diarrhoea - nappy changes SO painful

[tribpot]

Hi all - just looking for some suggestions on how to help my ds (17 months). He's having a tummy upset and as the nappy changes have mounted up today his poor little bum is getting redder and sorer and each nappy change is more painful than the last We are using cloths to wipe (aka pat at) him cos the wipes themselves are too painful, but even that's not helping, he can hardly sit down now and is beside himself.

He's getting a good dose of Savlon at each change, is in Moltex disposables. Of course with the diarrhoea some open air bum time isn't really possible ...

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We always change him as soon as he goes (except for he had a poo explosion at some point in the night and I didn't realise, despite being in the room with him - fun this morning ) but will crack out the sudocrem as well. I just wish there was a way of makign the actual wiping less painful somehow Would the shower be better, I wonder?

Dunk him in a bath just to get the worst off before wiping? And Bepanthen is great.

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No no - all help much appreciated, I know what you mean.

We put him in the bath this morning, he was a bit gutted when we made him come back out due to it being full of bits of poo (apols for TMI, only on Mumsnet!) - should add we did shower him down after.

Bepanthen - check. I don't know that that is, but my friendly pharmacist will be getting a visit from me tomorrow morning.

Hi Trib, poor ds. I found the metanium recommended by MNers better than sudocrem, and I think it's widely available (at least the local Morrison's has it and it has precious little else, not even swim nappies in the summer time!) Hope he's feeling better soon.

How about putting a generous handful of oats in a tied up muslin square and letting that hang in the stream of warm tapwater when you run ds's bath? Turns the water a milky colour and is really soothing for sensitive skin. Helped me when had scarlet fever and was raw from scratching.

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If you can bear to, get your muslins out and either a nappy pin or nippa (plastic nappy gadget) and put him in just folded muslins when at home, that way his bottom will get a good airing but should catch emmissions. The Jo fold is ace and works well with muslins, checkout www.thenappylady.co.uk for advice on folding.

After use, just shake anything loose down the loo and then wash them at 60 or hotter. My son had a really bad stomach bug last year and this helped alot (as did chamomile tea, weirdly)

lots of probiotics (good bacteria) like Solgar ABCdophilus, from a health shop. add quarter teaspoon of the powder to some milk or yogurt one a day. its tasteless.
tummy upset/diarrhoea means he will be losing lots of his supply of good bacteria.
they will help fight the infection too, and boost immune system.

Thank you ladies - all top advice, am v grateful to Mumsnet!

Just saw this Trib. The dd's nappy rash has been so bad docs gave me sterile water in little packets to use to wash her. We used lots of cotton wool and chamomile tea too. Just dribbled water on till it rinsed off. Put flannel under him to staunch the flow. No touching or wiping if we could help it. Used shower too sometimes. Soft towel to dab dry and then METANIUM. Egg white is supposed to be good but perhaps not with possible intolerances/allergies. Nappy free time is the best thing but not the most practical. Good luck, I really feel for you. It is heartbreaking. Take care. x

Trib, how's it going? Is the metanium working?? If not try germoline, there's two sorts...the new one is gel based and we used this for DD. It's great because they have an anesthetic agent in it so it will numb the area abit for DS - worked wonders for DD as I've said before esp when the (usually) wonderful metanium did nothing . HTH x

tea - thanks for stopping by! Went to the doc and she prescribed something, I assume similar to metanium (Canesten cream actually). Seems to be working along with regular applications of an organic baby balm we got in Waitrose (how posh). Ds loves saying 'balm' over and over again, nutter.

He's not 100% yet but I think we've turned the corner, thank goodness! I can cope a lot better now that each nappy change isn't complete agony.

Canesten cream treats fungal infections so that seems a bit odd if it was just raw skin from the acidity of the poo poo - unless gp also suspected an infection?

I normally hate steroids (don't get me started on gps prescribing steroids as the "cure" for skin conditions ....), but have with my ds resorted to a very light steroid cream sold by the pharmacist just to take down the redness, then smothered him with a "white zinc" cream like metanium or sudocrem.

Plus air drying before putting on clean nappy and as much nappy free time as possible. (Easier in summer and if you have a garden).

Like the tip about the muslin!

give him a few drops of grapefruit seed extract in 4 oz of water to drink. also add about 5 drops to 4 oz of water and use to wipe his bottom with. use silk wipes if you can and also put one in his nappy.

My youngest had terrible nappy rash every tie she got an upset tummy. It got so bad that it started bleeding and she would often go 20 times or more each day. The doctor prescribed timodene and another, similar cream I can't remember the name of. He said it looked like thrush because of the white bits, but I thought that was just the sudocrem! It didn't really help a great deal. The best cream I've found is Johnson's nappy rash cream. It seems to stick better than sudocrem. Also, try squeezing Johnson's (or any brand) baby lotion directly onto baby's bottom and wiping very gently, it doesn't cause as much friction that way. Try to give at least a minute or so 'air' time (as long as he will happily lie still) with a nappy underneath him, but they often won't lie still at this age, will they?
I think probably different things work for different children. I was so desperate I asked the GP if she could have some imodium but he said no.
Good luck and hope he's better soon.