[alivia]

Like open sores despite very regular changing. Raised angry rash almost upon contact. I need help! I'm looking at what I can do from all angles. She's 12 months old, and we've not really EC'd much in the past, but I'm trying my best to catch whatever I can. I'm letting her sleep with a bare bottom. I switched to disposables. It's been going on nearly 2 weeks, and at first I thought it was her teeth causing it (she was cutting 4 molars at the time). Then I thought it had gotten infected, so I used an antibiotic every diaper change. We saw improvement, but it was only temporary - now it's worse than ever.

She is going poo SO much, like 5 times/day some days and she's eating a heck of a lot too. This can't be helping! I've looked at major food sensitivity culprits, and I'm just not seeing anything stand out that we've consumed a lot of recently except oats, pinhead oats or steel cut oats actually as dh has been making homemade goetta which she loves. I'm cutting all oats, steel cut or otherwise, just to be on the safe side, but wondering if there's more to it than oats?

She eats little to no dairy, and no soy. I've never noticed wheat to be a problem. She eats very few acid-y things, the occasional tomato sauce product or a couple slices of orange. She drinks nothing but water & breastmilk.

Suggestions? Ideas? Food sensitivities can take awhile to identify & correct. In the meantime, what can I do from a topical standpoint? I feel so awful for her. Help!

 

[balancedmama]

Yeast? Does it look like the pic on the Dr Sears site? Link to pic here.

 

[Catherine12]

If it is yeast, the antibiotic cream would be little help. Try getting a prescription for nystatin.

Yeast is incredibly hardy and hard to get rid of - it could be lurking on your dd's clothes, her bedding, and so on, and it is hard to kill. Bleach will do it, vinegar helps. You could try giving dd a probiotic supplement or yogurt (more of a preventative than a cure).

Another culprit is allergy - either to a food, or to clothing/bedding/diapers she is exposed to (or the detergent used to wash them). If her rash especially flares up after pooping, I would think food sensitivity.

If she had tolerated cds before, I would try adding bleach (about 1/3 c.) to the diaper wash, maybe washing them twice, and putting her back in cloth for a few days. You could even boil the diapers. Then see if she tolerates the degermed cds better than sposies - some kids are sensitive to the stuff in sposies.

You can also try using a barrier cream. Some of these contain ingredients children may be sensitive to, so check ingredients carefully. My favorite is triple paste - it is expensive but very non-reactive.

 

[sahmmie]

If she's pooping that much she may have a stomach bug. The stool is very acidic when a child has a stomach virus and it can cause a really bad rash. I've seen it with my children and what you describe sounds very familiar.

Keeping her dry and clean and using a barrier cream is the best line of defense in this kind of rash. Bathe her at least once per day but don't use any soap unless you are using something mild like unscented dove. Pat dry her thoroughly after each diaper change/clean up, and use a heavy amount of a barrier cream like desitin. Another barrier cream I really like is called pinxav. You can get it at www.pinxav.com Probably not soon enough to help now though, but maybe you can get it at a retailer near you.

I read an article once by a pediatrician who suggested using something like maalox on the baby's bottom because it's an antacid and it will neutralize the acid that's causing the rash. I did try it with one of my babies but I'm not sure if it, or the other techniques I was using did the trick because I was using them at the same time.

Yeast is also possible, but in my experience with my kids the yeasty rashes usually did not get bad enough to become open sores. The diarrhea rashes did. The air time you are letting her have is also very good.

Good luck. I hope she's feeling better soon.

 

[alivia]

She has pooped 6 times today already. I started noticing mucous in the stool. I think this might be a clue...just not sure what it indicates. At homeschool co-op this afternoon, another mom suggested yeast so I bought some yeast cream on the way home to give it a try. She said if it was going to work, I'd see very fast improvement. We just put it on for the first time. In the meantime, it keeps getting worse with every poo - as soon as it comes in contact. I think a barrier cream is an excellent idea. I have shea butter at home, which we use regularly. Would this work, or do I need the "harder stuff?"

The Dr. Sears picture was similar, but no white spots. Also, hers are open to the point of bleeding. It's terrible.

 

[mosesface]

my dd just had a rash very similar to what you're describing and i finally figured out it was APPLES! i had tried absolutely everything to fight this rash, but once i cut apples completely, it cleared up.

i have no idea if your lo has the same issue, but when i read your description, i had to post, just in case. good luck!

 

[elf]

Only addressing the rash issue:

i had a very similar rash situation. the ped wanted us to eventually do an oral BIG GUN antibiotic. (we tried yeast cream, antibiotic cream....). I decided not to do the antibiotic and this is what eventually worked for me.

I used disposable diapers. I put a layer of nystatin on (prescription) and then a THICK THICK THICK layer of zinc oxide 40% (the thickest I found at the store). I changed the diaper more frequently and used a super thick layer of the zinc every diaper change. after a week, it is all gone. that was after battling the rash for 2 months.

we still are using the heavy zinc oxide until we are rash free for a month

 

[hibana]

Anhydrous lanolin will help the rash heal in the meantime, while you figure out what's causing it.

(it works better than any special-purpose cream I've found)

 

[sahmmie]

Mucous in the stool can indicate food intolerances which can cause diarrhea which can then lead to the horrible rash. I'm not sure about shea butter, but I think any really thick barrier cream would be helpful. Zinc oxide is great. That's what's in desitin.

It could be something you are eating.

Take a good look at her diet. Is there anything new in the last two weeks? Corn is another biggie when it comes to food intolerances and it's in almost all processed foods in the form of corn syrup or other forms. Soy is also found in almost all processed foods so make sure you are reading every label.

Yes, if it's yeast the anti fungal will work quickly. If the rash does not improve after a couple of applications I'd assume it's not yeast.

In my experience the open/bleeding sores is typical of a diarrhea rash but it may be time to take her to the doctor and get a professional opinion.

 

[Koalamom]

You said your child is not eating dairy, or much but is breastfeeding. What about you eating those? Whatever you eat will go to the milk.

I would consider getting her on some probiotics since she is having BM's too much and probably needs some gut support.

So check out your diet first and then if you are careful to not eat those allergens, check into something she is eating.

Not many things give my dd bad diaper rashes (the bleeding skin kind), but the ones that do are pork anything, sauerkraut, eggs, some dairy, junk food with additives, honey, sugar.
She has gut issues and having just a little of this (or me breastfeeding her) causes terrible rashes.

 

[alivia]

She does nurse some still, but not much anymore since my supply dropped from pregnancy about a month ago. I probably overdo the milk (it's raw milk, but still...), and should watch it again. I was very careful when she was nursing a lot, but slacked up when she cut down so much. She's never had a problem with anything else I've eaten.

I love hearing about others' food intolerances since I never would have considered some of them. Like apples. I just started letting her eat small pieces of cut up raw apple around the time this started. Ditto the oats. And eggs. And some organic Honey Nut O's I bought on sale (stupid). I've nixed all of them until it clears up. If one of them seems to be the culprit, I'll reintroduce one at a time & see what happens. I'm still leaning toward the oats at this point, but I can't be sure of course until I experiment.

It seems a little better today, but not the fast improvement I was told I'd see if it were yeast. Her stools are no longer mucousy today and I think that's a huge improvement.

 

[Emmery'sMom]

We are just getting over a raised, red, open sore rash. The culprit was nectarines, a new favorite that had to be cut out unfortunately. She would get instantly worse on contact with poo too if she had just eaten a nectarine. I used a thick layer of burts bees diaper ointment at every change, and changed her twice as often. It's been a week and it's finally almost gone.

 

[Koalamom]

You never know what the food intolerance could be. Just trial it. And if you even have a speck of dairy and if that is the cause of the rashes, it can go right to baby.

Did your baby always have diaper rashes? If not, it would make it easier to point to what food she has been newly eating.

 

[balancedmama]

You just started eggs right around when it started? That would be my first guess then as far as food intolerance. Eggs and soy are what cause weeping diaper rash for my son.

 

[alivia]

I used to notice she'd get rashy when I drank too much raw milk, drank any pasteurized milk, or ate any store-bought yogurt. Cheese in my diet was OK. It was never an open rash like this, though - more like a red ring around her bottom. Definitely noticeable enough for me to severely limit my milk though.

She always seemed to be able to tolerate eggs in my diet & eggs in baked goods in her diet, but around the time this started, we started letting her eat some scrambled eggs too, since we knew she didn't have an allergy (in the sense of throat close up, emergency allergy). Eggs are one of my top three contenders right now. She's off of them until she's completely clear.

What do you all think the chances are of an intolerance becoming an allergy, in the emergency sense of the word? We live 30 minutes from the nearest hospital or urgent care center and a severe allergic reaction to anything does concern me a bit.

 

[zipworth]

What kind of wipes are you using? I have found that disposable wipes can cause an awful diaper rash in some babies. Use water only when cleaning baby's bottom.

 

[alivia]

We just use rags w/ water. We're too cheap? poor? frugal? to buy wipes!

 

[Koalamom]

Yeah take the eggs out, and let us know if you see a difference. And then you could check out info on liver detox pathways because if you dd was fine with dairy and not so much anymore (or any other foods for that matter) she could need some nutrients to help her handle those foods. Just a note is "extra dairy" is "extra calcium" and that creates the need for extra magnesium, and vitamin D. If you are low on those your ability to utilize the dairy could be difficult. Have you tried Epsom Salt baths for your dd for the magnesium?

Here is great info on that as well as tons of info here on mothering:
http://www.tuberose.com/Liver_Detoxification.html

 

[SquishyKitty]

Give her a lukewarm bath with baking soda, it's soothing and will help dry it out a bit. Give her as much air time as humanly possible, just lay her on towels.

Get some kind of desitin or butt paste and slather it on very thick. I wouldn't go with the shea butter, as that is more of a moisturizer and will absorb into the skin, instead of creating a barrier.

Also, wash and bleach your washclothes before using them on her again. If it is yeast, you are spreading it around every time you clean her.

If possible, don't even use rags, just rinse her whenever she needs to be cleaned. Not fun, but more gentle on her bum.

I hope she feels better soon.

 

[crunchierbytheday]

Just wondered if you have looked at gluten? My DS had a horrible red raw diaper rash that just wouldn't go away. And it seemed like every time we looked, there was always a little poop in his diaper. He wasn't really eating any solids, so I knew it was something in my diet, and dairy was already completely out. I was convinced that it wasn't gluten because I had always had it and it never bothered him before. After just three or four days of me being gluten free, his rash was almost completely gone. It's been a couple of months now, and I have found that as long as I take probiotics daily and digestive enzymes when I do have anything with gluten in it, he stays rash free. And he doesn't seem to have the constant little poops anymore either.

We also used a thick layer of diaper cream at every change. We ended up using the burts bees though. It's a little more expensive, but anything else we tried (desitin, a&d, butt paste) made him scream as soon as it touched the raw spots.

I hope you figure it out soon!