Rash around anus 3 week old

[Lovumms333238]

My dd turns 3 weeks old on Sunday and two days ago a rash showed up around her anus. Her father and I are both STD free and have been tested right before the delivery. We have been putting desitin maximum strength on it and its still there but not as red. It is red bumps like the size of small zits close together, it goes out from her anus about half an inch to her buttcheeks.
I am a first time mom and I am freaking out. We can't go to the Ped until next week!!!


Please help!

[elmh23]

That's a classic sign of food allergies.

[scbegonias]

yep, i'd investigate food allergies, or possibly yeast overgrowth.

[Comtessa]

They call it a "bulls-eye rash" and it's almost definitely a reaction to something you're eating. Dairy is most common, of course, but it could be something else. And it might not necessarily be allergies, but just a sensitivity she'll grow out of. DD reacted to things like citrus, pineapple, etc, when she was tiny, but grew out of it.

Rashes like that on my DD don't tend to respond well to Desitin, so if that isn't working try switching what you use. We've found that Aquaphor works really well for this kind of rash. (though it isn't natural or environmentally friendly... ) If it persists, you might want to try cutting out obvious dietary things (dairy, caffeine, highly acidic foods, soy) for a couple of weeks, then re-introducing slowly.

[kismetbaby]

Don't panic! Its nothing to warrant panic, but it is a classic sign of food intolerance. Also not something to panic about BTW. . .my son had this and I had to cut out dairy from my diet and I spent a lot of time worried over food allergies and what I had "done wrong". But now that he's a little older it doesn't seem that he is truly allergic to any foods. When babes are under 6m old there intestines are not "closed" as an adults are and they can be more easily irritated by proteins. *Usually* as their guts mature they outgrow these reactions.

If I were you I would experiment with my diet (if you are EBF--if your LO is getting formula then you may have to try other types of formula). Dairy is the #1 problem. . .but you must be entirely dairy free for at least 2 weeks to see a resolution of the issues. Your Ped may not agree with this (many don't take food intolerances very seriously), but its easy enough to do the dietary changes yourself. Just make sure you are still getting enough protein and calories for yourself as a BFing mom!

I would find something natural with calendula in it (Weleda makes a lovely diaper cream) it won't cure the rash, but it will keep your LO from being too uncomfortable while you figure this out.

[Lovumms333238]

Oh my goodness thank you ladies sooo much! I was totally panicking. I am definitely going to try the panicking Aquaphor because this Desitin isn't working very well. I am EBF and I am lactose-intolerant so I drink lactose free milk, could that cause it? When you say dairy you mean, everything like all eggs cheese etc?
Thanks for your advice ladies because my Ped doesn't take the food allergy theory seriously, I asked when I made the appointment and he almost scoffed it off!

[ThankfulMama]

I agree that it sounds like a food intolerance, IME. My DDs symptoms began at 2-3 weeks old too. And progressed from there.

Milk protein intolerance is different than lactose intolerance. It is a reaction to the proteins in dairy whereas you have an inability to break down lactose or the sugar in dairy. It is generally recommended that the mama eliminate all dairy and soy, since about 60% of LOs who are intolerant to dairy are also intolerant to soy. However the extent of the elimination is up to you. There is a list of "hidden dairy" on Kellymom.com that will get you started and help you locate all hidden sources of dairy. It can be quite surprising when you discover just how many foods have dairy in them; even so-called "non-dairy" items usually contain whey protein or casein.

Eggs, though a common allergen, are NOT dairy. No need to eliminate them at this point.

[mountainfeather]

I feel a little awkward giving advice in my very first post, but I've been through the exact same thing with my sensitive dd -first time mom trying to figure out what was causing those red rings. With me, it wasn't dairy... it took a while to figure out the triggers, and w/dd and I there are quite a few, she reacts whenever I have coffee, chocolate, strawberries, I won't bore you with the whole list. I'm sure you'll figure it out now that you know what you're looking for!

[SilverFish]

if you had antibiotics during your labour, there's a good chance it could be a yeast rash too, even if she's not showing signs of thrush (white spots in mouth). if the rash is coupled with any nipple discomfort on your part (sharp needle-like pains, tenderness etc), that would be my guess, if only because we dealt with it the first few weeks too. i didn't notice the pain from the yeast because breastfeeding still hurt in general, but the rashy bum was obvious.

if you think that's a possibility, there's lots of good info on treating yeast in both of you on these forums.

[maptome]

Originally Posted by Comtessa

...

Rashes like that on my DD don't tend to respond well to Desitin, so if that isn't working try switching what you use. We've found that Aquaphor works really well for this kind of rash. (though it isn't natural or environmentally friendly... ) ...

Aquaphor has a rating of 2 on the cosmetic safety database, which makes it a lot safer for babe than some "natural" remedies, but yes, it does contain petroleum-based ingredients.

And yes, definitely sounds like food intolerance.

[beebalmmama]

My ds had the same thing at about 3-4 weeks. I thought it could have been chocolate since it came about during the holidays and I was indulging. Anyway I didn't end up eliminating anything from my diet, but did mellow out on chocolate, caffein, and peanut butter (the only thing I had introduced in my own diet recently that I could pin point). I don't know what it ended up being though.

But I used lansinoh on it along with a mild baby cream and the lansinoh seemed to clear it up after a week or so.

[redvlagrl]

Sounds like a yeast rash to me. I would treat it as such before jumping to food intolerance conclusions. You can put diluted GSE on it for a natural solution or just get some vaginal yeast cream and use it at each change. If you're using cloth diapers you'll want to totally sanitize them - boil them or bleach them with a good amount of bleach and dry them in the sun. You might want to switch to sposies while you treat it so you don't reinfect. We battles yeasties for 13 mths.