Whoa. Another symptom of all this rain, aside from frizzy hair and stir-craziness, seems to be diaper rash. I don't think I' e gotten any diaper rash questions in months, and then here they are all over the place.
I think that if your normal diaper rash creams/ointments (and everyone's got a favorite, whether it's Aquaphor or a zinc oxide cream) aren't working right now, it may be a fungus, not a straight-up rash, from the sogginess of the air.
If the irritated skin is flat, slightly raised patches that look oozy, you're looking at a fungus. The treatment is simple--over-the-counter antifungal cream (lotrimin) from the pharmacy.It should clear it up within a few days (especially if you can give your child some diaper-free time to air out).
As long as this strange rain is going on, though, the fungus could come back. So stay vigilant and be prepared to keep fighting it off.
Anyone want to reminisce about fungal diaper rashes you've known? My older son would get one every time he was teething.
i use aquaphor and maalox mixed together to soothe to pain/redness. it should help in a day. i bet you can probably add anti fungal to some if needed
Posted by: riann | June 22, 2009 at 06:44 AM
My 18 mo daughter is pretty tough. She's been stung, cut her lip to bleeding a few times and bonks her head pretty regularly - all of this without a tear. But she sometimes gets a diaper rash up front that can make her whimper and shudder in pain whenever we have to change her. It does look so red and raw and painful. It does seem to come around after a real runny diaper and goes from zero rash to flaming red in an instant. It gets so bad that we did recently take her to the doc for it. They say it's a yeast infection and swear by Greer's goo (nystatin, hydrocortisone, zinc oxide). I try cool cornstarch-filled baths too to help sooth it. Wish I could prevent it in the first place.
Posted by: Heidi | June 22, 2009 at 07:43 AM
Our son had a diaper rash for months that we were treating as a fungal infection. We also used Aquafor, lotrimin and Triple Paste. Nothing worked. And the teething drool stools didn't help. BUT THEN WE SWITCHED WIPES (we were using the Costco wipes...Kirkland?) and voilå, a perfect bumbum! We found that keeping him dry as much as possible helped, too.
Posted by: sasha | June 22, 2009 at 07:56 AM
Another thing that works like a charm for fungal rashes is to add a little plain white vinegar to bath water. It doesn't hurt at all and is incredibly effective.
Posted by: MLB | June 22, 2009 at 08:00 AM
I have a trick that has helped us - I'm curious to know if it helps other people, actually. My son's only in nighttime diapers but we did it earlier too.
At the first sign of rash I take an acidophilus capsule, break it open, and sprinkle it all over the bum and (for my son_ up around and under his scrotum. Since I started doing this we haven't had any horrible rashes that got really icky. No clue if this is really what did the trick but it's pretty cheap and easy.
Posted by: Shandra | June 22, 2009 at 08:44 AM
I have a recipe for the best butt paste ever at:
http://prettybabies.blogspot.com/2009/03/aunt-kathryn-and-diaper-rash-grand-slam.html
My aunt's son had a milk allergy, and would get bleeding, horrible diaper rash. This stuff works really well.
Posted by: Amy | June 22, 2009 at 09:02 AM
MLB beat me to the vinegar-in-bath-water recommendation. It's amazing.
Posted by: Shanna | June 22, 2009 at 09:16 AM
"My older son would get [a fungal diaper rash] every time he was teething."
Aah, that just made the lightbulb click on for me; THAT'S why we haven't been able to totally beat it! I've been getting discouraged because we have the thing almost licked, and then it returns. That'd be why, huh? Drool stool.
We've been using a mix of nystatin and triple paste, to some success. Having more air-out time on weekends means that usually his rash is worst on Friday. I am thinking of pulling up all the rugs and just letting him run around pantsless all the time. Perhaps it will speed potty training?
Posted by: Elizabeth | June 22, 2009 at 09:40 AM
Cloth wipes have helped at home, and switching from Target brand diapers to Pampers at daycare has made a huge difference, also. Darn! :-)
As far as treatment, we've used lotrimin, neosporin, maalox, zinc oxide, etc. In combo and alone. (Well, either the lotimin or neosporin, with the others combined). I will most certainly try vinegar in the bathwater next time!!
Posted by: Johanna | June 22, 2009 at 09:41 AM
Also want to add that wipes can be irritating to any kind of diaper rash. Buy a cheap pack of washclothes and use a bowl or squirt bottle of plain water.
Vinegar in the bath is genius!!!
Posted by: Missy | June 22, 2009 at 09:44 AM
diaper rash is what brought me to moxie! when jameson had his ostomy take down, they told us to expect god's own diaper rash, & they were right.
i used some baby oatmeal in his bath for frequent brief soaks, used reusable polarfleece doublers in his disposable diapers for an extra dry layer, used a hair dryer on low during changes, used wipes(commercial ones) that i had rinsed & put in a tub with a bit of water & some tea tree oil (from w*lmart), used non-zinc creams slathered on his bum & cornstarch powder in his leg creases...basically i ht it with everything i had. it was *awful* for a week or so, then got better as his skin got used to poop.
anyway, these ideas were mainly from the post about the sister-in-law who wasn't concerned about her baby's rash - lots of good hints in that one. can anyone link to it? i'm hopeless with linking.
Posted by: marci | June 22, 2009 at 09:47 AM
we've also had great results using a few drops of tea tree oil on a stubborn yeast rash that wasn't going anywhere with lotrimin.
Posted by: amanda | June 22, 2009 at 09:57 AM
We've had the bleeding rash after bouts of diarrhea (illness and milk protein intolerance). I like Flander's butt ointment (available behind the pharmacy counter by special order). We've had fungus and used athlete's foot cream, we've had regular red and used knock-off Desitin, we've tried everything (vaseline, butt paste, maalox, powder, hair dryer, squirt bottle, blotting not rubbing, pantsfree, air outside, blow on it, warm bath, cool bath, something pink with menthol from the doctor's office, A&D ointment, lanolin, aquaphor, eucerin, olive oil). Just throw whatever you have at it and wait it out. If something works, stick to it.
Posted by: SarcastiCarrie | June 22, 2009 at 10:05 AM
I'll second Shandra's recommendation for some friendly bacteria... we don't get many diaper rashes (Pumpkin doesn't sleep well or eat well, but the girl has buns of steel), but Culturelle is what finally kicked the thrush we got early on. We also use it whenever she has to take antibiotics (we mix it with her food, or before she was eating solids, with her milk), and it helps prevent the diarrhea and diaper rash that often come with those. Our pediatrician originally recommended this approach, and it has worked well for us.
Most fungal "infections" are really just overgrowth of yeast. The yeast are always there, but usually the friendly bacteria keep them in check. So sometimes, if you can get the friendly bacteria growing again, you can get rid of the yeast infection without any antifungals.
Posted by: Cloud | June 22, 2009 at 10:21 AM
I'm assuming these treatments (esp. the vinegar-in-the-bath) may also be useful for alleviating yeast infections in women? Does anyone have any data points on that?
Posted by: Rudyinparis | June 22, 2009 at 10:59 AM
@Rudyinparis -- I use vinegar in the bath, and sometimes add a little tea tree oil, to self-treat yeast infections. Works every time.
Posted by: sarah | June 22, 2009 at 11:03 AM
El has had a wide variety of diaper rashes. At 18 months, it seems to be settlilng down.
For the ones like @Heidi mentioned at 7:43, I tend to blame on an increase of juice, which I think she had trouble digesting and treat with faux-desitin and cutting out juice.
Yeasty ones, we treat with jock-itch cream and let her have a sit in a the bathroom sink with a domebro solution (you can find it in the poison ivy department of the pharmacy) - I don't remember the ratio, I think it was one packet for one bathroom sink (I'm pretty scientific like that).
She's also had a strep diaper rash. Which we treated with bacitracin ointment (not triple-antibiotic). If you treat a yeasty diaper rash with the bacitracin, it will get worse in my experience. For the strep one, she also was taking oral antibiotics for strep throat at the same time. This whole experience with the strep diaper rash and strep throat and leading into thrush was quite an experience at 10 months.
Posted by: Cathy | June 22, 2009 at 12:00 PM
We had trouble with diaper rash when using cloth diapers that had synthetic fiber against the bum instead of cotton, adding a natural fiber doubler for against the skin seemed to help, without having to buy all new dipes. Also, a friend's baby battled yeast diaper rash for a long time, she reduced sugar/simple carbs in both their diets and started putting a few drops of lavender oil in the baby's diaper. Seemed to do the trick.
Posted by: Rachel | June 22, 2009 at 12:14 PM
We use cloth wipes with water, because somebody is TouchyCheeks McSensitive over here.
First defense is air, and lots of it.
Second defense is this diaper cream made from Zinc diaper cream, maalox and bacitracin (2/1/1 ratio). It's a bear to get it emulsified, but it works like a charm.
Third defense (it doesn't usually get this far) is "Crap, that just turned into a yeast infection, didn't it?" and the slathering of prescription yeast glop.
Posted by: akeeyu | June 22, 2009 at 12:15 PM
For cloth diapers, a diaper rash may be a sign that the diapers need to be stripped. I just stripped ours for the first time in the three months that we've been using them - after the 4th wash in plain water I was still getting a tiny bit of suds, so there was definitely a good bit of detergent residue built up in there! Thus far stripping and using snappis to secure the diaper in place to keep it from sliding around under the diaper cover seems to be helping with the contact rash (beltline/abdomen and around the legs) that we've been struggling with the past few weeks.
Posted by: Mazlynn | June 22, 2009 at 12:56 PM
My favorite diaper cream ever is something that they mix behind the pharmacy counter called Fannie Cream (in North Carolina at least) or maybe Dermacloud. I don't live in North Carolina any more but I have a friend that buys it and sends it to me since I haven't been able to find it anywhere else. Has anyone else ever heard of this? It really is the best diaper cream ever and has pretty much always eliminated my kids' occasional diaper rashes in one change.
Posted by: Stephanie in PR | June 22, 2009 at 01:55 PM
My daughter gets really severe diaper rash periodically, too. The humidity in FL isn't helping, but it's worse when she has a runny diaper or for whatever reason has to sit in the poo for any length of time. We've tried a lot of things, all seem to work sometimes, but lately generic antihistamine lotion seems to be working well. It clears it up in 24-hours. We've used OTC yeast infection cream, too (miconazol) and we use zinc on her w/ every diaper change, rashy or not. Things have been a lot better lately, knock on wood.
Posted by: Christiana | June 22, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Someone mentioned changing to different wipes. We actually stopped using wipes all together because of diaper rashes.
We rarely used wipes when she was a baby. We always used a warm baby facecloth. When she got older it was just more convenient to use wipes so we did. She was okay for a while. Long enough that I went out and bought a bulk size thing of them. Then the rashes started. Monkey was getting rashes all the time. The only thing that would cure them was a prescription cream. One day I decided to stop using the wipes and the rashes disappeared. She still gets one with a really runny bum (too much fruit or teething), but I keep some prescription cream on hand and it clears it up right away.(She is currently 23 months)
I also put baking soda in the tub, that helps sooth it a bit I think. I can use wipes when we go out, but not for a prolonged period of time.
Posted by: Aaron | June 22, 2009 at 03:19 PM
Another little data point -- make sure the butt is dry as a BONE before you apply any anti-fungal cream on a rash. I mean, dry dry dry dry. That increases the effectiveness exponentially.
Posted by: Shelley | June 22, 2009 at 04:24 PM
We went through several painful bouts of rashes until we realized that our daughter has a bad reaction to desitin itself! Sunburn red all over where we had applied. Disappeared as soon as we stopped 'treating' the rash.
Posted by: KateW | June 22, 2009 at 06:09 PM
No-one's mentioned this but I am not sure if it is assumed knowledge. I didn't know as we'd never had nappy rash before. (My son was dx with his first fungal diaper rash yesterday. Got home and found this post. Spooky. And we're on the other side of the world.)
Anyway, apparently with fungal creams, even when it doesn't say so on the box, you are supposed to use them for 1 week AFTER everything has all cleared up. But do NOT do that if the cream contains hydrocortisol too. If you use a cream that contains both then once the rash clears up you should switch to a fungal only cream for another week. (Hydrocortisol should not be used on healthy skin).
Maybe this is why many fungal rashes are recurring - they haven't been totally erradicated but just gone into hiding and then flare up again at the next opportunity?
Posted by: Tor | June 22, 2009 at 06:24 PM
Dropping in late today and wanted to share what works for us.
I started using this product when tall and taller were little and continue to use it today. I works for any rash, any abrasion and speeds healing at least 3 times faster.
It's called Calendula off. 1x It's a homeopathic salve. It's amazing stuff and we have been using it for at least 25 years now. It's made by Hyland's, Here is the link to find it on line, http://www.vitacost.com/Hylands-Calendula-Off-1x
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Posted by: Sharon aka Mommie Mentor | June 22, 2009 at 06:47 PM
Sorry if this has been said, I don't have time to read all the comments today but ... a great thing for prevention and treatment is, of course, diaper free time. But, of course, there's the whole problem of your carpet, clothes etc.
So, if you do not know about chux, check them out. They are like a large flat plastic diaper so the baby has lots of room to wiggle and still not get "stuff" everywhere. They are usually found in the adult diaper area. (If you had a baby in a hospital, they probably had one in your bed.)
Good luck!
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Posted by: Diaper rash | April 09, 2010 at 06:16 AM
Surely you have missed some?
11. Redecorate all pale clothing in manner that not even a 90 degree wash can eradicate
12. Hurl at unsuspecting passers by
13. Prick self repeatedly
14. Smear purple on your siblings faces
On reflection I prefer yours
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