Nasty nappy rash and bamboozles

[cornflakegirl]

Ds is 17 months and has had some nasty nappy rashes for about the last two months. We've been back and forth to the doctors, and tried a variety of creams. They recently took swabs to check for infections, which came back clear.

As a precaution, we put ds in disposables for a couple of weeks. We also washed all his nappies and wraps on a 60 degree wash to clear everything.

At the weekend I put him in a bamboozle again - and it seems like as soon as he weed, the rash came back - and ds was screaming in pain. I put him straight back in disposables - but when we tried bamboozles again in the evening, the same thing happened.

The weird thing is, he pooed while he was in disposables - and the rash started bleeding - but that didn't make him cry. But weeing in a bamboozle did.

Has anyone experienced this? I don't want to give up on cloth too easily, but obviously I don't want ds to suffer!

A few questions - where is the rash? Is it sort of all over where the nappy goes (like a little red pair of shorts), or just in the creases etc

To help ease for now, silk liners (I know the nappy lady sells them) soaked in chamomile and honey, and put in the nappy damp really help to soothe and heal. They are pricey, but I have 4, and have never needed to use more than 3 nappies worth (best done overnight).

Flamesparrow

The rash at the moment is affecting his penis, his scrotum and his perineum - kind of spreading out towards his thighs. It's red and the skin gets dry and cracked and then starts to bleed.

Has looked different at different points - I'm guessing there's been more than one rash and more than one cause. At one point there were red spots that were weeping, and his penis was really manky (v hard to describe better than that!).

Rash is much better now after a couple of days in disposables. Just don't know whether it's sensible to try his bamboozles again...

I'm thinking that it sounds like a reaction to the powder more than anything seeing as it flares up with wee rather than poo (where wee comes out sterile it needs to react to something iyswim, normal nappy rash reacts to the bacteria in poo).

I use about 1/4 of the amount for a normal wash of surcare to a full load of nappies, and that seems to be gentle enough (DD had big rash problems). If it is a reaction to the powder then the powder, plus the wee will make it an ammonia burn which will be very painful

Drapolene is excellent for burn type rashes.

I would suggest another 60 degree wash with just vinegar, and then next time try a new powder?

Yeah, I was wondering about that. We normally use Ecover liquid and a bit of vinegar - have been doing this since he was born, so don't think it's the liquid. We are having some problems with our washing machine at the moment though, not agitating properly at some points in the cycle, so maybe there's a build-up of washing liquid or something? I might have to borrow a friend's washing machine for a 60 degree vinegar wash and see if that makes a difference...

The other thing I wondered about was whether his wee was particularly acidic, and the cloth meant that it was in contact with his skin longer? I tried putting a fleece liner in one of his nappies, but it didn't make any difference. I'm not sure how much faster a disposable really does draw the wee away though (we use Nature Baby)?

Hmm could be - is he teething at all right now (back ones or something) - that can make the wee much more acidic?

yeah, he's got a couple of pre-molars coming through - they seem to be taking forever. mind you, he's never had this sort of reaction to teeth before - i don't know if the acid wee thing is worse with back teeth?

I don't know - I know that DD was just plain miserable with her back teeth

ds doesn't seem to bad - just wants to chew a lot.

hmmm... well if borrowing my friend's washing machine doesn't work, then maybe i'll leave him in disposables till his teeth are properly through and then try again... i'm guessing silk liners don't actually get the wee away from the skin any faster?

I would try ecover liquid, seems to be very mild with no optical brighteners in it, which can irritate (even fairy non bio has these). Also see if you can get some Weleda nappy change cream, very soothing and really works, also all natural so you can use it all the time. Hope he improves, bless him. oh one more thing, are you using fleece liners? they wick away the moisture.

misslily - using ecover already. i had the same thought about fleece liners - sadly it didn't seem to make any difference. thanks for the suggestions

flame - thanks for all your help. washing in vinegar seems to have done the trick - we put him back in the bamboozles on sunday, and his bottom is still fine will have to wait and see what happens when we do our proper wash - in our machine this time - will try using less liquid

Oooh yay!!!