bath. on good nights, used about 1/3 packet. on bad nights, pretty much a whole packet and kept her in there for about 15-20 min (read lots of books to her!)
-air dry after tub
-lots of diaper cream, sometimes a homemade mix of A&D, old school desitin and neosporin (can't remember the exact proportions)

for us, the diapers + oatmeal bath were the biggest noticable changes. I can totally sympathize--i changed many poopy diapers on the side of the road trips when driving back and forth to ailing IL's as I didnt want her sitting in a dirty diaper for one minute longer than she neeeded to.

Note, she never had excema, any skin irritations or allergies--this was just plain ol' diaper rash.

[123LuckyMom]

I agree with other posters about ditching wipes. I know it's a PITA, but give her a little dunk in a tub (or sink) and a really good dry off (hair dryer on cold air only) at every diaper change. Stop wiping, even with water. dunking and washing is better.

I, too, recommend powder. A pure cornstarch powder just until the rash clears up will not kill her. I promise. In my experience, a really bad rash like that gets worse with creams. Water baths and powder are the only things I have found that heal a really bad rash like that.

After three months, though, I would try an anti fungal like clotrimazole. I can't imagine a rash sticking around that long unless the creams are just locking the moisture in against the skin. I'd try powder first, then an anti fungal if you don't see results in a week.

[AshleyAnn]

DD had something similar - turned out she had ezcema on her booty. It never really got 100% better until she potty trained. The heat and moisture in the diaper with the chemicals were just too much foe her skin. Our Pedi gave use a steroid cream to help and it was a huge improvement

[maybeebaby08]

Everything the PPs mentioned about switching diapers and I use Coconut oil or California Baby Calendula Cream ( I use the old formula). Usually clears up rashes quickly.

[westwoodmom04]

I would take her in to see the doctor again. They can prescribe a prescription hydrocortisone if OTC isn't working, or tell if an anti-fungal would help. If you "guess" wrong, you may wind up irritating the area more. Both my kids had sensitive skin and were prone to diaper rash and eczema, and we battled some ugly rashes. Agree with prior posters that if its sensitive skin, less frequent bathing would help.

[MSWR0319]

For some crazy reason, when DS has really really bad diaper rash once the only thing that cleared it up was slathering on thick, the purple tube of Desitin. I tried everything imaginable before that. Natural remedies, Butt Paste, Aquaphor, etc. None of them cleared it up totally except the purple tube. I would switch diapers and try Huggies Pure and Natural, Fisherprice diapers (these are great for the price and have no fragrance, etc in them), or Seventh Generation ( I wanted to love these, but for some reason my kids always leaked in them).

[bekahjean]

I used Johnson's medicated baby powder and I swear by it. It is corn starch, not talc, and has zinc added to it. It was cheap, very effective, and not difficult to apply to a sore bottom.

Once we switched from a cream (aquiphor, butt paste, or desitin were our normal creams), any rash would clear up in a day or two. Previously, we would deal with weeks worth of rashes.

I hope you find the solution that works soon!

[wendibird22]

DD1 had a horrible burning rash when she was a babe. The doc gave us a prescription burn ointment and it worked wonders w/in a day. If a change in wipes and dipes doesn't improve things I'd make a trip back to the ped.

[JBaxter]

Switching diapers would be my first step Chlorine free like 7th generations is were I would start I had to do cloth with Nathan. I would also make my own baby wipes or use water. I used plain corn starch ( from the baking isle) rather than anything with scents. Lots of diaper free if you can

Earths best .. that was the other brand I used with Jack.

[NJ_Mom2011]

Switching diapers would be my first step Chlorine free like 7th generations is were I would start I had to do cloth with Nathan. I would also make my own baby wipes or use water. I used plain corn starch ( from the baking isle) rather than anything with scents. Lots of diaper free if you can

:yeahthat: Besides this advice (especially regarding using water instead of wipes, avoiding wearing diapers, and using some powder/corn starch instead of rash pastes), I would go (1) to the pediatrician, and (2) change the quality of your kid's poops. Sorry to be graphic about it. But if you have liquid poop, that is an issue. At least for us, we had to put my daughter on the BRAT diet, especially eating bananas and rice. We also switched out milk and stayed on soy for a week. More solid poop is less irritating to a kid's bottom.

[daisymommy]

Pampers Sensitive still has DRYMAX in them!!! Please throw them out and get some Huggies or something else. I'll bet you money the redness will go away!

My DS2 had chemical burns that took nearly a month to go away from Pampers aft they added their DRYMAX formula. Yuck.


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[carolinacool]

I wonder if it something fungal? Has your ped seen it?

This is my thought. DS developed a couple of really raw, red spots last fall when we switched him to pull-ups. Even switching brands didn't seem to help. After a couple of months, we took him in to the ped, who said it was fungal and told us to use Lamisil (I think?), followed by hydrocortisone. And we ended up back in diapers. We went back to pull-ups again in the early spring after he cleared up, and it started to come back. So we just pushed ahead to potty training. I know you aren't at the PT stage yet, but just wanted to say that it could very well be fungal.

[lmh2402]

thanks, guys

i forgot to say that we've been using water only wipes already

still no improvement

her poop is not liquid, i guess it's just very acidic for some reason. she eats a LOT of fruit. maybe that's why. but i would hate to take that away from her.

maybe i will take her back to the pedi - i thought it might be silly to bring her in for a diaper rash, but i haven't had any luck thus far

last night i ordered a small pack of earths best - will try those first. also ordered OTC athletes foot/fungal cream, a huge box of baking soda and something else that i can't remember right now

hoping something helps over the weekend, if not, we'll go into the doc on monday

[janine]

Late chiming in but both times with DD's when they had bad diaper rashes which would not respond to butt cream I have tried anti fungal and that did it. If it is yeast related diaper lotions won't do a thing. With my eldest, she got ther horrible rash around 2.5 and we just escalated PT as the diapers really had to go.

[marymoo86]

We did battle with something similar. DD never had a rash like that. My protocol was baking soda bath, air dry/diaper free time, coconut oil, and then top off a couple of times a day with Lotramin. Daycare used Triple Paste while she was there. Took a good week to see improvement.

[BunnyBee]

Google the Pampers Drymax rash and see if it looks similar. WF carries 7th Gen and their own 365 brand which we have used on vacation. I think it is softer than 7th Gen, but I don't have a huge sample size. Normally we use cloth. Just in case you needed something before it could be delivered. Hope it clears up quickly!

[egoldber]

When my younger DD ate blueberries or too much of any fruit, she got a rash like that. I did have to ration her fruit.

[BabyBearsMom]

When my kids have a bad diaper rash I mix aquafor with neosporin and Desitin (the kind that comes in the purple tub and smells like fish, yuck!) and it clears them right up. The Desitin is pretty chemically, but for the rare severe diaper rash I would rather it be over faster than spending weeks or months with something less chemically on them.

[lizzywednesday]

We dealt with that.

First, it was using Pampers. We switched to Huggies Pure & Natural, until she started walking. We were OK with Little Movers by then, though. She also did well with Fisher Price diapers.

Then, it was a yeast rash - which presented EXACTLY like you're describing. DD's yeast rashes NEVER had bumps. We used prescription cream (Nystatin) & OTC hydrocortisone, applied with a glove directly to the affected areas, then a thick coating of Butt Paste over the top of that. Baking soda in the bath helped, too.

Once we cleared the yeast, we actually switched from disposables overnight to cloth overnight and that seemed to help.

Taking a leaf from the cloth diapering book as well, we started using "butt spray" rather than wipes for pee-dipes and in addition to wipes for poo - we rotated between the Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion and Homestead Baby Wipe Companion brands. It helped keep DD's bum clear - with no recurrence - until she potty trained this past April.

[Blue Hydrangea]

DD had a couple weeks of a diaper rash that was only cured by a homemade remedy, I didn't make this up, but I swear, it works if the problem isn't the diapers themselves:

Equal parts:
Neosporin
Vaseline or Aquafor
Hydrocortisone
Monistat cream

Mix together and frost buns liberally.

[Tondi G]

Sounds like the aweful rash that DS2 got from Pampers. We switched to Huggies and all was well ... oh and used Costco Kirkland diapers too (they were just like huggies supreme). When DS's hd bad diaper rash we used Aquaphor ... any of the white creams burned more. Triple Paste, although it is white, sometimes helped as well.

[llama8]

My DD had that and it wasn't yeast. The only thing that worked was to apply Triple paste and pour on cornstarch on top at each diaper change. It cleared up by the end of 3 days. (Cornstarch does make yeast worse so keep an eye on it). My Grandma said that cornstarch is what they used in the old days and it was a miracle cure for us.

[JBaxter]

My DD had that and it wasn't yeast. The only thing that worked was to apply Triple paste and pour on cornstarch on top at each diaper change. It cleared up by the end of 3 days. (Cornstarch does make yeast worse so keep an eye on it). My Grandma said that cornstarch is what they used in the old days and it was a miracle cure for us.

My grandmother swore by washing baby butts in safeguard soap air dry then sprinkling with corn starch.

[anatolia]

My son had the same problem and none of the diaper cream (triple paste, desitin, butt paste etc) worked. Not even the anti-fungal medicine prescribed worked. Our pediatrician recommended Triple Paste AF (not the normal triple paste) (http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Paste-Antifungal-Medicated-Ointment/dp/B001C9R7KY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378504889&sr=8-1&keywords=triple+paste+af) and this cream helped clear up his rashes in a day or 2. It was very effective for us. We were only able to find it at amazon as none of the usual drugstores like Walgreen or CVS carry it a few years ago. Hope your DD gets better soon.

[lkoala]

I highly recommend Nature Babycare Diapers. We used those for most of DD's diaper and potty training years. They work great and are very gentle. Also used Earths best wipes. Good luck!

[jenstring95]

maybe i will take her back to the pedi - i thought it might be silly to bring her in for a diaper rash, but i haven't had any luck thus far

It's not silly at all, IMO. I took DS to the doctor AT LEAST 3 times for diaper rash when he was young. Probably more like 4-5. It was horrible. If you are looking for diaper cream, I highly recommend ditching all the name brands. Go to the drug store and buy the generic zinc oxide. It works the best and costs the least. I went through many diaper creams (including ones that stained - looking at you, Boudreaux's, ones that DS developed a sensitivity to and prescription ones) before I figured that out. The diaper rash could be caused by yeast/fungus (our ped gave us a Nystatin prescription with a couple refills because we had this issue a lot), bacteria, food sensitivity, diaper sensitivity, etc. Your ped can help you sort it all out. Good luck. I know how horrible it is to deal with frequently. :(

[bigsis]

So is it a big rash or is it red spots?

My DS had red spots all over his bum. He had it for over 3 months. It didn't seem to hurt him, but it didn't go away with all the creams/vaseline I put on him. Then he got tested for food allergies. I found out that he's allergic to wheat. I stopped the Cheerios and other wheat and the rash went away.

[purpleeyes]

So is it a big rash or is it red spots?

My DS had red spots all over his bum. He had it for over 3 months. It didn't seem to hurt him, but it didn't go away with all the creams/vaseline I put on him. Then he got tested for food allergies. I found out that he's allergic to wheat. I stopped the Cheerios and other wheat and the rash went away.


YES! I was just going to post this. DD's allergies presented with a horrible, red, weeping, bleeding rash. Our ped prescribed an ointment which alleviated it to some extent, but it never really went away until we addressed the allergy issues. I would absolutely go back to the doctor and push for allergy testing. If they won't or only do basic blood work I would make an appt. with an allergist.