Three week old with bleeding nappy rash - advise needed

[MissHarrison]

My 3 wk old has had a bad nappy rash for over a week now in which it started of really red and then literatley over night blistered and started to bleed. I initailly was trying to control it with sudocreme and then from advice of HV put on Benpethan to no avail - then it blistered - We wne to the Gp and put on Caneston and Metanium - but the blisters just wont heal and week and half later they are still bleeding. I use cotton wool and water - she gets 3 hours nappy off time per day at least - How can I get them to heal? My GP told me to slap on the Metanium - is this right? Or should it just be a thin layer? I just worry that if its not applied on thickly then the urine and poo will come in to contact with the blisters. We have also tried Zinc and caster oil and just zinc ointment. Any suggestions?

Also - I breast feed her and we use Pampers....

We had this with dd1. Red raw, bleeding, like you describe.

I've not used pampers as each time I've tried both dd's get nappy rash. Huggies seem to be gentler or supermarket own brands if you don't want to go down the real nappy route.

I found that laying her on a towel with a nappy off, letting her air dry and blowing on her, then a dusting of cornstarch to make the sudocrem stick worked as well.

Although, persevere with the doctors. We spent weeks being told not to use anything at all, no creams, nothing and it eventually got so bad we had to have an antiobiotic cream to sort it.

This time round we used simple wipes, sudocrem and huggies from the start and never had a problem.

Good luck, I know how heartbreaking it is seeing them in pain each time they wee.

I would try another brand of nappy. DD got horrible rashes with Pampers we now use Aldi own brand alongside washies and DD hasn't had nappy rash since then. We did use the cornflour dusted on whild DD was naked as it seemed to dry it off a little better when we applied metanium then a thin layer of vaseline over the top. The metanium works and the vaseline 'waterproofs' it from any fresh wee. Also try and change her as soon as you notice she is wet. You will use lots of nappies in the mean time but it will be worth it when you LO's bottom is better. Also wash her bottom between changes with a little chamomile tea.

Poor little fellow, I hope it gets better soon.

My DS was seen by different 3 doctors who all said he had thrush, but he didn't. It's not that I took him to 3 different doctors about it - he had fever so saw the first two (locum GP and pediatrician) for that. I asked them to look at his rash too just to check I was right in treating it for thrush as there had been no improvement...

Was there any change in the rash at all with the anti-fungal treatment?

Does he seem to suffer from a lot of stomach pain? DS had a course of gel given orally to rule out thrush in the gut repeatedly reinfecting his bum.

IIRC your HV is right about thrush thriving on the protein but I still think there's a chance it isn't thrush at all. Did the HV look at it herself? They do tend to know their way around babies bums!

It might be well worth trying two of cleaning with plain water and treating with cornstarch to rule out misdiagnosis...

It might be well worth trying two days of cleaning with plain water and treating with cornstarch to rule out misdiagnosis...

I struggled with constant nappy rash for three weeks and some bleeding last week, tried the following that did not work: Sudocrem, Canalba vaginal cream, a local antibiotic cream, zink and caster oil, a bit of friars balsam added to a mixture of Canalba and Zink and Caster oil, probiotics in her milk (orally), all this with daily open nappy time and rinsing bum in basin at every nappy change (around the clock) - yesterday my sisters pharmacist friend advised to put some Canalba on and let it absorb for a bit with open nappy, then take an adult probiotics tablet, open it and sprinkle the content (powder) on the area then cover with SBR Skin barrier REPAIR. I did that once and continued through the night with the SBR REPAIR and this morning - than God - her bum looked like the day she was born. No sign of any rash.
Just thought I had to share this. Bought the SBR REPAIR at the beauty cream, but a dermatologist suggested it and assured me it was save to use on my LO bum.
Hope this helps.