Having issues with rash from MCN's

[blessedatlast]

DS has had a very very red and inflamed penis for probably the last 6 weeks.. It is ONLY his penis though, not his bum. He gets red and swollen and blistered on the tip.. I was so frightened he had an infection it looked so bad. I treated him with anti fungal and took him to the Dr who tested for UTI which was clear.. I started using disposables in the meantime and it cleared up. I've had him back in cloth since yesterday morning and this morning his penis is red raw again

Is it possible to develop a skin allergy of some sort? We have been using MCN's since he came home with no issues. I haven't changed nappies, or detergent or anything.. I don't want to keep using disposables but I can't him getting a blistered penis again. He would wake up screaming. Any suggestions?

[LysnDan]

Have you been using liners with the nappies? Are they different to what you usually use? What about wipes?

Your poor DS! And poor you! Seeing your baby in pain like that...

I'd possibly keep him in disposables until the rash is completely healed, and then try again.

Good luck xx

[*Efjay*]

was in cloth over night? I would think it just that the wee is in contact too long & burning his willy?

[blessedatlast]

Yeah he's in cloth overnight too.. I will put him back in sposies then maybe just do cloth during the day once the inflammation has gone down again.. I use microfleece liners, they are what I've always used.. I use huggies wipes, but I have always used them too, so it's not the wipes. It just seems to be the cloth nappy

[Heaven]

Sucks when cloth doesn't work out I couldn't use them with my DD2, her wee just disintegrated them.

I would try just during the day too. I would also swap from huggies wipes to cloth or nature babycare because they don't have the nasties, could help too, even though you've always used huggies.

[Little Chicken]

Is he becoming more active? Could his penis be rubbing and causing irritation? I would have thought a contact allergy would cause a rash on his bottom as well.

[*Efjay*]

I would say do sposies at night & cloth during the day. I would say the long period over night is just causing his wee to burn his willy. So unless you are going to get up & change his nappy over night ever couple of hours then I would use sposies.

I had the same issues with my 4th child. I gave up on cloth over night because they stink by morning.

My other thought would be to get some silk liners or even some bamboo or cotton velour liners to help. I could be an issue with the fleece/synthetic fibers.

[Charlotte91]

DD gets red if we use cloth overnight, so we've just always used Aldi nappies. They're cheap and she's not a heavy wetter overnight.

[~Raven~]

Don't rule out the wipes. Manufacturers have a habit of changing formulas To be sure you could try a different brand for a week or so to see.

[Charlotte91]

You could always just use a wet flannel instead of wipes, to see if that helps.

[sepata]

How did you go with the canestan wash for this BAL? We are having the exact same problem with ds' penis. Got the nappies canestan washing ATM...

[Sagres]

We use 1 disposable overnight for this reason, cloth is fine for your usual 3-4 hours during the day but overnight was just too long for DD1s butt. But other than that if you think it was fungal then I second the suggestion of canesten in the wash.

[~Kim~]

We had something similar with DS. Was only his penis tip and down the side. Initially he was Dx with herpes. They said it was from someone changing him with a cold sore and that he'd have it forever. I was horrified. DH and I don't get them and the only person who would have changed him (and only once or twice) would have been my mum. He was put on zovirax and it seemed to go away, but it co-incided with him being put into disposables. We moved to Darwin for 3 months and used disposables while we were there as there was no room in our luggage for cloth. No issue while we were there.
Then when we moved into our house and started using cloth again it came back. I took him to a new GP and she swabbed him. Nothing grew and he came back negative for herpes. I stripped my nappies and rinsed heaps adding dettol and tea tree to the wash. Never ever came back again.

[boomba]

My sons both got this I remember reading about the foreskin getting red and inflamed as its slowy working away from the head? Maybe check out drmomma/peaceful parenting it may have some answers?
Good luck Hun xxx

[onthefly]

Have you had it looked at? DS had an infection on his penis once. I don't think it actually needed any treatment, though, just some air and time. Hope he's ok!

[blessedatlast]

Kim - That sounds the same as DS. It looks like he has a little herpe blister on the end.. I'll try a canestan wash in hot water.. If not I'll try the dettol and tea tree wash you suggested.. Thing is, I ALWAYS dry his nappies in full sun so I thought that would kill nasties??

Boomba - If it didn't go away with sposies then come back with cloth I wouldn't be thinking it's due to nappies, but that's what it seems to be. I'll check out the suggested sites though, thanks

MadB - Yes we had it checked, Dr thought it was thrush, I thought it was thrush too cos he gets it in his mouth quite often, he's very prone to it.. She also did urine for UTI which was clear.. He has loads of nappy free time, especially when he is like this and it hasn't seemed to help.

Thanks to everyone else for your input It's much appreciated.