Horrendous Diaper Rash

[Hollynesss]

A month or so ago my daughter had the most awful, horrendous diaper rash ever. She had diarrhea, and even though we changed within minutes each time, her skin actually became burned from from the acidity. It took burn cream to heal it. It was so awful. Her pediatrician suspected a sensitivity to cow's milk, as we had just switched over to cow's milk when the issues started. She's now been on soy milk since then and has been doing great!

However, ever since then, even though we slather her in a thick layer of diaper cream at all times, she develops a rash very, very easily. It isn't like a normal rash, though, she gets open sores on her skin. I am at a loss! We switched brands of diapers and have tried every cream imaginable, from zinc oxide based to petroleum and lanolin based. Nothing is helping. We do diaper free time as often as possible, but we can't keep her naked all the time.

Has anyone experienced this? Any helpful advice?

 

[LoraLoo]

Has a fungal infection been ruled out? This happened with one of my little ones and it turned out to be thrush. I bathed him in water at each nappy change and patted him dry with a soft towel. When it was really bad we would use the hair dryer on a cool setting so i didn't have to rub his skin at all (on advice of hv) ..it took weeks to fully clear though. Im not sure whete you live but metanium is amazing cream for nappy rash. Obviously if its fubgal youd need anti fungal and/or steroid cream too.
Hope she gets better soon bless her

 

[IchigoMewMew]

Did you put so much cream on her before she had the bad rash? If her skin isn't broken I don't think you need to put on so much that it doesn't soak in, if any at all. I've heard that it can interfere with some nappies being able to hold the wee away from the skin. Have you shown the sores to a doctor? It's also possible that an infection has developed. Hope it clears up for her soon sounds awful

 

[6lilpigs]

Do you use baby wipes? If so switch to cotton wool and water, even the 'sensitive' baby wipes contain chemicals which would eat through my babies skins Also the only disposables we can use without irritation are Natys, GL x

 

[noon_child]

I agree it could be thrush. The classic "white spots" were often not present as they would often be red open blisters by the time we took my LO's nappy off (even though she was changed every 2-3 hrs).

 

[Teri7489]

It's possible she has allergies to other foods causing the rash. Both my nieces has terrible nappy rash from tomatoes, dairy and certain fruits. Now they are 6 and 7 they are more tolerant of the food but as little babies when they had a dirty nappy they would have such sore bums with like you say, burnt areas. I would be inclined to visit the doctor again and ask for a referral to the dietician. Beforehand it may be handy to keep a diary of food she eats, when she does a poo and the kind of nappy she has (where there it has caused any issues) It will help them to help you.

 

[Hollynesss]

Thanks ladies, I'm thinking possibly food allergy. Fungal infection has been ruled out, and it seems to happen no matter which brand of diapers we use. Since she's not eating dairy I think we can rule that out, which is a relief since I'm not a huge fan of soy milk for her.

Thank you for the input!

 

[luz]

We quit using regular rash creams and now use calmoseptine. It works wonders! The only thing that would heal the open wounds on my baby's bum

 

[xdxxtx]

My first and fourth babies were so prone to diaper rash, it isn't even funny. Like you, it was open wounds. With my first baby, we switched to cloth diapers. This ended our problem. He was 6 months old when this problem started, and it was almost 2 years before he "potty trained" himself, so it was worth doing for 2 years. We used the cloth diapers until they were all worn out, which was before my fourth baby was born. When he started eating solids, he had the more "grown up" poop as well, and he gets those red open wounds and a bloody butt very easily. We make our own diaper rash cream using a recipe from this website. It gets rid of the diaper rash way faster than any other cream we've used, and we use this ingredients for other things, too, since we're very crunchy.

Also, depending on the age, I'd also start putting that baby on the potty. Not full-on potty training, but just introducing the potty. At about a year old, I sit all of my babies on the potty across from me whenever I sit on the potty. We'll sing together.. I'll pee... Eventually, my babies all pee, too, and we cheer and dance and whatever encourages that particular baby. Soon, each child would at least pee EVERY time we sit on the potty. The first poop was accidental, but once they pooped once or twice, they'd go to the potty almost every time they had to poop. My babies would all still pee in their diapers and occasionally poop in the diaper, but most poops would end up in the potty, and rashes became very rare.

 

[loeylo]

Thanks ladies, I'm thinking possibly food allergy. Fungal infection has been ruled out, and it seems to happen no matter which brand of diapers we use. Since she's not eating dairy I think we can rule that out, which is a relief since I'm not a huge fan of soy milk for her.

Thank you for the input!

Most babies with dairy allergies are also allergic to soy. My dd is allergic to dairy but not soy, apparently this is quite unusual. Gracie gets unsweetened almond milk.

She has the exact same rash as you are describing. We were told not to slather her in cream is it acts like oil and clogs the nappy, making it less absorbent so the urine stays on the skin.

We were prescribed a steroid cream which helped. We were told to have her nappy off, not to use wipes and to dry her thoroughly. We also woke her up at night for a nappy change, she usually sleeps through.

Our routine was 2 hourly nappy changes during the day and 4 hourly at night. Calpol and calprofen alternated to help with the pain. After each nappy change we put on a bit metanium and then left her nappy free for a while (be careful, it stains!) then we wiped it off with cotton wool and water, put the steroid cream on and then the nappy.

Trying to get family members not to slather her in sudocreme was like trying to herd cats though.

 

[Hollynesss]

That's interesting, I hadn't heard about a soy allergy coiciding with dairy allergies. That is good to know! She doesn't have an allergy, however, just lactose intolerance, and soy milk is lactose-free. Her stools have never hardened up, though. She only poops once a day, but it's not very solid. We have her on a probiotic, but I really don't think it's helping honestly.

We did switch her to Aquaphor (it's petroleum jelly-based) and that has helped tremendously. She hasn't had any more rashes since we started using it. We're in the US, so I haven't ever heard of most of what people have suggested She is in daycare, and they don't accommodate cloth diapers, so we can't go that route, but they do change her every 2 hours. We don't usually do a change during the night, but since we've been using Aquaphor we haven't had any issues at night. We also use Huggies overnites one size bigger, which really helps as well.

I think I'll talk to her doctor about the soy milk, just in case.

 

[loeylo]

That's interesting, I hadn't heard about a soy allergy coiciding with dairy allergies. That is good to know! She doesn't have an allergy, however, just lactose intolerance, and soy milk is lactose-free. Her stools have never hardened up, though. She only poops once a day, but it's not very solid. We have her on a probiotic, but I really don't think it's helping honestly.

We did switch her to Aquaphor (it's petroleum jelly-based) and that has helped tremendously. She hasn't had any more rashes since we started using it. We're in the US, so I haven't ever heard of most of what people have suggested She is in daycare, and they don't accommodate cloth diapers, so we can't go that route, but they do change her every 2 hours. We don't usually do a change during the night, but since we've been using Aquaphor we haven't had any issues at night. We also use Huggies overnites one size bigger, which really helps as well.

I think I'll talk to her doctor about the soy milk, just in case.

Lactose intolerance is really rare, is it definitely the lactose she is reacting to? Usually it is the protein in cows milk which causes issues, particularly when it presents like yours. Otherwise, lactose free cows milk would be suitable. The protein in cows milk is similar to the protein in soy.

Google cows milk protein allergy to see if any of it sounds familiar

 

[Hollynesss]

Thanks loeylo, I'll do that! The nurse practitioner we saw when she had the burns on her bum said it was lactose intolerance, and I didn't think to question it. I do find it odd that she still has soft/runny stools even on soy milk. I would rather have her on cows milk. I was thinking of trying out that new A2 milk, I'm just so worried the diarrhea will come back.

 

[loeylo]

Thanks loeylo, I'll do that! The nurse practitioner we saw when she had the burns on her bum said it was lactose intolerance, and I didn't think to question it. I do find it odd that she still has soft/runny stools even on soy milk. I would rather have her on cows milk. I was thinking of trying out that new A2 milk, I'm just so worried the diarrhea will come back.

I'd try to speak to a dietician. Since seeing a dietician we have had so many seemingly unrelated issues solved. She still has some digestive issues and still can only tolerate a small amount of dairy per day (1 small yoghurt, a small piece of cheese, or similar) and definitely can't drink cows milk on its own.

Apparently lactose intolerance only starts in late childhood.

 

[minties]

Soft mushy stools are normal at this age though, right? None of mine have had solid poo as toddlers.

 

[Hollynesss]

Minties, yes, but not runny. My daughter had solid stools before switching to milk.

 

[Babybump87]

Sorry if I've missed anything just glanced over the thread .

DD2 has a cows milk protein allergy . Got diagnosed at 11 months. She also went onto soya milk which gave her terrible nappy rash and an upset stomach . Dietician told us that children usually start off ok with it but the more they have their stomach cannot handle it . We switched to KoKo coconut milk and she's been fine since !! .

You mentioned the nurses said it was lactose .. do you know if they did any tests for this ? I would ask them to clarify it's lactose before trying the A2 milk as if it's a protein allergy it's not recommended and she will react to the milk. Is she still completely dairy free ?

Like PP said it's more likely to be a protein allergy in babies than a lactose one as I think I've read it usually develops in people aged between 20/40 .

Keep us updated if you don't mind would like to know how your both getting on as it's a hard road being diary etc free !

Xx

 

[Hollynesss]

Update: we saw the pediatrician again as her rash was still hanging around. This doctor ruled out dairy as the cause since it's still been going on even on soy. He prescribed more of the silvadene cream (this stuff is seriously amazing!) and we put her back on cows milk, and she's happy as a clam! Poops are no longer runny, rash is completely gone! It's been a week and so far so good. I'm hoping things stay okay! Her original diarrhea was likely a stomach bug and not a reaction to milk at all.

 

[Babybump87]

Glad to hear she's doing well

Fingers crossed she continues this way ! Good luck x

 

[hmaz]

That's good she's feeling better. I'm not sure if you get it in the US but bepanthan cream is fantastic for nappy rashes. My daughter used to get terrible rash, almost like a burn. We had to treat it with a steroid cream for a short while, switch to cloth nappies and wipes and use bepanthan cream as a barrier cream at all changes. It worked brilliantly and I'm using it to prevent rashes with my youngest.