heartbroken by my newborn's diaper rash! anyone has any advice?

DD2 is just 6 days old, and she's got a bad diaper rash. We've always noticed that she's got a red bottom since birth, but my doctor told me it's due to my hormones. Well, yesterday, it was so red that she struggled when we changed her nappy. I have tried applying zinc oxide barrier creams, applied milk cortisone, cleaned with lukewarm water, and airing out without a nappy. Nothing seems to work so far. Every time she has a bowel movement (yellowy soft poo), it gets irritated no matter how quick I clean her up. I haven't slept the whole night last night because I was on guard for her since we let her bottom air out the whole night. It look better this morning, but as soon as she's got a bowel movement, the redness comes back... also, this morning, she has minor bleeding...

At the moment, she's being formula fed because I have a cold and am taking some medications which I don't want to consume from my breastmilk. Once my body is cleared from the cold, I will breastfeed again...

Can anyone give me any advice... I am so teary every time I see her in pain when changing her nappy...:crying::crying::crying::crying:

I would try vaseline as a barrier but I have recently been using paw paw cream. It is just brilliant.. I can't remember if it is a barrier cream as well though.. Try the paw paw first and then use vaseline (petroleum jelly) as a barrier..

Nappy Rashes are horrible.. I never had to deal with them till I had my DD

Another to consider is maybe get it checked to make sure it isn't a fungal rash. It isn't anything bad but would need a different cream..

Congrats on your bub.. :)

My DS 2 has super sensitive skin and as a 2 day old his butt was covered in red welts and bleeding :(

I was advised by the midwives to stop using commercial wipes, or if I had to then get the sensitive or fragrance free ones. That helped a bit to take the angryness out of the rash within a day or two.

We had to experiment with the cream a bit too and after a bit or trial and error it was curash or bepanthen that was the best for him. Looking back I also think he was sensitive to disposable nappies and is one reason why I use cloth for my youngest two. I couldn't leave his bum cream free after any nappy change otherwise it would be red and nasty for the next one and I'd change him 2 hourly unless he was sleeping. Once he was toilet trained his rash cleared up.

Maybe try canesten or something similar on it.

My suggestions are
Do not use commercial wipes. Only use warm water.
Lots of nappy free time.
Use zinc and castor oil cream but put lots on.
Other things to consider are
Are you using disposables? There is a small chance that these could be causing the rash
Has the rash started since you started using formula?

i would definately stop using commercial wipes and use some nice soft cloth ones - facewashes are fine hun :) just with some nice warm water

i find pawpaw ointment is the best

if you are using sposies your baby might be allergic to them chemicals in them. you might like to try some MCN :)

your baby will actually benefit from your breastmilk whilst you have a cold much much more than formula - because your baby will be getting antibodies from your milk, I had a terrible flu and was on the lounge for days - laaa did not get sick at all!

GL hun

we found paw paw irritated when Jake had a similar thing (and occasionally still gets it) the best thing we found was Desitin from the chemist only. Like ALan said it is a zinc and castor oil cream but is really high in zinc and helps promote healing. Is much thicker than bepanthen, curash and the supermarket creams and really works well. (Is also great for shaving rash lol)

i found that paw paw did nothing! i think once it is bad then paw paw wont work as well as something like Sudocream and then maybe once bub is better the paw paw might help to prevent it? i agree, nappy free time, cloth and water for wipes, frequent nappy changes.

also, did someone advise you not to breastfeed while taking the medication you are on? sometimes you can get breastfeeding friendly meds. and i agree also, it could be the forumla irritating bubs bottom.

i hate nappy rash, we had it bad a few weeks ago too, (so in a newborn it is terrible). we had some scabs on her poor little bum. found Sudocream to be really good.

i agree with nelly, try to find a cream high in zinc.

:hug: It is so sad when little babies get nappy rash.

My DD had really bad nappy rash and it turns out that we can't use any product with zinc in it - it only ever made it worse. This is not the case for all babies, it actually helps most but we tried lots of different zinc creams and found they only seemed to inflame the rash.

We found canestan works wonders, but it is designed for a fungal kind of nappy rash (not just chaff nappy rash) and I am not sure about using it on a tiny baby.

I also completely agree with Kitten - your bm is the best thing for your bub if you are sick - your body will be making antibodies that helps you to fight the illness but it also deposits these in your bm to help your baby fight it. Your bm is the best medicine you can give your baby (there is actually nothing else she can take at her age).

I really hope her nappy rash clears up soon. I also hope you are feeling better soon :hug:

Well hello and congratulations!!!

Hugs sweets, you don't need this stress.

I love paw paw onitment and you can use it as a barrier. Please test this out in a small patch first though. Get rid of the commerical wipes and possibly the sposies.

Try to start bfing her again. I was on some insanely strong antibiotics after having DD2 and I still feed her.

Good idea to get the rash checked for fungal infection too.

Don't use commerical scented baby washes either.

Hi - and poor darlin'

I have used Calmaseptine when the rash got out of control - it is $$$ from the pharmacy around $15 for 15g or something like that, but it is thick and you only need a little bit for a couple of nappy changes and has always worked magic for me.

Hope you find something that helps :)

HI, sorry to hear your bub has a nasty rash.

My DD gets redness from disposables so we switched to cloth pretty soon after she was born, modern cloth was easier then terry squares, pop over to the cloth nappy discussion if you need help with MCN the girls over there are awesome.

I'm confused as to why the dr said your hormones caused NR? And how could that be if you are not BF her at the moment? I'm sure you already know this but some over the counter medicines can dry up your milk much the same as they dry up the mucus in your nose so becareful not to loose your supply. You might even want to put some ebm on her bum and see if that helps. We used EBM on stys and up the nose when the kids had colds - marvellous stuff.

Creams - it's so hard. I always try to steer clear of anything that is petroleum based. Stick with the plain water instead of wipes my DD is allergic to commercial wipes even without the fragence etc so we just use water. What about elimination communication for the poos if you can tell when she is going to do one just pop her over a small bowl rather then use a nappy? My DD gets very acidic poos when she is teething but that didn't come until much later.

Hope you find a solution

Calendula ointment works wonders, is all natural and you cannot use too much of it.

Cotton balls at change time, and no commercial wipes.
Also don't bathe her in commercial babywash.

Hope her bot is better soon :(

:hug: Oh hun. It is hard to see them in pain isnt it. :hug:

I find bepanthen is great, but thats me. I use the everyday cream. I dont put it on at every nappy change but I do notice that if i miss a day or two then DD's bottom starts to get red so I quickly start using it again and it clears up straight away.

I would give the wipes a miss as well. Just get some disposable chux cloths and dip them in warm water for cleaning up poos.

Hope she gets better soon. :hug:

If it's bad you will need something strong. Desitin worked really well for my son. It's a zinc based product that you get at chemists & is much stronger than the ones you get at supermarkets. It was amazing how quickly it worked for him.

Thank you everyone for your advices.

I was so overblown for the past two days. Looks like I have finally got it under control. She's still a bit sore down there but at least she's not raw. I am relieved to see that her skin is not so red looking now. Back then, it was like a cherry tomato with small blisters.
It's so hard to watch the little one suffer. I think ever since I've had my own kids, I am more aware and saddened by what happens to the news when kids are a concern.

I have stopped using commercial wipes... didn't know that they can also cause a reaction even when indicated for sensitive skin.
I have applied a milk cortisone before I applied a layer of Zincofax extra strength (zine oxide 35%)
Gave her plenty of diaper free time
Spent a night without sleep laying her on my chest exposing her bottom as the back side sleeping made her bottom more irritated
Used a bucket of warm water and soft cloth to clean her
Changed her nappy as soon as it's soiled
Tried different brand of nappy (but don't think this is what it help to lessen the rash)

So far, she's gotten better from it. I think I will stay away from commercial wipes forever and just go with the idea of ziploc bag with cloth and water.

Now that I have got the nappy rash under control, I have another problem... I noticed some blood coming out from her vagina... something like menstruation. I looked up and it says it's normal for baby girls to experience this the first week of birth. It's a few drops of blood every time I change her, is this something I should be concerned for? DD1 didn't have this so I have no clue?

Thank you again for everyone's kind advices...

So glad to hear her nappy rash has settled down! Poor thing - not nice to have a raw bum! ;)

As for her bleeding, it is quite normal for there to be menses like bleeding, apparently it is a residual effect from all the hormones and the birth. I would just keep an eye on it, it should stop quite quickly, so if it is happening for an extended period of time or increases in volume or frequency I would get her checked out - better to know for sure than worry about it. :)
I am sure Alan will be able to give you a more medical response as to its cause though lol

HTH

Aside from the rash, I hope you are enjoying your new mummyhood :)

Yep my DD had bleeding for close on 10 days. i was completely unprepared for that and it was quite heavy too - poor little thing. How horrible to get your first period at birth