Talk Nappy Rash to Me - What Works For You?

[Pandamum]

So I'm considering myself pretty lucky to have gotten to baby no4 and only now having my first encounter with nappy rash.

I'm clueless and have no idea what to do. I need help!

What do I put on it - if anything? How do I prevent it?

Miss Lucy doesn't have it all over but has little patches - like sores - where the skin has broken They first appeared about 10 days ago. I just made sure she has heaps of nappy free time and changed her frequently and they healed up. But they're back It started again yesterday and they skin has broken open again today.

The only common factor I can think of is that it has happened both times on stinking hot days. Is it usual to get a nappy rash outbreak from heat?

All tips most appreciated

[lesley4]

It could just be heat rash Fiona. Nappy free time, bamboo velour inners and curash powder work for us. I've also used Redgum bottom balm, but I've run out - but it was fabulous.

[Pobie]

Did she get the broken skin in the same places??

I found with Kai that I had to continue treating him like he had the rash still for about a week afterwards so that the skin had a chance to recover fully.

I would give him lots of nappy free time and I used zinc and castor oil cream to try and protect the area.

Sorry to say but I also found that sposies helped for long stretches (eg naps) when I couldnt change him as soon as he was wet. The dryer the area the better it was for Kai. Not all babies are the same though.

[MadMel]

I use lots of cornflour based powder and nappy free time where possible. Oh and putting BBH on him for a day or 2 seems to help a whole lot!!

[MadMumof3]

calendula when there are sores, use it for about a week more ( remember to use liners as it stains) and then cornflour for inbetween tho atm we are using destin(sp) as shes just had a really bad rash and hers coincides with teeth mainly.

[stellarella]

We are going through the exact same thing, but we also have eczema in the nappy area to contend with.
We keep going around in circles because whatever clears up her rash causes an eczema flare up. The heat is a contributing factor I'm sure.

At the moment we use pre-boiled water with a drop of calendula tincture to wash her thoroughly each change, we only use cloth wipes and cotton balls. Then we dry her thoroughly.

Then we apply a generous coat of Organic Apricot Kernel oil and use either a fleece or silk liner depending on whether we are fighting eczema or rash :/

If it's eczema we use silk as the fleece dries her out, if it's a rash we use fleece to keep her dry.

I change her after every single wee too, so we are going through a tonne of nappies. Anything chemically/disposible she reacts to (sposies, wipes, liners)...I am finding Cute Tooshies Bamboo Velour nappies the nicest on her skin, especially during the eczema break out. So now I have 15 of them.

It's a vicious cycle because she reacts to all the creams we have tried, hence only using the oil, and letting her dry out too much causes an eczema flare up :/

It's horrible isn't it?
We have battling one thing or another for about 6 weeks now

[johT]

more baths than usual help too - even if its just a dip in that area. fleece inners def irritate it i find, go natural

[Pandamum]

Thanks for all the great replies

I've got curash powder, calendula cream and bamboo velour nappies already here at home so will be giving it a go in various combinations.

With a baby who isn't mobile I'm also finding it easy to keep her nappy free almost all the time.

When we went out yesterday I just lay her on some prefolds and loosely swaddled her in a muslin wrap for modesty. No problems - just changed the prefolds over often.

Stellarella - that sounds awful - glad you've got a system that is working. It's awful seeing their skin broken and sore.

[bilbylove]

heat rash?

yep.

we had a MOnster outbreak of nappy rash last Jan, at the same time as we were experiencing many 40 degree plus days.

the baby sweating inside their nappy, brings about ideal conditions for the nappy rash to occur and keep going. that's why "goig natural" with fabrics is such a help.

i sewed up double layered flannelette liners - which were good. Later on, i sewed up double layered cotton velour liners, if you have bamboo velour, that would be nice too.

when the rash was at it's worst, i had her in natural inner nappies, fitted with wool soakers (if i needed the waterproofing e.g sleep or car ride). Later on,as the rash cleared and stayed away, i experimented with re-introducing some nappies with synthetic inners. BUT i mitigated the synthetic inner, by laying in, one of my natural fibre inners. So by trial and error, i have worked out what she can tolerate. And thankfully, wearing a night nappy with synthetic inner, is something she can NOW tolerate. but i use predominantly natural inner nappies in the daytime.

for childcare, i got swaddlebees pockets with organic velour inners.

((and btw, flushable liners vary HEAPS in how soft they are, i recommend the tots bots ones, and the bummis ones, for not irritating the bottom.))

sherpa, hemp and bamboo are good for nappy inners, but i still put in my homemade liners, so any stains go on the liner, not the nappy inner. (i don't have the ability to hang nappies in the sun where i live).

There are SO many diff types of nappy rash, excellent link posted recently, i'll go away and try to find it again

here you are:
http://www.nappycino.com.au/forum/bottom-end/87-different-types-nappy-rash.html#post720

well done for lasting this long without having to deal with nappy rash! i made it to 14 months, and i thought THAT was good, ha ha.

oh and also
- cloth wipes n water
- gentlest detergent you can find (we're using Aware Sensitive by Planet Ark)
- no bubblebath (i think to do with the SLS in most of them).

hope you get some results soon!

[MGlatte]

I've heard that cooled Chamomile tea is supposed to be soothing. I have some, but keep forgetting to use it.