rash from long bathing suit shorts?

[spu]

my two boys, ages 2 and 3, keep getting a rash on their inner thighs from their long bathing suit shorts. we're not at a pool - just the beach at the lakes and and ocean so it's not a chemical reaction - just a 'wet bathing suit all day' thing... i'm going to try the earth mama angel baby bottom balm to see if it helps as a preventative. but when we're out for the entire day at the beach (or sesame place coming up soon for the week!) it's going to be miserable if they keep getting a rash. plus it seems like the balm would wear off quickly.

anyone else have this happen? any magic potions you can recommend?

tia!

[Dreamy]

Can you bring them each an extra set of shorts, change them when they come out of the water and let the wet pair dry in the sun? Just having constant humidity on their inner thighs (where the shorts dry last while worn) is likely the problem.

I actually have a UV suit for my DS, which is great because it's super lightweight and dries very quickly.

[foodymama]

It sounds to me like they are experiencing an overgrowth of yeast from the wet bathing suits. When they are having so much fun it is nearly impossible to get them to change their clothes but honestly getting them out of their wet shorts would be the most important thing to combat the yeast. If they could change into loose shorts while playing in the sand so that the sun can dry everything really well that would be the best. My DD and I are very susceptible to yeast and our family Dr. recommended using an antifungal cream with clotrimazole in it. The Target brand athlete's foot cream is what we use and it's only around $4 a tube. If you want to go more natural you could try boric acid as a dusting powder on the rash, that would help too.

I'm not familiar with the balm you are using but if it makes the rash worse you definitely have a yeast problem because the little "yeasties" actually feed and grow when exposed to other types of creams that are not antifungals.

And maybe I'm completely jumping the gun, could it just be chafing? In that case the balm should help.