4 weeks in, horrendous nappy rash and feel like failure

[flossyflo]

DH is away for the night and as luck would have it DD has developed the most horrendous nappy rash.

She has had it on and off for the last 2 weeks but has got lots worse in last 24 hours. Have been using metanium but went to the drs today and got steroid cream dekacrot or something like that. But it just doesn't act as a barrier at all and worried it might make it worse before it gets better.

Asked doc if I should use barrier cream as well but was told to just use the steroid cream at every change

Am just beside myself. Am in tears every time I change her nappy as it is red raw. This is so hard just not feeling like I am coping at all.

Tried loads of nappy off time today but dont think it has made any difference. Any ideas How long steriod cream will take to work? God I just didn't expect to be such a jibbering wreck as a mother.

[Bumpsadaisie]

OP mine avoided nappy rash for some reason so can't give tips there, but just wanted to say chin up and don't worry. Its not your fault.

Having a new baby and being a parent for the first time is DIFFICULT! It does send you into a tail spin. You are all at sea. Don't worry about this. You will get used to it! It's all v new at the mo. But in a few months it will feel like second nature to be a parent. Just takes time.

.

[flossyflo]

So, 48 hours on and it is getting a bit better

Went back to the doctor and was prescribed antibiotic cream fusidic acid to use as well as daktacort.

We've also had a lot of nappy off time, 12 hours yesterday which causes a lot of washing of towels.

The real cause of this is the poo frequency and consistency... am going to cut out dairy and have been block feeding to try to make sure she gets the hindmilk.

Just fingers crossed that she comes out of this soon.

[Kafri]

ds had awful nappy rash in his first week. he was on anti biotics and the doctor said it may cause a sore bum - by god did it cause a sore bum he wouldn't lie down at all bless him.

sudocream and fresh air work wonders.

oh and as an aside - I now use Palmers baby butter and bottom butter at every change. baby butter on his change table and tube of bottom butter in change bag. I've always trusted Palmers for me so figured I'd give it a go for him. touch wood-no NR since.

do not blame yourself - it happens. and you're doing everything you can to help so please don't fret.

[appletarts]

I once used cooled camomile tea water to clean babies bum (pfb ha ha) and think it did help a bit, also helped me feel like a good earth mother which helped me a bit!

[appletarts]

Oh bless you. Use cotton wool and warm water to wipe her bum, no wet wipes. Don't change at every little dot of poo, wiping too much will make her more sore, can just change the nappy but not wipe, but obviously a proper poo needs immediate change. Keep her nappy off with just a towel under her bottom to catch wee, can keep her in a button under vest still to stop bottom getting cold if worried. Avoid long car journeys or leaving in car seat type buggy cos bum gets hot (worked this one out on mine). Babies are amazing and they can go from red raw to bit of rash in 12 hours. Unless baby is crying all the time from it try not to stress too much. Being a mum makes you nuts, it's official!

[daytoday]

Oh sweetheart, this is not your fault.

My youngest (of 3) had horrific nappy rash. My amazing HV with 30 years exp said she often saw this when babies had a slight milk intolerance. She advised steroid cream and to cut out dairy from my diet for a bit.

It worked and she never got it again again. But she def had/has a more sensitive stomach, had bad wind and silent reflux. I found avoiding dairy an getting reflux formula (when I stopped breast feeding) really helped.

[Potteresque97]

Dd had bleeding nappy rash when teething, made me feel awful. NHL website recommended nappy off at night, I lined the bed with those throwaway sheets you buy in boots when toilet training, it helped a lot, every baby is different though, depends how long a stretch at night. Either way, it will get better and just be a bad memory one day.

[MummaBubba123]

Gd yes, I once found that I'd not even thought to dry behind my son's ears and it was actually so damp and neglected that it was smelly! How bad did I feel!

[Ozfrazror]

First thing - I doubt that any baby has never had nappy rash at some point in their life so do not worry about your parenting abilities with regard to that.

It is also perfectly normal to be stressed about every tiny thing when they're so little and especially when it's your first dc so give yourself a break about that too. You clearly care loads and have already sought lots of advice about what to do.

My third dc had this exact problem and in hindsight it was definitely due to the amount of times he pooed. I tried metanium and sudocreme as well and neither really worked fast enough to clear it. But one gp I saw advised to put a cream on and then smother his whole nappy area in Vaseline. I did this every change and the barrier the Vaseline created finally allowed his skin to heal. Maybe give that a try and try not to worry, it's nothing that you've caused or failed at.

[PacificDogwood]

Now, see, Happy, that's the kind of thing that makes a person a Baaaaad Mother . He did ask, your DS. Natural consequences an'all that.

Parenthood comes with guilt. Half, no, 90% of the stuff you feel bad about, your DC won't give a monkey's about. I have 4, youngest is now 3 (thanks goodness, no more babies here!) and I am still flying by the bottom of my pants .
Btw, bumping heads against door frames only counts if there's blood...

[ouryve]

Check your wipes. Both my boys had.get horrendous rashes with wipes containing alcohol, but are fine with those without. (And alcohold free wipes are so much easier to obtain than when DS1 was tiny)

[Babycino81]

You poor thing! Sorry o hear you're both having a bad time with the nappy rash! For what it's worth, my mums secret nappy rash weapon is whipping up egg whites and plastering it on baby's rash and put nappy back on. It acts as a barrier and helps dry it out and so far there are four happy customers (niece and nephews) who are testament to it working! Good luck and hope it clears up soon x

[TryDrawing]

You've had great advice from the others. I just want to say please go easy on yourself, you sound like you're dealing with it brilliantly.

I felt like a total failure at about the same age with dd. I found another fold in her neck and it was full of dribbled milk (neck cheese. Yuk.) It was also red raw.

Then there was the time she fell off the bed, the time she ate her first leaf, the time I bumped her head on the doorframe...

I know this may not sound comforting but you will do much worse things than allow her to get nappy rash. What really matters is that you care enough to try not to do bad things and sort things out when you do

[Happyasapiginshite]

at a lesson hard learned by your son!!

My DH recently cut himself in the hand with a knife and needed stitches. DS (now 12 and the cause of aforementioned stitches with his monstrously huge head and having come out star-gazing) asked me if I'd ever had stitches. The poor thing couldn't look at me for hours after I told him about my episiotomy and stitches. Poor boy. If you want to make him leave the room these days, just say the word 'vagina' and he's off. Too. Much. Fun.

[MummaBubba123]

Feeling for you. My son's little bot. used to bleed and look as if it'd been grazed. I used to dab (pat gently) Vaseline on top of metanium on his bottom. Metanium stains like hell - watch out when changing him. I'm sure you've learnt this already ;)
Hope it gets better.
Nothing to do with failure or success. Just bottoms.

[flossyflo]

Tbh apart from screaming when getting her nappy changed she is quite happy so it is obviously effecting me more than her.

Have never used wipes and have srucj with the cotton wool and water they show you in hospital.

Fingers crossed she stops pooping so often soon.

Thanks so much for the words of wisdom from the other side

[PacificDogwood]

Yes, urine stings on broken skin (just like seawater), but it doesn't cause it to break down IYKWIM.
Ammonia comes from poo

Is now the time to tell you how DS2 burst into tears quite suddenly and alarmingly at the grand old age of 8? 8 years? Because he had just (deliberately) peed into his wetsuit and the wee spreading down his front/legs hurt his eczema .

[Happyasapiginshite]

Pacific, I don't doubt you and don't want to think about what's going on my face twice a day but I have very vivid memories of the burn caused by my wee on my stitches after having my baby. When the skin is irritated, the wee burns. Also, isn't there something about the urine breaking down into ammonia or something? which is one of the causes of nappy rash.

[AppleCrumples]

Op this happened with 3 of mine! Was religiously putting cream on, stopped using babywipes but faffed about with water and cotton wool and always made sure bottom dry before putting nappy on, oh and changed every time they so much as blinked! Metanium was best but also with vaseline.

They all grew out of it. Dd2 was bad from around 3 weeks till she stopped pooping so much! Now 18 weeks and nappy rash a distant memory so pkease don't worry. You are doing so well :) and the early days can be a huge shock. Like most things it will soon pass and you will thrn find something else to worry about

[PeazlyPops]

Please don't beat yourself up about it, these things happen and you're doing the right thing by seeing your gp!

I tried loads of different creams for DS who gets nappy rash quite frequently and the only cream that helped was bepanthen.

[PacificDogwood]

Happy, urine is actually quite good for skin (urea used in plenty of expensive creams ), it's the wetness that's the problem AND corrosive poos.

[RainbowsFriend]

Oh yes and we stay well away from wipes now....

[Flosshilde]

My DS2 had horrendous nappy rash at 4 weeks ish. We used tons of Sudocrem but really what sorted it was just pooing less often. This will come with time, at 7 wks he poos about twice a day and the rash has disappeared. Are you using wipes or cotton wool and water? A tiny bit of poo will be less irritating than hourly use of wipes.

I didn't wake to change. Let sleeping babies lie.

Bf babies often eventually go days without pooing so you end up worrying about that instead...