Girls, I can only go by my own personal experience. I've never had either my children or children in my care get red raw from diarrhoea, so as you could understand, for me, I would think it odd that it could get so bad so quickly.

PP, my theory is, at the first sign of redness, I cover them in bepanthen, which usually gets rid of the redness by the next nappy change. I don't like all the chemicals etc, but if I'm only using it once a month, then it's not going to do them any harm. I also use Gaia Soothung Lotion every nappy change (prevention is better than cure). I hope she's made some improvement by morning, poor baby girl.