What am I eating to cause this???

[emsyj]

DD is now 10 and a bit weeks old and exclusively breastfed. For several weeks (up until about 2 weeks ago) she had a persistent nappy rash that would briefly clear up with Metanium then almost immediately flare up again. I made an appointment with the GP but cancelled it as it suddenly seemed to clear. The clearing up coincided with a decrease in the frequency of her poos.

So... the other night she woke for a feed at 2.30am and I fed her and changed her. As I was giving her 'second helpings' she (pardon the expression) cocked a leg and farted loudly and filled her nappy to the brim. I changed her right away (obviously) before putting her back in her carrycot.

When she woke for her next feed just before 6am, she had done another poo and she ALREADY had a nappy rash! She had been smooth and lovely at bedtime, had done a poo at 2.30am ish and been immediately cleaned up, dried and clean nappy, so she had been in her dirty nappy for maximum a couple of hours and it was enough to make her very red and sore.

Could it be that I am eating something that is making her poos so 'strong' that they cause a rash very quickly?? It's fine to change her immediately she moves her bowels in the daytime, but at night I am at a loss what I can do really. I change her nappy every time she gets up for a feed (generally twice each night) and I'm not keen to be waking her up to randomly check her bum.

Any ideas???

I would suggest you need to apply a barrier cream such as Sudocrem when you change her in the night, she's clearly got sensitive skin (which she'll grow out of btw) and the bacteria in her poo (which is normal) is irritating her skin.

A slick of sudocrem will stop the poo hitting bare skin and this should solve the problem.

It is probably nothing to do with your diet, but if you are scoffing large quantities of soft fruit it does seem to make them go more often.

Ha, I wish I was consuming large quantities of any fruit, but I'm afraid my current diet is more or less exclusively toast and biscuits .

Have got a big pot of Sudocrem, so will start using it.

I guess something in biscuits might have.
Are you able to keep a diary of food you eat?

It's actually quite normal for a small baby who has poo on their bum for several hours to get nappy rash. If you think about it, their skin is half as thick as ours.

I would not worry about your diet. DS got bad nappy rash till he was about six months old. He only had to fart in his nappy and he'd get a rash - He did grow out of it though and now never gets it.

Just to say that I found sudocrem made the nappy rash worse. I've always used conotrane on bums - its great stuff! DD2 has only ever had nappy rash once - and it appeared really quickly between changes too.

I doubt its snything to do with your diet - babies poos are inconsistent and strange things!

I could keep a food diary, but honestly it would be entirely biscuits and toast!!!

I just feel that I must be a terrible mother if she has a constant rash. It is much much better now, mostly her bum is fine it's just if she does a poo in the night (and she hasn't done for a few days now).

Will experiment and see if the Sudocrem makes it better or worse...

Ime poo on a baby for any length of time longer than about 10 minutes would cause redness and soreness.My dds have v sensitive skin still at 3 and 5 and I found/find that Weleda nappy cream was the only one they didn't react to.They make a baby oil too,and the face protector is brilliant on wind burned cheeks and chapped lips/noses during a cold.

If we don't use sudacrem for a nappy change, then a rash comes up straight away. In fact, it comes up, if she has goes for longer than normal between nappy changes.

Your not a bad mum, we just weren't designed to have a tight wrapping on our bits for 24 hours a day

Sudocream overnight and I like the Weleda calendula one for daytime changes if DS2's bottom looks a little red.

Oh yes, my mum keeps telling me to leave DD without a nappy as much as possible, which I can totally see the logic of, but she still hates being undressed and every time I try it she cries and cries. Once she even cried until she was sick .

So Sudocrem/Weleda it is...

Have you tried a different brand of nappies? My DD reacts badly to Pampers but is fine in cheaper Tesco nappies.

I started off using Pampers but have now switched to washables. Her bum is better now in washables with fleece liners than it was with Pampers, possibly the chemicals in the Pampers didn't help. She doesn't react well to baby wipes either, so now using washable wipes and water.

My DS2 (like DD and DS1) all suffered from nappy rash. They have sensitive skin and unless I "catch" a poo within 10 minutes of it coming out he gets nappy rash. 2 hours would certainly lead to a severe rash. If it gets severe GP will prescribe timodine.

I found the best solution was nappy off time. I found bepanthen best for clearing up mild nappy rash and metanium best (v. thick layer) as a barrier overnight. Personally I did not find sudocrem helped at all. Each baby is different though.