Newborn with nappy rash - I don't know what to do. Help, please.

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I could weep, well, I am. Two week old DD. She's got nappy rash all up her bum, it's sore and the skin is open and weeping. I don't know what to do.

I've tried metanium and weleda, I've got drapolene and the mustela cream. We're using cotton wool pads and warm water to clean, and then patting dry with soft cloths. She's sat with her bum out for some fresh air and nappy free time.

But there's just constant poo and wet farts. It never ends. So it's constant wiping. Which is making it worse. I'm assuming her latch is off so she needs checking for tongue tie, but I can't get hold of the breastfeeding people till tomorrow.

We were supposed to go get some bamboo nappies as they help supposedly, but I'm covered in the newborn trifecta of baby poo, milk sick and wee so I can't go out anywhere anyway.

There's stuff all over the house, we're living in a shit tip and there's presents everywhere, which is lovely, but I can't manage to find space for. The fridge is a disgrace. I can't eat anything because I'm stressing. It's not even my first baby! Why am I getting this so wrong?!

Thank you so much. You're so kind. My eldest had a funny reaction to yellow metanium so I never used it again, I can't believe it's been discontinued!

I'm breastfeeding and was planning on giving her a milk bath in the next few days. Next time I clean her bum (next five minutes then...) I'll pop some milk on a cotton pad and see how we get on. Thank you.

Yeah I also throw some in her baths (makes me feel better if it's wasted because my supply isn't great). It was quite bad at one point but recently its been so much better. I would try this and get her seen by a Dr/HV to decide if it's an allergy etc before you worry about changing your diet (as if you don't have enough to worry about). Good luck and fingers crossed for you both

My DS had awful nappy rash at a few days old (post c section and me sepsis antibiotics) and the doctor said it was fungal and he got a special cream.

Also have been recommended medihoney from a wound care specialist and it works amazingly on any skin related problems. Can get on prime.

So sorry to read this. I think the advice has been good so not much else to add.

but I just wanted to send lots of hugs. It’s so tough when you’re worrying, especially when baby is sore. You’re doing great. You may not feel it, but you are. Buy to look after baby you need to eat and make sure you keep your fluids up.

try not to worry about the house, but if you’re anything like me then that’s really tough too!! Great hubby is helping to hoover. Once you’ve had some food maybe ask him to sit with baby whilst you whizz round and get the house a bit straighter. I know some people will say that it’s not important, but for some people, feeling in control of their home helps well-being.

I hope baby has a lovely soothed bum soon and you get a chance to relax.

you can get sudocrem for it but better to sort the reason that’s causing it as well
nhs says
Causes of nappy rash.
It can be caused by:

• your baby's skin being in contact with pee or poo for a long time
• not cleaning the nappy area or changing the nappy often enough
• the nappy rubbing against your baby's skin
• an allergic reaction to soap, detergent or bubble bath
• irritation from fragranced baby wipes or wipes containing alcohol
• some types of medicines, such as antibiotics or laxatives (used to make a baby poo more often)
• thrush (a fungal infection)

We found bepanthen the best and sudocrem useless - I think it’s very baby specific which one helps the most. Go to your gp tomorrow, they can give a steroid cream or something else medicated depending on what they think it is

Had this with my son. It was a whole layer of skin off. I felt awful.

it was a combo of me eating dairy. And also he had really strong antibiotics due to suspected sepsis. Which he didn’t have but got treated for anyway.

it took 6 weeks to go. Only thing that helped was yellow metanium (sadly discontinued)

This is what happened with my youngest. Green watery poo that was burning her skin. Hiccups, reflux, screaming half the day, better at night strangely though. Couldn’t latch and struggled with the bottle too. The GP let us use steroid cream.

Aww OP it sounds like you are doing the right things. We always found that cotton wool pads soaked in cooled chamomile tea was good and soothing instead of wipes. Fingers crossed it improves soon.

Bad nappy rash is often caused by thrush. Your HV needs to see it. HVs can prescribe for thrush.

Aww that’s hard but don’t blame yourself!

I would also echo that if it’s not clearing up it could be thrush. With thrush it’s a different approach and you don’t want to be slathering the cream on too thickly. See what the health visitor or GP thinks. My son had fungal nappy rash for ages, and it was tough to clear up even doing the right things but it eventually went away.

Fresh air.

We found DD’s rash was caused by nappy brand (Pampers, for some reason), but DS’s was allergies/intolerances to what I was eating. Dairy and soy, primarily. How is your baby otherwise? And other guy issues? Throwing up, or more pained crying than you’d expect?

if nothing else works it might be worth trying eliminating foods from your own diet, as grim and difficult as it is.

Another vote for CMPA. Go 100% dairy free

Sounds like milk allergy to me? Or something else you are eating if breastfeeding? If it’s that bad then I’d look at specialist milk as if it’s a milk protein allergy then breast milk is still as bad as other

In terms of cream, you could try Sudosalve, which is in a gold and white tube. Worked miracles on our DD when she had a horribly sore bottom - it’s antibacterial and anti fungal. It’s the next best thing to yellow Metanium by far that we’ve found.

I think it's really common for them to get red raw and rashy. My baby did and my sisters as well. Both were slightly premature and their skin is so delicate.

You've had a range of advice, I can't add much to, so just take this as reassurance you aren't necessarily doing anything wrong - they're just super fragile.

We got on top of it with lots of sudocreme, airing, always patting dry. Once her skin healed (took a couple of weeks) we always slathered on the sudocreme at the slightest hint of redness. We always changed nappies immediately after any poo or wee we noticed (we were going through >20 per 24h!). Though that dods mean the finicky well cared for botty can't get through the night without a nappy change if there's been a wee (she's nearly 3!). She literally can't sleep in a wet nappy.

My second DS was like this. The doctor said its normal for breastfed babys to wet fart a lot but his bum was RAW! We got prescribed a fungal cream, a very mild hydrocortisone cream, and a spray on barrier thing that seemed to work great.
Lathering barrier creams on and lots of nappy free time and he was right as rain.

A layer of Vaseline over the cream helps keep it on

Update; I was advised to stop dairy, and the rash had improved immensely! She's a different baby of an evening at the moment and she's not trumping poo every 30 seconds.

We have still got very green, frothy poo occasionally and she's quite pukey, but not spectacular projectile, so overall I'm hoping she's feeling better.

Thank you to everyone who contributed, I really appreciate it.

Hi OP really glad it's better.

We had frothy green poo for a bit and it was because of a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance (basically the milk they get first is watery and the milk after that is fattier) due to me switching baby from side to side (she was jaundiced so kept falling asleep while feeding, moving kept her feeding). So I started letting baby do a full feed on one side before moving to the other. Could it be that?

I think that probably wasn't helping! I've started block feeding from one boob and nappies seem to becoming more normal-ish again. I'll pump if it doesn't improve to get the fore milk off and leave the hind milk.

That's great, good luck with everything ❤️