Very bad nappy rash on toddler

[mumsince2018]

My 20 month old has very very bad nappy rash on his bum. Tonight he done a poo and wouldn't let me wipe it. He screamed and cried so much he threw up and now he's knackered himself out and gone to sleep. It's so bad he doesn't even want to sit in his high chair. I've been putting sudocreme on and last time I went to the GP about it they gave me hydrocortisone cream. I hate seeing him so upset. I have bad eczema so I know how it feels when your skin stings. He starts shaking where he's in so much pain 😔 does anyone have any advice on how to soothe him?

Let's hope it works!!

Change your nappies.
Mine did this with one brand

He's had nappy rash around 3 times but when he gets it it's awful very red raw,weepy and just all round awful looks like he's been burnt. We use pampers do you think this could be the cause?

It is worth a try
Mine was another brand,I changed and it worked.

I'd take him to the GP if you can as he could have a little cut inside if he's been straining and really constipated. It's also worth ruling out thrush.

My DS has terrible nappy rash a while back and nothing (not even yellow metanium which is my go to!) would sort it. Turned out it was thrush and the cream the GP have sorted it in a day or so.

Okay I'll see if I can get him an appointment tomorrow. I'll see if I can look up thrush symptoms in babies to see if he has anything similar

You can also give him a dose of calpol to reduce the pain. Lots of people don't seem to use it but if the nappy rash is that bad it can help

My daughter had awful nappy rash prior to being diagnosed with CMPA. Her poo was really acidic and it looked like her skin was burnt in patches. Just awful. We were advised not to use sudocrem as it can apparently take damaged skin off and metanium didn't work.

My HV eventually advised we try Hydromol ointment. It's really greasy and forms a total barrier and can go over the top of other creams. DDs nappy rash cleared up almost overnight and I still use it occasionally when her bum is looking a bit red.

While the skin is so inflamed, avoid using wet wipes at all. I think Water Wipes have citric acid in them so will sting broken skin.

When DD was like this I tore old (clean) muzzies into little squares and dipped them in water to wipe her bottom instead. She told me this is ‘better’ than the wipes.

Water and cotton wool/muslins instead of wipes, plenty of time to air and loads of metanium! If it's not cleared up a bit by tomorrow it could be thrush. My little boy has had bad nappy rash loads (shakes when wiping, it's awful) and metanium has never failed us yet!

Seriously get metanium. My ds was undiagnosed lactose intolerant and had the worst nappy rash. This is amazing stuff and will work on even open sores. I still have it in the house for any kind of chaffes etc and ds is 13.

Glad you've got the metanium. I'd also hose him off with the shower head rather than wiping.

My DS had the most horrendous nappy rash known to man, we ended up in A&E it was bleeding and infected, it turned out he was allergic to dairy. However the doctor said to use cotton wool and warm water to clean his bottom, and dry it completely with a hairdryer on a cool setting, then once totally dry, pop on a thin layermetanium. This really worked, everyday we used bepanthen.

Layer of metanium.

Metanium. Best thing ever!

Thankyou to everyone's helpful suggestions and advice! I'm thinking of maybe changing nappy brands too as I know a lot of brands use a lot of chemicals that aren't so good. Anyone know of any other brands that aren't so harsh? I'll look into seeing if he has a problem with lactose too. He didn't get on with it when he was really little and we had to put him on cow and gate comfort milk

For my son I used sudocrem and then an all over extra layer of vaseline. Noticed it was teething and eating acidic foods that nappy rash was at its worst. Sudocrem hurts my daughters nappy rash so I used bepanthen and vaseline layers. Hope it gets better soon

Just a second for the calpol - it will help ease the pain for him! Plus the metanium- no idea what’s in that cream but it’s an overnight healer!

If the metanium doesn't work and you've ruled out nappy thrush, you could try an equal mix in weight of metanium, vaseline and orabase.

It's what worked for DS's horrific rashes. For some reason the mix worked when the individual creams didn't. We'd been back and forth to the Dr and tried steroid creams and changing nappy types and not using baby wipes and all sorts but nothing worked until the Dr rang the children's continence dept at the hospital and they told us to use that mix.