BF newborn - bad nappy rash, are her poos normal?

[Runningblue]

Dd is three weeks old and a voracious eater.
She is getting loads of wet nappies and, here is my concern, pooey nappies.
There is never a moment she doesn't have a bit of poo coming out of her bottom. She does also do bigger poos, just little diddles in between.

This means her bottom never has a break and has developed nappy rash for which we've being prescribed timodine yesterday. Doc think this has got infected with thrush.

So.. I am now getting a bit worried this kind of pooing is normal - the colour is mustard but it is curdy in a watery fluid, not a 'Korma sauce' way.

And regarding the nappy rash, it is so hard to make her bottom clean and dry long enough for it to heal as there is always a little poo. Any tips or thoughts

... Gratefully welcomed !

Someone on another thread described babies as hopefully incontinent so sounds normal to me.

Are you using baby wipes? They quite often leave the skin moist, whilst clean, and could be irritating her. Perhaps just use water/cotton wool for a bit?

Will she lie on a mat naked happliy? Lots of nappy free time will help. DD suffered at first but it's nothing to do with their poo. Nature just didnt intend for them to be sat in it all day. Agree with Loislane78 that baby wipes do not help. Also, I keep a muslin cloth handy for drying her skin before I apply cream. Metanium works best for us but Bepanthen is good too. Sudocream made it worse.

Cotton wool and water is the only thing that's used.
Nappy off time on muslin square with each change....
Changing nappies often aattach feed, so at least 8 and more likely closer to 12 a day...
Do you think I can put barrier cream on top of the rubbed in timodine?
I've been having a dither whether sudocream bepathen or metanium is best...

I suppose my main wish is reassurance the consistency of poo, and frequency of them, is normal. And does this change to less frequent poos as the baby matures?

Dc1 never did little poos all the time so this is new to me!

Changing nappies as often as each feed...

ds3 had really bad nappy rash so much so that he had lesions which bled at times. He had steroids and in the end I lay him on a muslin square on the nappy mat without a nappy - it did go but it took a while. Looking back now I'm convinced my bm was acidic or something like that. No scientific or medical reason to think that simply smthng I have concluded over the years

Perhaps you could experiment with what you are eating and try some more alkaline foods eg veg, pulses, rhubarb watermelon avoiding tea coffee fruit juice white bread vinegar etc look [[
rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm here]] for a list telling you which food is acid or alkaline

It might all be a load of rubbish I don't know, but its horrible to see such raw skin on a tiny baby so I would try anything to expedite its healing

Dd had horrific nappy rash at about that age, turns out hers was the wipes burning her skin. Cotton wool and water is best, dry the skin with dry cotton wool after cleaning and apply bepanthen or metanium as a barrier in between the timodine cream. Change as often as realistically possible. Dd also had the watery seedy poo, it is normal for bf babies, and she used to soil at every single feed, and sometimes between feeds too.

Thanks for the watery pooinfo roger! Did your dd settle down to less often pooing - and when?!
I can realistically see the pattern of sore bottom continuing til the poos become less constant...

I think changing even more often is the most realistic improvement I can do to situation.
I'm gutted as so damn careful with changing - no wipes, airing bottom, the lot, and still got it...

Runningblue we had similar from weeks 2-7. The rash became infected so had one week of antibiotics although the rash itself was caused by thrush. What worked in the end was: trimovate twice a day (prescription mild steroid and anti-bacterial cream), interspersed with metanium (barrier cream), we had been using water and cotton wool but then realised that that was perhaps not enough to kill bacteria so used gentle herbal wipes containing tea tree and camomile (can't remember name but a quick google will find them), lots of nappy free time, and a concerted effort to dry his bum really well (I used a hand held fan!). Not sure about the cream you've been prescribed but with trimovate it seemed to get worse before it got better so we stopped using it after a day and sort of went round in circles which is why it went on so long, so do persist with it. With this regime it cleared in a week. Also by 7 wks he pooed much less frequently and that helped a lot. Hopefully yours will clear up before then. It's really horrible, the screaming nappy changes were awful. HTH

Also consider changing nappies for unbleached/organic versions, that can sometimes cause a rash. Most babies settle to a more reasonable poo schedule about the 6w mark, anything from once a day to once a
Week is normal for bf as long as weight gain is good and they are alert.
My dd never did settle down though, she pood at every feed until I switched to formula when I went back to work at 6 months.

Blimey madeup what a time you had, thanks for sharing your story- DS I'm glad it cleared up in the end.

Good idea about the herbal wipes for cleaning.
Ta roger about organic/ cotton nappy idea- currently on Huggies with organic cotton, found pampers stank of chemicals, tescos not so bad.

Do you mean the natur ones?

I'm sitting with her asleep on my lap with completely open nappy just to catch anything- hopefully more airing time, whilst I watch the show jumping on tv. Win win

This is deffo on the normal spectrum. One of mine was just like this, and frequency went right on into toddlerhood. Consistency sounds normal.

Nothing you eat or drink will make your breastmilk more or less acidic - yikes, acidic breastmilk????!!!! Now that would be worrisome :)

Poo in contact with urine on the skin is acidic and as young babies wee very often, and yours is pooing very often, the only way to avoid nappy rash (which is the skin breaking down) is to keep the time her skin is touching poo/wee as short as possible...and you are working on that.

Thanks tik tok, its good to get reassurance its normal, and we're doing the right things. I got very anxious with my first baby and want to keep more sane this time x

My DS also had terrible nappy rash and I think it was because the cotton wool & water was too wet, so we switched to using natural wipes & also used Neals Yard barrier cream as I'm a bit precious about chemically things on my babies skin.

We also tried to have nappy of for 10 mins every 90 mins (lying on nappy mat with muslin under him) and changed nappies every 60 mins minimum. DS pooed about 12-20 times a day for the first 4-5 weeks then it slowed down. Today he hasn't poo'd at all which is unusual, he normally goes 3/4 times in a day. He is BF.

I also wondered how it would ever get better witht eh sheer volume of poo, but it did!

DD started to get a rash and we were advised to give her a bath everyday. It has done the trick and at 17 months she still gets a bath every night.

I would change your wipes (the 'natural' alcohol and fragrance free ones) or just use cotton wool and water and change her diaper every 2-3 hours, more if she is a real pooper. Here in the US they have A&D cream and aquaphor. They are similiar to vasaline but 'better'. We use A&D cream on DD as it is cheaper but aquaphor is a better barrier cream. Once DD was six months we were advised by our dr to use burt bees diaper cream at the first sign of redness. It is excellent stuff. It isn't cheap but my goodness it works.

At that age DSchad the same. For us Bepanthan and Metanium did nothing and Sudocreme helped - I really think different bums like different creams so do give them all a try.

We used to let DS sit in his baby bath but no water in it and dried thoroughly without his nappy on. It basically caught any accidents! It allowed him a lot of nappy off time and helped to clear it up. We also use tissue to dry him after cleaning before putting the nappy on to be absolutely sure he is dry.

Our final trick was one drop of lavender essential oil and a cup of milk in his bath water!

Hi thanks for your stories and tips, so appreciated, a problem shared....
Should I be cross- which natural wipes did you use? I think you're right about clock watching re how long the nappy is on before a change, I'm making a more conscious effort...
Super mum, I'm liking the sound of burt bees and they do free post and packaging on their uk website!
Clumsasaurus, you're so right, I think sudocream has been ok whilst the skin hadn't been open, now it is bepanthen seems to be kinder now the skin is in a pickle.
We're drying off well b4 any cream or nappy goes and doing as much nappy off time as we can. Also not doing up babygro under crotch so there is one less layer to try to decrease warmth in the nappy area.
Docs tomoro, we want to check its not infected, the timodine only treats fungal things I think..l

running I now give a tube of burt bees as a gift to my friends when they have a baby. It really is excellent stuff. I would def go see the dr because diaper rash can be quite serious.

With 'natural' wipes we use Costco own brand 'kirkland' wipes, Huggies naturals or Pampers sensitive wipes depending on whichever is cheaper. I find the Kirkland ones from Costco are the best for DD but they are wetter so you need to leave it longer before they are dry and you cream up.

It is worth looking at ingredients of the nappy creams, I was advised not to use sudocrem regularly because it contains alcohol. Metanium is alcohol free so better for dry or sensitive skin. I also have some special flannels I use to get baby's bum nice and dry before putting on a new nappy or cream.

Change nappy as frequently as possible. Swish bottom around in water (or full bath) after every poo (unless out & not practical), dry thoroughly & apply barrier cream (bepanthen) liberally. You can put bepanthen on top of thrush cream too.

It is normal though & all 3 of my breastfed dcs pood frequently in the early week. I think it slowed down gradually from week 7/8- 10 at which point they got into a routine of one huge poo a day! From then on had no more issues with bottom soreness.

I think it's the combination of wee/poo burning the skin but also just the frequent wiping of such delicate skin that causes it. That's why a swish around in warm waters so much gentler.

Well we're still on it! Went back to docs on Xmas even as rash had worsened. Doc wants us to continue with timodine but to use a heavy duty barrier cream on top to help shrug off the wee/ poo onslaught better.

The one he prescribed wasn't in stock - arggghh Xmas eve not great- so pharmacist recommended conotrane.

We are now-
Bathing daily
Air drying well after each change
Assisting that with cool fan on the bottom - she loves that bit!
Nappy off time as long as we can before the screams get too loud
Timodine gently applied
Conotrane on top. This barrier seems to make a difference already.

I'm glad someone said up the thread it can get worse before it gets better. The outer redness is going down but the sore spotty bits are more isolated but a bit open- so I am being patient, monitoring and keeping the nappy off a much as possible

And..hallelujah ... The poos are getting a bit more 'sauce' like (sorry) and less often, so fingers crossed that will help the rash too..l.