9 year old nappy rash

[Polkadottie1]

Wonder if anyone can help me, at my wits end. 9 year old has suddenly started getting recurring nappy rash since January. No rash anywhere else or any other symptoms. No bowel or toilet problems, no allergies we know of and no history of this even as a baby or any skin complaints. It goes away with treatment only to come back every two weeks or so.

It sounds like thrush not nappy rash.
You need to see a GP. Call 111 if your surgery can’t get you an appt.

Maybe I’m very thick but I honestly never knew you could get thrush in the bum!

As a fellow itchy bum sufferer I have huge sympathy with your dd. I haven’t figured out the cause of mine (not worms) but scratching makes it so so much worse. The skin takes a while to heal. When it flares up I use canestan and eumovate and try really hard not to touch it and usually after a week it gets better but often comes back. At awful times I use Emla numbing cream to stop me needing to scratch it. I think I’ve got bum excema at this point. Drinking more water seems to help me. I also make sure I clean it with damp loo roll after each wee not just poo. I also find a hot water bottle or a warm bath helps the itch go away too. I really hope you get it sorted for your dd soon, it’s horrible. She really needs to try really hard not to scratch because any healing that the skin has done will be immediately undone. I do appreciate how difficult this is though

Thanks @Boxerdor Have you seen a doctor about it at some stage and if so was it a mystery to them too?

Hope you get sorted with a GP appointment soon. When you do, please make sure they don’t just look at the rash but take a thorough look at her whole back passage. My dd had an itchy bum that turned out to be an anal fissure. It was so tiny I couldn’t see it but it caused her massive problems. If your dd hasn’t had constipation it’s probably and hopefully not the case for her but worth checking anyway.

Anusol suppositories are the only thing that relieved the itchiness for dd. afaik they’re available without prescription.

Oh gosh your poor dd. Hope she’s better now. Luckily my dd has never suffered with constipation but worth checking out anyway. Once I manage to get in, I won’t be leaving until they’ve had a bloody good look at her, don’t worry!

Hi my DS gets this now and again and the GP prescribes him caneston and hydrocortisone cream and it clears up quite quickly. I'm not actually sure what the cause is but it definitely seems to be fungal and does cause a bit of discomfort. Sudacream etc would help ease it for a while but never really treat it.

Does the hydrocortisone help with the itching?

Go to Boots tomorrow, buy some Canestan anti fungal cream and give it a go. Don’t put barrier cream on as well. It won’t hurt if it’s not a fungal rash and if it is it will clear up in a couple of days .

Good advice given. With any cream it should be a thin layer - this is where most people go wrong and slather it on.

I would honestly treat the household for threadworms too. It won’t do her any harm , but I think you need to take that possibility away.

Oh god. I could definitely be going wrong here. She’s currently up in bed with more layers of cream on her bum than a pavlova.

I don’t put that much on in the morning because she doesn’t like the feel of it smearing her knickers but when she comes home from school I put a good bit on and then I absolute coat her at night.

its been working in the short term but obviously not the long

If it's fungal, it could be triggered by a food intolerance. When dd was a baby she had awful thrush around her nappy area from mushrooms. Hope she feels better soon.

Apologies if you’ve said you’ve tried it, but E45 itch relief cream is brilliant. The back of DDs knees were so sore and itchy, I saw the instant relief in her face once applied, once she could leave it alone, it healed and never came back.

My DD10 had this at around the same age. She had swabs taken at the GP. They were clear, so the GP put it down to vulvovaginitis. Apparently primary age girls aren't the best at wiping properly, or wiping front to back, especially when at school because they're rushing. This can cause inflammation and/or infection. We found cuticura mildly medicated talc got rid of it and it stayed away for months. I also remind DD to wipe properly whenever she goes for a wee, and I make her have a daily wash/shower

Ask for cream for thrush- none of my children ever had nappy rash. But once my baby’s bottom had a red rash which wasn’t going with nappy cream, Dr said straight away it was thrush, I was mortified! No clue what caused it but the cream soothed it straight away and cleared it pretty quickly. Well worth asking your gp or just buying thrush cream

The itching is the clue if its worms. It will stop. But if you don't remove all eggs, it can return. So follow the instructions on the bottle. And be prepared to do it twice (I think one dose is given twice, I mean repeat the whole process a couple of weeks apart).

Is it worse at night? That's another clue that it's worms.

Its the itching that's making me think worms. Classic symptom.

Yes so many people suggesting worms which I hadn’t thought of tbh. It’s not really worse at night. It’s worst probably when she comes home from school having worn her knickers and been active all day. Her bum is really clammy then and she’s dying to get the air and even a fan on it. If we are somewhere hot like certain shops etc I notice she seems itchier too. At night in fairness I plaster her with cream and she sleeps with her bum out. If she had knickers and pyjama bottoms on in bed I don’t think she’d be able to sleep at all.

You can get it on your nipples, mouth, lots of places unfortunately!

Worms would not cause nappy rash. A fungal rash is itchy and uncomfortable.

Managed to get a GP appointment for Monday. It’s an hour away and I’ll have to take her out of school for the day I think but has to be done. Picked up some canesten because of all the recommendations and will try that on her when she gets home this afternoon.

well done. it sounds awful and appt will be worth it!

I had a rash, across my vulva and inner thighs. It was itchy and looked and felt very like exzema which I get occasionally. Tried everything, was very embarrassing, didn't want to wear a swimming costume etc.

I had it for months.

Then I read something about the same fungus as athletes foot can cause this red itchy rash in the groin area. My husband get atheletes foot, so we have that fungus in our house.
I went to our local pharmacist and asked and he prescribed a cream that is hydrocortisone and fungal.
From the first application it improved and cleared up within a week. Never had it since.

I put some canesten on her this afternoon but would people recommend that at bedtime I put bepanthen/sudocreme on her as usual or just stick with the canesten now? And if the canesten should it just be a light layer rather than the thick coat of nappy rash cream I usually put on her at night?

Im dreading this not being sorted before the warmer weather comes because it seems to be really heat sensitive. We collected her sister from swimming on the way home today and she sat there (where it was very hot) for less than ten minutes and she was walking funny to the car because her knickers were saturated, had to take them off in the car. Is she getting the rash because her bum is so sweaty or is her bum getting so clammy because of the rash?!

Should I be trying some talc on her bum to try to stop it getting so moist during the day or could that do more harm than good?

I'd just stick with canesten for now. You don't want to risk another cream accidentally "feeding" the infection if it's fungal.

If DD is willing, I'd also recommend sleeping in a nighty or loose pyjama bottoms with no knickers on. It's better to keep air circulating because fungus thrives in warm, moist areas. On that same note, it would be worth switching all her underwear for cotton if she wears anything synthetic as it's more breathable. I'd also wash all underwear and towels at 60C or above to kill any fungus and prevent re-infection.

I'd also recommend cuticura medicated talc for her bum as it will dry it out, but it's also antifungal so it should help.

I do hope your DD gets respite from this soon. It's really not nice.

Yeah we’re airing the bottom as much as we can in the afternoon and evening and she doesn’t sleep with anything on her bottom except for cream because the air on it and keeping it cool is what seems to make the biggest difference.