Nappy changing wars!

[pamplemousse]

Heellllp
My DD has had appaling anppy rash which I have to apply powder, hydrocortisone then vaseline for, it almost goes then returns again, its driving me INSANE! But anyway as she has some stinging when I wash her and apply all the potions she is wriggling away and its becoming impossible to change her. She turns over and wipes all the carefully applied layers of cream off and screams when I turn her back to reapply, lift her to put nappy underneath.
It is totally doing my head in and I have to change her really often to try and get rid of the sodding nappy rash.
Any ideas? I have tried putting her up against the side of the bath panel (change her on the floor as she would fall off anything she is so wriggly) to stop her rolling, it just seems to rile her more, have tried 'special' toys, singing her favourite songs etc etc and nothing works,
help please...
slumps pathetically

Thanks bobsmum
Rash seems to be at a constant at the moment, not getting worse, but still pink Will put silk liners on at night, good plan, don't really want them poo-y. Thanks for pull up info too.
Am tired of mopping wee (and worse) off my kitchen floor from nappy free time! Seems to be helping though...
Quick q to anyone reading this - how many times a day do you change your baby?

On a typical day 4 changes, unless he does a second poo.

I change in the mornings when he gets up, he usually does a poo after breakfast, that will be the second one. He then gets another one when he goes down for his nap at 1pm, another one when he wakes up from nap at about 4pm and then all the way till bedtime, unless he makes another poo.

He had a rash once that took a week to clear up, it left red welts and he still has a faint pick scar (1.5 months later). I think a severe rash is actually burns rather than just a rash. Their urine and poo combined burns their skins. Poor things.

Ok, I change dd every 2 hours approx, like yours she poos in the am after breakfast, so an extra one then if she's been up since 5am, as normal ;)
I ask because I was made to feel like a neglectful mother the other day when someone said they used to change thier baby 8 - 12 times a day! And no wonder mine had nappy rash... I feel bad enough about it as it is, but that made me sad, have I brought it on my dd?

PM - I think about 4 times a day sounds right. I would change a very new newborn 8 times maybe, but no way a 7 mo old! I'd be at the change mat all day!

Hope things improve soon

I remember in the first few weeks I went through 12 change a day, but that was during the night too, every feed meant a poo!

We normally get through about 6 in a day (dd is 9.5 months) but lately due to tummy bug thing it's been about 10 or 12. She also wriggles like crazy so I just give her a cloth to play with and sing to her all the time. Someone on here suggested getting some parcel tape and scrunching it into a ball (sticky side out) and giving it to them to hold - apparently trying to get it off their hands keeps them busy for ages. However, my dd has excema on her bum so scratches whenever the nappy is off so she managed to get poo all over the tape and then smear it everywhere.

Are you sure the redness isn't excema, in which case maybe too many potions etc may make it worse. If it is excema (is that the right spelling?), we've found we can control it by a) clearing up raw areas with tiny amounts of HC b) washing bum with only water c) smearing aqueous cream in like a mad woman d) smearing vaseline all over like a slightly less mad woman (although I suspect you've got to clear the thrush before doing any of this). I was a bit worried about using Vaseline with cloth nappies but it seems to wash out okay and anyway my mum says she always used it on us and we were in terries so maybe sometimes the old ways are best?

goes to change YET another nappy before slumping pathetically

Thanks manic tigger, made me laugh
It might well be eczema as she has it elsewhere and when it got back to the pink not red raw stage it looked very much like a patch of ezcema to me.... Will try your approach as that is similar to what I am doing now anyway, do you put vaseline on top of the aqueous cream? Is aq c E45 for example? Sympathsise with the wriggly scratching baby, had to give dd my hand to play with which was the only thing that kept her entertained, made doing the nappy even more tricky though!! Will try parcel tape... Sounds a little wrong!
Thanks all for making me feel better that I am not neglecting her

I know, when I first read the words parcel tape I immediately thought 'you can't do that!' until I read the whole sentence. Somehow it brought to mind serial killers and Prime Suspect etc for me (!).

The aqueous cream we use is Boots own brand -I have no idea whether E45 is the same but I suspect the Boots stuff is far cheaper (I don't actually know because we got a huge pot on prescription 9 months ago) which is a consideration bearing in mind the amount you may need.

And yes, just rub in the cream , let it soak in for a minute or so and then smear on the Vaseline. We were told that the idea is to keep the eczema well moisturised (and hopefully less itchy) and then create a barrier to stop wee and poo from irritating the skin.

p.s. I smear the whole bum with the cream, any red or pinkish areas with the Vaseline.

Another recommendation for Metanium - yellow goo of miracles in this house.

My DS's have often been wriggly, this is current technique:

Change on a table so you can get better grip, have everything to hand.

Baby lying with head to left, give toilet paper to rip up or something.

Hold both his ankles in left hand in iron grip, pin body down with left elbow if needed. Get him all cleaned up up one-handed and clean nappy/liner underneath before putting on any creams. Then apply cream and quickly fold up nappy and do up poppers. Then he can wriggle for a bit before putting on wrap.

Also changing on lap can be good, sort of immobilises them (well it did ours) like picking up a cat by scruff. But more difficult to deal with all the mess/creams etc in this case.

I end up with nappy cream all over me and a stiff banana shaped screaming child, it really is fun
It may come to using the parcel tape to stick her to the floor, I used disposables all day today as holding wriggly ankles, smearing creams and weilding the wrap with middle and paper liner on was a recipe for disaster! I tried a few times, had to rearrange it as she managed to kick it out my hand, reapplied the cream a few times, then slung the nappy across the room and reached for a disposable! Temper temper eh?
Thanks again for ideas

My dd had a horrendous rash when her second tooth cut and i tried canesten 1% after the usual nappy creams had failed. Honestly it worked miracles, after the first application she didn't seem to feel sore when i touched it anymore, stopped screaming everytime she weed and the redness went within 24 hours. She was left with a faint pink mark that went within 2 days. Could be worth a try-all those layers you have to apply sound difficult!
Also we do nappy changing in a 3 step process. Step 1-take off dirty nappy and clean up. Then let dd run around with a bare bum for a while. Step 2- Clean again if any accidents have occured, apply cream if needed and put on nappy. Then let her go off and play for a while. Step 3-catch her again and put on wrap and trousers(steps 2 and 3 are merged if wearing a velcro nappy as otherwise it gets taken off within 20 seconds!).
Obviously if i am out i do all stages in one but we generally stick to this as i was having awful trouble with dd-she would wriggle out of whatever position i was holding her in, scream and kick me etc. And we were ending up with poo everywhere. Now she isnt too bad cos she knows she will be allowed to run around with a naked bum for a while once i've wiped her off. If it is a sticky poo that takes lots of wiping she still sometimes kicks off though so i usually give her something to play with and then cover her face with a towel-it seems to distract her for just long enough

Apparently soaking the silk liners in camomile tea before using can work wonders with nappy rash.

No advice re the wriggling though - we have the same problem in this house. The only thing that works for us is to give DS something he isn't really supposed to have, like a bread knife or something