Stubborn severe nappy rash! Nothing works..

[Trinacham]

Wondering if anyone else has had this issue as feel so alone in this. It seems like most people have luck with just simply applying Metanium cream and after a couple of days it's gone. No such luck here. Here's what we've tried so far...

Sudocream

Metanium

Went to doctor after neither of these made any difference.
Doctor prescribed an anti-fungal+steroid cream to be used for 7 days. After I put the steroid cream on, I apply Metanium to act as a barrier, on doctor's advice

After 3 days I went back to doctor as it was worse than before
Doctor now prescribed just a steroid (I can only use this for a further 4 days as can't exceed 7 days with the steroid use) and I've now cut out dairy (I'm EBF) as we think baby may have an intolerance (he had a very watery poo today)

This brings us to today, where I'm starting this thread. Rash is still here after 2 days and I can't see any improvement. We have to stop using it on Friday so there should surely be a noticeable difference by now.

Other points
Baby has very regular bowel movements - think this plays a major part in why it is so stubborn, the skin doesn't have much chance to be dry and heal before the next bowel movement

I do nappy free time as much as possible, as long as he's in a happy mood (sometimes just cries and screams when nappy is off)

Using pampers. The sore area is confined to his bottom, groin area is fine and all creases are fine, so almost certain it isn't a reaction to the nappy. The sore area is only where his poo touches, which leads us to believe he has an intolerance and the poo is burning his skin.

We use only warm water and cotton wool, no wipes.

Any help and advice, or just anyone who has been through this, would be great to hear. Baby is only a month old and he's had this for over a week now. He doesn't appear too bothered but it looks so sore. Hoping it doesn't feel as sore as it looks. If even steroid cream doesn't work, I'm wondering what else the doctor can do. Feel like the options are running out and it's worrying me.

Me and my family only wash baby with water and soap for all nappy changes while at home. My sister inlaw is a pharmacist and she advises all the mums that come in to do the same - they return to thank her.

From day one I noticed wipes don't actually remove all impurities even cotton wool and water. So we always wipe away poop take bubba to the sink and we have a mini shower head and we hose him down apply little serbica intimate wash and then rinse him off.
Has a little flannel to pat dry. His skin on his butt is the best compared to the rest of him.
My bubba Is EBF 26 weeks, poops 6-8 times a day. Has suffered with colic and silent reflux. So his poppyseed to be green often. But never had nappy rash.

I mean 16 weeks

I took my eldest DD to GP due to persistent nappy rash, turns out she had eczema, used steroid cream and cleared it up, was also told not to bath her too often and to use Oilatum in the water.

This happened with DC3. Bepanthen worked wonders. Good luck

I found water made my dc's nappy rash worse, we have very hard water. Wipes were actually better for them.

I don't have anything to add on the rash per se, but just to ask what alternatives to dairy are you using?

A lot of babies who are CMPA are also allergic to soya. When I gave up dairy for my CMPA daughter, I swapped to soya alternatives and after a few days of getting better she rapidly started getting worse again because she had started to react to the soya. No need for you to give up soya at this point of suspecting CMPA (although it is the next allergen to try), just don't suddenly massively increase how much soya you are eating whilst you are trying to work out if dairy is a problem as it could confuse things. Instead, use oat / coconut alternatives until you are clear on whether giving up dairy has worked or not.

Metanium worked ok at first in DC1, but when the rash got worse it stopped helping. It got so bad that the GP prescribed Timodene, which did help it heal up.

We had another sensitive wee bum with DC2 and ended up using a layer of Lansinoh lanolin nipple cream to protect the skin. With DC3 we used a decent amount of bepanthen at every single change which seemed to stop then getting the rash.

It seemed to be because they all pooped so often.

@CrabbyCat my SIL said the same re: soya (my nephew had CMPA.. maybe runs in family?). The milk I am having is oat👍

@Galvantula it definitely does seem to be those babies who are very regular! I envy those with babies who poop just once a day (although thank goodness not suffering from constipation ofc)

It takes more than two weeks for dairy to leave your system, so don't give up on being dairy free too quickly. It takes a month to leave a baby's system.

Thanks @PerseverancePays I'll keep at it 👍he did have more watery poop today

We moved from vaseline to bepanthum and it totally fixed it BUT we used cotton wool instead of wipes while we were waiting for it to go

Go up a size In the nappy even if you think you don't need to!

We had a really similar situation with our DD at three weeks. Nappy rash so bad that it was blistering and bleeding, mainly around her bum. It was heartbreaking to see. LO had very regular bowel movements so was impossible to keep the area clean and dry!

We tried EVERY cream out here and nothing worked. We went to the doctors multiple times and they gave us timodine but that made it worse. Eventually against the doctors advice I changed formula - from a well known brand to Kendamil which I cannot recommend enough. And I’m so glad I went with my instinct as it changed her bowel movement within a day! I also mixed together metainium and bepantham (trust me just try it!!) metainium on its own was too strong for her skin and wasn’t a good enough barrier. Within a week it worked! I think a combination of pooing less with the new formula and the cream we finally cracked it! (Excuse the pun!) So along with the usual cotton wool and water, a size up in nappy’s and loads of air time we finally
cleared it up!

I hope this helps another new mum who is endlessly googling how to clear up nappy rash!

@Trinacham

Hi. Firstly, sorry to bring up an old thread but I'm at my wits end and I could have written this thread myself!

OP - what was the outcome for your LOs nappy rash? What did you find worked?! We are 6 weeks in and struggling, we've tried everything! Also under investigation for CMPA due to the frequency of poos but two weeks in and haven't seen a difference yet!

We really struggled with this - it turns out whilst other parents could just open nappy, wipe, replace nappy we had to make sure DDs bum was completely dry.

So remove dirty nappy, wipe, pat dry with a muslin and put on fresh nappy. If I could air her bum for a minute or so I would.

That fixed it. That's all it was - and I had no idea this could be a problem. If I ever tried to not bother drying - bright red rash on next change.

It didn't matter what cream, nappies or wipes I used. She just had to be patted dry.

Try reusable nappies, they are less likely to react with his skin. Try reusable wipes and water - just because they clean SO much better than water wipes etc. Cavilon is a good barrier cream.

Be absolutely scrupulous about checking the nappy regularly and changing the minute it is dirty - we were changing 8x day for the first month or two (thankfully settled down). That basically means checking hourly during daylight hours, and at each feed overnight.

DS had toddler diarrhoea (basically liquid poo 3-4 times a day until he was about 3). So I sympathise. But the solution is usually more nappy changes. DS’s bum was really noticeably worse at nursery, when they were less shit-hot about checking.

Opening this thread up as I’m going through the exact same thing…you name it I’ve tried it.
@Trinacham what worked in the end? Also going down the Cmpa route but don’t want to do too much at once..

How did everyone do lots of air drying and nappy free time - when boys will wee and poo frequently so make the situation even worse?

@brookedavis12 sorry to hear! It was a slow recovery from this but I'm glad to say that once it was gone, it was gone! Never had to deal with it again. It's hard to remember but there was no miracle cure for us, but I think once the warmer months set in, we could have more nappy off time. And as he got older, the poos got less (especially once he started weaning and having less breastmilk). Now we are on the other side of this - DS is potty trained and will be 3 in a few months!
How old is yours?