Nappy rash drama. Help!

[Daisy92]

My DS is just under three weeks old and has developed the most horrific nappy rash. I've tried both Sudocrem and Bepanthen to clear it up, but neither has helped. Ive also tried giving him as much nappy free time as possible, but this hasn't helped either. I've ordered some metanium, which I've heard is good. But honestly, I'm running out of ideas.

What would you recommend? It's been bad for about 5 days now, and it looks so sore!! :(

have you seen a doctor? Could be thrush and may need an anti fungal cream. You can buy metanium in the supermarket normally. I found metanium with a layer of sudocrem on top worked well

Try changing your brand of nappies, he might be allergic. Also mention to your HV if it’s bad.

You could try silver nappy liners, as the silver is antibacterial if you've a bacterial issue this could help.
It might just be teething - the dribble is alkaline so the stomach over produces on acid in its attempt to counteract this.

I used aloe vera gel which worked really well and calendula.

Try uusing only water and cotton wool to wash, a cotton pad to dry. Keep going with the nappy free time even if only a few minutes every change. Try mixing metanium with sudocrem. If using wipes it could be them setting it off, it could be the nappies. A bit of trial and error but if it starts to become open sores, see a gp please.

Have you switched to cleaning him with just cotton pads and water rather than babywipes? I remember that this really helped when mine had nappy rash. Also make sure skin is dry before puting on cream.

He is very little so would get it checked.
Yellow metanium is the only stuff with worked for us, not the white one. You can get it in Tesco.

I second Metanium. Excellent stuff

I second both metanium and changing nappy brands. One brand in particular used to send ds red raw in about 20 minutes.

The only thing that worked for DD was Vaseline.

DS2 had a fungal rash once so, as others have said, that is worth checking out.

Sounds like it could be thrush to me. Any signs of oral thrush too?

Does he have a milky residue in his mouth? Mine had the same, the rash looked more like spots without a head if that makes sense - was thrush. Had it twice and nothing but the cream and drops the docs gave shifted it. Never had any other nappy rash (so far)

Sounds like thrush to me as well which, if it is, will need anti-fungal stuff from the pharmacy to clear it up. Do you have a drop-in health visitor clinic you can go to to get it checked, especially with your baby being so little?

Definitely go to the doctors at this point, he’s so so tiny and it could be anything. DS has a horrendous, raw skin, bleeding, pus-y rash which would not go, had a few different prescription and in the end it was w staph infection and I had to disinfect him head to toe every evening and he had antibiotics. Not to alarm you! But it had developed into that as we didn’t treat it quick enough, so don’t feel silly going to the docs tomorrow

Try drying him with hairdryer (set on cool) before putting cream and a clean nappy on. Made a huge difference to my Dd.

He needs antibiotic/fungal cream.

Hi Daisy
My little one had nappy rash pretty much from birth- my HV (wrongly) decided it was thrush and doctor prescribed a very strong cream (timodine) with steroids in it which made little ones bum worse.
I tried metanium and bepanthen- neither worked for weeks.

It was a very stressful time, in the end we just did a ridiculous amount of non nappy time,, as much as practical- its hard, but worth it. Baby even went to sleep on change mat with a terry towel pegged around him.

i remember ringing the HV after two doctors visits andher saying shes never known nappy rash to last forever, I didnt believe her. The doc said I probably just had one of those babies- she was right!

The nappy rash eventually cleared- about seven weeks I think. I have been using Bepanthen religiously and it does the job for us, metanium didnt really help- but I hear it is different things for different babies.

Now it comes and goes and he does get a very red bum on occasions (then I leave his nappy off for a bit during changes (5-10 mins; not the hours I did initially) I just keep up with my regime and it goes quickly too. Nowadays his bum is good more often than bad- though there's often some hints of red. It does seem to go in a cycle, but now I know it will go and it is manageable it is far less stressful and as they start poohing less it does get better.

Now I whip his nappy off as soon as he poohs, use a cotton wool pad with water (never wipes, not even water wipes- they have chemicals in too) dry bum with terry towel, thin layer of bepanthen after airing bum for a few minutes every now and then.

He's 5 months now and the doc was right- he's just one of those babies.

@shitwithsugaron - timodine?

Metanium!
I also did oatmeal baths when nappy rash was bad, put some porridge oats in a piece of old tights, tie up and pop under running water.

Ds2 had a very sensitive bottom things I did

1. naty nappies - available in Sainsbury’s etc

2. Muslins and warm water to wash bottom. No rubbing just pat dry with a face cloth. I did this even for wet nappies. Rinse cloths in hot water then wash at 90 in machine.

3. change at every feed and put on Metanium if there was any redness. Only a smear - you should see skin through it.

I found through trial and error that using weleda calendula cream with a thin layer of yellow metanium on top worked like magic. I know how upsetting it can be but you'll get rid of it before you know it.