Help Me With This Rash!!!

[chely7425]

My younger son has a horrible rash, I think I have posted about said mystery rash before, the one with no apparent cause? Yeah, that one. I am confident it isn't inherent to all my diapers (as in not build up or thrush) because my older son (who also has pretty sensitive skin) is wearing the exact same diapers and his tush looks perfect. Anyway... it is like the second poop touches his butt he gets bright red. I mean, I change him right away but it doesn't even seem like that is fast enough. When the rash appears it is all over his butt, all over his front (the area over his penis) and all around his legs, sometimes worse on one side. This leads me to wonder.. could it be food related?? Is something he is eating/drinking doing this? What do I do? Pleases help! His poor little butt looks awful...

[CrunchyChristianMama]

That definitely sounds like a food issue. I would start looking into keeping a food diary and eliminating the most common allergens and see what happens.

[chely7425]

What are the most common allergens? I have no idea where to even start with any of this... DS1 has no food issues and we have no history of anything in our family...

[chely7425]

I was also thinking possibly an allergy to synthetics (though it doesn't seem to get a TON better in natural fibers...) or detergent? No idea... I am this >< close to buying a package of sposies so I can slather him up with some cream while I try and figure this out!!

[CrunchyChristianMama]

The most common allergens are dairy, wheat (gluten), soy, and corn I believe. I would head over to the allergy forum though and seek their advice.

I would doubt it's the diaper fabric since you said it seems to show up as soon as poo hits his skin.

[chely7425]

I posted in Health and Healing... I just feel so bad that his butt looks so awful

[chely7425]

Does anybody have any other ideas to clear it up? SHould I just put him in sposies with cream? Might not work though since he tends to be sensitive to those too... I have had him coverless in a prefold all day and it still looks awful.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Bah. I feel for you - know my little guy has similar issues. Every time I think I've got it licked, something happens - he poops while we're driving and I don't hear it, or he gets a leaky diaper... sigh... I'm using Substance nappy rash ointment at every change right now because it has calendula and that seems to soothe him.

I'm going to check your post about food sensitivities ... I'm wondering too whether lanolin might help? I've read that lanolin is safe for CDs as long as you do a hot wash to get it out again - it creates enough of a layer that it might protect the skin until you can get him changed?

I don't think it's terrible to use the occasional sposie if it helps clear him up. We are using sposies every 2nd or third night just to give his skin a break. I don't find that I need the diaper cream if we use a paper diaper. I HATE this, but it is our reality that his skin needs a break every now and then.

[chely7425]

I stuck him in a sposie last night with Weleda Baby diaper rash cream... and his butt looks better, not great but better than it did yesterday. I would use Lanolin but I am allergic and hesitant to put it on his sensitive bum when he may be as well... though I will try it if nothing else works. We have started today by cutting out the most recent additions to his diet (since the rash has gotten much worse in the past month) so he is no longer getting berries or citrus and we are trying to cut out tomatoe as much as possible since I was apparently allergic as a little kid.

[Katie T]

Do you think it could be teething poo? My kids would get acidic smelling frequent loose stools while they were teething that literally burned there bums.

Another thing, I don't know if he drinks any juice but my DS had a horrible rash that I couldn't get to go away and it was from juice (very watered down). I stopped it and the rash went away then when I tried some apple juice it was back just like before. So I stopped it yet again and tried some pear juice when his butt was clear and that was the only thing he could drink (besides water and bm) for a long time.

Just a thought. I hope you get it figured out soon, diaper rash isn't fun for anyone involved.

[chely7425]

I have stopped giving either of them juice... they get milk or water which I figure is probably better anyway. I don't think it is teething poo... he does get weird poo when he is teething but it isn't anything like this, plus the rash doesn't seem to have much correlation to his teething, if that makes sense. The one night in the sposie with tons of rash cream seems to have helped a lot last night, so hopefully we can get it under control. I am trying a new night time diaper tonight (an insert sock stuffed with 2 MF and 1 hemp insert under a PUL cover) so we will see if that does anything for it since the FB pockets he was wearing seem to annoy him sometimes.

It is just so annoying! I mean, my older son has pretty sensitive skin too, but this is ridiculous!

[Katie T]

Well I hope it helps and gives both of you relief from his rash.

[chely7425]

I hope so too!! So far something seems to be working, thought I have no idea which something it is. His butt looks better though and I don't cringe looking at it when I change his diaper so there is something...

[SweetSurrender]

It sounds to me like he might have acidic bowel movements. Especially when you mention the foods you're trying to eliminate which are all fairly acidic foods. All 3 of my kiddos of my kiddos were very prone to diaper rashes and we had to use sposies here & there to give them a "breather" too. I actually just wrote a "journal" type entry here about what we have found to be the most helpful for dealing with persistent rashes, especially yeasty ones (don't know if that's an issue with your LO or not). Here's the bulk of what I wrote...hopeit's helpful in some way: I've had a lot of experience with bad diaper rashes because my 3 kiddos have all been prone to them. We have dealt with yeast, pock marks, & even staph! Here's what I would suggest: first off...the more air time, the better. You can even use a hair dryer set to cool to dry his skin after a change (before putting the diaper back on) so there is less humidity getting trapped in. Second, get a bottle of grapefruit seed extract (you may be able to find it at a health food store...we get ours online at Vitacost.com here: http://www.vitacost.com/NutriBiotic-...t-Seed-Extract) It's a natural anti-bacterial that works AMAZINGLY well at killing yeast & other bacteria. I put 20-30 drops (it's very concentrated) in a squirt bottle and spray our cloth wipes with it. I also spray it on their tush (it doesn't hurt). On the pock marks, I would put a bit of it that's been much less diluted. As in 1:1 ratio with water. It'll kill off the infection. I have also found that washing our cloth diapers with about 30 drops in the wash every time has helped to prevent a lot of rashes. Initially, I would do 30 drops in the wash and 30 drops in the rinse to kill off any lingering bacteria. What I've found is that sometimes the cloth diapers transfer the rash back & forth so it's a vicious cycle unless you put a stop to it. Two other great natural anti-bacterial products are tea tree oil and coconut oil. I use coconut oil on their rashes too and it moisturizes and kills the bacteria. For the TTO, I would dilute some and apply it as necessary. But my top pick is the grapefruit seed extract. It also has a gazillion other uses around the house (many written on the bottle) so it's really handy to have around! Lastly, we use a zinc ointment that has hazelwood extract in it. The hazelwood extract has the natural property of neutralizing the acidity in their stools which really helps to calm down their rash. It also works great for burns and insect bites so we use it for lots of things around here. Hope this helps!

I forgot to mention it above but we also use & love calendula lotion from Weleda. I think you already mentioned using that though

[chely7425]

The Weleda Baby calendula stuff is definitely pretty awesome I am pretty sure his rashes are food related and not ickies in the diapers simply because my 2 year old wears the exact same diapers and also has sensitive skin and his bum looks perfect... it seems that if it were yeast or bacteria causing it that my other kidlet would be having some issues too! We bleach our diapers every once in awhile... both of the kids are pretty sensitive to citrus anything so I am wary about using GSE. I will try the blow dryer though! DH will probably look at me like I am crazy but oh well

[SweetSurrender]

Originally Posted by chely7425

The Weleda Baby calendula stuff is definitely pretty awesome I am pretty sure his rashes are food related and not ickies in the diapers simply because my 2 year old wears the exact same diapers and also has sensitive skin and his bum looks perfect... it seems that if it were yeast or bacteria causing it that my other kidlet would be having some issues too! We bleach our diapers every once in awhile... both of the kids are pretty sensitive to citrus anything so I am wary about using GSE. I will try the blow dryer though! DH will probably look at me like I am crazy but oh well

Definitely sounds like it's food/acid related because you're right, if it were in the diapers, your other LO would be having issues too. Does your LO have issues with eczema or reflux at all because those are often acid related as well? My ydd who had the worst diaper rashes also had bad eczema that we found out was acid related because the only thing that worked for her was to wear a hazelwood necklace. The wood is alkaline and absorbs excess acidity from the skin so it ended up helping for her rashes too. I still have to be diligent with keeping her diapers bacteria free (that was her main problem) but it reduced her internal acidity which helped reduce the frequency of rashes.

[chely7425]

They both have mild skin issues... some exczema and just general dryness but it hasn't really been bad being down here (Louisiana) because it so humid all the time! They have never had any reflux issues... my younger (the one with the rash issues) has never been able to eat peaches though...

[SweetSurrender]

Peaches, eh? Funny! It wouldn't have occurred to me that peaches would be a very allergenic food! But I guess everyone's different, right?! Hopefully the hair dryer thing helps (even if your dh thinks you look funny doing it

[chely7425]

Yup, my kids a weirdo At least he is cute!

[SweetSurrender]

Originally Posted by chely7425

Yup, my kids a weirdo At least he is cute!

Aren't we all weird in our own right!